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Presentation given by Gabriella Razzano (@jablet) at the Social Media Week hosted in Johannesburg in 2014.
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Participation 2.0: Technology and distributed democracy
September, Social Media Week
Gabriella Razzano, Head Of Legal Research, Open Democracy Advice Centre
Who am I?
Open Democracy Advice Centre
Code4SouthAfrica
Research, policy development, online communications
Human rights and the internet
Introduction
“The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself -- always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity”.
- Jimmy Carter
When Charlie Chapman first got a voice this happened
Internet and social media as mechanisms for enhancing civic political activism.
Internet and human rights
Socio-economic
Civil political
CollectiveState
v. Private?
Content Access
INTERNET ENHANCES
INTERNET INHIBITS
INTERNET RIGHTS:
Participation
Title of Presentation | Page ‹#›
The citizen is a democratic actor.
Participation 2.0
2013, only 12% of 18-19 year olds registered to vote.
Is the internet and social media the new superhero?
Using internet to enhance participation
ICTs lead to fast COMMUNICATION, over distance, and even anonymous - disseminate messages en masse -
build networks and organise.
Digital neighbourhoods and “public space”
The internet a public space like any other - you can still have places of privacy. The culture of ‘free’ has made us forget the value of protecting our space.
Hyper- local information connects us between our private spaces.
Citizen as user
Understand the citizen user, and their problem, first. Then meet the need. Empower them to use solutions
too.
Case Studies
Housing List Transparency
Hyper-local; creating a neighbourhood & having a say i.e. simply: when can we meet?; fail-fast
(ODAC & Code4SA)
Housing List Transparency
Hyper-local; specific; civil society as a translator only a test; an offline solution the most utilised outcome
(ODAC & Code4SA)
iNeighbourhood
Neighbourhood-centred; peer-to-peer platform; won Evernote comp, private sector; the problem of monetising hyperlocal
(private company)
Ourhood
Organic; social media; facilitated by open data; collaboration; legitimacy
Indonesian Elections 2014
AskAfrica
The development context; bureaucracies and the ‘critical error’; same problems on new technology
(ODAC)
askAFRICA
Vital participation institution; translating complicated info; how/who to market?
(PMG & Code4SA)
People’s Assembly
Emerging issues
• Legal and policy• Regional context• Critical amount of users
• The Ushahidi outlier• Infoglut and the hyperlocal• Sustainability
• Data• Cost
• Apathy/privacy• Repression online • Slow development
• Silos
Recommendations
The internet is not a the new superhero, but it is the new frontier.
Be the pioneer.
1. Don’t focus on the internet. Focus on the problem.
2. True innovation means thinking outside technology.
3. Empower the actors.
Rulz
IMAGE CREDITS
YAAAAAAYYYYY PIXABAY!!!!
Bassets Running, by BenfromSalem @flickr
