Micro-participation

Micro-participation

Dave BriggsShropcamp April 2011

Tuesday, 19 April 2011

The problem: there are too few people doing

too much


Avoiding: doing the wrong things righter


Micro-participation?


A democratic version of micro-volunteering


“participation at the convenience of participants”

(Jennifer Cowley, Ohio University)


“Serious stuff doesn’t have to be boring”

(Me, a few minutes ago)


In other words:


Stop tackling 21st century problems with

19th century mechanisms!


Or:


Government needs to engage people on their

terms


Or:


I don’t have time to be a councillor, but I still

want to help!


Micro-participation can be online or off


(but the web’s a great platform!)


It’s also a matter of message as well as

medium


Some good (online) examples:


Short term, like reporting

(FixMyStreet etc)


Mass collaboration activity (like translating

Facebook)


New ways of delivering services (like the

GoodGym)


Making consultation quick, and easy (like

LetsTalkCentral)


Making meetings more accessible (like South

Yorkshire Police)


Councillors asking for residents views via a

blog before a meeting


Fundamentally:


Micro-participation makes government less

boring


Anyone have any ideas?


Anyone want to take them forward?


Let’s keep talking:

www.microparticipation.com


http://www.kindofdigital.com

http://www.kindofdigital.com

Technology

Micro-participation