Comments on: Community sites and active citizenship – a #LocalGovCamp roundup

By: Transparency v Objectivity | Local Democracy

Transparency v Objectivity | Local Democracy — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:13:22 +0000

[...] Other options include beefing up the council’s information department with a view to turning the fairly skimpy info circulars into fully-fledged newspapers or being more in tune with hyperlocal sites of the kind that Will Perrin is promoting at the moment. [...]

By: Less cynicism? Or less scepticism? | Local Democracy

Less cynicism? Or less scepticism? | Local Democracy — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:39:44 +0000

[...] already posted something here on the question of active citizenship and local sites, but I think the Birmingham project foregrounds the issue [...]

By: Rog T

Rog T — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:45:53 +0000

Victor Meldrew? “not necessarily one that is the unqualified public good” ???? – You cheeky B******d. I’ll have you know I’m half Irish & Half Australian, so there’s nothing I like better than a good row!

If I had a clue what you were actually moaning about or criticising me for I’d probably have one !

Love – Rog T – The Barnet Eye

By: Andy Mabbett

Andy Mabbett — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:02:13 +0000

“I do worry that online communities have the potential for placing a time-rich articulate middle class in an authoritative local position at the expense of everyone else.”

A reasonable concern, but it would be good to see some research into whether or not this is actually happening.

Anecdotally, three of the most active bloggers I know are a bus driver, a window- cleaner and an office admin worker.

By: alex

alex — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:47:39 +0000

here in edinburgh it was the local fe college that stepped in to save the printed word local paper. they had the skills and pro bono resources, and see themselves as a community hub.

one question – who the councils are for – their members or their officials ? if they were for their citizens, they would ask us how they were doing more than once every 4 to 5 years. they would be servant leaders more often as well.

i go with the norway view, but they seem much more prepared to devolve power.

local government in scotland is adapting to PR ; lots more coalitions required now. web2 not happening much yet.

By: Stephen Hilton

Stephen Hilton — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:08:08 +0000

Will may not like it but many council’s already have their own newspapers that are delivered to every resident. Why would it be a bad thing if council’s collected emails of local residents and (with permission) sent them this electronically?

More interestingly, I think council’s have a role to play in helping facilitate very local news. I would like to see local people skilled-up to produce community pod/video casts of local issues/news. Don’t you think councils are well placed to bring the relevant parties together with a focus on digital/social inclusion?

By: Christine Forrester

Christine Forrester — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:01:36 +0000

Thanks Dave for opening up this discussion on Saturday and for these further pertinent comments. There is a place for opening up new media channels for the expression of local views on local issues – to inform, to enable debate by providing information – but participative (or direct) democracy has limitations. Whilst we have a system of representative democracy (for all its flaws), we need to recognise the points that you make about elected councillors and their legitimated role as the elected representatives whose task is to weigh up issues and make decisions on resource allocation and on the balance of evidence, and legislative frameworks, for the provision of services etc for their areas. The problems though that we face are many: the decline of real “power’ at the local level means that many council decisions are predicated on frameworks that are set by central government, reducing the real influence that councillors have at the local level; many councillors are not informed or knowledgeable about the range of issues on which they are required to take decisions (and, cynically, many officers prefer it that way); whilst many decisions at local level should not be “party” decisions, the role of political groups in local councils can over-influence the way in which decisions are taken; the move towards Cabinet government at local level has reduced the role of back benchers in local councils to a minor, primarily scrutiny, role – and added to this the decline in participation in political parties, and the dearth of able candidates willing to stand for local government election means that our representative democracy at the local level looks increasingly irrelevant and unable to respond to the interests and concerns of local people – leading to widespread disillusion with local government processes – and thence the decline in electoral participation. But on the other side, community activism has a long history in the UK, and has always been a way for issues, often minority ones, to come onto the agenda. It is not an either/or – it is how we enable the voice of a wide range of interests to be heard, to provide information, experience and voice. The risks are that the clamour of those who can shout the loudest will be dominant, and in the web world, this for me is a significant risk, as whilst in the public face to face forum, debate can open up people’s minds, in the more private world of the web, I am concerned that the debate, the conversations, risk becoming the converted preaching to the converted. There is a balance needed. We need to rethink the role of representative democracy at the local level, and to explore and invest in the range of participative mechanisms that can fully engage citizens – both on line and off line. More effective citizen participation is not an add on to representative democracy – it is an integral part of it. We are just not at all sure as to how to make it effective, relevant, and to understand the ways in which we can ensure that a full range of voices are heard.

By: LocalGovCamp coverage — LocalGovCamp

LocalGovCamp coverage — LocalGovCamp — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:00:33 +0000

[...] Paul Evans – Community sites and active citizenship [...]