eDemocracy across the UK Gez Smith eDemocracy Consultant Delib

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e-Democracy across the UKGez
Smithe-Democracy ConsultantDelib
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The challenge

• Creating greater citizen participation in the
  decisions and issues that affect their lives

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The solution

• Engaging citizens in the participatory process
• Educating and informing participation
• Providing opportunities for deliberation and
  response
• Building trust through demonstrable feedback
• Giving citizens the tools to shape their own
  futures
• Managing more with finite budgets

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3 primary methodologies

• E-learning - one to many
• E-consultation - many to one
• Social software - many to many

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Citizen Space Local

• e-Consultation system, primarily for local
  government
• Online surveys, registration/engagement,
  consultation database and internal networking
• Modular toolkit to meet exact needs
• Currently being rebuilt for Bristol City Council
  - Ask Bristol

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CSL Results

• Used by central, regional and local govt in
  different forms
• Large savings in response collection, data
  analysis and respondent engagement
• Embedded well into existing processes,
  complementary, not replacing

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Budget Simulator

• Used for consulting on budgets and finance,
  primarily in local government
• Educates about spending issues, and encourages
  trade offs between service levels, council tax
  and consequences
• Simple off the shelf package, also customisable
• At its core a priority simulator

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Budget Simulator results

• Used by over 15 different local authorities, from
  urban to rural
• All increased response rates on previous budget
  consultations
• Proven to be particularly effective with younger
  people - 25 of respondents under 18 and 33
  under 25
• Soon to be reused as a priority simulator,
  distinct from budget processes

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Picture poll

• Pilot project with National e-Democracy Project
• Answer two questions with rating response, add
  demographics and free text
• See results in context with others immediately
• Read others comments and context

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Picture Poll results

• Around 150 participants during pilot period
• Most users made 2-5 visits to site
• 86 satisfaction with site in evaluation user
  survey, 79 interest in seeing others results

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Ideas Tree

• Submit ideas on a topic in an engaging
  environment
• Submit photograph and demographic detail
• Read and rate others ideas

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Ideas Tree results

• Used by organisations such as Macmillan Cancer
  Support and DoH
• Macmillan saw over 500 ideas and thousands of
  ratings
• DoH currently nearing 1500 ideas nationally, and
  over 50,000 ratings

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www.goplacesdothings.org

• Consultation and engagement microsite for young
  people
• Combined Ideas Tree with blog and background
  information
• Promoted widely through schools and local media
• Produced qualitative and quantitative data

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www.goplacesdothings.org results

• Over 1000 unique users in 6 week process
• Nearly 100 ideas submitted, over 500 ratings
• Offline event attendance increased, and post
  event engagement augmented

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Pimp my Party

• Viral gaming consultation tool
• Users play viral game, responding to choices and
  reading information
• Game choices made collected and analysed
• Game promoted virally through send to friend
  functionality

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Pimp my Party results

• 46,000 responses nationally in 4 weeks with tiny
  marketing budget
• Over 200,000 unique visitors
• Coverage in national print, radio and television
  media due to innovation hook
• David Hasslehof won leadership contest, David
  Cameron second

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Networking/collaboration

• Sites to allow people to create profiles, network
  with one another, share ideas.
• Created for Electoral Reform Society, now in use
  by East Midlands Charity Sector
• Provides complete stakeholder portal

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Elections - Election Alarm Clock

• Sign up for email and SMS reminders to register
  to vote and vote
• Promoted virally through elejumper game
• In use by 5 Local Authorities since creation
  early 06, more signing up currently

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Election Alarm Clock results

• 6 Local Authorities used in 07, many more
  expected in 08
• Engagement varied from around 100 registrants to
  over 13,000 (Swindon BC)
• Difficult to discern increase in turnout, hard to
  ignore likelihood
• Only 12 unsubscribes from 13,000 emails

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Elections - My Election

• Complete election information portal
• Candidate details, election dates, polling
  station mapping, FAQs, real time results
  information
• Piloted with Swindon Council May 06, now used
  across UK

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My Election results

• Over 5000 unique users in 07
• Almost complete absence of other election info
  enquiries, system paid for self in person hours
  saved
• Change in law in 07 to facilitate candidate
  information publication

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e-Learning - Demgames

• Pilot e-Learning Project for ODPM and National
  e-Democracy Project
• Educating young people about political activity
  in a fun and engaging way
• 3 games - Councillor Quest, Captain Campaign and
  Money Manager
• Used by around 150 UK Local Authorities

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Demgames results

• Used by 1 in 4 UK Local Authorities
• Also used across globe, usage from every country
  in developed world
• 1.5 million unique users since 2004
• Possibly most successful project from National
  Project on Local e-Democracy

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e-Learning - Demworld

• Youth website for local authorities
• Provide council information in a virtual town
  format
• Scaleable to accommodate different information
  levels
• About to be piloted with Wandsworth Council

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Where next?

• Greater emphasis on engagement over merely
  software
• Provide tools to empower and connect people -
  reuse existing tools and avoid licensing costs
• Integrate new technologies more closely with
  existing processes
• Never be afraid to admit failure

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Further information

• Contact
• Gez Smith, E-Democracy Consultant, Delib
• E gez_at_delib.co.uk
• T 0845 638 1848
• M 11 Ropemaker Court, Lower Park Row, Bristol,
  BS1 5BN, UK
• W www.delib.co.uk