g4c2c: Enabling Citizen Engagement at Arms' Length from Government

g4c2c: Enabling Citizen Engagement at Arms’ Length from Government Axel Bruns and Adam Swift ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation / Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology [email_address] – http://snurb.info/ – @snurb_dot_info [email_address]

Government 2.0 in Australia
From above:
E.g. DBCDE’s Digital Economy blog
Government-operated, resulting in general criticism
Problems with effective management by public service
Limited impact on government decision-making
From below:
E.g. GetUp!’s Project Democracy politician tracker
NGO-operated, good functionality
Problems with limited take-up by target community
Limited recognition by government decision-makers
(cf. Bruns & Wilson, EDEM 2009 )

(Excerpt from comments to first DBCDE blog post, archived at http://www.archive.dbcde.gov.au/2009/july/future_directions_blog/topics/minister_tanners_welcome)

g2c and c2c – Flawed Models?
g2c:
May be mere service delivery, not community consultation
Or: simply perceived as insubstantial spin
Apparent citizen participation as fig leaf for government
Process of impacting on government decisions unclear
c2c:
May generate open and engaged debate
But: often only by the usual (disempowered) suspects
Perception of inherent bias – unrepresentative community
Unable to match the clout of established lobby groups
Too distant from political actors to be recognised

Towards g4c2c
Desirable qualities for citizen consultation:
Government support and recognition
Independent and flexible operation and management
Distant enough to allow real community development
Close enough for outcomes to be accepted as meaningful
E.g. Australian Government 2.0 Task Force during 2009:
Initiated by federal government, but independent quasi-NGO
Hosted at gov2.net.au , separate from government servers
Significant initiatives to generate community participation
Outcomes recognised by federal government (but follow-up actions yet to be seen)

(Government 2.0 Task Force’s GovHack event, 30-31 Oct. 2009)

g4c2c
Government support for citizen-to-citizen initiatives:
Hybrid model combining g2c and c2c aspects
Government-supported, but at arms’ length from government
Public service broadcasting approach (and operated by PSBs?)
Participation by citizens as well as politicians and officials
Cf. ‘Civic Commons 2.0’ (Coleman & Blumler 2009):
a space of intersecting networks, pulled together through the agency of a democratically connecting institution (182)

Lost Opportunity: Australia’s 2020 Summit
Australia 2020 Summit (19-20 April 2008):
Gathering of 1000 invited notable Australians
Debate across ten ‘critical areas’ for the future
Open forum for generating and harnessing new ideas
Distilled into a report for government
Blanket coverage on ABC2 digital TV channel, and online fora
But: online fora cumbersome, and closed only days after Summit
Summit report produced by public servants, with little follow-up
No continuing debate on Summit issues (also due to GFC)
Journalistic coverage one-way and one-dimensional

( Australia 2020 Summit – Image courtesy of the Australian Government, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet)

2020 as g4c2c: Imaging Future Australia
What would a g4c2c version of the 2020 Summit look like?
Broader community participation:
Open online fora in addition to the 1000 Summit delegates
Intersection of online and offline consultations
Arms’ length from government:
Operated by ABC or dedicated public service body
Officially endorsed but independently organised and reported
Longer timeframe:
Initial development of themes and selection of participants
Summit as central event, but connected with other activities
Tracking of outcomes and their implementation in policy

Further Information
Axel Bruns
Associate Professor
ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation
Creative Industries Faculty
Queensland University of Technology
Brisbane, Australia
[email_address] – @snurb_dot_info
http://snurb.info/
http://produsage.org/
http://gatewatching.org/
Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond:From Production to Produsage (Peter Lang, 2008)
Uses of Blogs , eds. Axel Bruns and Joanne Jacobs (Peter Lang, 2006)
Gatewatching: Collaborative Online News Production (Peter Lang, 2005)
Adam Swift Researcher Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology Brisbane, Australia [email_address]

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g4c2c: Enabling Citizen Engagement at Arms' Length from Government

by Axel Bruns on Apr 30, 2010

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g4c2c: Enabling Citizen Engagement at Arms’ Length from Government — Webinar Transcript