Fiorella De Cindio's talk at ISDT11

1. WHAT AFTER PROTESTS?
DESIGN ISSUES AND SOFTWARE TOOLS
TOWARD DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY
Fiorella De Cindio
Dept. of Informatics and Communication
University of Milan
&
RCM (Milano Community Network) Foundation
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2. LIC and Foundation RCM
LIC: Laboratorio di Informatica Civica (dal 1994)
 framework: social interactive systems in real life settings
 analysis, design and development of methods, software tools and
field experiencs in the area of e-participation, in particular at the
local level
The first initiative (since Sept. 1994): t
 the Milan Community Network (RCM >25.000 registered
members) inspired to Community Networks e Free Nets
 since December 1998, a Participatory Foundation
 a long series of projects and initiatives
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ISDT 2011, Porto

3. Thanks
To Gary for inventing ISDT and inviting me in 2000
and 2010
To the organizers of ISDT 2011 for inviting me
again
Gary’s focus: strongly rooted in CPSR
Computer Professional for Social Responsibility
what computer scientists and professionals can do Gary, ISDT 2009
to help people we are discussing with in other ISDT
talks ?
 to develop digital systems that allow people
to shape a “better” world
 to understand how to develop these systems
 to understand more the nature of our discipline
 “Will we be smart enough, soon enough?”
(Doug Schuler, ISDT 2009)
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ISDT 2011, Porto

4. The informatics perspective
K.Nygaard
A.Kay
The best way privato
Settore to forecast Settore pubblico
future is to invent it
economia, mercato PA, istituzioni
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5. The empirical nature of Informatics (Nygaard, 1986)
Differently from Mathematics and Engineering,
Informatics (not Computer Science) is an empirical science
The programmable computer
Consists of:
1. a phenomenology, or empirical basis, i.e. phenomena
(any fact, circumstance, or experience that is apparent to the sense)
to be studied (their identification, observed behaviours, and
properties)
ex.: Tycho Brahe in astronomy, Lynneus in botany
• computability
2. comprehension and explanation of phenomena through • complexity
models based on an underlying theory • concurrency
(properties, concepts, relations,..... anticipation of behaviour)
• (regular)
ex.: Newton in astronomy, Darwin in botany languages
3. Validation of models and theories through experiments • ……….
ex.: the experiments at CERN in Physics
experiments have to be designed
just applications
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6. Tahrir Square February 18, 2011
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7. Milan, Duomo Square, May 30, 2011
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8. Divergent and polarized opinions
“We are the Men of
Facebook”
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9. Rome, San Giovanni Square, June 12, 2011: the Gay Pride
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10. Can ICT help people to shape “their” world ?
“after (successful) protest” or “after (successful) elections”:
How can we design technology to support
 the evolution and sustainability of protest movements (mainly)
raised online ?
 citizens’ movements
-- which have found online support to organize and mobilize
to set up a democratic organization ?
 the request coming from these aggregations of engaged citizens
for a more inclusive democracy ?
 Public institutions which really want to engage citizens,
but need to learn how to do it in a sustainable way
 ………….
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11. The empirical nature of Informatics (Nygaard, 1986)
Differently from Mathematics and Engineering,
Informatics (not Computer Science) is an empirical science
The network society
Consists of:
1. a phenomenology, or empirical basis, i.e. phenomena
(any fact, circumstance, or experience that is apparent to the sense)
to be studied (their identification, observed behaviours, and
properties)
At least
ex.: Tycho Brahe in astronomy, Lynneus in botany
framework(s), i.e.,
2. comprehension and explanation of phenomena through of organized
set(s)
models based on an underlying theory concepts and tools
(properties, concepts, relations,..... anticipation of behaviour) disciplines
from various
ex.: Newton in astronomy, Darwin in botany
3. Validation of models and theories through experiments
ex.: the experiments at CERN in Physics
experiments have to be designed
Case studies in real-life settings
Transparent failure (Kuhn, 1963) to learn from experience:
The structure of scientific revolutions successes & failures
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ISDT 2011, Porto

12. A double iteration
real-life settings
to learn from experience
Da “Web Science” (2008): Tim Berners-Lee et al.
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13. My “lab” is Italy
1. it is a well established democracy, with a very good Constitution
written after 20 years of the Fascist regime
2. it suffers (since ~10/15 years) of a “democratic anomaly”
it is governed by Prime Minister Berlusconi who is at the same
time a tycoon owner of a large media empire
he owns or controls quite directly all (but one ?) national TV
channels; indirectly major national newspapers, ….
3. the net is more and more the unique channel for gathering and
distributing information (against media control), organizing
activities, sharing experiences and speaking freely:
in summary for sustaining civic engagement and organizing
political opposition
A good laboratory for addressing the “after protest” issues
 mistakes and opportunities
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14. What about the use of existing platforms
 Risk 1  lesson 1 from a “success” story
from blogger to political leader
 Risk 2  lesson 2 from a failure
Facebook
(I developed and used these examples to discuss
with citizens and politicians)
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15. A frequent mistake
both public institutions and grassroots movements, when realize the
need of setting up an online space for civic purposes
 either open space(s) on Facebook, Twitter, Ning,
a Google group, …
 place side by side a “collage” of some popular web-based
applications/modules:
 some discussion boards
 a blog area
 polls
 some social network features
 both
critical in terms of resources and of citizens participation
Problems:
 tools and spaces conceived and designed for different purposes and
for a different audience
 lack of design (no design)
 often delegating the implementation to somebody else (a web agency
or the most skilled guy ,i.e., a techie)
Fiorella de Cindio
ISDT 2011, Porto

16. Bologna, September 8, 2007
Bologna, September 8, 2007 Last posts:
- 676 comments
- 847 comments
- 1043 comments
organized through Beppe Grillo’s blog
organized through Beppe Grillo’s blog
against the political “caste”
http://www.casaleggio.it/
against the political “caste” thefutureofpolitics
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17. Beppe Grillo’s blog  The 5 Stars MoVement
Many people see him as a leader against Berlusconi and the political caste
 increasing score in local elections
~10% in Emilia-Romagna, ~5% in Piemonte
 real impact on the results (non elections of left-coalition
candidates)
While he is probably another example of the case:
“I/we participate, he/they profit”
The main problem is actually the way in which the Beppe Grillo’s blog is
managed: because of is public role, it is no longer the ‘private’ space
of a popular blogger
The blog is managed by a private company whose mission is to develop
the web presence and strategy of customer companies for marketing
purposes
They apply the same approach to Grillo’s blog
 capillary and non manifest control through
“hidden” moderators
 fully non democratic
 promote a deceitful “vision” of the future which demands to
reflect about direct online democracy
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18. > 500.000
Violet People
Self-organized through page
no support from political parties and trade unions
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19. the Violet People Facebook page
• created and managed by an anonymous profile -- San Precario:
who is the actual owner of the page ?
Nobody knows (actually, someone knows)
• the day after the demonstration, the Fb page is ‘renewed’:
only some of the admins of the NoB Day page are invited again
(by San Precario)
• the rules for managing the page changed several times according to Fb
needs, and “San Precario” choices
• rise of conflicts within the administrators group around political issues:
• relationship between the national group and the local groups
• internal democracy of the movememnt
became issues about passwords, permission, time, ….
The Violet movement in one year became marginal (disappeared)
Fiorella de Cindio
ISDT 2011, Porto

20. Candidates at the primary elections of the left coalition for
Mayor of the City of Milan
To ask a question, a citizen as to click “I like”
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21. Fiorella de Cindio
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22. Undemocratic o non democratic?
“you are indeed NON DEMOCRATIC” !
Who is non democratic:
Pisapia, Boeri, Onida, Sacerdoti….
or Facebook?
or the problem is in using Facebook
for a wrong purpose
[ex. : no permalink
 the ‘intelligence’ flows away]
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23. a metaphor
If I have to organize a seminar, a conference or a political forum
Spaces
and tools
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24. Software System Design is like architecture
Software is not just a device with which the user interacts
it is also the generator of a space in which the user lives.
Software design is like architecture:
When an architect designs an home or an
office building ... the pattern of life
for its inhabitants are being shaped.
People are thought of as inhabitants
rather than as users of buildings...
focusing on how they live in the spaces
the designers create
Terry Winograd
We speak of DIGITAL HABITATS
Bringing Design to Software, 1996
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25. Architects of social change
Issues to be considered
 why people should participate ?
 why politicians should participate ?
 who is the owner the online space where participation occurs ?
 who is the owner of the participants archives ?
 who manages it ?
 who defines the conversation roles and rules (moderators,
administrators, participats)
 who, when and how can change them ?
 who intervene when rules are violated ?
 …..……
As architects of these spaces, we are shaping the social structure of the
movements/initiative
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26. OUR design problem
 groups of citizens who really want to influence the decision-
making process [at the local level]
also in case of reluctant institutions
 public institutions which really want to involve citizens in the
decision-making process
need concepts and tools to design and implement
civic/deliberative digital habitats
i.e., online spaces created for enabling people’ civic engagement
need a way to organize these concepts
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27. The need for a design framework
a collection of (organized) concepts
 discussed in the literature
 rooted in the democratic tradition
 learned by experience
to support conversations among promoters and designers of
civic/deliberative digital habitats
empirically tested
 in our own initiatives
 in the analysis of several case studies
 in education
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28. A design framework for designing civic digital habitats
Consists of 4
1. to balance 3 dimensions and support different kind of activities
(4 spaces)
2. to design the osmosis with the Internet
3. to involve people in the design/development process
4. to design participation over time
Continuously evolving (a wiki ?)
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29. (1) to balance 3 dimensions
Toennis (1887) Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft
Technology • tools
• features
Gesellschaft Gemeinschaft
The rules which define the social The “glue” which takes people
structure together
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30. The gemeinschaft dimension
participation is demanding
 it cannot be a continuum
 keep on the fly occasions which trigger participation
 allow different types and degree of participation
(provide opportunities)
participation (not technology) is a learning process
 citizens: responsibility & awareness
 politicians: delegate power
never assume sharing of goals, may be interests
Effective metaphor of a win-win game which brings together
a set of social actors
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31. The gesellschaft dimension
What is the participatory contract among the social actors (never
users or customers) ? (terms of service)
Which identification policy?
 Anonymity
How to preserve a civil, civic dialogue?
 Galateo (code of conduct)
Who is the referee?
 Moderation as a service to the community
Who is the ‘guarantor’ of the game?
 The role of third parties (My Society, RCM Foundation)
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32. The Violet People: a case to learn
Gemeinschaft : a masterpiece
 a very well identified shared interest
 mapped into effective
logo, slogan, color
Gesellschaft &Technology: a disaster
 an anonymous administrator
who bans the other admins as soon as
they manifest a divergent opinion
 Facebook:
the rules for managing the page
changed several times according
to Fb marketing needs
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33. The technology dimension: spaces and tools
Individual Community
participation cultivation
interazioni interazioni
asincrone sincrone
Wenger et al. 2005, publishing
Technology for communities
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34. The technology dimension: spaces and tools
Community Space Personal Space
free interactions reputation
the “pic-nic” space social relationship
Deliberative Space
purposeful
Information interactions
Space
knowledge sharing
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35. the need for dedicated tool
E. Wenger et al. 2005
• platform (hopefully, open-source)
• tools, rooted in the democratic tradition
• features, enforcing ‘good’ behaviours
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36. openDCN, an open-source platform
Inspiration
 from the analysis of offline participatory processes
(Agenda 21, participatory budgeting, deliberative polling)
a set of different deliberation modalities
 adapted by observing recent citizens praxis
Informed Discussion (asynchronous, several participants)
rationale, interactive, responsible, fair,…
supported by a georeferential map
Deliberative Meeting (synchronous, not too many participants)
regulated by Robert’s Rules of Order
Citizens Consultation (asynchronous, many participants)
vote anonimity, secrecy, uniqueness, reliability, ….
Problems & Proposals (asynchronous, several participants)
a more structured informed discussion
These “democratic” features have to be ‘embedded’ within the tools
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37. Public Informed Discussion features
 rational:
I don’t attach you, but I explain why I do not agree with you,
possibly with the support of factual data
(space for documents, video, photos, ….)
 interactive:
when I say something, I take into account what has already
been said
 responsible:
people should be encouraged to ‘put their face’, while allowing
different levels of engagement (styles of citizenship)
Fiorella de Cindio
ISDT 2011, Porto

38. The design framework for designing civic digital habitats
Consists of 4
1. to balance 3 dimensions and support different kind of activities
(4 spaces)
2. to design the osmosis with the Internet
3. to involve people in the design/development process
4. to design participation over time
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39. (2) to design the osmosis with the Internet
Community Space Personal Space
free interactions reputation
social relationship
Deliberative Space
purposeful
Information interactions
Space
knowledge sharing
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ISDT 2011, Porto

40. (2) to design the osmosis with the Internet
YouTube Facebook ….... Flickr ……. Twitter
Community Space Personal Space
free interactions reputation
social relationship
Deliberative Space
purposeful
Information interactions
Space
knowledge sharing
the websites of public institutions, political parties and movements, of
single politicians, ……. It is not matter of APIs, but regards 40 role of
the
the different online environments
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ISDT 2011, Porto

41. The 2 remaining guidelines
(3) to involve people in the process
(4) to design participation over time
 through direct involvement (focus groups, interviews, surveys)
expensive and not always effective
 by learning from the field experiences
 continuous monitoring
 users feed-back gathering
 lead users  lead communties
 Designing and cultivating
 Adopting suitable approaches to software development
(e.g., agile programming)
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42. Two iterations
To validate the framework
Participatory design
through iterations
Da “Web Science” (2008): Tim Berners-Lee et al.
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43. Designing and cultivating
Digital Habitats have to be cultivated
The gardener:
 prepares the ground
 choose and sows the seeds
 waters and manures it
 looks if they sprouts
 helps the growth by cutting dead
branches
Who is the gardener ?
the community manager
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44. A case study
The compairison among similar initiatives: allow citizens to use a
map to report problems for local government to fix
 UK: http://www.fixmystreet.com/
 Venice: http://iris.comune.venezia.it/Iris/
 Udine: http://www.epart.it/udine/
 Milano: http://www.sicurezzastradale.partecipami.it/
considering
 the 4 design principles
 the 3 dimensions
gemeinschaft, gesellschaft, technology
 (spaces and) software tools
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49. Progetto IRIS: Venezia 2.0
zero comments
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50. Delegation:
to fix
the problem
in my
neighborhood
is your job
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51. ePart: the social network of the citizens who participate
but comments are disabled !
a service: Udine municipality promote it as “active listening”
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52. • most are anonymous (but those with citizens name are
published in the ePart home page)
• complains about moderation
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53. Sicure
Sicurezza Stradale (all’interno di partecipaMi)
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54. Sicurezza Stradale (Road safety)
Promoted by no profit bodies: Ciclobby and RCM Foundation
 Ciclobby obtained from the City gov to set up a forum to
discuss mobility problems for bikers (and beyond)
 RCM Foundation offered support with two spaces:
 a geo-referenced informed discussion to collect citizens
reports
 an informed discussion to follow the forum activities and
discuss general issues
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ISDT 2011, Porto

55. Sicurezza Stradale: the timeline
 31 March 2008:
the forum is set up in the City House and the web site is opened
……… citizens report ……..
 in parallel: discussion in the forum involving citizens, city council
members (opposition), the alderman
 13 Jan 2009
presentation of a summary of the citizens reports
142 problems (>50% with comments) from 97 citizens, 55 solutions
 No feedback from the administration
……… citizens continue to report ……..
 15 Nov 2011:
the Mayor discharges the Alderman
……… citizens continue to report ……..
20 new problems and several updates on the previous ones
 30 June 2011:
a new Government is elected, a former member of the forum is now
part of the gov: will the new gov consider citizens reports ?
……… citizens continue to report ……..
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ISDT 2011, Porto

56. Sicurezza Stradale is deliberative
The course of the forum is documented in a thread opened by the
President of the promoting nonprofit association (Ciclobby)
with posts from the Alderman and two influential members of
the City Council seating in the opposition
http://www.sicurezzastradale.partecipami.it/infodiscs/view/5
it contains all the relevant documentation, which would allow the
new gov to consider citizens remarks
The overall online discussion is deliberative:
 More than 50% of the problems are commented (to enforce,
to question, to arguments)
 A large majority of the threads is illustrated with documents,
photos, links, some video
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ISDT 2011, Porto

57. Sicurezza Stradale: threads that is worth considering
1. Citizens organize a petition to ask the Alderman the change of a
decision
http://www.sicurezzastradale.partecipami.it/infodiscs/view/1373
2. Citizens designs new solution providing ‘simulations’
http://www.sicurezzastradale.partecipami.it/infodiscs/view/1548
see “Materiale informativo”
3. After the remark by a citizens
http://www.sicurezzastradale.partecipami.it/infodiscs/view/1636
a Member of a District Council, presents a formal question
http://gen2007-
mag2011.partecipami.it/?q=node/11159/20516&single=1&#
and keep citizens informed on the course of her question: the problem
is going to be solved
http://gen2007-
mag2011.partecipami.it/?q=node/11159/20645&single=1&#
4. Citizens inform that a problem has been solved
http://www.sicurezzastradale.partecipami.it/infodiscs/view/1155#b
ody_1646
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58. A framework for designing Deliberative Digital Habitat
How general it is ?
How complete it is ?  merge with other frameworks
to enhances the way in which we share experiences
How useful it is ?
 it enhances the possibility that most of the relevant issues are
considered in the design as their underestimation can create
substantial problems:
 capability to undertake even simple forms of deliberation
 democracy
 sustainability of the movement/initiative
 possibility of increasing level of participation (Laura’s scale)
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59. The rainbow of digital citizenship rights
Adapted from: A. Clement and L. Shade (2000),
OECS (2001) Citizens as partners: The access rainbow: conceptualizing
Information, consultation universal access to
and public participation information/communications
infrastructure.
in policy-making
Active participation
be heard
to inform
e-gov services
be informed (transparency)
education
access
“the net”
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60. Digital Habitat
Still holds the characterization of online communities adapted in
(De Cindio e Ripamonti, 2004 → 2010) from Jenny Preece, 2000
Communities: Designing Usability, Supporting Sociability
A set of people who freely interact over time as they
1. recognize a common interest that holds them together and
lead them to share knowledge, experience, rituals, a common
story, ….
dimensione gemeischaft
2. agree to define and follow implicit or explicit policies for
regulating their interactions
dimensione gesellschaft
3. (also) through an ICT-based communication environment
dimensione tecnologica
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