Issues Forums Webinar

Citizen Media and Online Engagement: Webinar Part 2 – Issues Forums Steven Clift, E-Democracy.Org Listen to this webinar from: http://e-democracy.org/webinars

E-Democracy.Org Issues Forums Steven Clift, Founder and Board Chair E-Democracy.Org

The Problem
Lack of Participation in Local Democracy
Time
Trust and accountability
Loss of civility
Sense your voice won’t be heard

The Problem
Need to Make Participation More Effective
Timely access to information and opinions when it matters
Openness and inclusion
Building social capital
Need more deliberative opportunities
People need to experience lasting power and influence

We Are Building
Any time, anywhere democracy
Two-way online town hall meeting
NOT typical male-dominated political blogs (Hyde Park) or reactionary anonymous reader comments on news sites
Demand for local information and news in a democracy
Low-cost, volunteer-based, network of service club like local democracy committees – 15+ communities

World First – Democratic Roots
We created the world’s first election web site way back in 1994 …
After the election, people kept talking in our Minnesota Politics forum.
We realized that it was our job to be a trusted, neutral host of ongoing dialogue among those from diverse perspectives and backgrounds.
Talk is cheap. Actually, “Conversation is cost-effective.”

Blogs are not everything. Need to pick and choose among multiple tools based on your goals. Goal: Two-way local dialogue. Tool: E-mail list/web forum

Need Public Spaces – Online Versions of Town Halls, Capitols
Online public spaces, not just “public” commercial spaces
Need
Decorum and civility
Local relevance
Agenda-setting and impact on decision-makers
Real names and accountability
<- The Minnesota Capitol Rotunda

Local Issues Forums
The online town hall
City-wide, neighborhoods as well
Where is local power? – We place an online public space in the center
“ Government websites don’t have sidewalks.” (Or public hearings online.)
Need for independent online spaces for media accountability
Locally “owned” by civic-inspired citizen committee as part of E-Democracy.Org

Some Stories
Dairy Queen in the public parks
Park board members starts discussion
Daily paper absent from board meeting
Vigorous debate online gets in paper
Decision reversed at next meeting packed with the public

Dori from St. Paul
Active citizens and “average” citizens raise their voices
Ten minute “GSE” (Gopher State Ethanol) video at
http://e-democracy.org/experience
Dori Ullman raises her voice about the stench

Jamal from Minneapolis
Large Somali community in Minneapolis
Their “voice” was missing despite past outreach
Bus strike provided motivation and real world reason to join and post to forum
Contacted by Mayor, media after forum posts

Mayor Rybak from Minneapolis
In 2001, RT Rybak announced mayoral candidacy on forum before press conference
More video clips
The Seven O'clock Meeting
Budget Issues - Informing
Let’s Ski - Gathering Ideas
Two-way Won’t Kill You
More video:
http://e-democracy.org/experience

Issues Forums – E-Democracy.Org Recent Topics
Local schools
Support for area war veterans
Neighborhood park changes
Water quality and shortage
Crime and policing
Candidates and elections
Feral cat problem
Racetrack noise pollution

Issues Forums

Local Issues Forums Today
Bemidji, MN – 100 members, Just opened
Cass Lake Leech Lake – 153 members, New
Cook County, MN – Opening soon
Grand Rapids, MN – Opening soon
Minneapolis, MN – 1051 members
Cedar Riverside – 103 members, Just opened
Seward NHood – 192 members
Standish-Ericsson NHood – 310 members
Powderhorn Nhood – Opening Soon
St. Paul, MN – 628 members
Roseville, MN – 197 members
Winona, MN – 87 members
Las Vegas, NM – 112 members
Central Ohio Region – 126 members
Brighton and Hove, UK – 280 members
Newham, UK – 177 members
Bristol 2 NHoods, UK – 220 members
Oxford 3 NHoods, UK – 318 members
Canterbury (Christchurch), NZ – 223 members

How Issues Forum Work, Starting One Steve Kranz

How Issues Forums Work C i t i z e n s Starting with “private” citizens moving toward public e-citizens Extensive personal online networks exist – friends, family, co-workers Personal Networks

How Issues Forums Work Local E-Democracy group creates the public “space”, defines charter (scope) C i t i z e n s Issues Forum GroupServer e-mails posts web view Personal Networks

How Issues Forums Work C i t i z e n s Issues Forum GroupServer e-mails posts web view Subscribe once Commitment secured Recruit citizens, elected officials, media, etc. with “sticky” opt-in Personal Networks

How Issues Forums Work
Participants agree to rules
Sign real name
Post no more than twice a day
Stay within scope of local charter
Understand they can be suspended for violations
Forum is facilitated, NOT pre-moderated, those posting content are 100% responsible for what they post

How Issues Forums Work Position forum in center of real power Political Activist Reporter Citizen #1 Mayor Citizen #2 Candidate Researcher City Council Neighborhood Leader Student Forum Manager Citizen #500 Gadfly C i t i z e n s Issues Forum GroupServer e-mails posts web view Post via e-mail/web e-publish, many-to-many Personal Networks

Issues Forums Agenda-setting discussions, “e-mail leaks,” facilitation and rule enforcement key Political Activist Reporter Citizen #1 Mayor Citizen #2 Candidate Researcher City Council Neighborhood Leader Student Forum Manager Citizen #500 Gadfly C i t i z e n s Issues Forum GroupServer e-mails posts web view Online discussions in the heart of local power Subscribe once Commitment secured Post via e-mail/web Leader’s Office “ Secondary Networks ” e-mail forwards media agenda-setting Council Department Personal Networks Local Media Coverage

GroupServer – E-mail/web
Easy to find
By geography
E-mail or web - your choice
Technology enhancements
Share through open source
Leveraging blogging standards, web feeds
More: http://e-democracy.org/groupserver

Sample Forum – Web View Entering reply here

Sample Forum – E-mail View

Our Approach
Leverage democratic information from government, media, political sectors
Open sharing of lessons, how-to
Open source software
Local up – do not colonize
Low cost – volunteer driven, shared infrastructure and org. identity

Start Up Overview
5-10 Person Steering Committee
Volunteer Forum Manager
Other participant roles
Recruit 100 initial participants
Open forum and facilitate
Enforce civility/scope rules

Form Steering Committee
A local “democracy committee”
based on the service club model – Lions, Rotary
Can form in association with related efforts
e.g. KAXE’s online community media initiative
Needs convening spirit
Key to community trust is a mix of public members not all part of one political faction

Drafting Your Charter
Two-three sentence description will determine scope, set tone for years
Longer charter is your local detailed description that guides the forum
Supported by universal E-Democracy.Org rules (terms of participation)
Use charter drafting to involve the community in a “what do we really want” conversation to ensure broad sense of ownership

Mapping Local Power
Recruitment to make the forum “matter” politically is essential, best upfront
Elected officials, community leaders, local journalists, active citizens
“ Average” citizens will not waste time in a forum that does not matter
Work from the “center” and avoid marginalization
Gives the deliberations reach and local agenda-setting power

Recruiting 100+ Members
Build it and they will NEVER come
Most similar efforts fail on recruitment not technology
One at a time – In-person recruitment, community events
Outreach - local media, “virtual door knocking”

Forum Facilitation
Forum manager guides the forum, enforces the rules
Selected and held accountable by local steering committee
Peer training/support with E-Democracy.Org’s network of forum managers
Issues Forum guidebook chapter, Minneapolis lessons:
http://e-democracy.org/if

Participant/Volunteer Roles
Readers – Active “listeners” are crucial to forum’s value
Opinionators – Everyday talkers, often have views on everything
Starters – Discussion starters, look for topics in the news, etc., ask questions
Seekers – Seek out and share community announcements, links to government agendas, documents, etc.
Goal – A mix, with 15-20% posting participation rate of registered users each month

Open the Forum
Introductions – Humanize forum with round of introductions
Seed Discussion Topics – If/as needed
Special Events in Forum – Guest speakers (Canterbury), State of the City Text/Video (St. Paul)
Build “e-citizen” skills of community overtime
Think long term, encourage sense of community ownership, value based on what people contribute not how they are served

Local E-Democracy Committee
Define and assign ongoing volunteer roles, meet ~quarterly
Set twice a year outreach/new member goals
Help Forum Manager raise quality of discussion when needed
Hold Forum Manager accountable, review complaints/rules appeals
Promote local “e-democracy” improvements in government and media and through special projects

Conclusion

What Makes Us Different
Many to many with real names and civility
Strength in people-based model and processes that allow us to adapt technologically
Agenda-setting – Real world pragmatic approach versus empowering citizens isolated from influence
Recruitment process leads to far deeper geographic participation that pure blogs or social networks
Technology choice – e-mail, web, blog feeds, future social network application

One final story …

Steven Clift posted humorously about the “public health risks of a large squirrel population” in the Minneapolis forum’s early days.
From Southwest Journal newspaper
by Martiga Lohn
Most days, mpls-issues is a substantive discussion of important public policy issues…
However … here are a few excerpts from this burning issue …
> Go to hardware store…buy trap…set track…kill squirrel. End of public policy question.
> Grab a trap and KILL the squirrel????????? Why must we destroy a living thing as a solution?
> Rocky and his friends are out of control. … If you want evidence, try to eat a sandwich on a bench in Loring Park.
> Quit telling people to move their nasty attack squirrels to wooded areas (i.e., Minneapolis parks) — we already have our fair share.
> I ran on an anti-squirrel platform for Student Legislature at Syracuse University in my freshman year in college. I promised to eradicate the nuisance squirrel population. It was my first election loss.
Squirrel Story

Conclusion
If this inspires you …
Let’s form a steering committee
Find a local forum manager
Draft a charter
Recruit 100 people
Open to dynamic and useful local public issue discussions online – any where, anytime participation
Change local democracy forever

Act Now
Visit http://e-democracy.org/if
Read, watch, then fill out worksheets:
http://pages.e-democracy.org/Start_A_Forum

Additional Training Slides

What Makes Us Different
Some comparisons
Blogs – Hyper-individualistic and more male, democratize national punditry more than empower locally – Our model equitable two-way conversation with greater female participation
Citizen media/online news – Vastly more expensive starting point per community – Our model create demand for better local news, brings stories to the surface
Social networks – Publicize private life – Our model make real geographic public life accessible anywhere, any time
Independent efforts – Often fail due to lack of knowledge or use of inappropriate technology – Our model is tried and tested over a decade with a shared network for support and proven technology that reduces volunteer burn-out and help local democracy online efforts launch successfully – That said we hope that for every community that joins our network, 10 other projects will learn from or be inspired by us including citizen media projects

Small Groups
Come up with a rule and a technology feature that would:
1. Increase the diversity of opinions
2. Increase participation by women/youth/older citizens – diversity of participants
3. Make posting by elected officials more likely
4. Increase respect for those with differing opinions, increase trust or civility among members
5. Help readers/posters find value more quickly
6. Move participants toward consensus or allow group to agree on what they disagree about
7. Avoid alienating political minorities while allowing majority positions to become known
8. Hold forum managers/hosts more accountable to their responsibilities
9. Troll group – List strategies for destroying an online community, technologies you prefer

Your Questions/Challenges
What do you need to know?
What are you concerned about?
Have you had a different experience you’d like to share?
There are 5 right ways and 95 wrong paths. How do you choose which is better?

Report Back
Small groups – Write down:
One rule
Best tech idea
Questions:
Top question
Best advice/example

Who makes a good Forum Manager?
Sincere belief in value of dialogue
Respect for diverse ideologies
Patience
Thick skin, can handle public criticism
People skills – easier to teach tech skills
Not intimidated by technology
Common sense approach to facilitation, ability to ask questions, guide diplomatically, act quickly when required
Time available, committed

Forum Management Tasks - 1
Keeping the space “safe” or civil for all participants
Encouraging/enforcing compliance with forum rules
Keeping discussions on topic (within scope or purpose of forum)

Rules
Rules summary - http://e-democracy.org/rules
1. Sign Posts - Use your real name.
2. Limits on Posting - Two per member per day in most forum charters.
3. Keep Topics within Forum Purpose - Local issues on a local forum, for example.
4. Be Civil - This is a public forum with real people. Respect among citizens with differing views is our cornerstone.
5. No Attacks or Threats - This keeps the forums safe. If content is illegal it will be forwarded to the proper legal authorities.
6. Private Stays Private - Don't forward private replies without permission.
7. Avoid False Rumors - Asking for clarification of what you've heard in the community can be appropriate if issues-based. You alone are responsible for what you post.
8. Right to Post and Reply - Sharing your knowledge and opinions with your fellow citizens is a democratic right.
9. Items Not Allowed in Forums - No attachments, etc.
10. Public Content and Use - You are sharing your content, but you retain your copyright.
11. Warnings - You may receive informal or official warnings from the Forum Manager.
12. Suspension - With your second official warning in one year, you are suspended for two weeks. It goes up from there.
13. Appeals Process - You can appeal a warning(s) once you receive a third warning and six-month removal. About one in 1,500 forum members each year have appealed a six-month removal in past years.

Welcoming new members
Managing message volume
in both unmoderated and moderated forums
Introducing new topics
Sharing media/website links
Asking a question
Encouraging alternative viewpoints
Moving discussion along

Supporting and encouraging good behavior
Responding to participant questions or complaints
Waiting for complaints versus public/private action
Ongoing recruitment
Tasks can be distributed/shared

Additional Models
E-Debates – Candidates (parties) on the virtual stage for two weeks
Four major themes debated, rebuttals required
Ten short answer questions
http://e-democracy.org/e-debates

Additional Models
Voter Voices response to e-debate and more - Video, pictures, blog posts tagged “mnpolitics”
http://e-democracy.org/voices
E-Democracy.Org’s Wiki
Election links directory
Community links
Citizens Guide to St. Paul

Bonus Slides Winona Case Study

Winona Story
Starting Point
City of 25,000
Existing channels of civic engagement (newspaper, public meetings, speaking events, etc.)
Reasonably accessible elected officials.
Content

Winona Story
Goal
To give everyone a greater voice in decisions that affect the community, increase civic participation, and help encourage more input into solutions to local problems.

Winona Story
Held and event like this.
Contact information was collected.
Invitation to follow up meeting to discuss implementation in Winona.
Eight people attended & agreed to form a steering committee.
Email list created for organizing.

Winona Story
Created website with more detailed information, so that interested people could find out more.
Virtual Door Knocking.
Recruited local organizations to do virtual door knocking. (LWV, teachers’ union, city government, local universities) – 850 email addresses.

Winona Story
Endorsing Organizations & Founding Members to build credibility.
Offline recruitment: brochure, newspaper coverage, cable-access television, table events.
Launched with 106 members.
First topic: What are the three most important issues in the community?

Winona Story
Snapshot of First Eight Weeks
238 posts by 53 different authors. (4.5/day)
Participation included elected officials and government administrators.
Variety of Discussions, including:

Winona Story
Example Discussion Topics
Identifying dangerous intersections. (mayor)
Improving digital divide. (county human services)
Shortfalls in education funding, rebuilding historic courthouse, plans to increase railroad traffic.

Winona Story
Expanded to 230 people
Hosted mixed live/online events
National/International attention.

http://e-democracy.org	281
http://stevenclift.com	100
http://blog.e-democracy.org	79
http://www.e-democracy.org	12
http://jillmillerzimon.blogspot.com	4
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	2
http://jillmillerzimon.blogspot.co.uk	2

Issues Forums Webinar

by Steven Clift on Feb 04, 2009

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