Engaging Times
Steven Clift – @democracy
E-Democracy.org
Slides: e-democracy.org/learn

Breaking the ice …
“I believe in people”

I also believe in cats …
see second video for context.

1994 – I woke up
hearing my name
on the radio …
World’s 1st election
information website
E-debate, citizen
forum online

Government by day… Citizen by night

Global
media
attention
A new
Athens of
democracy??!
Media
over-hype.

20 Years,
8 Lessons

Then 2016 happened …

2003 Prediction – Democratic
Evolution or Virtual Civil War
“Those hoping for an
almost accidental
democratic transformation
fostered by the information
technology will watch in
shock from the sidelines as
their favorite new medium
becomes the arsenal of
virtual civil war — virtual civil
wars among partisans at all
levels.”

Challenges – Post 2016 Super Storm
• President Trump,
Twitter impact
• Social media becomes
political media
• Protest echo chambers
– Like minds isolated
connections
• Anti-democratic intent
• “Fake News” v. opinion
• State sponsored digital
disinformation
• Facebook ad targeting
into amazing sharing
engine

Back to the positive lessons …
For those who seek to make
democracy better.
Join the evolution!

1. About
People

Social Media – Private Life First
… about
“Public
Life”
second
Relevance,
necessity
key

2. Power

Defining “e-democracy”
● Politics as usual
goes online, takes 15
years to figure it
out … now going
negative
● Citizens in center
with many to many
engagement
Political
Groups
Private
SectorGovernment
Media and
Commercial
Content
“E-Citizen”
Social
Media
Center

Presidential E-Campaign 2008 (Early)

3. Agenda-
Setting/Sharing

Sharing
power –
People to
people
Social media
today: FB News
Feeds, Hashtags

Agenda-setting
• Citizen to citizen engagement forming new
public opinion
• Blogging, then Facebook/Twitter/ YouTube,
influencing mass media
• Problems with 24 hour “political spin” cycle
online/cable TV news
• E-Advocacy/E-Politics resources

Tweeter in Chief

#blacklivesmatter #hashtag
fueled
urgent news
and protest
info sharing
Good Fight
podcast

Started at 9 years old …

4. Democracy
Matters

Democracy Matters
• Bring “democratic intent” forward for
real change
• Marketing v. engagement tension
• Governance that can … listen, engage,
and respond … people working together

Listen?
Respect?

Democratic Goals Strategies
1. Public Trust and
Transparency:
2. Accountability:
3. Better Decisions:
4. Effective Programs:
1. Information Access
2. Budget/Spending Data
3. Digital Public
Engagement
4. Knowledge Exchange
with Online Groups

Voting and elections

E-Petitions, FOI

5. Information
– Timely
Notification

Personalized Information
Dissemination
“Give Notice – Timely notification of
new government information and
meetings is empowering.”
Source: My blog post on
WhiteHouse.Gov, 2013

Enhancing Legislative Information

Open Government Partnership

6. Local
Matters

Problem
• Online public engagement
disconnected from place
• Representative democracy and
participatory democracy based on
place – geography matters!

Facebook-Native Local Politicians
● Minneapolis Councillors asking questions,
directly engaging, case study

7. Groups

Online groups and place
• Freedom of assembly online –
Place + online groups = powerful impact in
real democracy, in real community
• “The most democratizing aspect of the Internet is the ability
of people to organize and communicate in groups.”
Steven Clift in “Democracy is Online” article published by Internet Society, 1998

Facebook Groups - Activism

My Neighborhood
Standish and Ericsson Neighborhood, Minneapolis
About 10,000 residents - Small homes, big hearts
Shared online “Neighbors Forum” for 8 years
1400 members, ~30% households
Survey shows +7% in freq. civic activities online in Edem hoods, more
“All politics is local.” – Tip O’Neill, former US House Speaker

City Hall
In-person
Conversations
Shared on
Facebook
Your
Networks
Local
Media
Y
o
u
Local Biz
Neighbor#1
Local
Online
Groups
Join Group
Online public
space in “real”
community

Why do local online spaces
strengthen representative
democracy? Elected officials:
•“They are
my voters.”

8. Engage
Inclusively

Raising
New
Voices?
US-wide
numbers
show
divide
Source: PewInternet

E-Democracy’s
New Voices Slides
Video
More
Just Ask? Yes.

With, not for

9. Opportunities

Opportunities
1. What Works Digital Groups
2. Civic Local Online Spaces
Everywhere
3. Close Democratic Data Deficit
4. “Get Friendly” with Politicians
5. Facebook’s Building Global
Community Manifesto

What Works
Future Idea:
Community Solutions Exchange - Online
groups network for active citizens to exchange
“what works” lessons and motivation on the
top 20+ local public challenges facing every
community. Broader democracy builders.

CivicTech
OpenGov
Facebook
Group
Join 7,000+
members from
150+ nations
Sharing daily:
po.st/civictech

Local Civic Facebook Groups
• Downtown
St. Paul Pilot
• Spreading
“civic”
leadership idea
• Local Slovenia?

Democratic Open Data Deficit
● Stronger
o Budget and spending
o National politician info
o Politicized accountability
o Who can I vote for? Where?
● Weaker
o Transparency for
engagement
o Public meetings
o Local democracy
o Timely notice
● Projects to
Watch
o Open Civic Data
o EveryPolitician (mySociety)
o Google Civic API
o OpenStates
o Free Law Founders
o Councilmatic
o Ctr for Tech and Civic Life

Conclusion

Let’s be the
Engagement
Generation.
Let’s build it local everywhere. Together.

Thanks!
StevenClift.com
po.st/engageclift
e-democracy.org/learn
1RadioNews.com
@democracy
clift@e-democracy.org
+1-612-234-7072 - M

Today’s work, Ask me about …
• Digital Engagement Consultant
– How can I help you?
• E-Democracy.org – Leader…
mySociety/Poplus.org outreach
• 1RadioNews.com – Android app
small start-up company

Slides I took out for length
For dozens more recent slides, see
my June 2015 slide collection used
in Taiwan and the Philippines
Extra Slides

Trends I see …
• Accelerate
• Amplify
• Assembly
• If direction was already negative … what
can we do?

Big Challenges 2015
• Loudest voices, conflict
• Filtered for similarity, not diversity
• Continuous evolution in commercial services
• Loss of control to reach more people where
they are online

Big Challenges 2017
• Virtual civil war
• Sharing false
information
• Partisan divide
• Digital to offline
organizing
• Political social
media depression
• Leveraging
Facebook’s
community push
• Need for positive
democratic intent
investment
• Opportunity to
connect democracy
builders needs action

Digital connecting with dem. intent
• Local online spaces everywhere across
multiple platforms
– Need improved discovery, connecting leaders, joint promotion
• Connect people/govs/civsoc by
topics/projects globally ACROSS local
communities – bring “what works” home
- Beyond, but building on the Twitter hashtag

Get Friendly Campaign?
• With 10,000+ local elected
representatives across Taiwan,
what would it take for 200 people
within each local district to friend
their representative(s) on
Facebook?

Solution:
Digital town
square via local
online groups
With democratic intent
E-Democracy.org’s
Neighborhoods today – up to
30% of households – more
Lessons apply to Facebook
Groups et al today.

“Made for Internet” Candidate
Governor
Ventura
1998-2002
Citizen
E-Forums
Pro Wrestler

Who We Are
E-Democracy.org's mission:
Harness the power of online tools to support
participation in public life, strengthen communities,
and build democracy.
Creating online spaces for civic engagement
since 1994.

Open Gov
Data
“demand”
from
technical
public,
government
has supply