The document discusses the implementation of e-democracy in Bristol, aiming to improve citizen involvement in local decision-making through various online tools such as e-petitions, social media, and webcasting. Since 2004, the city has seen significant citizen engagement, exemplified by the stadium petition garnering over 90,000 signatures. The document highlights future developments in hyper-local community websites and the importance of social media for broader participation.

1. Improving citizen involvement through e-democracy in Bristol Cllr Dr Mark Wright Executive Member for Efficiency and Value for Money

2. Be informed Get involved

3. Broaden input into local decision-making Raise understanding of local issues Help people to raise issues themselves Early engagement on issues Create ongoing links with citizens Take advantage of new ways to engage people online Why e-democracy?

4. Developing a range of tools Crowd sourcing websites Greater use of social media E-bulletin / Twitter account ASK Bristol Discussion Forum You tube videos Webcasting Neighbourhood e-forums E-petitions Online surveys Consultation Finder Interactive voting 2010 2000

6. A quick tour Of the tools

9. E-petitions Since 2004 Opportunity for citizens to raise issues (bottom-up) Used by citizens, groups and councillors Onus on citizen to promote their petition – active citizenship Biggest mass online participation in e-democracy we’ve seen in Bristol – stadium petition 90k+ signatures from over 215 e-petitions so far (Jan 2010)

10. BCFC Football stadium E-petitions site used by supporters of a new football stadium for Bristol City FC New stadium threatened by planning problems Biggest and fastest growing e-petition we’ve seen 29,914 signatures to date and still growing

11. Webcasting local democracy

12. Webcasting local democracy Webcasting since 2007 Webcast meetings of high public interest Meetings webcast live and viewable for 6 months Typically webcast over 20 hours a month Improves accessibility and understanding of local issues and democracy at work Watch and comment

13. Online Public conversations One direction we’re moving in Discuss the issue with the public at an early stage Develop understanding of issues Facilitate discussion between citizens Citizens can publicly air their views or use private comments form

15. 2010 innovations

16. Map based crowd sourcing Citizens easily pin point area Make a suggestion / Comment / upload photos Spatial patterns emerge An engaging experience Used 3 times by Bristol 925 comments

17. Ideas for Bristol NESTA funded project Sign-in with FB and Twitter account Share Walk through wizard – informed consultees 3,654 unique visits 128 ideas, 377 users, 955 votes 5 week consultation Broadened involvement

18. Neighbourhood Forums / Hyper local sites

19. Greater Bedminster Neighbourhood Partnership April 2007 1 of 4 e-forums (NP) in city 251 members Local politicians active members Community moderators A lively forum

20. The future is hyper-local Extend community websites to our 14 NP areas Recruiting community moderators and content providers Broad appeal: events, community news, not just NP business Strong social media presence: Flickr, Twitter, Facebook Community run Encourage more hyper-local sites

21. The importance of social media

22. 480,000 Facebook members in Bristol 80% of all under 30 years We can’t afford to ignore this?

23. Feeds, widgets and e-bulletins 2010 moved into social media / letting our content travel Feeds Widgets Twitter account: consultations, e-petitions, citizen ideas, webcasts Facebook page Trying to exploit the viral potential of our tools Social media – activism

24. How e-democracy could develop in the future

25. Cllr Dr Mark Wright – Thank you for listening www.askbristol.com www.twitter.com/askbristol www.facebook.com/askbristol