Ponencia marco impartida por el presidente de la Asociación Kyopol -Pedro Prieto Martín- en el marco de la jornada sobre Redes Digitales y Participación Local organizada por la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, el 16 de Mayo de 2013. Lee más sobre el evento en: http://rumboalorien.kyopol.net/redes-digitales-y-participacion-local/ -- "Challenges for the application of ICT for participation at the local level" Keynote Speech by Pedro Prieto-Martín (President of the Association Kyopol) in the Workshop on "Digital Networks and Local Participation" organised by the Univesitat Autónoma de Barcelona, May 16th, 2013. Read about the event here: http://roadtolorien.kyopol.net/digital-networks-and-local-participation/

1. Jornada sobre “Participación ciudadana y redes sociales”, 2013.05.16
Retos de la aplicación de las TIC a
la participación en el ámbito local
¿Por qué…?
¿… no está funcionando la
participación electrónica municipal?

2. Outline
Context
& Concepts
Past
Future
Present

3. <Context & Concepts>

4. Utopia vs. Reality
Finance
Economy
Politics
People
Society
World
World
Society
People
Politics
Economy
Finance
Lórien
WHY? HOW?
S
U
S
T
A
I
N
A
B
I
L
I
T
Y
D
E
P
R
E
D
A
T
I
O
N
Moria
vs.

5. Political Development
SOCIETY
GOVERNING
ELITES
GOVERNING
ELITESβ
SOCIETY
GOVERNING
ELITESβ
SOCIETY
Julie Fisher
Acemoglu &
Robinson
Political Development - “an interactive, public decision-making and
learning process, within and between government and civil society,
based on power creation and dispersion, by means of a progressive
inclusion into decision-making spaces of previously excluded groups”
Extractive Institutions – “extract incomes and wealth from
one subset of society [the masses] to benefit a different
subset [the governing elite].”

6. Institutional view of a social system
Institutional development
Douglas North

7. Ideal of influence in liberal democracies Reality of influence in liberal democracies
Rhetoric & Reality
Ada Colau
“Most of our political representatives use a wasted,
empty and politically correct language that is often
used to deafen rather than to communicate. That
turns complicated what is obvious. That conceals
more than it reveals. Which uses technicalities to
hide the lack of courage and political commitment. Full
of euphemisms and platitudes. Distant from the streets
and the conflicts and problems that inhabit them.”

8. Carlos
Castresana
In the transition a lot of things that
should have been done, were not
done [...]. It was a superficial
political transition, that included
suffrage . Something very
important, but a democracy is not
just voting, it is also the rule of
law. It was not possible to make
the judiciary truly independent. A
constitution was written which, in
many respects, is not applied.
And the inspection bodies have
not worked as they should. [...]
We made a 'low cost' transition
and what we have got is a
‘dollar store’ democracy .
Simon Tormey
Proto-democracy in crisis
Javier Ortiz
Examples of deficits from Spanish Democracy:
- Manipulative and undemocratic electoral laws
- Poor separation of power
- Opacity
- Pathological territorial model
- Institutional hostility to
participation
- …
“The [Spanish] transition elevated hypocrisy to
the category of a Constitutional Principle. This
is what has allowed corruption to take over the
Spanish political life.”
(Tal fuimos, tal somos, 1994)
“In Spain there is what we call a ‘zombie
democracy’, a democracy that stumbles
day to day and month to month, without
any real sense of legitimacy, without any
care or link with the needs and desires of
ordinary people.“

9. </Context & Concepts>

10. <PAST of=‘Participation’>

11. “Citizen participation is citizen power”
“Participation without redistribution of power is an empty
process […] [that] allows the power-holders to claim that all
sides were considered, but makes it possible for only some
of those sides to benefit. It maintains the status quo.”
“Everything that enables, broadens or deepens people’s
capacity to influence the decisions and get involved in the
actions that affect their lives”
(including the use of ICT)
What is Participation?

12. Democratic
Institutions
Technology
Citizens
Understanding Participation

13. Informatics
…
Political
Science
Social
Movements
Public
Policy
…
…
Web
Science
Community
Informatics
CSCW
HCI
Participatory
Design
Development
Studies
Participation
Software
Development
Models
Software
Engineering
(e)Participation
What a messy domain!
Issues:
• Silos &
Interdisciplinary
failures

14. Issues:
• Silos &
Interdisciplinary
failures
• Trans-disciplinary
failures
• Focus:
• Power:
Academia
Practitioners
Context
What a messy domain!

15. Who?
How?
Where?
Why?
What?
What
for?
When?
investigadores y académicos
Academia and Participation
In whose
interest?
Aristotle
Episteme
Techné
Phronesis
“Most of our political representatives use a wasted, empty and politically correct
language that is often used to deafen rather than to communicate. That turns
complicated what is obvious. That conceals more than it reveals. Which uses
technicalities to hide the lack of courage and political commitment. Full of euphemisms
and platitudes. Distant from the streets and the conflicts and problems that inhabit them.”

16. ?
(Karsten 2011, Brodie et al. 2009, Cornwall 2008; …)
Participation Knowledge

17. Administrative Participation
E.g.: demonstrations, strikes, informal
negotiations, lobbying, pressure on
representatives and institutions, civil
disobedience, proposals to political
institutions, etc.
Autonomous
Participation
Organic Participation
E.g.: representative democracy, community
council, neighborhood assembly, health
council, citizen panels, etc.
decisive advisory oversight
Procedural Participation
E.g.: electoral participation, petitions,
referendum, public hearings, citizen
initiative, etc.
collaborative belligerent
occasional regular
Special
Participatory Processes
E.g.: development plans,
participatory budget, agenda
21, etc.
associative
personal
Municipal Citizen Participation forms
Participation Knowledge
(Prieto-Martín 2010)

18. Participatory Processes: phases and criteria
Administrative Participation Forms
(Font & Blanco 2006, Parés et al 2007)
(Brugué et al 2003)
Participation Knowledge

19. Participation =
1/5 · Deliberation +
1/4 · Manipulation +
Rest · Politics as usual
(ie: a continuous struggle for
power and (un)accountability)
Knowledge vs. Reality

20. Myths and realities about effective civil society, participation,
transparency and accountability
(González de Asís y Hoffman 2012)
Knowledge vs. Reality

21. Vicious Cycle of
Participation
Intrinsic Problems
 Complex
 Expensive
 Non-representative
 Non-inclusive
 Less informed
 Conflict prone
 Non-deliberative
 Difficult to scale
 ...
Extrinsic Problems
 Arbitrary
 Manipulability
 Risk of capture
 Irrelevant subjects
 Non-effective
 Not self-sustainable
 Inefficient
 Civic exhaustion
 ...
Motivation =
f (effort, usefulness)
Incompatibilities
- Political
- Legal
- Cultural
- Socioeconomic
- Organizational
 Administrative Monopoly
of participation
Missing Home Truths
MAIN Problem of Participation: It DOESN’T work

22. Missing Home Truths
GOVERNMENT
SOCIETY
GOVERNMENT
SOCIETY
INSIDE-OUT
Participation
OUTSIDE-IN
Participation
vs.

23. </PAST>

24. <PRESENT of=‘Participation’>

25. Relationship between Participation & (e)Participation
What is (e)Participation

26. Change
in expectations
Reduction in
power and
knowledge
assimetries
Reduction cost
of collective
action
Peer-to-peer
recognition
“Long Tail”
models
Cognitive
Surplus
Motivation =
f (effort, usefulness)
Virtuous Circle of
(e)Participation
Vicious Cycle of
Participation
Effects of (e)Participation
?

27. Effects of (e)Participation
Effect of (e)Participation on Engagement

28. Political and
Administrative Bodies
Civic Organization
Social Movements
Citizens
Collective Intelligence
The Symbiotic/Organic City
However, the application of ICT in the political
process has been oriented to digitize and enhance
existing processes and practices rather than to
transform the relations of power and influence
behind such practices. Politicians have "resisted
actively to limit the potential revolutionary and dis-
ruptive capacity of ICTs” (Zittel 2005, Schmitter 2011).
Civic Networking Platforms are socio-technical
software systems that explicitly aim to affect complex
social realities and to influence the intricate workings
of political and administrative machineries.
Its design, construction and operation thus involve a
series of exceptional challenges and difficulties which,
in turn, demand specific and innovative approaches.

29. +C (an)
- W(ant)
- k (now)
+c -k -w
+W +k-k -c
+w -k+k -c
II. ACADEMICS
I. POLITICIANS &
ADMINISTRATION
III. CIVIL SOC.
IV. HACKERS &
SOFT. COMPANIES
Failures, failures, failures…

30. </PRESENT>

31. <FUTURE of=‘Participation’>

32. Thomas Sankara
We want to create a new world. We refuse
to choose between hell and purgatory.
“Somos GENTE”
We are PEOPLE
“Somos PERSONAS”
We are PERSONS
“Somos CUALQUIERAS”
We are ‘ANYBODIES’
“Somos el 99%”
We are the 99%
15M
SOCIETY

33. Comisión Legal Sol
15MpaRato
Mareas

34. C
O
L
L
E
C
T
I
V
E
Learnings
INDIVIDUAL / TECNICAL
BE Present
/ ACT
THINK
FEEL

36. GOVERNMENT
SOCIETY
GOVERNMENT
SOCIETY
INSIDE-OUT
Participation
OUTSIDE-IN
Participation

37. You move...

38. </FUTURE>