Marcus Cake

Pre-requisite reading : We need five online networks to solve the worlds problems by 2012 or we decline into conflict for generations ; Online political networks (blog category) ; The rise of online political networks - individual contribution and mass participation ;  Project: E-democracy page ; The transition to online networks may take six months or 50 years ;The next four stages of online networks - from tools and solutions to new structures and economic development ; The potential of collective innovation and open source to reshape our world needs to be demonstrated ; People aren’t apathetic, they just don’t have an online network to channel their interests

An online political network can replace expensive proprietary distribution channels and with a virtually costless channel that provides a superior means to deliver the primary objective of democracy to ensure “political sovereignty [is] retained by the people and exercised directly by citizens”. Democracy is entirely based upon information and could be facilitated by an online political network. Our politicians make choices about economic, social and industry policies and implement them with laws. Citizens choose politicians based on information. Online political networks provide internet applications to facilitate the exchange of information, collaboration and the political process between citizens, government executives, politicians and other stakeholders in the political process. This article offers a potential structure for this network. I have also developed an initial prototype of this web application that has the global scalability of the Amazon Web Services cloud. The web application may be available in six weeks, but the transition to this online network may take six months or 50 years. In Politics 3.0, individual transparency through online networks and internet traffic to a politicians profile may be determine whether a politician gets elected or not.

Democracy and E-Democracy - some definitions

Wikipedia defines E-democracy as follows:

“E-democracy, a portmanteau of the words “electronic” and “democracy,” comprises the use of electronic communications technologies such as the Internet in enhancing democratic processes within a democratic republic or representative democracy. It is a political development still in its infancy, as well as the subject of much debate and activity within government, civic-oriented groups and societies around the world.”

“The term is both descriptive and prescriptive. Typically, the kinds of enhancements sought by proponents of e-democracy are framed in terms of making processes more accessible; making citizen participation in public policy decision-making more expansive and direct so as to enable broader influence in policy outcomes as more individuals involved could yield smarter policies; increasing transparency and accountability; and keeping the government closer to the consent of the governed, thereby increasing its political legitimacy. E-democracy includes within its scope electronic voting, but has a much wider span than this single aspect of the democratic process.”

E-democracy (in my opinion) represents the new structures and processes that are available as a result of advances in technology that overcomes limitations of existing structures to achieve the goals of democracy. Wikipedia defines Democracy as “a system of government by which political sovereignty is retained by the people and exercised directly by citizens.”  Proprietary ownership of community knowledge is no longer necessary to encourage innovation or information distribution. The reliance on proprietary distribution channels is a primary source of failures and criticism in the political process. In The Rise of Online Political Networks - individual contribution and mass participation, I identified a number of online political networks that seek to provide their perception of “truth” about key world issues. By inference, they suggest that the proprietary channels have failed. The arguments for a free press endeavour to influence how an expensive information distribution channel is used. Let’s not get caught up in details that prevent progress.  Let’s just create a new structure that delivers a virtually costless information distribution channel to achieve the objectives of democracy.

Politics 1.0 to Politics 3.0 - proprietary distribution channels to person to person networks?
The current state of e-democracy is in its infancy and could be described as Politics 1.0. This is intended to convey a view that the application of current technology is more advanced in social and industry structures (ie; Web 2.0) relative to structures being used or considered in politics. References to E-democracy usually mention electronic voting, but lack paradigm shifting ideas which create new structures and simply digitise the previous paradigm. Counting votes electronically does not improve the basis for choices people make them. Each participant in the political process relies on expensive and proprietary information distribution channels. Rather than overcoming the deficiencies of the current system with - change the paradigm. New technology simply provides a new way to organise. We can connect the participants in democracy directly in an online political network that offers a superior means to ensuring “political sovereignty [is] retained by the people and exercised directly by citizens”. Different online political networks can have different purposes and appeal to different people. Ideally, one online political network would overcome fragmentation by becoming the (official or unofficial) online political network where all participants participate, distribute information and collaborate in a transparent way. How would such a network look?

E-Democracy online political network - initial prototype is hosted in an Amazon virtual server
To highlight the reality of this idea. I have created a web application on an Amazon virtual server that could be the basis of an E-democracy online political network. I have leveraged the knowledge an experience derived from creating an public online industry network for the financial market and applied the generic online network business model . This could service a global audience and be finished in six to twelve weeks.

A picture may be worth a thousand words. The home page below tries to convey the structure and content of an E-democracy online political network (click to enlarge).

The E-democracy online political network is available for review at http://xxxxx.xxxxx.com (username: xxxxx password: xxxxx ).

The rapid creation of online networks by individuals in weeks demonstrates the tools and solutions power available after decades of Moore’s law driving improvements in information technology and the collective knowledge freely shared and improved by the open source software community. For a step by step guide, please read How to build an online network in 90 days with US$25k).

Structure of an E-democracy online political network
An early design of the E-democracy online political network was outlined in the article “We need five online networks to solve the worlds problems by 2012 or we decline into conflict for generations“. I have improved on this original suggestion below.

Content, tags and linking
A few words on how this network would work would be helpful. The cncepts of content, tags and linking are critical. They are also simple. In my experience, an example of these items makes them immediately intuitive and obvious. A description of the concept is less likely to convey the concept. A description is available below. A home page is provided below as an example.

Content (Profiles, process and outcomes)
Members include local, state, federal or country, and international politicians. All members would publish a profile. Each member would also keep the community information about process. They would publish content about process. Process items include issues, priorities, policies and projects. Community members could discuss each item of content and provide ratings. This provides community feedback on priorities that should become policies and direct resources into projects. Project managers could publicise opportunities for citizens and other organisations to assist with projects. Outcomes keep the community information and include announcements, video, audio, reports.

Tags
All content has a community set of tags. This provdes meaning to each item of content. Common tags include countries, states. Specific tags classify each type of content. These classification tags are displayed in brackets in the table above.

Linking
The concept of linking is critical. It is also simple. Linking each item content provides a basis for relevance. The member that has published each item of content is also responsible for dtermining if the content should be linked. Linking provides a powerful outcome for the online political network that is best demonstrated by a few examples.

Self-publishing platform for a politician or citizen
A “white label” web site for a politician would link to all other types of content. Their comments and ratings on profiles, processes (issues, policies, etc) and outcomes could be available at a single location. They may choose not to publish their views/comments, or publish them in great detail. The citizens could be clearly informed about the policies of the individual. The politician would become transparent.

A citizen could also establish a profile. The quality of content contributed by citizens will vary in quality. They could contribute their knowledge, expertise, opinion, complaints or volunteer for projects. Citizens would participate in the political process via an online platform. A rating system would ensure that valuable information (knowledge, expertise) gains more visibility than complaints. If citizen contributions are valuable, politicians could acknowledge them via links. Links also have the potential of driving traffic to a politicians profile.

In Politics 3.0, individual transparency through online networks and internet traffic to a politicians profile may be determine whether a politician gets elected or not.

Please see our Project: E-democracy page .