[MG] Direct democracy — there's an app for that

[Steve Coffman]

http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/marc-richardson-direct-democracy-theres-an-app-for-that

Clearly the citizenry is capable of producing good and actionable ideas, as seen with the Lafontaine Park plan, and clearly it’s better to listen before than to deal with the firestorm of post-proposal punditry.

So why not take steps towards meaningful consultation, with a modern spin? For all the talk about technology and smartphones driving us apart, maybe we can finally find a way for them to make us more cohesive.

Oh, and if this sounds far-fetched and idyllic, a U.K.-based company has been toying with a similar concept for a few years. In Scandinavia, in-depth public consultation is the norm when it comes to urban planning.

It’s doable. The question is whether we as a society want to actively participate in shaping our city.

[harold l Carpenter]

DOABLE

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

From: Steve Coffman
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2018 8:46 AM
To: Metagovernment Project
Subject: [MG] Direct democracy — there's an app for that

http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/marc-richardson-direct-democracy-theres-an-app-for-that
Clearly the citizenry is capable of producing good and actionable ideas, as seen with the Lafontaine Park plan, and clearly it’s better to listen before than to deal with the firestorm of post-proposal punditry.
So why not take steps towards meaningful consultation, with a modern spin? For all the talk about technology and smartphones driving us apart, maybe we can finally find a way for them to make us more cohesive.
Oh, and if this sounds far-fetched and idyllic, a U.K.-based company has been toying with a similar concept for a few years. In Scandinavia, in-depth public consultation is the norm when it comes to urban planning.
It’s doable. The question is whether we as a society want to actively participate in shaping our city.

[Scott Raney]

Post by Steve Coffman
http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/marc-richardson-direct-democracy-theres-an-app-for-that
Clearly the citizenry is capable of producing good and actionable ideas, as
seen with the Lafontaine Park plan, and clearly it’s better to listen before
than to deal with the firestorm of post-proposal punditry.
So why not take steps towards meaningful consultation, with a modern spin?
For all the talk about technology and smartphones driving us apart, maybe we
can finally find a way for them to make us more cohesive.
Oh, and if this sounds far-fetched and idyllic, a U.K.-based company has
been toying with a similar concept for a few years. In Scandinavia, in-depth
public consultation is the norm when it comes to urban planning.
It’s doable. The question is whether we as a society want to actively
participate in shaping our city.

Actually, and unfortunately, I believe this is a fundamentally
unworkable idea because it actually makes the
unequal-participation-rate problem worse: The people that are most
likely to participate this way are exactly the *wrong* people to do so
because they're mostly extremists/"stakeholders"/activerts and so are
not representative of the preferences of The People in general.
Government (democracy) must be about what the majority consider to be
fair, not what some vocal minority prefers. Tools like these therefore
IMHO are actually taking us in the opposite direction from our goal of
"good government".
Regards,
Scott