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Restoring Trust in Government: the Potential of Digital Citizen Participation S E R I E S

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Restoring Trust in Government: the Potential of Digital Citizen Participation S E R I E S AUGUST 2004 Restoring Trust in Government: The Potential of Digital Citizen Participation S e r i e s Marc Holzer Chair and Professor, Graduate Department of Public Administration Executive Director, National Center for Public Productivity Rutgers University-Newark James Melitski Assistant Professor of Public Administration Marist College E-Government Seung-Yong Rho and Richard Schwester Senior Research Associates National Center for Public Productivity Rutgers University-Newark E-GOVERNMENT S E R I E S Restoring Trust in Government: The Potential of Digital Citizen Participation Marc Holzer Chair and Professor, Graduate Department of Public Administration Executive Director, National Center for Public Productivity Rutgers University-Newark James Melitski Assistant Professor of Public Administration Marist College Seung-Yong Rho and Richard Schwester Senior Research Associates, National Center for Public Productivity Rutgers University-Newark August 2004 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword ..............................................................................................3 Executive Summary ..............................................................................4 Introduction: Declining Trust in Government ......................................6 Purpose of This Study .......................................................................6 The Trend Toward Digital Citizen Participation ....................................8 Digital Democracy ...........................................................................8 ICTs and Digital Deliberation ...........................................................9 ICTs as Participatory and Deliberative Mediums: Noteworthy Examples ................................................................11 Case Studies in Digital Citizen Participation ......................................13 Case 1: Regulations.gov .................................................................14 Case 2: National Dialogue of Public Involvement in EPA Decisions ............................................................................17 Case 3: CitizenSpace, United Kingdom ..........................................23 Findings and Recommendations .........................................................27 Findings .........................................................................................27 Recommendations .........................................................................28 Conclusion .....................................................................................31 Bibliography .......................................................................................33 About the Authors ..............................................................................37 Key Contact Information ....................................................................39 2 RESTORING TRUST IN GOVERNMENT FOREWORD August 2004 On behalf of the IBM Center for The Business of Government, we are pleased to present this report, “Restoring Trust in Government: The Potential of Digital Citizen Participation,” by Marc Holzer, James Melitski, Seung-Yong Rho, and Richard Schwester. This new report builds upon a previous IBM Center publication by John O’Looney, “Using Technology to Increase Citizen Participation in Government: The Use of Models and Simulation.” In that report, Professor O’Looney described early efforts to engage citizens via the use of models and simulations. Those tools can be used both to educate citizens about complex issues so they can be better informed, and to allow citizens to participate in public debates and decision making. In this report, Holzer, Melitski, Rho, and Schwester present three case studies of how government organizations are now using technology to enhance citizen engagement and participation. The authors address a fundamental challenge of government in the digital age: How can individuals be engaged in a two-way dialogue on public issues without relying on interest groups or other intermediaries? Technology has now created new tools for allowing citizens to more meaningfully participate in a dialogue with their fellow citizens and their government. In an increasing number of cases, these tools have been successfully employed and are improving the quality of public decisions. This report describes three of those efforts and offers lessons to policy makers and government executives on ways that they can successfully increase the voice of citizens in the policy and program decision-making process. We trust that this report will be helpful and instructive for government executives, both in the United States and across the world, seeking new ways to use technology to engage citizens. Paul Lawrence John M. Kamensky Partner-in-Charge Senior Fellow IBM Center for The Business of Government IBM Center for The Business of Government [email protected] [email protected] 3 RESTORING TRUST IN GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Citizen participation is central to democratic communication initiated by citizens, typically governance. But there is a distinct gap between leading to a question-and-answer dialogue. elected representatives and the citizenry, a gap that is evidenced by declining voter turnout, decreased Static and dynamic citizen deliberation differ as levels of civic participation, and widespread cyni- to the type of participation in the policy-making cism toward political institutions (Hudson, 2001; process. Static citizen participation includes online Putnam, 2000; Berman, 1997). Information and polls without direct public deliberation, a bulletin communications technologies (ICTs) have the board for complaints and recommendations, or citi- potential to help make citizen participation a more zen participation by mail, fax, or e-mail. Dynamic dynamic element of the policy-making process. citizen participation includes digital town hall Citizen participation advocates are optimistic that meetings, digital policy forums, and online voting. ICTs will facilitate direct interactions between The roles of both public servants and profession- citizens and government through the integration als are key elements. Digital public deliberation of digital democratic applications. includes all participants—citizens, politicians, bureaucrats, interest groups, and the media. This study focuses on Internet-based applications wherein citizens can debate policy issues, and Based on the information dissemination framework highlights a number of digital citizen participa- developed in this study, Regulations.gov can be tion models. Three case studies are highlighted: categorized as static at this point in time, while Regulations.gov (United States), the National the National Dialogue and CitizenSpace are both Dialogue of Public Involvement in EPA Decisions dynamic. Although the Regulations.gov website (United States), and CitizenSpace (United publishes information relevant to digital citizen Kingdom). Each case is evaluated on the extent to participation, it does not currently facilitate inter- which information dissemination and citizen delib- action between citizens and government agencies. eration range from static to dynamic. Regulations.gov engages citizens through e-mail, regular mail, and fax, but interactions between Static information dissemination is characterized by citizens and public servants are virtually absent in information acquisition from read-only websites. the current version of Regulations.gov. Both the Citizens merely obtain information on policies National Dialogue and CitizenSpace used addi- and operations of government, and links to other tional methods of information dissemination, relevant information on the Internet are provided such as e-mail lists or electronic newsletters. through the government’s own websites. In terms of citizen deliberation, all three cases Dynamic information dissemination involves two- are issue centered, whereby the public agency way communication and consultation between creates broad categories for discussion and citizens citizens and public servants. It includes e-mail are able to comment. Regulations.gov is considered 4 RESTORING TRUST IN GOVERNMENT to be static in this regard. The National Dialogue We outline several recommendations for enhancing is dynamic. CitizenSpace is a hybrid. More digital citizen participation in government: specifically, through the Regulations.gov and CitizenSpace portals, individuals are able • Establishing a realistic “envelope” is essen- to comment on proposed governmental policies. tial for facilitating public-policy deliberation Subsequently, they can view other citizens’ online. comments following the close of the comment • Much like the time frame for a face-to-face period. There is no interactive component to meeting, scheduling a starting and ending Regulations.gov or to CitizenSpace’s consultations time ensures that the issues deliberated are index. However, CitizenSpace has maintained a approached as concisely as possible. number of forums that are dialogical in nature. Similar to the National Dialogue, CitizenSpace’s • It is also important to establish “frequently forums allowed participants to post messages and asked questions” (FAQs) and guidelines for comment on the views of other participants over participation. Guidelines for digital consulta- the course of a predetermined consultation period. tion and deliberation in government should be clear. Public agencies using ICTs have experienced • It is essential to distribute background materials greater levels of citizen participation,
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