Jared FordICT Programsdemworks.org | @jdeepford | jford@ndi.org

Citizen Technology & Open Government

Democracy Technology• Goals

Promote efficient, open & accountable governmentStrengthen democratic institutions (Parties & CSOs)Advance citizen engagement, open political space

• EvolutionCitizen Political Technology

Democratization of content production and dissemination.

Shareable, user-generated content (platforms)

Allows mobilizing populations, organizing events, sharing information, and consolidating messaging.

Influences the dynamics of power and behavior of citizens, elected officials, and government institutions

Social Media

Arab Spring

• Social media played a central role in shaping political debates

• An increase in online revolutionary conversations often preceded major events on the ground.

• Social media helped spread democratic ideas across international borders.

pitpi.org

Political Process Monitoring

• Citizen oversight of democratic governance

• Election monitoring, participatory budgeting, legislative tracking

• Tools which collect, analyze and share information

afghanistanelectiondata.org

istinomer.rs

votainteligente.cl

Implications for Open Government

• All countries must build democratic institutions that accommodate the new role of citizen technologies.

• OGP (Criteria = Engagement, Access to Information)

• eGov to We-GOV

Open Government Data

• Open governmental data becomes better data via input from the public.

• Citizen-oriented tools are crucial to ensuring a vibrant online and offline public sphere

• Social media allows governments to reach vast networks of people at once and defray costs.

Open governmental data becomes better data via input from the public

recovery.gov

Ensure a vibrant online and offline public sphere

cuidemoselvoto.org

Reach vast networks of people at once and defray costs.

• Inec.org

inecnigeria.org

Recommendations• Documents should be structured (data.gov/semantic)

• Multiple forms of access must be provided (mkssindia.org)

• Single-point portal (data.gov.uk)

• All data should be Cloud-based (socrata.com)

Documents should be structured with semantic mark-up

data.gov/semantic

Multiple forms of access

mkssindia.org

Single-point portal

data.gov.uk

All data should be Cloud-based

socrata.com

How can you address citizen demand?

Jared FordICT Programsdemworks.org | @jdeepford | jford@ndi.org