Comments on: The BBC, Democracy & The Internet – Job Done?

By: Stephen Hilton

Stephen Hilton — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:54:40 +0000

I recall that when iCan first started, the BBC piloted a number of support models for the site. Things like having a dedicated local reporter whose job it was to identify and promote campaigns; linking campaigns to regional news broadcasts; sharing a weekly round-up via a dedicated local radio programme. I guess that these mechanisms proved to be too difficult to organise internally and / or too expensive?

The early focus on people and outreach, rather than simply on technology, was an interesting aspect of the Action Network project. I hope the BBC incorporates some of this thinking into the new pilots.

Stephen

By: Socialreporter | Could the BBC co-design its new community services?

Socialreporter | Could the BBC co-design its new community services? — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 14:41:21 +0000

[...] So who might be interested in a get-together? I keep bumping into people from different innovative parts of the BBC who say, yes, interesting things are happening but it’s not actually in their department. … love to know more. The BBC Trust are thinking about how they might develop an online presence after their experiment in engaging with bloggers last year. I should think Charlie and Martin would be interested, and my friends at Involve, who specialise in public engagement. On the local front it seems a must for Bristol, home to many excellent local e-democracy projects, led by Stephen Hilton and his team. The Connecting Bristol blog has hosted some lively discussion recently, and Stephen picked up on the BBC plans in The BBC, Democracy & The Internet – Job Done. As part of the discussion there I wrote: Maybe the BBC will venture into networked journalism, as hinted in the Action Network closure statement. I hope that the BBC Trust – who have to agree the plans – will give us a chance to engage with them online as well as running their traditional consultation process. [...]

By: Dave Briggs

Dave Briggs — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 08:45:03 +0000

I welcome the offer of an open and collaborative approach from Stephen. Before creating anything new though, are there any existing networks that could be used?

By: stephencoleman

stephencoleman — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:35:42 +0000

David – I agree. The BBC Trust certainly ought to connect with the e-democracy community. I’m sure that there’s much valuable advice that you and others could offer them. The Centre for Digital Citizenship at Leeds University would be happy to set up a forum for such an exchange of views. Let’s see if we can take this forward in a way that will help the BBC to make the best possible plans.

By: stephencoleman

stephencoleman — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:35:42 +0000

By: David Wilcox

David Wilcox — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:15:51 +0000

Maybe the BBC will venture into networked journalism, as hinted in the Action Network closure statement http://tinyurl.com/2glo2u
I hope that the BBC Trust – who have to agree the plans – will give us a chance to engage with them online as well as running their traditional consultation process. I’m sure Bristol could help …

By: Stephen Coleman

Stephen Coleman — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:30:41 +0000

The difficulty is, Stephen, that, as with so many e-democracy projects, there has been no full evaluation, so we don’t know what proved to be too difficult or expensive. As a public-service body, I would expect the BBC to be in the forefront of not only pioneering innovations, but sharing independent evaluations of what became of them.

By: Stephen Hilton

Stephen Hilton — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 06:25:48 +0000

The early focus on people and outreach, rather than simply on technology, was an interesting aspect of the Action Network project. I hope the BBC incorporates some of this thinking into the new pilots.

Stephen

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:08:12 +0000

I’m reminded of the saying “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is.”

I agree that the BBC is well placed to provide a civic commons, but the problem with iCan (and Action Network) was that it didn’t work.

The interface was not intuitive, the user generated content was thin and the (often excellent) BBC generated content was too hard to find. The search interface and the marketing strategy didn’t connect with users. There were, in the end, better more relevant tools out there.

Hopefully, these new pilots will get more traction.

By: Stephen Coleman

Stephen Coleman — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:21:43 +0000

You have raised some very interesting points, Stephen. I conducted an evaluation of the BBC’s iCan project after its first year and it’s a pity to see that the project didn’t prove to be sustainable. I don’t think that this is because there’s so much high-quality, trusted, well-connected online democracy elsewhere that we don’t need the BBC to facilitate it. I’m convinced that the BBC is uniquely placed to develop digital democracy – if it adopts the right policies. Back in 2001 Jay Blumler and I wrote a pamphlet for the Institute for Public Policy Research arguing in favour of an online civic commons that would connect public deliberation to decision-making at every level of government. It can be downloaded from http://www.citizensonline.org.uk/site/media/documents/925_Realising%20Democracy%20Online.pdf
We have revised our proposal in the final chapter of our new book, The Internet and Democratic Citizenship: Theory, Practice, Policy, which will be published by Cambridge University Press later this year. I hope that the digital democracy policy-makers at the BBC will read it.
It would be good to see pilots in which the new BBC projects link citizens directly to the work of their local authorities. Bristol would be ideally placed for this. It’s always been a pioneer in the field of intelligent e-participation.