techchange: digital organising for political advisors may 2013
DESCRIPTION
Presentation at 2013 Australian Labor Party International Political Advisors course, May 2.TRANSCRIPT
Digital Tools for Democratic Citizen Engagement
Gerard McCarthyALP Political Advisors Course,
Sydney, May 2nd 2013
- Online institute: courses on technology tools and networks for social change.
- Courses include public health, mobile banking, digital organising/campaigning and disaster
response. - 1000 alumni in 70+ countries
Political Demand
•1) Rise of rapid, ubiquitous communications, creating demand for political accountability.
Political Supply•2) What it means for
democratic supply:
•inform voters;
•build strong party bases;
•draw citizens into the process;
•increase accountability.
No MAS FARC: 2008
•FARC and protests
No MAS FARC: 2008
•FARC and protests
No MAS FARC
•FARC and protests
No MAS FARC
•FARC and protests
Obama 2008 campaign
•Local community organising: digital communications and grassroots
Haiti 2010 Earthquake
•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e89Tqr75mMw (30)
Haiti 2010 Earthquake
•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e89Tqr75mMw (30)
Haiti 2010 Earthquake
•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e89Tqr75mMw (30)
•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e89Tqr75mMw (30)
What’s changed?
‘Leapfrogging’
Source: Mobile and Development Intelligence (http://www.mobiledevelopmentintelligence.com/)
92% pop. (87.3m sims)
Source: Mobile and Development Intelligence (http://www.mobiledevelopmentintelligence.com/)
107% pop. (260m sims)
Source: Mobile and Development Intelligence (http://www.mobiledevelopmentintelligence.com/)
50% pop.
Source: Mobile and Development Intelligence (http://www.mobiledevelopmentintelligence.com/)
117% (41.9m sims)
Source: Mobile and Development Intelligence (http://www.mobiledevelopmentintelligence.com/)
9% pop 2011… 2015?
Median voter age?
Median voter age?
•Timor L’Este: 22.8
•Philippines: 23.1
•Malaysia: 27.1
•Myanmar: 27.2
•Indonesia: 28.5
What do phones mean?
- Strong relations (family, best friends)
- Emerging relations (eg. people you met at this conference)
- Weak relations (eg. tuktuk drivers, shopkeepers)
The core tools
•Mobile Phones
• FrontlineSMS, GeoPoll, Episurveyor
•Social Media
• Twitter, Facebook, Babuser
•Maps
• Ushahidi, OpenStreetMap, ArcGIS
Person to Person
•Call
•SMS
•Social Media
• Facebook post/message
PDI-P to ‘citizenry’
•Call
•SMS
•Social Media
• Twitter, Facebook
•Old media: TV, radio
Eg. PDI-P to ‘Citizenry’
•Event: rally
•Social Media
• Twitter, Facebook
•Media: TV, radio
Citizenry to Party(Crowdsourci
ng)
•SMS
•Social Media
• Twitter, Facebook, Bambuser
Citizen journalism
Crowdsourcing“tapping the
talent of the crowd” (Wired) using mobiles and social media
Why crowdsource?1) Info collection for analysis (one-way).
2) Citizen engagement and local
coordination (two-way).
SLU: Rally for Unity 28th April 2013
•SMS
•Social Media
• Twitter, Facebook
•TV, radio, online videos
SLU: Rally for Unity
•SMS
•Social Media • Twitter, Facebook
•TV, radio, online videos
India: I Paid a Bribe
PNG: Stop the Stealing
PNG: Two-way communications
Lesson: Right tools, right context•SMS
•Maps + Campaign
•Events
•Social Media
• Twitter, Facebook
•TV, radio, online videos
How can YOU use digital tools to talk to voters and build more inclusive & transparent
democracies?
Median voters: demand
Obama 2012: Blue State Digital
•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flozf64bkvM
Exercise!• Women’s engagement: Women constitute 50% of
voters. How can you use digital tools and others to understand the needs of women? What mixture of online and offline local campaigning could you use? What tools would be useful and who could you build partnerships with?
• Economic reform: Your party is running for election on a platform of economic reform. How would you engage small business owners throughout the country to determine what reforms will most benefit them? How would you communicate with them?
• Election campaign: You are asked to run a two week campaign in the run-up to a local election in your area. How would you organise your teams, prevent overlap and ensure a consistent message? How would you decide what issues are important to which voters?
-What type of technology or communication tools are relevant to your activity? Eg. SMS, campaign, radio
-Do you need partners with specific skills eg. data analysis, graphic design?
-Will you need special resources from national office?
Key questions
Lesson: Right tools, right context•SMS
•Maps + Campaign
•Events
•Social Media
• Twitter, Facebook
•TV, radio, online videos
1. Listen! Citizen engagement is disruptive & challenging, so embrace other voices!
2. You need to be nimble: respond honestly and quickly!
Lessons
3. Offline involvement matters
4. You need to deliver (or people will lose trust: Kenya
Lessons
Media Freedom• Protect Old & New Media Freedom: Enshrine the right of
free speech, and strong freedom of information laws.
• Don’t censure the internet!:
• Costly: like check points on highway- slows EVERYTHING
• Counter productive: voters won’t trust you and support if they feel they might be arrested.
Open Government: Supply Side
• Sign up to Open Government Partnership: share data you collect so that civil society groups and parties can assess progress.
• You can’t demand accountability in opposition, then forget in government!
• Build trust, and tap creativity of supporters
• Participate in online forums in a two-way fashion: CrowdHall is a great example. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgtqLgWAO0c
Regulatory Reform
• There are lots of ways that government can promote or undermine the growth in mobile access.
• International Telecommunications Union has great advice on achieving universal access: http://www.ictregulationtoolkit.org/en/Sections.html
Information and Democracy
•1) Digital communication tools
•2) Big data
Source: Howard, 2013, Freedom to Tinker, bit.ly/ZB0uxr
Will you be the leaders?
Closing comments and questions
Gerard McCarthyDirector of Asia-Pacific Projects,
TechChange
Contact:[email protected]