In 1999 the authors of theCluetrain Manifestoreminded those caught up in the madness of the dotcom boom that
'markets are conversations' and offered a way for businesses to
engage with their customers based on mutual respect rather than
exploitative profit seeking.
In the midst of the collapse in confidence in our MPs after
revelations about the attitude of many of them to their allowances,
it is perhaps worth reminding those who hold power that government
is a conversation too, a conversation that is changing as a result
of the internet.
I have had direct experience of the new possibilities for
genuine discussion between the policy-making apparatus at the
centre of government and ordinary citizens recently, thanks to an
off-the-cuff remark I made on Twitter during a recent
high-profile conference about 'Digital Britain'
Towards the end of a dull day, which consisted mostly of senior
politicians and executives mouthing self-serving platitudes, I
tweeted: "@billt: We should have got our act together and organised
a #digitalbritain unconference for today, with tea & biscuits.
And talked sense."
This triggered a storm of activity from a number of committed
individuals, most notably Kathryn Corrick and Tom de Grunwald, who
decided to produce a representative "grassroots response" to the
policies for promoting broadband access and integrating the network
into daily life outlined in the DCMS/BERR Digital Britain interim
report.
Twelve events around Britain were organised and held within a
few weeks, thanks to digital communications tools. and a
60-page report submitted to the Digital Britain team.
Citizen action of this type is not unusual, but usually anything
produced goes into the black hole of the consultative process. Once
it has passed beyond the event horizon of Whitehall it is never
heard of again.
In our case it was different. Knowing that the formal
consultative period was over, we contacted the Digital Britain team
to ask if they would be willing to read what we produced. From
there we entered a dialogue with them that encouraged our work and
also allowed us to tailor what we did to fit their needs.
We provided a brief description of the process for inclusion in
the final report, and can have some confidence that what we say it
is at least being considered, even if there can be no guarantee
that its recommendations will be accepted.
Until recently the possibilities for genuine conversation
between the state and the people were limited. Most of us had to be
satisfied with an occasional election and a consultative process
that excludes most people from meaningful engagement.
The experience with the "unconferences", and the willingness of
the policy team members to talk to us about what they needed, how
they were working and how our work would fit into their process,
was a remarkable change from previous practice.
It is to be hoped that the model will be applied elsewhere now
that it has been shown to work. Our interest in Digital Britain
meant that we were all online and eager to participate
electronically. But there is no reason why this mode of direct
civil engagement with the policy making process should not be just
as effective on issues like pension provision, airport expansion or
the European constitution.
Bill Thompson is a technology journalist and a regular
contributor to the BBC World Service programme Digital
Planet.