From MySpace, MySociety to MyDemocracy. Civil Society Media, an overview.

From MySpace, MySociety to MyDemocracyCivil Society Media, an overview

Geert Wissink (Kennisland | Knowledgeland)

October 23, 2007, Het Paard, The Hague

                              1 | Introduction

OUTLINE

1. Introduction2.Trends3.Web 2.0 as model collaboration and

exchange of value (MySpace)4.Civil Society Media (MySociety)5.The power to the user (MyDemocracy)6.Discussion

Three questions to answer

• What important principles of web 2.0 are important for local government?

• What do civil society media and government have in common?

• What can local government do to stimulate civil society media?

Example wikipedia Japan

Burma protests

                              2 | A life in the digital age

Storage beyond limits

2020 - Ipod Video can hold all commercial media ever made

Everything becomes digital

137.200 hours video, 22.510 hours film, 2,9 million photos

The web is our online external brain

July 2006 - 100 million accounts

July 2007 - 200 million accounts

Talk of the day

- no 1 photo site in USA- 34 million users

Overview

• The number of bits and bytes is growing exponentially

• We are all into it: we share our photos, music and profiles online

• Our children will have all the information ever made available at every moment

• How to deal with this information overload?

                              3 | Principles of Web 2.0

Web 2.0 - the characteristics

1. The network as platform, spanning all connected devices

2. Delivering software as a continually-updated service that gets better the more people use it

3. Consuming and remixing data from multiple sources, including individual users, while providing their own data and services in a form that allows remixing by others,

4. Creating network effects through an "architecture of participation,"

5. Going beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experiences.

Tim O’Reilly, 2005

The web as platform

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Overview

• Web as platform• Always in beta• Good metadata is just as important as the

data• Enable mashups

                              4 | Civil Society Media

4. MySociety: Civil Society Media

Characteristics of Civil Society Media

• Peer production coincides with remix, sharing and reuse of content and information

• Challenges traditional copyright regimes with content production modes

• New civil e-services: not market driven but intended to have value to specific community of users

Digital Pionieers Fund

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Trends in Civil Society Media

• Co- and peer production leads to much de-central professional content

• New online civil society organizations help improve practical capacities of individuals to build online social capital

• Citizens need to be media-wise: otherwise socially excluded

Create media-wise children

• One laptop a child projectQuickTime™ and aAnimation decompressor

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                              5 | MyDemocracy

Stemwijzer

Politix

Buergerhaushalt Lichtenberg

                              6 | Conclusions

Principles of web 2.0 for government

• Default to openness (use open standards)• Open your datastreams (facilitate

connections and mashups)• Consider your service as a platform• Web 2.0 offers methods to make current

processes more efficient and to innovate

Stimulate the role of civil society media

• Act as a guardian, not as a gatekeeper• Work together with local organizations to

keep the information flowing• Find out where your audience is,

communicate there• Stimulate and attracts the civil society

media with small funds

Thank you!

Geert [email protected]

Presentation is available on Slideshare (www.slideshare.com), keyword: Civil Society

Media

www.knowledgeland.org