Debate 2

Date: Class 5. March 6, 2007

Students presenting: (4-6 people)

• Scott Lesowitz
• Chris Conley
• Atsushi Okada
• Cynthia Robertson
• Andrew O'Connor

The Question

"Resolved: E-Government is a lot like Al Gore’s ‘reinventing government’ initiative when he was Vice-President: sounds like something that governments should obviously do, but no one much cares and the impact on society, after lots of effort, is negligible. There’s no special magic to governing in a digital age."

Topic: Citizenship and Governance in a Wired World.

Dan Gillmor and Yochai Benkler have each written compelling books that bear on what it means to be a citizen in a digital age. Consider this puzzle from another vantage point. What does is mean to govern in a digital age? Are there any examples that make a compelling case for the imperative that those in power ought to use Internet as a key tool in how they govern (consider what new governor Deval Patrick or new attorney general Martha Coakley are up to locally, in Massachusetts)? Or examples where citizens are using the Internet to improve how those in power govern (like the work of the Sunlight Foundation and those it supports)?

Discussion

Just as a very rough starting point, there are a number of ways in which technology and governance might be approached:

• Technology in government
  • Transparency
  • Efficiency
  • Democracy & Accountability
    • Does the Internet improve the ability for direct democracy?

• Technology and citizenship
  • Collaborative policymaking
    • Examples
      • OpenCongress
  • Informed Citizenry
    • Effects
      • Increased civic involvement
      • Increased accountability for government actions
    • Examples
      • Congresspedia

• Challenges to the development of e-government
  • Digital divide
    • The adoption of online services should not reduce choice for individuals who cannot access them.
  • Privacy
    • E-government should not be delivered at the expense of individual privacy protection.
      • Examples
        • E-surveillance