ePetitions by Law! Why buying software is not enough

Technologies for Participation May 2009

What to expect:

Agree a common understanding of what we mean by petitions

Discuss the bill (a bit)

Start a discussion about petition moderation

Think about the opportunity that the need to support petitions brings

Get a view of the technology

Stop for questions should you feel so inclined

Introduction to Petitioning prefaced by a long and

complicated slide

Sta

tus

Pro

ce

ss

es

Technology

CommunicationInformal

Participation

Formal Consultation

(Council)

Formal Democracy

(Representative)

Social Web: The Wild West Local Government: The Law

Social Networks/Online communities

VideoMagazines

Formal webcasting

ePetitions

Discussion Boards ePetitions Webcasting

Communication to Formal Democracy StrategyMake better decisions

Support representative

PB

Local strategic plan

Flip

po

int

WebTV

And many many others…….

Introduction to Petitioning

‣ What is a petition?

noun 1 a formal written request, typically one signed by many people, appealing to authority concerning a cause. 2 an appeal or request. 3 Law an application to a court for a writ, judicial action, etc.

Oxford English Dictionary

Different things in different places:Petitions can be used a formal tool or just as an awareness raising mechanism

In the UK the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill is in the process of making Petitions statutory for UK Local Authorities

10 Downing Street :http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/

The Scottish Parliamenthttp://epetitions.scottish.parliament.uk/ German Bundestag Websitehttps://epetitionen.bundestag.de

Bristol ePetition websitehttp://epetitions.bristol.gov.uk/ Kingston ePetition websitehttp://www.kingston.gov.uk/epetitions

Dutch Petition Websitehttp://www.petities.nl/

Introduction to Petitioning

10 Downing Street :http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to..”

Launched in November 2006 the No 10 Petitions website has become one of the the largest non-partisan democracy sites by volume of users ever, with over 8m signatures from over 5m unique email addresses, representing around 10% of the entire UK population.

200 signatures on an epetition will trigger an email response from the UK Government.

Introduction to Petitioning

In July 1999 the Scottish Parliament was officially opened, and by December 1999 the Scottish Parliament accepted its first e-petition working with its newly established Public Petitions Committee.

As there are large rural areas in Scotland, their epetition system allows citizens to collect support widely for their petition. It also allows petitioners in different parts of the country to co-ordinate their campaigns and is useful for the Parliament in identifying where an issue has widespread support.

The Scottish Parliamenthttp://epetitions.scottish.parliament.uk/

Introduction to Petitioning

Live since 2005, the Petities.NL website allows the Dutch population to create and sign petitions.

By the end of 2009 the site is looking to be connected to all municipalities and to the Lower House of the Dutch government.

Dutch Petition Websitehttp://www.petities.nl/

Introduction to Petitioning

Public-i worked with Bristol, with help from Napier University, to rewrite the system as a piece of open source technology

The views and opinions of citizens living in the Bristol region can now be collected and discussed through their ePetitions and AskBristol site.

The discussion results are forwarded to government officials and media representatives. The goal is to thereby achieve the citizen-oriented design of future plans for the Bristol region.

Bristol ePetition websitehttp://epetitions.bristol.gov.uk/

Introduction to Petitioning

The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames offers the option of submitting petitions online as well as supporting or commenting on the requests of other petitioners.

Each e-petition also has its own discussion forum, where citizens can discuss the petition and surrounding issues online.

Kingston ePetition websitehttp://www.kingston.gov.uk/epetitions

Introduction to Petitioning

Why the excitement?

What democratic purpose can petitions serve?

They can provide a mechanism by which citizens can ensure that their concerns and ideas are formally addressed by an authority. It is a chance for the public to contribute to the agenda and not just the debate

Why the excitement?

How can petitions help getting more people involved?

The best democratic marketing tool you can think of when used well

A chance to connect with citizens directly – by their request

Citizens’ Perspective

People get petitioning – it has a big impact

Openness, trust, ease of use

Supporting a cause is very easy: no registration, just provide a few details about yourself

Access to information is easy

And how can it help?

What possible outcomes can petitions achieve?

considering the petition at a meeting of the authority;

holding an inquiry;

holding a public meeting;

commissioning research;

giving a written response to the petition organiser setting out the authority’s views about the request in the petition;

in the case of a principal local authority operating executive not operating executive arrangements, referring the petition to a committee of the authority with power under or by virtue of any enactment to review or scrutinise decisions made, or other action taken, in connection with the discharge of any functions of the authority.

(Draft Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill

2009)

We are being told to!10 Electronic petitions(1) A principal local authority must provide a facility for making petitions inelectronic form to the authority. (Draft Local Democracy, Economic Development

and Construction Bill 2009)

But we would want to anyway:Online only is never an answer but its an important additional channelEfficiency! Repeatable ‘bulk processing’ tasks work well onlineDemocratic leverage. Signing a petition is a relatively easy step for someone to take but can lead them towards more substantial online engagement if you use it as an opportunity to market

And why do it online?

Discussion

What is your view of the possible outcomes? What will you do with petitions?

Do you think there is a role for paper and ePetitions working together?

Who do you think will start a petition?

How do you want to evaluate your ePetitions system?

What is a petition’s ‘journey’?

Workflows

Workflow encompasses:

Petition owners who are the starting point for the processCouncil Administrators who are managing the petitioning processThe system itself which automates the workflow process

The petition lifecycle is another view of this workflow

Discussion

Where are petitions managed from currently?

What resources are available to manage petitions?

What is the political involvement?

Petition Moderation

Discussion on petition moderation

You will need to define what you mean by a valid petition. Criteria to be considered could be:

Procedural:Does the petitioner live in the right place?Are you the authority responsible for what the petitioner is asking?Is it something you are doing anyway?Is there a better mechanism for addressing the issue?

Moderation:A perfectly valid petition can fail to be actionable – is there a clear outcome?Do you think the petition actually addresses the core question?Will it give the petitioner a ‘good’ democratic experience?

 

Draft Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill 2009 defines it as follows:

 a “valid petition”, in relation to a principal local authority, is a petition made to the authority which:

(a)   is addressed to the authority,(b)   requests the authority to take or cease to take

action described in the petition,(c)   is validly signed by at least the specified number of

persons who live, work or study in the authority’s area,

(d)   designates one of the persons who has validly signed it as the person with whom the authority may deal in relation to the petition,

(e)   is not a petition made under and in accordance with any other enactment, and

(f)   if the petition is in electronic form, is made using the authority’s e-petition facility.

Discussion on petition moderation

Petitions as user generated content

A Code of Conduct sets the tone and the boundaries for your user generated content and would also apply to online petitions

Do you need to define a code of conduct?What kind of behaviour are you trying to encourageWhat do you want to discourage?Have you thought through what you want signatories to do next?

Conclusions and Questions

Petitions is a (relatively) quick win – if you want to do something around eDemocracy, eParticipation or the bill in general then petitions make sense

There is a real role for petitions to be a keystone application in a wider engagement strategy once it is up and running

The technology is simple once you know what you want it to do!

Thank you

Catherine.Howe@public-i.info