'Peer To Policy': Toward A 'Wiki-Government'
December 20, 2007
Here are some telling excerpts from an academic treatise in Democracy: A Journal Of Ideas that is written in predictably dry prose but that is still intriguing because of the subject matter -- incorporating the "wiki" concept of peer collaboration into government decision-making:
Our institutions of governance are characterized by a longstanding culture of professionalism in which bureaucrats -- not citizens -- are the experts. Until recently, we have viewed this arrangement as legitimate because we have not practically been able to argue otherwise. Now we have a chance to do government differently. We have the know-how to create 'civic software' that will help us form groups and communities who, working together, can be more effective at informing decision-making than individuals working alone.... To bring about the new revolution in governance, the next president ought to issue an executive order requiring that every government agency begin to pilot new strategies for improved decision-making. For example, he or she could require that each agency ... set forth at least one "Peer-to-Policy" experiment to see how it could make its decision-making practices more collaborative.
(Hat tip to Micah Sifry at Personal Democracy Forum)
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E-Government
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