Thanks Ed. I'm not sure if we could, but it
might be worth a try. Does
anyone know who the best contact for that would be?
On 29 May 2014 15:15, Edward Saperia <ed(a)wikimanialondon.org> wrote:
This is brilliant, I'll share it with all my
might. Do you think we
could get it up as a UK geolocated Centralnotice?
*Edward Saperia*
Chief Coordinator Wikimania London <http://www.wikimanialondon.org>
email <ed(a)wikimanialondon.org> • facebook
<http://www.facebook.com/edsaperia> • twitter
<http://www.twitter.com/edsaperia> • 07796955572
133-135 Bethnal Green Road, E2 7DG
On 29 May 2014 15:06, Stevie Benton <stevie.benton(a)wikimedia.org.uk>
wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> tl:dr -* Wikimedia UK
> <https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Main_Page> and Demos
> <http://www.demos.co.uk/> are encouraging Wikimedians to participate in an
> attempt to crowdsource a submission to a call for evidence on digital
> democracy from the Speaker of the House of Commons. You can find the
> consultation page here
>
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Connecting_knowledge_to_power:_the_future_of_digital_democracy_in_the_UK>
and
> we look forward to hearing from you.*
>
> The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, has established a Commission
> on Digital Democracy
>
<http://www.parliament.uk/business/commons/the-speaker/speakers-commission-on-digital-democracy/>.
> It will report to Parliament in early 2015 with recommendations on how
> Parliament can use technology to better represent and engage with the
> electorate, make laws and hold the powerful to account. As part of their
> work, the Commission have issued a series of calls for evidence. These are
> open invitations for members of the public, either as individuals or
> groups, to submit responses to a series of questions. They have attracted
> responses from unions, academics, non-governmental institutions and private
> individuals. The first theme was ‘making laws in a digital age’, and the
> second on ‘digital scrutiny’. The Commission plans to shortly publish the
> final three themes.
>
> There is a growing sense that the growth of the Internet has not paid
> the democratic dividends that it could. Turnout in formal political
> elections is steadily decreasing, and trust and support in the institutions
> and offices of mainstream political life are low and falling. Despite many
> innovative attempts from both within and outside of Government, the daily
> reality of democratic engagement for most people in the UK would be
> familiar to generations of British citizens who predate Facebook or email.
> The rise of the Internet has, broadly, done little to challenge
> concentrations of power or structures of unequal representation
>
> Demos <http://www.demos.co.uk/> is one of Britain’s leading
> cross-party think tank and it has an overarching mission to bring politics
> closer to people. They contacted Wikimedia UK to propose an experiment: can
> an online community be used to source a response to this call? Can the
> ethos, community and technology like that of Wikipedia be used to engage
> Wikipedians to come together and collaborate to create a reply? In
> particular, Carl Miller, Research Director of the Demos Centre for the
> Analysis of Social Media, wrote this piece for Wired
> <http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-05/22/digital-democracy> in
> which he describes Wikipedia as a masterclass in digital democracy.
>
> This conversation has led to what is an experimental attempt to do
> just that. In theory there are many lessons that any attempt to increase
> engagement with digital democracy can learn from Wikimedia projects,
> especially Wikipedia. These include the participatory nature of content
> development and the nature of content (and policy) being arrived at by
> consensus. Wikipedians are from a wide array of backgrounds and represent a
> broad spectrum of views. This could lend itself to effective drafting of
> the kind of evidence that the Speaker is looking for. Wikimedia UK and
> Demos would like to establish whether this is indeed the case. In
> particular, we are seeking answers to the following questions:
>
> -
>
> How can technology help Parliament and other agencies to
> scrutinise the work of government?
> -
>
> How can technology help citizens scrutinise the Government and the
> work of Parliament?
> -
>
> What kinds of data should Parliament and Government release to the
> public to make itself more open to outside scrutiny?
>
> Everyone is encouraged to try to answer these questions
> collaboratively, in much the same way Wikipedia articles are approached -
> using the space below for content and talk page for discussion. Stevie
> Benton from Wikimedia UK
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Stevie_Benton_(WMUK)> and Carl
> Miller from Demos will happily answer any questions on the talk page but
> are equally happy to let the process take its course.
>
> At this point there is no fixed deadline for evidence on the theme of
> digital scrutiny. However, the Speaker’s Commission will be publishing
> publishing a single call for evidence covering our last three themes (yet
> to be announced). The conversation and crowdsourced evidence will be
> reviewed at the end of June with a view to either continuing the process or
> submitting as is. If there is appetite among the community, and if the
> first attempt is successful, there may be further attempts to develop
> submissions to the later three themes.
>
> At the end of the process Demos and Wikimedia UK will prepare a report
> on the process and the effectiveness of this kind of approach to
> crowdsourcing policy and evidence. This paper will be released under an
> open licence. It is a real opportunity for Wikimedians to influence the
> debate about digital democracy and both Wikimedia UK and Demos thank you
> for engaging with this idea.
>
> You can find the consultation page here
>
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Connecting_knowledge_to_power:_the_future_of_digital_democracy_in_the_UK>
and
> we look forward to hearing from you.
> Thanks and regards,
>
> Stevie
>
> --
>
> Stevie Benton
> Head of External Relations
> Wikimedia UK+44 (0) 20 7065 0993 / +44 (0) 7803 505 173
> @StevieBenton
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales,
Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor,
Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is
the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the
Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over
Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.*
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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--
Stevie Benton
Head of External Relations
Wikimedia UK+44 (0) 20 7065 0993 / +44 (0) 7803 505 173
@StevieBenton
Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales,
Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor,
Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is
the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the
Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
*Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia
nor responsibility for its contents.*
_______________________________________________
Wikimedia UK mailing list
wikimediauk-l(a)wikimedia.org