Digital solutions in an accountable democracy: Tools for empowerment or exclusion?

Having access to information in principle is not the same as equality of access in practice. Dr Rebecca Rumbul, Head of Research at mySociety, wants to hear your ideas on how to engage a more diverse community in using online tools to exercise an enhanced democracy.

Those of us lucky enough to live in developed ‘westernised’ countries tend to be quite pleased with the quality of our democracy, especially in comparison to developing nations. However, readers of this and many other blogs know that the democratic mechanisms that govern us are very far from perfect and require constant scrutiny, challenge and change.

One of the key ways in which the quality of democracy is enhanced is in the accountability and transparency of government. How can citizens trust government if they are unable to access the decision-making process or to review how the government chooses to spend taxpayers’ money? How can government be accountable if you cannot access the right channels to address issues that the government exists to resolve?

Increasingly, digital tools are being used by ordinary citizens to open up government and to access the information that they are interested in. In Australia, sites such as RightToKnow enable citizens to make requests for government information and to view information requested by others.

OpenAustralia enables citizens to see what is happening in Parliament and to know how their political representative votes on various Bills. The information that can be gathered from such ‘civic technology’ sites can be used by individuals, journalists and NGOs to campaign, create news stories and to pressure the government to act, to change its behaviour or to legislate. Information, in short, is power, and those that have access to it have the power to instigate change.

Unfortunately, having access to information in principle is not the same as equality of access in practice. In the UK, a number of civic technology sites are in operation; however, statistics show that users are more likely to be male, well educated, older and relatively affluent. Use of digital tools by ethnic minority individuals, young people and women is generally small compared to the proportions of such groups within the population.

As a researcher heavily invested in examining the impacts of civic technology, I am concerned that digital tools designed to empower all citizens may be being used by only a privileged few. This surely distorts the use of the information that these tools provide, monopolising political attention with the concerns of a minority within the population and could facilitate a greater divide in civic engagement between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’.

I will be in Australia for a few weeks in August to explore how civic technology is being used by citizens here and will be asking NGOs and public officials how we can engage a broader and more diverse community in using online tools to exercise an enhanced democracy. If you are from an organisation dealing with any of these issues, I would love to talk to you!