Web Technologies

Since 1992 a wealth of online applications have emerged that move the internet away from its origins as a purely text-based read-medium, to one that supports dynamic and modifiable rich-media content. These technologies are being used most intensively in a consumer and leisure context. Though some are beginning to make an impact in a political context, in comparative terms, those making and scrutinising policy have been slow to recognise technology as a means of facilitating greater public participation.

It is vital to have working understanding of the technology available. The following section provides an overview of the ICT applications available online and suggests potential uses in a public engagement environment. These have been divided into three categories:

1. Conventional – these applications are already being used by government;
2. Innovative – applications which are used only occasionally and are still under development;
3. Speculative – examples of applications with potential (but rare) use in policy-making.

CONVENTIONAL

Email
A very familiar application and most government consultations have an email response option. It is easy to compose an email, put together a contact list, send out an email and manage the responses.

Email is limited in that it is not always clear what has happened to the email once it has been sent out and whether anyone is preparing to act upon it. Participants face a similar problem – finding it impossible to track the influence of their participation once they have responded;

Polls
Another common tool, usually structured around a proposition and a for/against/undecided set of response options. These can be easy to set up, quick to participate in and quite gratifying for participants because the results are often instantaneously generated in a chart or graph.

The limitations are that the options for respondents are limited, and the results are often only indicative making the data of limited value;

Surveys
These too are fairly well established as a tool for online consultation by government. They allow structured, in-depth questioning and easily retrievable results.

However, their length and detail can feel laborious to participants and, again, once they are submitted there is little to guide the respondent on the impact of their participation. There is also no option to compare with other participants responses;

INNOVATIVE

Blogs
These are websites with an easy to update content management system that presents content in a journal-like structure and allows visitors to add comments. They are a cost-effective, low-maintenance means of publishing online and are very useful as a long term, ongoing positioning tool that requires low-intensity management. Because they allow visitor comments, they are to some extent deliberative, which can improve perceptions of government transparency. Blogs can be authored by one or more people; they do not have to be personal, they can also be used as a collaborative tool by group or project team.

However, blogging is hype-ridden. As a favoured tool of the citizen-activist, the government is not always welcomed in the blogosphere, so launching a public-facing blog needs to be approached with care. A bad blog is worse than not having a blog at all. Nevertheless, blogging is an evolving practice and technology, and presents greater opportunities than risks. Establishing clear ground-rules and being direct about the purpose of the site can avoid misinterpretation;

Forums
Forums (sometimes known as message boards) have been around in a consultation context for about 10 years but have been used only to a limited extent. The administrator and user interfaces have undergone significant development in that time and there is great potential in this application. Some forums take the form of linear message boards; other forms allow participants to post in confidential areas with the option of later moving into group deliberation areas.

As a periodic consultation tool they fall somewhere between webchat and blog. They are good for structured, deliberative consultation and can support large numbers of participants. They do, however, require close moderation, and facilitation is an intensive (but fruitful) condition of success;

Webchats
These sites are based around instant-messaging software. In a policy-context, they support real-time question-and-answer interaction between the public and usually ministers or senior civil servants. These usually come as hour-long events, but can also be upgraded to online conference status carried out over the course of a day or more.

The real-time element, however, can make them quite difficult to manage and most of the available software packages do not allow for much control over the flow or structure. Open-source software offers great opportunities to develop functionality based on bespoke-needs;

SPECULATIVE

File-sharing
The practice of file-sharing taps into the powerful network opportunities of the web and has given rise to popular sites such as Flickr (photos) and YouTube (videos), where people share content they have produced or sourced themselves.

File-sharing models like these are an interesting prospect for consultation. They might in the future let participants post audio-visual content as an alternative to that which is text-based, perhaps making consultation more lively and expressive;

Virals
Viral emails and websites have been used in government campaigns in the past to inform people or drive them to sites. This is a creative approach that relies on peer-to-peer distribution, and in this sense can get the message out quickly and to new audiences.

They could, however, also be used to a greater extent to support consultation and gather responses by combining an email and a website to collect responses straight from a user’s inbox. Again an intriguing way of throwing off the stuffy, laborious connotations of government consultations;

Wikis
These are websites that allow anyone to edit content whilst allowing administrators to retain editorial control. In this sense, they are often referred to as ‘collaborative tools’.

Wikis require close management but as a collaborative tool could have some great uses for focusing on policy documents under development, such as white papers and bills. Where a policy team has access to an established network of experts who would be able to pore over detailed clauses, a wiki would allow those consulting to track deletions and inclusions in a straightforward manner and be able to map developments;

Online games
Like virals, online gaming can be more than just a marketing tool and might help to change the look and feel of government consultation.

Well designed games could attract a new type of respondent and be fun to participate in whilst maintaining structure and returning good quality of data;

Online petitions
Petitioning online is more commonly associated with citizen-initiated submissions to government rather than a tool for government to solicit the public’s views. People are able to suggest a motion and invite other people to sign the petition in support.

Usually petitions constitute a means of gathering public opinion rather than engaging in deliberative decision-making. Nevertheless, government has the potential to use petitions to put a range of views online and ask the public to sign up to the one they support. In many ways this would be similar to a poll but allow for a more measurable and transparent method of consultation;

Budget/Policy Simulators
The concept behind these programs is to provide the public with an opportunity to compare fiscal or policy options against one another. Users are presented with a scale of demands which they are invited to prioritise. Based on pre-set variables, prioritising one option can then demote another or increase its cost. The user sees the effects of taking a decision on other budgets or services in real-time and can adjust their choices before submitting.

Such ‘simulators’ are beneficial in enhancing citizen’s understanding of the competing demands and needs that budget-setters and policy-makers are often required to balance. However, the benefits are apparent to those on the government-side. This tool allows government to see how citizens prioritise budgets and policy, and where these choices differ or reflect their own. Nor do these tools simply need to be simulations; they could involve real options allowing government and the public to engage in co-design of appropriate budgets or policies;

Chatbots
Chatbots are programs designed to simulate dialogue with human users via audio or text. Using keywords and syntax, the bots retrieve information from a database and present it back to the user.

In a policy context they may provide an innovative, cost-effective interface for providing information about a department or policy. They may prove particularly appealing to young people or those who struggle with textual content. They may be useful for providing a limited form of ‘out-of-hours’ moderation where this was clearly explained to participants