21st Century
“In a local community, a citizen may conceive of some need that is not being met. What does he do? He goes across the street and discusses it with his neighbor. A committee begins functioning on behalf of that need…. All of this is done by private citizens on their own initiative.” ~ Alexis de Tocqueville, from Democracy in America, 1835
Pin-the-tail readership is steadily increasing…an analysis today shows that yesterday there were more than 600 visits (not to be confused with the 3,000 plus “hits”) and 30 April County Council packets have been downloaded this month. I wonder if more people downloaded the packets on pin-the-tail than walked into the Courthouse to pick up a hard copy in person…
I think blogging fits into the variety of ways people communicate today without taking away from exactly what Tocqueville describes—the importance and significance of direct human contact….blogging does add to the variety of ways we can communicate in the 21st century.
In 18th century America, instead of being a blogger, perhaps I might have been a pamphleteer…“The pamphlets include all sorts of writings — treatises on political theory, essays on history, political arguments, sermons, correspondence, poems — and they display all sorts of literary devices. But for all their variety they have in common one distinctive characteristic: they are, to an unusual degree, explanatory. They reveal not merely positions taken but the reasons why positions were taken…” ~ from “The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution” Bernard Bailyn
Now, what if elected officials, boards, commissions, task forces, etc. had 24-7 publicly noticed forums online as part of a continuum of their public meeting processes and deliberations? I suggested this in 2005, 2006, and even this year…for Council and Plan Commission…there have been no “nibbles” or “takers” among my colleagues of this concept. The legal advisors bite their nails about open door and advertising issues…and there is little or no case law about this concept. I don’t see why it just can’t be advertised as a non-stop meeting…but that’s just me.
Imagine a project management page online where citizens could view some discussions between councils, boards, and commissions, view files they are reviewing, etc…wouldn’t you be curious to visit every now and then—even if only to see the sundry discussions of mundane or cursory matters like scheduling issues? It would possibly help streamline much of that taking place at the valuable public meetings held at the Courthouse…
just some thoughts.
Not too long until May 6th…remember to vote: Sophia for Commissioner
a little can of paint, some recycled camapign signs— featuring the beautiful artwork created for me by local artist Margie Van Auken…the original is a hand drawn pen & ink illustration
April 17th, 2008 at 9:52 am
That would be awesome! How do we get around the lawyers to make this happen?
April 17th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Hello Ben!
Wouldn’t it? I think the lawyers are doing exactly what they are trained to do…to err on the side of complete caution, which I respect.
That said, it is the will of public servants that would make this (a more fully enhanced, outreach oriented eGov) happen as far as taking any “first steps” is concerned.
My thought is that Planning might be an arena, or area, where a breakthrough could be made. There is a mix of citizen and elected officials at the table that I think makes some of what I suggest more “natural” or “organic” to the concept of open eGovernment. With the Plan Commission working on the Comprehensive Land Use Update, that could parlay into an engaging (and practical) forum/online work site.
Getting the range of public servants who are elected to office amenable to, or enthused about the idea, is entirely different.
I think they fear being on record, or demonstrating that processes, whether they are collaborative or bureaucratic, are MESSY! There is a near phobia of shattering self-images of tidy behavior. Personally, I think the sunshine and transparency would reveal a lot to convince engaged citizens see how thorough and conscientious most participants, elected officials, are…and that the perceived “messiness” is not a worthless outcome of, but oftentimes creative.
Conversely, it might reveal instances of “committeed to death” syndrome, or what I call, “analysis paralysis…” and alleviate the stagnation that can set into a public process.
One often hears the old “sausage” metaphor…about how “no one wants to see sausage being made”…is this entirely apropos? Maybe, maybe not. After all, knowledge is power…one will decide for themselves equipped with the knowledge of “how things work” if the end result is unpalatable…or, quite possibly, delicious!
I think it is worth at least a try. In ‘05/’06 I proposed considering a simple online forum advertised solely for the purpose of Council members to discuss calendar organization–and to possibly share calendar information a few years ago. As I said, it just didn’t get any serious traction.
Once I had to call the Public Access Counselor to get a copy of the County Commissioners’ calendar (Ben, I think you’ll recall that previous blog entry of mine)…I’d like to avoid these kinds of stupid situations— and an online tool would be conducive towards that.
Sophia
April 17th, 2008 at 11:01 am
The information you provide on your blog has proven to be invaluable to me in my pursuit of knowledge into the workings of county government.
Hopefully there will be more to come when you become commish.
Thanks for being such a unique and wonderful politician.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Dear Clayfeat!
This is one of the nicest messages ever to come home to!
Thank you so much for your support and kind words!
Please keep me posted on issues you are following and concerned about; just this evening the Herald-Times has published a press release for me on HTO…you’ll have to let me know what your thoughts are. It is titled “Land use policies powerful poverty panacea…”
My next blog entry will feature the press release and I’ll have a few related links, etc.!
Again, thanks for tuning in— and for your encouraging comments!
Sophia
April 17th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
I think that if more officials blogged, more people would feel in touch with their representatives in government. It gives us voters a more real person to get to know rather than just a talking head we see on CATS or giving a speech someplace. Through pin-the-tail, we have not only learned more about your political views and opinions but that you have the same types of questions and concerns as we do. I will not pick on a specific person but lets just say politician X (px for short) does little else but speak at meetings or ribbon cuttings. I do not know how px feels about anything other than the words from CATS viewing, and not even sure if px is human. TV is kind of impersonal, PX could just be some politicobot, placed in a chair before the meeting and reading a script programmed into it by its handlers. While that is of course not likely, I will vote for the one I am sure is human. Keep up the good work.
April 24th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I didn’t know where to post this but the rumor is that Sen. Clinton will be at the 5th Annual O’Bannon Institude (Friday April 25, 2008)!