Ideas for a new Civic Reputation System for the Rising of Digital Civics: Digital Badges and Their Role in Democratic Process
Marco Bani 1 and Stefano De Paoli 2
1 Scuola Superiore sant’ Anna, Pisa Italy 2 Fondazione < ahref, Vicolo Dallapiccola 12, Trento Italy
m. bani @ sssup. it stefano @ ahref. eu
Abstract: For several years governments invested significant resources in the digital management of democratic processes. Furthermore, e‐government has moved away from the digitalization of document processes and decision‐making within the administration towards a new model that involves citizens in the co production and sharing of information. These processes require management of a large amounts of information, which raise questions about the protection of individuals and social control. Reputation could be the answer to many problems. People understand that the way they behave online will impact their ability to maintain an online presence as well as perform all sorts of transactions in the future. In the same way, citizens who help their local community would being recognized for the role they play in generating different kinds of wealth for society. A reliable system of“ civic reputation” is needed to foster collaboration but also for protecting individuals and avoid social control. In the past year, a plethora of reputation systems have been launched to serve as the connective tissue of reputation and trust across the web. But no one has risen as standard for use in e‐government process. This uncertainty prompts a number of key questions: it is possible to rank trustworthiness in the digital public sphere for e‐democracy processes? Will a single system of reputation work across multiple platforms? And what procedures are in place to ensure the accuracy of the reputation, the ability to address mistakes and the necessary acknowledgments to reward who is actively involved in civic engagement? This paper analyzes innovative practices in the evaluation of“ civic reputation” to support the participation of citizens in a reshaped public sphere, and suggests digital badges and a new badging framework as a solution to these problems.
Keywords: digital civics, democracy, reputation, digital badges, OpenBadge
1. Introduction: Shaping a new kind of democracy
E‐democracy can be defined as the pursuit and the practice of democracy using digital media, in online and offline political communication. In the late 90s, with the rising of e‐democracy processes( Norris 2001), the belief was that we were going to face a political revolution with an improvement in transparency, accountability, and new mechanisms of participation of people in public decision processes. However, today we are facing a large disillusion toward e‐democracy( Hindman 2008). The notion of popular empowerment, the“ core of democracy”( Aristotele 2000), has been diluted to the point that most citizens exercise their putative sovereignty only through periodic elections of representatives and thus have extremely limited input into political processes. There are less and less opportunities for direct participation of citizens in favor of other agents: bureaucrats, technocrats, intergovernmental bodies, lobby groups, commercial enterprises and the media( Crouch 2004).
However, several successful projects are emerging under the umbrella of the“ open‐government” definition. These projects are showing that it is possible to foresee a new way to foster democratic participation via social media. Governments should aim“ to use new technology to amplify the voices of citizens to influence those in power, and by insiders as a way to harness and channel those voices to advance their causes. Participation means true engagement with citizens in the business of government, and actual collaboration with citizens in the design of government programs.”( Lathrop and Ruma 2010). Particularly relevant is the practice of crowdsourcing considered as the activity of outsourcing tasks to distributed communities of people( Howe 2008). Expanding the concept to politics, crowdsourcing could lead to proper“ cultivation of public consensus to address governance issues, strengthen communities, empower marginalized groups, and foster civic participation”( Lathrop and Ruma 2010). This is a concept that we can define " citizensourcing "( crowdsourcing among citizens). Social media technologies mixed with citizensourcing can foster democratic direct participation in the discussions of policy development, in the implementation and co‐production to improve services quality, delivery and responsiveness.
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