Electronic consultation with citizens must remain just one part of public engagement techniques used by local authorities, to combat digital exclusion, a leading analyst said this month.
Philip Virgo, secretary-general of information society alliance EURIM ( http://www.eurim.org.uk/ ), told E-Government Bulletin it is essential to design public consultation around all relevant audiences, “and that may well mean that ‘e’, as currently promoted, is not fit for purpose.”
Speaking following a EURIM meeting to discuss a draft of a new publication for the Audit Commission ( http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/Pages/default.aspx ) on public engagement, he said: “There are occasions when e-participation has a very important role to play, but … the objective is to promote participation and consultation. The people who are most in need of most government services are the people who are least likely to go online, because the products and services available are not fit for them.”
‘Engaging local people in decision-making: A model of public engagement methods’ has been produced for the Audit Commission by research company Ipsos MORI.
It encourages councils to engage with citizens, and assesses different models for doing so, including electronic petitions, online consultations, ‘crowd-sourcing’ and ‘alternate reality games’.
An Audit Commission spokesperson told E-Government Bulletin said that although the final document will cover a number of new technology-based engagement techniques, it will not make judgements about which methods are better than others.
The commission hopes to publish a final version by January 2010.
