Presentation given by Gabriella Razzano (@jablet) at the Social Media Week hosted in Johannesburg in 2014.

1. Participation 2.0: Technology and distributed democracy
September, Social Media Week
Gabriella Razzano, Head Of Legal Research, Open Democracy Advice Centre

2. Who am I?
Research, policy development, online
Open Democracy Advice Centre
communications
Code4SouthAfrica
Human rights and the internet

3. “The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself --
always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all
the more valuable for having been tested by adversity”.
Introduction
- Jimmy Carter
When Charlie Chapman first
got a voice this happened
Internet and social media as mechanisms for enhancing civic political activism.

4. Socio-economic
INTERNET RIGHTS:
Civil
political
Internet and human rights
Collective
State
v.
Private?
Content Access
INTERNET ENHANCES
INTERNET INHIBITS

5. Participation

6. The citizen is a democratic actor.
Participation 2.0
2013, only 12% of 18-19 year olds
Title of Presentation | Page ‹#›
registered to vote.
Is the internet and social media the new superhero?

7. ICTs lead to fast COMMUNICATION, over distance, and even
anonymous - disseminate messages en masse - build networks
and organise.
Using internet to enhance participation

8. The internet a public space like any other - you can still
have places of privacy. The culture of ‘free’ has made us
forget the value of protecting our space.
Hyper- local information connects us between our private
spaces.
Digital neighbourhoods and “public space”

9. Understand the citizen user, and their problem, first. Then
meet the need. Empower them to use solutions too.
Citizen as user

10. Case Studies

11. Hyper-local; creating a neighbourhood
& having a say i.e. simply: when can
we meet?; fail-fast
(ODAC & Code4SA)
Housing List Transparency
Housing List Transparency

12. Hyper-local; specific; civil society as
a translator only a test; an offline
solution the most utilised outcome
(ODAC & Code4SA)
iNeighbourhood

13. Neighbourhood-centred; peer-to-peer
platform; won Evernote comp, private
sector; the problem of monetising
hyperlocal
(private company)
Ourhood

14. Organic; social media; facilitated
by open data; collaboration;
legitimacy
Indonesian Elections 2014

15. AskAfrica
The development context;
bureaucracies and the ‘critical error’;
same problems on new technology
(ODAC)
askAFRICA

16. Vital participation institution;
translating complicated info; how/who
to market?
(PMG & Code4SA)
People’s Assembly

17. • Legal and policy
• Regional context
• Critical amount of users
• The Ushahidi outlier
• Infoglut and the hyperlocal
• Sustainability
• Data
• Cost
• Apathy/privacy
• Repression online
• Slow development
• Silos
Emerging issues

18. The internet is not a the new superhero,
but it is the new frontier.
Be the pioneer.
Recommendations

19. 1. Don’t focus on the internet. Focus
on the problem.
2. True innovation means thinking
outside technology.
3. Empower the actors.

20. Thank you for your time.
Twitter @jablet | gabriella@opendemocracy.org.za
www.opendemocracy.org.za

21. IMAGE CREDITS
YAAAAAAYYYYY PIXABAY!!!!
Bassets Running, by BenfromSalem @flickr