How to crowdsource a Constitution in practice Crowdsourcing a Constitution in practice Dr. Matthijs Pontier 2. Trust civilians vs Distrust ‘power' Enthusiastic about tech, but alert on risks Use tech to empower; not to repress Free sharing of information, art and culture Evidence-based policy with long-term vision Stimulate self-determination, but keep rights Basic principles Pirate Party Matthijs Pontier, Fabcity campus Amsterdam, 26-5-2016 Crowdsourcing a constitution for the EU 3. • Why do we need top-down governance when we can decide for ourselves? Leaderless decision making 4. e-Democracy • Easily participate in democratic process • Vote on ideas; not on parties or persons • Power of Ideas replace the idea of power Matthijs Pontier, Fabcity campus Amsterdam, 26-5-2016 Crowdsourcing a constitution for the EU 5. Better Reykjavik • Jon Gnarr: Comedian who critized corruption and became mayor of Reykjavik 6. • Formal collaboration with the city of Reykjavík connect citizens to their representatives • Over 70.000 of 120.000 people participated • 15 top ideas processed every month • 476 ideas have been approved Better Reykjavik Matthijs Pontier, Fabcity campus Amsterdam, 26-5-2016 Crowdsourcing a constitution for the EU 7. Better Reykjavik 8. • Over 600.000 users since 2008 • Scales well, easy to translate and adapt • Used in Iceland, Estonia, Australia, USA, UK, and elsewhere Your Priorities Matthijs Pontier, Fabcity campus Amsterdam, 26-5-2016 Crowdsourcing a constitution for the EU 9. • citiz ens Better Alamance 10. • Everybody can add ideas • Everybody can add arguments • Erverybody can vote up / down • Best ideas and arguments come up • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0lFd 1poJfs How does it work? Matthijs Pontier, Fabcity campus Amsterdam, 26-5-2016 Crowdsourcing a constitution for the EU 11. Matthijs Pontier, Fabcity campus Amsterdam, 26-5-2016 Crowdsourcing a constitution for the EU 12. • Points for and against are in different columns which makes it hard to argue • This encourages rational debate and helps facilitate consensus Don’t argue, debate! Matthijs Pontier, Fabcity campus Amsterdam, 26-5-2016 Crowdsourcing a constitution for the EU 13. • Prioritization of ideas and points makes junk disappear down lists • Users notify admins about offending content • Users get 3 warnings and are banned on the 4th • They never yet had to ban a user Abuse protection Matthijs Pontier, Fabcity campus Amsterdam, 26-5-2016 Crowdsourcing a constitution for the EU 14. Loomio 15. Amsterdam West Matthijs Pontier, Fabcity campus Amsterdam, 16. Matthijs Pontier, Fabcity campus Amsterdam, 17. Combine online & offline • Improve traditional democratic processes • Brainstorm online -> assembly offline -> vote on/offline • Enhance offline assemblies with direct onl