25 November 2002

Networked Governance: A Different Approach to eGovernment

By Tom Campbell

The UK government has set itself ambitious, perhaps over-ambitious, targets for putting its information and services online. Across the country, an army of skilled and dedicated editors, designers, developers and assorted technocrats are working to meet the government's objectives, but are these actually the right objectives? Before this work is completed, perhaps we should stop to ask ourselves what kind of eGovernment we really want.

Despite the frenzied interest in new media over the last few years, the Internet has always been a network rather than a media channel - a system designed to allow communication and information flows between millions of dispersed individuals and organisations. It is these principles that still drive its use and growth. Connectivity rather than content is king, and the killer applications of ICT have not been Flash animation, WAP sites or streaming video but rather email, SMS and Instant Relay Chat.

For policy makers, the real challenge is not how to deliver government information online to its citizens, but how to encourage and enable communication between citizens. Putting government content online, increasing transparency and access, is a laudable and worthwhile endeavour, but misses the point. Other government initiatives, concerned as they are with security, surveillance, censorship and the defence of intellectual property, are simply harmful. For too long now, policy makers have worried about the governance of the network - it is time they concerned themselves with network governance.

Improving civic interests, accessing useful information, learning, debating and participating are all most effectively achieved by putting citizens in touch with each other, rather than downloading content produced by the technocratic elite. It sometimes seems as if the eGovernment agenda is still trapped in the broadcasting models of the 1920s, ironically at the same time as the BBC itself is moving towards a far more dynamic 'many to many' strategy.

For eGovernment professionals, this different approach will require a new set of priorities and concerns. Producing interactive content, however technically brilliant, should not be the objective so much as enabling citizens to be their own content producers. Here are a few suggestions:

	·	Community: government sites are ideal locations for discussion and community activity. The Internet is awash with opinion, debate and critical thinking - much of it taking place in the margins of cult websites and political fringe message boards. How much more effective if this energy and intelligence could come together, and be applied to the policy and governance issues that effect us all.
	·	Consultation: this is the age of the focus group and public-mediated decision making: eGovernment should be facilitating and enhancing this process.
	·	Open Source policy making: tens of thousands of programmers, working independently and yet collaboratively, are developing some of the world's most advanced software. Why not apply this 'swarming' technique to policy - let's see if the UK's network of citizens can develop the first Open Source White Paper.

None of the above ideas are particularly new or innovative, but they are all indicative of an approach that aims to work with the spirit of the Internet, and empower citizens, rather than simply continue the top-down delivery of centralised information.

The eGovernment agenda is still up for grabs, and we may only have one chance to make it something bold, imaginative and truly valuable - let's not waste it.

Tom Campbell, New Media Knowledge (www.nmk.co.uk) NMK is a digital economy research and development unit, owned by the University of Westminster.

Tom Campbell's independent opinion appears courtesy of Prospect - a recruitment consultancy committed to 'enabling better futures' and sourcing the people to drive eGovernment. For further information go http://www.prospectmsl.com/ or email info@prospectmsl.com