Software puts local e-forums within every council's reach
New open source software is now available to help councils set up online forums focused specifically on local issues at little to no cost, eGov monitor can report.
The enhanced web forum technology has been used to power pilot projects by two English local authorities as part of the £4 million Local e-Democracy National Project.
Brighton & Hove Council and the London Borough of Newham have used the Groupserver software to host online forums where citizens and public leaders can join in debate about important local issues.
A report on the trials, issued on 5 May, judged the initial phase as "highly successful", highlighting that the use of open source software presents a "significant advantage" for councils from the cost/benefit perspective.
The GroupServer source code has now been released under a GPL license, meaning that it is openly available for councils - or anyone else - to freely install, change and improve the software to suit their particular needs.
'Each local council now has a ready made forum' - Report
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"Each local council now has a ready made forum where they can make announcements, share documents, and most importantly receive citizen input", the report says. "These forums directly complement attempts at more representative citizen juries or deliberative polls which are much more labour and cost intensive."
GroupServer was chosen by E-Democracy.Org, a US-based non-profit body involved with the Local e-Democracy National Project in establishing the forums, which had previously used the software for similar e-democracy initiatives in Minnesota.
As part of the project, the software was enhanced with new features that better support the Issues Forum model. The second public release was made available on 2 May. A guidebook and multimedia case study have also been developed.
Local communities and authorities can work with E-Democracy.Org to host additional issues forums on the server through at least December 2005 at no cost.
Findings from the Pilots
- Each community met or exceeded recruitment goals with on average 30 per cent of subscribers posting comments
- In an informal survey of early participants, 46% said "I've found the forum more interesting and useful than I expected" and 42% said "I've recommended or plan to recommend the Issues Forum to others"
- The UK pilots are described as a "truly global model for local democracy"
- Councils are likely to have to recruit someone temporarily to lead recruitment efforts around the community during the forum launch phase
- The forums can provide an 'early warning system' about issues bubbling up in the community and help citizens understand the competing priorities and complex issues that elected representatives face.
A free half day seminar on the Local Issues Forum will be held in London on 6 June.
Related Links
Issues Forums: Local Online Citizen Engagement in the UK
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