Aproximando cidadãos
Posts com a tag Votenaweb
We are among the 17 successful cases of Citizen 2.0
Last year we were approached by RedCut, a Swiss company focused on increasing the IQ of the world through games. Its researchers were looking for projects and companies that encourage greater citizen participation. The idea was to list successful cases of what they call Citizen 2.0. The company reached 17 examples around the world that could provide inspiration for new civic engagement projects. And for our pride, Votenaweb was included.
According to the researchers, “this evolution towards new communication patterns provided governments with an opportunity to function in a more innovative, engaging and cost-effective manner. In recent years, many businesses have integrated tools such as Facebook and Twitter in their marketing efforts to reach customers more directly. In a government context, such tools can be similarly used to engage with citizens with the goals of collecting their feedback and ideas, making them aware of public services at their disposal and reaching out to broader audiences through non-traditional channels.” Companies and goverments are not the only agents of thoses changes. “Social media has also returned power to citizens. By providing inexpensive and widely-available tools that make it easier to organize and voice challenge, new technologies have contributed to empower citizens while improving governments’ responsiveness and accountability. A new citizen is emerging.”
Still in the research, RedCut cites initiatives that were beginning their careers and could be exploited as cases in the future. And once again, we are on the list with the Movimento Minas.
The search result, the Citizen 2.0 – 17 exemples of social media and government innovation, you can download here.
The list of projects is as follows:
SeeClickFix Ushahidi Manorlabs Vancouver Greenest City New York Simplicity Idea Market GovLoop Yammer Experience Grand Rapids Tukayfe US Embassy Jakarta Zonability Culture Now YouTown Localocracy Votenaweb PopVox EveryBlock
Por Mari Fonseca
Bringing citizens together
Nice to meet you, visitors from outside Brazil!
Exceptionally this post will be written in English (desculpa aí, amigos brasileiros!). Let me explain why:
This week, on May 26th, we’ll give a talk at the Gov 2.0 Conference in Washington DC, which is really really cool. We’ll be there introducing the American public to our project Votenaweb.com, which will soon be launched in other 4 countries! We’ll ask people there at the conference to visit our website. So we thought it would be polite to receive them with a post in English. Isn’t it cute?
Let me tell you then who we are. We’re a company created only a bit more than a year ago, to use technology to create civic engagement and – why not – make the world a better place. From then on we did so many things that it feels like we’ve been working for decades! We were among the people who brought TED to Brazil – we curated and organized the TEDxSP conference last November. We edit a cool magazine on values called Gotas – the first issue discusses transparency, the second one wants to make a concrete impact on a neighborhood. We are also about to launch a very cool and fun website called Duelo Tube, which lets youtube videos fight with each other! And we work for a state government (the state of Minas Gerais) providing information services to the public. Not to mention a hundred other projects we’ve been dreaming about.
Thanks for passing by. I hope you come back one day. If by any chance you need a hand from passionate people in Brazil, just let us know.
Por Denis Burgierman
Vote on the web
It’s almost one month since we released in beta version the Votenaweb, a site where any person may vote to approve or to reject bills moving in the National Congress.
A site made for you to get closer to decisions in the National Congress directly affecting your life. Vote and be heard.
As with any collaborative site, it will get better with time, as more people visit it to register and vote. So I’ll be very grateful if you help spreading the news.
We are very happy with this small beginning. We could notice that people are interested in participating. 7,000 votes have already been given by more than 10,000 people. We already got around to three hundreds comments, in addition to 100 emails with suggestions on how to improve the site – and we’re working hard on it. In general, the site exudes a desire to rescue the idea of citizenship. Look at some of the nice comments we got so far:
Regarding a project proposing the compulsory use of the national flag on the uniforms of public school students:
“Make me be proud again of the public administration of my country, and I’ll even tattoo your face on my chest, but for now leave it as it is…”
Regarding a project to turn compulsory the periodic public hearings by the Public Ministry in order to identify the population desires, the comment was:
“In this Internet age they still want to do a public hearing? Make a portal as votenaweb and we are in the right direction!”
Comments about weird projects, such as the institution of a Wine National Day or the prohibition of demeaning images in reality shows are a fun side show.
We have already noticed that the site is very useful to get to know our politicians better, comparing your own opinions to theirs. To do that, you register and enter to vote in every project. When the elections come next year, you may be able to see the statistics about your own opinions and to compare them with those of the politicians, finding out which one is more like you.
We are full of hope that the site will be also of use to influence the politicians. Who knows, maybe they will be more eager to take into consideration the public opinion, if the disconnection between what they do and what the rest of us think is revealed. We are also considering adding a tool for creating cooperative bills, eventually taking them for vote in Congress. Today that looks like a delirious dream, but one which can become reality, if enough Brazilian citizens show they are concerned.
Of course there are also frustrations. Organizing this data made clear to us how much governmental laws are created with the objective of not being understood. Why the hell is their language so twisted, so full of turnings, with that which is truly important hidden at the end, after paragraphs and paragraphs with no content at all?
Well, our dream is the day in which, before proposing a law, a politician will think like that:
“Let me make a special effort, because everyone will read.”
