[governance] WSIS, ICT4D, the IGF and other...

[Michael Gurstein]

Garth,

Interesting...

'm not sure why the "perception of governments" should be a crucial element
of the definition which I would rephrase as:

"E-governance is the uses of ICTs TO MODIFY the exercise of power so that
all people,  
particularly the poor and marginalized, can PARTICIPATE IN policy,  
improve their livelihoods and gain a SHARED voice in the public  
decision making process.  E-governance changes behavior in relation  
to power in the direction of open and collaborative communities of  
interaction."

I was just at a meeting where the Government of Ontario (Canada) is in the
process of kicking off a major process to develop a "Provincial Broadband
Strategy"... The issue of whether the process would be "consultative" or
"participatory" took up a fair amount of the discussion time.  It was clear
that the position of all of those not being governmental representatives was
towards "participatory" while the government folks didn't seem to have ever
considered anything other than a (top-down) "consultative" process...

It will be interesting to see how they respond to this initial reaction to
their current strategy development plan. (And there may be some lessons from
these processes and attempts at conceptual clarification/revision that would
be of some value for CS to pursue in the IGF and ICANN contexts as well...

MG
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Garth Graham [mailto:garth.graham at telus.net] 
Sent: March 9, 2008 9:14 AM
To: governance at lists.cpsr.org; Michael Gurstein
Subject: Re: [governance] WSIS, ICT4D, the IGF and other...


My thanks for your disagreement, Michael, because, of course, I agree  
with it.  We're both headed toward the same definition of e- 
governance as, I think, the second sentence of the definition  
reveals.  I suspect my close association with national strategies for  
the uses of ICTs for development in several counties made me overly  
sensitive to a government view in that first attempt at a working  
definition.  After all, the notion that we all now face distributed  
collaborative governance is quite shocking to some.  But you are  
right.  We can't get into the conversation unless the risk of making  
the offensive point about shared power is taken.  With your   
observation in hand, I can see edits to improve the first sentence so  
that point begins to clarify, as follows:

"E-governance is the uses of ICTs TO MODIFY the exercise of power AS  
IT IS PERCEIVED by various levels of government so that all people,  
particularly the poor and marginalized, can PARTICIPATE IN policy,  
improve their livelihoods and gain a SHARED voice in the public  
decision making process.  E-governance changes behavior in relation  
to power in the direction of open and collaborative communities of  
interaction."

GG

On 8-Mar-08, at 8:54 AM, Michael Gurstein wrote:
> Let me make a few other comments interspersed within an edited
> version of
> your note...
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Garth Graham [mailto:garth.graham at telus.net]
> Sent: March 3, 2008 9:41 AM
> To: governance
> Cc: Michael Gurstein; Ronda Hauben
> Subject: Re: [governance] WSIS, ICT4D, the IGF and other...
>
> ...... "E-governance is the uses of ICTs in the exercise of power
> by various
> levels of government so that all people, particularly the poor and
> marginalized, can influence policy, improve their livelihoods and
> gain a greater voice in the public decision making process.  E-
> governance changes behavior in relation to power in the direction of
> open and collaborative communities of interaction."
>
> I DON'T AGREE WITH THIS GARTH AS E-GOVERNANCE FOR ME IS NOT ABOUT 
> GOVERNMENTS SHARING WITH CITIZENS THE OPPORTUNITY TO
> "INFLUENCE" (I.E. TOP
> DOWN) BUT RATHER CITIZENS DIRECTLY SHARING (VIA ICTS) IN THE  
> PROCESS OF
> GOVERNANCE WITH EXISTING GOVERNMENTAL BODIES HOWEVER THAT MIGHT BE  
> ORGANIZED
> AND WHATEVER THE RELATIONSHIP MIGHT BE OF THIS WITH EXISTING  
> REPRESENTATIVE
> GOVERNMENTAL STRUCTURES.
>

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