Wikicit looks at how social media are shaping public policy
How are social media affecting citizen participation in the digital age?
Is the Internet giving Montrealers a greater voice in decision-making, or accentuating the digital divide between people with access to communication technologies and those without?
About 300 people addressed those questions Friday at Wikicit, a public forum held at the Montreal Science Centre in the Old Port. The event was organized by the Office de consultation publique de Montral (OCPM) and brought together representatives of government, universities, the private sector and community groups.
Digital leaders like Frank Escoubs of Montreal-based Imagination for People (www.imaginationforpeople.org) and Carl Skelton of New Yorks Gotham Innovation Greenhouse (gothaminnovationgreenhouse.com) described how new technology is being harnessed to empower citizens to shape public policy.
The Gazette asked OCPM Secretary-General Luc Doray why the consultation agency organized the event:
Doray: For the past two or three years, weve realized that citizen participation through the Web and social media like Facebook is increasing dramatically. For example, weve gone from 500 to 4,800 Facebook likes in less than two years. Its an explosion.
Basically, social and digital media pose a number of questions for which we didnt have answers. So we said if we dont have the answer, lets bring together people with similar interests and concerns to ours, so together we can find answers to these complex questions.
Q: What questions does the growing popularity of social media raise?
Doray: Are we losing control over the debate? Because basically, on Twitter, people are having a debate between themselves.
I remember when we held consultations on Griffintown in January 2012. There was a meeting with maybe 300 people in the room, some of whom were tweeting. So within the meeting that was going on, they were having a second discussion. It was interesting, but at the same time it was beyond our control. It was a parallel debate.
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Wikicit looks at how social media are shaping public policy