| Information
is Power?
Envisioning the Minnesota Public Internet - Public service and community information and interaction in the public interest Copyright 1999 Steven Clift - All rights reserved. Please contact the author via e-mail <clift@publicus.net> for use permissions. Printing for personal use permitted. This article was downloaded from <http://www.publicus.net/present/public.html>. by Steven
Clift,
An edited transcript of the
speech given by Steven Clift to the Information
for Change conference in St. Paul, Minnesota on November 8, 1999.
Included below are the graphical slides, larger text was also presented
on slides.
Information is Power? Good afternoon. Hold on to your brains. When I was asked to speak at first thought I should tell you my story about Minnesota's E-Democracy's Minneapolis Issues Forum and squirrels, but I'll leave that up to you to discover on the Internet. It is a great story about how the citizens of Minneapolis are using the Internet to interact in substantial ways on community issues - even our squirrel population. This week's topic seems to be changing city policy on emptying public trash cans - just watch today's online discussion will be tomorrow's news ("Minneapolis asks businesses to pay for litter removal," Kevin Diaz / Star Tribune, Monday, November 15, 1999). Instead of my current main presentation I have decided to summarize in 30 minutes my dreams for public-oriented information and communication across Minnesota. Let's call this my Minnesota Public Internet vision. Anyone from Minnesota Public Radio or Public TV here? Don't get too nervous, but listen carefully. I do believe that we have a special capacity in Minnesota to implement ideas in creative ways first, but I have discovered through my travels that all good ideas are not innately created here and that we are not the model to the world we think we are. We may be good, but we rarely market our ideas and experiences outside of our safe city-state on the prairie. I want Minnesota to pride itself on importing and improving upon the best ideas from around the world. Then we can actively showcase our public work strategically across the planet. Luckily the Internet is a fundamental threat to our current Minnesota way of complacent life. This includes our excess pride and geographical sense of insulation. Minnesota can still "do" things humbly better than others, but we must now actively compete to "be" somebody that matters in the networked digital world. We must aggressively seek models and examples that we can adapt for our own needs. Otherwise the bi-coastal hegemony will make all the choices for us. Minnesota will become a lot less Minnesota. When I read the theme of this conference. Information is Power? I thought to myself "no it isn't." So what about information might give us power -- the power to fundamentally improve people's lives, our communities, and the greater state? Here goes:
Information is Power? No.
Perhaps a little history might be useful. How many of you have heard of Access Minnesota? Up until about 1994 almost everyone was in a discovery phase when it came to the Internet. Development of Access Minnesota, led by the Minnesota Extension Service, brought well over a dozen public and non-profit organizations together to craft Minnesota's first Internet public access sites grant proposal. Everyone was at the table
because they knew it was important to be there, but no one really knew
why. People and organization did not know where their interests lied
accept that they needed to learn - they needed to be in the loop.
By 1996 government agencies, non-profits, libraries, companies, etc. began
to see their interests and the great heal digging of 1996 began.
Almost anything transformative based on the Internet seems to have started
before 1995. We missed our first opportunity to do something fundamentally
different with public service information and communication - before existing
interests held up change.
I made this up
In 1997 and 1998 with non-profits, schools, libraries, and specific government agencies we experienced the great "Let's Get Some Era." Forget everyone else let's just get some technology for ourselves. We need the armor of the future to protect our turf. Depressed yet? Don't be. I'm actually a very positive person. We are getting wired. Sure we have to surmount a consumer digital divide, but as public spirited individuals and organizations we are entering the next phase of digital opportunity. In fact a more positive way to look at the last couple years is to call it an era of "Great Integration and Adaptation." We are now in what I call the "Great Settling" which will last through 2001. - You know I always wondered how researchers came up with industry predictions. I think they just make this stuff up, I know that I am. The features of the "Great Settling" include coming to grip with what this means to us and acceptance of organizational limits. Maybe we can't go it alone? Our heavy focus on technology over content and applications will become exposed. In general we will pretty much give up for a year or two because dealing with content, applications, and communications requires actual organizational change. And who wants to change when complacency seems to be working so well? The secret of this short era is that resistance to the next big thing will be weakened as the straggling organizations or staff within organizations catch up or fade way. After 2001 I think we have two competing visions or options - the "Great Phhhffft" or the "Great Public Re-intermediation." Re-intermediation or intentional disintermediation in the public interest is what the Minnesota Public Internet concept is all about. It is coming to realize the online public content, services, and communication that won't exist based on private, non-profit, or government work alone, but instead requires partnerships and collaborative approaches to exist. I often refer to Internet venture capitalists as the world's biggest Internet philanthropists. What happens when they get tired of losing money or when some actually finds a profitable online model? A lot of the free services we take for granted today may fade into oblivion. I think the "Great Phhhffft" option is pretty much self-defining. It can only be avoided by developing a shared vision for our public information and communications future. Developing strong partnerships and real political and economic leadership around these issues is absolutely essential. So let's get back to my thesis ... Intentional, ongoing, expansive, many-to-many communication within the context of organized accurate, up-to-date information is power. Let's take the second part first - Organized, accurate, up-to-date information and let's toss in the word services as well. Back in 1994 and 1995 I was designing North Star, the State Government's home page or directory site (see also the North Star Development Center, and History and Future as viewed in 1997.) I secretly felt that I was designing the future interface through which most citizens would someday interact with their government. When people would hear the word state government they would have an image of the state capitol building, the current Governor, and the main home page in their minds. I strived to keep it non-political and worked to create a citizen-oriented foundation. I figured that someone online should wake up each morning and ask the question - "what can I do for the citizens as a whole today" versus "what can I do to present my agency in a better light to its customers." I assumed that agencies would continue their silo service, but that we could add a user-friendly directory. And over time standardized access to frequently requested information and a high volume service transaction layer. We would move from a thin directory, hard silo system toward a "Yahoo" like directory as illustrated here.
Moving toward an integrated service delivery and multi-interface approach, I felt the growing directory should be based on a database and be led by those with a communications and library-oriented skill set and not just technologists. In the winter of 1997 the Minnesota State Legislature passed legislation creating the best legal framework for integrated online government online in the country and put almost $1 million dollars toward the effort. The vision should have moved us toward a subject index of state government information and services (which does not exist - only a big garbage in garbage out search tool), a dynamic framework for integration of all major state directory information products including the state telephone directory, state agency guidebook, directory information on all local governments and eventually all public services including those sponsored by non-profits. Perhaps an outside in approach will lead First Call for Help to take over and integrate all government information and referral into their framework? (This reminds us that ideas are dangerous - because all existing organizations and missions will not survive, keeping ideas off the public agenda is the safest way to preserve organizational turf.) I left state government to pursue my Democracies Online effort and independent consulting before the Great Carlson IT Squabble among the analog-oriented destroyed the capacity for leadership in this area. I have no idea where North Star's million dollars went nor what the Department of Administration has planned now that the briefly bold Office of Technology is being folded back into the place where all mainframes are good looking and above average. The pre-Internet technologists won round one, but Governor Ventura's "Big Plan" government systems theme may provide another opportunity for real reform. If you are interested I can give you the web address <http://www.publicus.net/onegov.html> to a memo I sent at my own initiative to Governor Ventura's top staff. I know that they put a lot of faith in David Fisher the Commissioner of Administration and I wish him luck. Ultimately it is about vision, power, and leadership. I think we need this to come directly from the Governor's Office with real targets to which we can hold the administration accountable. In the end it might make sense to privatize North Star into a state-supported non-profit that would take a holistic "public" information and interactive services perspective. This could become the foundation for what I call the "Minnesota Public Internet."
Through the use of open standards and systems the best public content should be aggregated for broad dissemination through multiple technologies. While the web will be the most cost effective self-serve system, telephone based text to speech systems must provide access to the blind and those without two-way Internet access. Any government or non-profit employee could use the same Minnesota Public Internet directory to send citizens in the right direction cutting through the bureaucracy. The real revolution with content aggregation and dissemination will be Digital Television. Using yet to be defined enhanced service standards the "best of the Internet" will be broadcast. Your remote will give you access to text, images, audio, and video that will be stored on your set-top box or in your television for a few hours or longer depending upon your settings. The fundamental question with the "one-way Internet" (my name for digitial TV) is what public content is so important that everyone should have universal access to it? Some examples that come to mind; weather alerts, traffic information, crime alerts, school lunch menus, missing children alerts, snow emergency information and other public safety notices. Imagine this - you key your zip code into the set-top box and suddenly you have access to accurate, up-to-date local information from the city, your neighborhood organization, local museums, civic groups and the list goes on. (This concept could be explored now at the local level if local governments dedicate all of the increased revenue from cable modem services to "public access" community new media content and service development.)
The lynch pin of this model is the development of a trusted content aggregator(s) and standards-based syndication systems. While commercial stations could be encouraged to carry this digital side content, I think public television broadcasters are in the strongest leadership position. Perhaps they just become the carriers as part of some broad government/non-profit partnership or they build this by default. I am not sure. Let's not count commercial carriers out completely. It may be that the Minnesota Public Internet concept is actually made up of many partnerships organizing different chunks of content and services for "syndication" across not only Digital TV but through the larger commercial web sites with "eyeballs" or users. You see this happening already with multiple commercial sites using and repackaging traffic information. So in the future perhaps more people will interact online with their government and non-profit services through the StarTribune or PioneerPlanet and AOL's My Government then through government and non-profit web sites directly? Perhaps. I am not sure if I am fighting or promoting that concept, but in the end I just want more citizens to actually get access to the good stuff on their terms based on their own needs. (Pause) Before I move on to "intentional, ongoing, expansive, many-to-many communication" I'd like to share a slide from that illustrates the potential need for "public Internet" applications.
In my own estimation when it comes to infrastructure, commerce, and general content the private sector and public/non-profit sectors "as is" are generally successful, but when it comes to community content, interaction, and community interaction there are tremendous gaps. We need to keep the rationale and models from public broadcasting and public access cable from clouding our options. Defining the "public Internet" is not about creating an alternative channel (those will have value based on existing or narrowly defined institutions) but is instead about partnerships among all players to fill in the gaps and creation of shared mediating institutions.
Again, what can we do together
that would not happen otherwise, but we want to exist? Ultimately
the more online access, content, and interaction support by the competitive
private market place or integrated into existing government and non-profit
missions the better. Filling in the many-to-many interactive
gap with dynamic and sustainable solutions is how our first digital generation
will be judged. It will be my life work.
Let's Interact Now the first part of the thesis - "intentional, ongoing, expansive, many-to-many communication." Time to imagine our well organized public service information and service system with integrated interaction and collaborative features. In my Democracy is Online article I conclude with "Perhaps the most democratizing aspect of the Internet is the ability for people to organize and communicate in groups." Therefore our challenge in Minnesota is to define a useful, easy-to-use, open interactive communication system for policy development, community dialogue and public work. This concept is under development within Minnesota E-Democracy with the working name of "Minnesota Forum." In the end it might make sense to merge E-Democracy into a broader construct like the Minnesota Public Internet, but only if we enter is as equal partners with Channel 2, Minnesota Public Radio, and North Star. Just kidding. Who knows? It just seems clear that adapting existing institutions will not suffice. If the world is run by those who show up, lets make it so people can show up from their homes (or other public and private places). In 1994 Minnesota E-Democracy launched the MN-POLITICS discussion forum. It remains the most active and relevant state or regional online political forum in the world. If 99 percent of political interaction is pure junk, ours is only half junk and the miracle is that half has any value whatsoever. We have learned that who reads your message is more important than what you have to say. While our state-wide forum has taken on a slightly reduced role as online political discussion has diffused across many e-mail lists, our local community Issues Forums in Minneapolis and now St. Paul and Duluth are entering their heyday as important and essential public spaces. Let me share two quick diagrams.
This is how the web works.
From an organizers perspective the web is way too passive for interaction.
It is almost impossible to get a user to come back, particularly for smaller
local sites.
This is how an e-mail list works. It is active and many-to-many. It allows people to publish directly to a group involved with the centers of power and agenda setting. Just watch the papers for coverage of the Minneapolis commercial street trash removal policy discussions. To extend discussion to communities
across the state and more deeply with policy development circles we need
to develop the next big idea.
Let's assume that the instutions of Minnesota's democracy will continue to become "wired" and use technology to the full benefit of their current functions. Our "Wired Government" (media, non-profits, political interest groups, etc.) and other institutions stand in stark contrast to the semi-wired, isolated citizen. While the Internet is praised for giving individuals new communcation power, in reality freedom to speak globally to no one who will listen (or very few people) isn't all that transformative.
However, if we connect citizens within geographic areas and the context of real political power and decision-making structures we can build an interactive public commons that contributes both to policy making and citizen deliberation. (See my A Wired Agora presentation for more on this theme.)
Minnesota Forum Minnesota's political system is the more online than anywhere in the world - particularly in terms of private and public online interaction. We need to develop Minnesota as the biggest and best democracy online pilot by importing and adapting Internet technologies and Internet-style flexible organizational frameworks toward public goals. We need to work from the MN-POLITICS discussion e-mail list as the loud, noisy "online capitol rotunda" and build the "virtual committee rooms" for serious information exchange, deliberation, and citizen involvement. In my current state of thinking, the Minnesota
Forum effort consists of three interactive areas:
1. Minnesota Capitol Forum - Virtual committee rooms for policy announcements and discussions.
A. Announcement e-mail list to all specific group membersIdeally the system software would use an "open source" e-mail list/web/newsgroup gateway that would allow syndication of the announcement and discussion spaces. This would allow sites to either integrate the forums into their sites (like online news sites) or provide profile links as part of an official partnership. This effort will only work if the Governor's Office, the State Legislature, major Minnesota-based online sites, civic organizations, and communities across the state come together and participate in some formal way. Does anyone have funding ideas for a planning grant? (E-mail me <clift@publicus.net>!) Minnesota Forum would have to become the unofficial designated place for citizen-to-citizen and citizen with government exchange. For example, an e-mail reply from the Governor or Legislator to a citizen would proudly mention in their thank you note - "I also encourage you to participate and make your voice heard in the Minnesota Capitol Forum." As I have noted to government/legislative online leaders in Minnesota and beyond - wouldn't you rather have people spend their time interacting with other citizens instead of just sending you e-mail one-way all the time. The current one-way flow of protest oriented e-mail to elected officials is a serious threat to deliberative, representative democracy. Let's encourage the political forces in society to mix it up publicly online within a context that actually matters in real politics. These interactive spaces need to become a shared community resource that are managed and facilitated in an unbiased manner such that they can become important communications crossroads that improve public policy development and community participation. They must be strictly non-partisan and owned legally by either no one or a diffused partnership. In brief, the Minnesota Capitol Forum would host a set of 20-30 topical announcement and discussion spaces. They would directly complement legislative and administrative decision-making structures - for example policy areas like the Environment and Natural Resources or Transportation. Working closely with the legislature and others, committee agendas, testimony, agency reports, advocacy alerts, and announcements could be actively shared. Online discussion would be an option as well as a shared collection of policy links. Web links or integration of the online spaces into partner sites, especially government and media web sites will be required. Interactive spaces without extensive linking from related legislative committee pages and key policy agency sites the Capitol Forum will not attract enough awareness to warrant building it in isolation. The Communities Forum would extend online public spaces to local communities and regions across our Minnesota. You could extend the use of these tools down to neighborhoods. This would allow both the sharing of meeting announcements and provide a forum for online discussion that complements in-person meetings. Wouldn't it be nice to use the Internet to get people out of their homes and involved in local affairs. Think of the Internet as the ultimate ice breaker. As others lead efforts to ensure high bandwidth directly connected universal Internet access and broader socio-economic use, we must ensure that the Internet matters in real politics and community before it is too late to define the medium. The Communities effort would need to work with local governments and their statewide associations, local media, libraries, public access cable, local Internet Service Providers and community networks and I would also suggest groups like the Minnesota Extension Service and other organizations with a statewide local reach. Additional statewide online communities based on cultural, ethnic, and language groups would also be an important area to explore. And finally the Commons would
be designed for "public work" interaction across the state.
This would allow people from distant and nearby communities to share experiences,
advice, and ideas related to their public work (volunteerism, public service
occupation, etc.). Whether it is people promoting recycling or helping
new immigrants become new Minnesotans. If the Capitol Forum is about public
policy debate, the Commons is about involvement in public problem-solving
and better practices.
Whew, my brain is tired. So there you have it five years of ideas condensed into 30 minutes. I hope I have provoked you a little bit - I know this will tweak a few folks when I put this online. So let's do it - if we can
organize our diverse "best of" public service information and build in
a complementary interactive public commons then information and communication
will truly become power.
Democracies Online The Democracy Online Newswire e-mail announcement list covers the topics covered in this article. Send a message to listserv@tc.umn.edu. In the body of the message, write subscribe do-wire Your Name (Place). Democracies Online promotes the development and sustainability of online civic participation and democracy efforts around the world through experience, outreach, and education. For more information, see http://www.e-democracy.org/do.
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