[Winona Online Democracy]
Bob,
Good issues to bring up. Here's my take on the subject -- I've include my
responses within the body of your message below . . .
> However: Is there a problem with a relatively small number of citizens
> having a wonderful discussion that the general public may never see
"Relatively small" is . . . well . . . a relative statement. 168 people is
a small number when you compare it to the local reach of the Daily News or
the post, but it is quite a large number of people if you consider the fact
that people are actually interacting and responding. Imaging holding a
local meeting and having 168 people show up to talk about local issues, it
would be a tremendous turnout. Compare that number to the amount of people
who show up to watch the candidate forums or who attend school board
meetings.
>
> Email is great, but it is still not universal in Winona households. It's
> also a medium that requires people to turn on computers, connect to the
> Internet, fire up a program, sort through messages, etc. It is not the
same
> as opening real mail or paging through a newspaper.
Yes, it's not the same but that does not diminish its value -- it's just
different.
>
> As I've discovered at the Saint Mary's U. public info office, email is
not
> completely replacing the printed word; in many cases it's in ADDITION to
> print.
I think you can consider Winona Online Democracy as something that is "in
addition" to other available forums (newspapers, live meetings, etc.) not
something that is meant to replace other forums. It's just another avenue
to promote civic engagement.
>
> Who are we reaching with the Winona Online forum? Who are we missing?
Good questions -- we continue to work on expanding our membership to include
as broad a cross section of the community as possible. Currently, about 60%
of the community has access to email -- and the other 40% can certainly get
access through public terminals at the libraries (though, obviously not as
conveniently). You'll see us continue to survey our members to find out who
we're missing and you'll see us to continue to do outreach and expand the
number of members.
> Are people who would normally send their opinions to newspaper letter
pages
> posting them here, instead, thus actually withdrawing their opinions from
> broader public exposure?
I suspect that the opposite is true. My feeling is that people are
expressing opinions that would not be heard otherwise. I know I have
certainly expressed things on this list that I would not have taken the time
to write down and send to the Daily News. One advantage of this list is
that it makes it easier and more convenient to do that.
>
> Hypothetical situation: Say there is a big referendum issue such as
spending
> money for a new school. A vigorous, informed discussion ensues on this
email
> forum. Consensus is reached that a school is needed and money should be
> spent. But the great debate never reaches the mass of the community, which
> shows up on election day and votes down the referendum. What has been
> accomplished?
Well, a good portion of the population (or at least 168 people) will have
become informed about an important issue and those 168 will probably talk
about it with their friends and family when the subject comes up "offline"
and the ideas will begin to filter through the community.
Or perhaps one or two of those people become inspired to take action and
organize in the community around the issue. That would certainly have an
impact.
>
> My point:
>
> If the goal is communication to the most people possible, it has to be
> multi-media. What if an agreement is made with the Winona Daily News?
Maybe
> they could monitor the email discussion, and print selected letters every
> day?
Several people from the Daily News are subscribed to the list, so they aware
of what is discussed. I think it is important to have the media
participating in the discussion so that any newsworthy ideas can gain
greater public exposure. I'm not sure how the paper (or list members) would
feel about taking emails off the list and publishing them -- I'd hate to
have people choose not to post to the list because they were worried that
they didn't have time to write a "newspaper quality" email .
>
> Reactions/other ideas are welcome.
>
These are great issues to think about and we often talk about them at the
Steering Committee meetings. I'd encourage you (and everyone else) to
attend. We want to see the list have an "offline" impact in the community
and we have some ideas in the works to help make that happen.
-Steve Kranz
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