Notes of Winona
Online Democracy Steering Commttee Meeting.. 1/30/03 4-5:45 pm
City Hall Wenonah Room
Submitted by Randy Schenkat, Co Chair of WOD
(If others present care to add, please post and if other members not there had questions, suggestions, additions, please continue the discussion.)
Follow areas:
1) Strong List Mgt Continues
2) Dealing With Local Boards and Councils
3) Reflection on WOD Potential
4) Minnesota E-Democracy
1) STRONG LIST MANAGEMENT CONTINUES.
In a time of uncertainty, when our passionate promoter, vision holder, and general work horse, Steve Kranz announced his stepping down from his founding role-primarily to avoid any perception of conflicts of interest with his role as WAPS Chair, we've emerged very strong.
Craig Brooks stepped forward and accepted the responsibility of managing the technical aspects of WOD; this involves such tasks as dealing with bounced messages, etc. Steve has assured us it's much simpler since we've switched over to the MN E-Democracy system and server. We are also looking for someone to be a back up for Craig when he's out of town for extended periods of time.
Sharon Ropes had graciously accepted the role of list manager which involves facilitating conversation, asking questions, proposing issues in lulls, and occasionally reminding a stray from our extremely civil group about the code of conduct. Sharon will be contacting some of our trained facilitators to encourage their collaboration in facilitating a strong WOD. It was stressed that civility and feeling safe posting is key in participation as we've learned from past surveys and personal sharings. Both Sharon and Craig have made six month commitments; it's incumbent on us users to support their generous, volunteer efforts.
2) Dealing With Local Boards and Councils
A fair number of elected officials are subscribers to WOD. However, we don't see lots of participation. There can be a reluctance to be caught in shouting matches or deluged with emails and also perhaps a perception that WOD isn't demographically representative so it should be dismissed.
Regarding the later, we pondered if 220 individuals showed up at a meeting elected officials would take note. It's another form of getting input, having more breadth than a SHORTY'S group or the individual squeaky wheel. We did express an interest in reaching out for more voices across the political spectrum.
Regarding the former, it was suggested that one board or council member or staff member be designated as the official WOD monitor who would be responsible for sharing threads that have specific impacts on the governing board with its members.
This isn't to dissuade those interest in participating themselves, and they should realize the value of the digest version if they're concerned about multiple messages a day.
Also, it was suggested that as members asking questions of elected officials, we'd do better in asking specific factual information( i.e. what's the cost of putting up a stop sign?) than asking the more general what do you think about this topic?
It was also suggested perhaps governing bodies might suggest some topics they'd like discussed.
So we need WOD volunteers to make presentations and requests to the governing broads around these issues. We will draft some sample language for motions or resolutions.
The current financial situation is illustrated in the following anecdote- A politician was approached by a constituent who asked will my program be impacted by the budget cuts? The legislator said don't tell me your program and let me say this- yes. The impacts are going to be far reaching and it was suggested that WOD could work with the County, City, and School District to be a vehicle to 1) help inform about programs 2) be a mechanism for some citizen/elected official/ staff discussion.
Practically in dealing with revenues and budgets, it could mean working with rHometown.com or other web sites to post the information that gives backgrounds on the myriad of programs potentially impacted. It was suggested that we seek two representatives from each of the boards and councils to work with WOD members to build an informational base. Also, it was suggested there was value in being able to pose questions around programmatic and budgetary concerns implying if one member had a question, it was probably being wondered by others in WOD. Finally, it was suggested we might model in depth discussion around how do we holistically look at the challenges we face and minimize the losses by working cooperatively. Again volunteers are needed in this area. Contact Randy Schenkat or Clay Templeton for more details.
3) Reflection on WOD Potential
There's continued belief in the potential and many good accomplishments of WOD since its inception in August of 2000. Tim Erickson, manager of MN E-Democracy, commented on how our model is talked about around the world and that the Cities Forums have learned from us on how we've approach issues - such as topic facilitation. One person called to our attention to the high point of civil discourse on a sensitive local issue in the Boy Scout conversation. Another strong feature was the fact that WOD discussion has lead to community forums. It was also, mentioned how much there is to learn when members provide background and links on discussion topics. Last week's post on uncontrolled intersections was singled out as a sign of vibrant participation as 20 people made 37 posts over 5 days..
The following link (http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1534259), reflects some of the discussion of online democracy. We think it can work if the ideals and visions of WOD can be realized.
Some humble suggestions were made for reminding participants to stick with the exact tread of the original post and for us to learn more about taking ideas to action. One suggestion in the later regard was having the capacity for mini lists to form around a topic that members wished to concertedly work on.
Regarding the tension of local/ national issues, it was reiterated that we're primarily a local forum but our discussion should be informed when pertinent by the state and national contexts. If comments go astray without a tangible tie to local issues any of us should feel free to post- how doe this bear on us locally . But conversely, we should, too, be asking is Winona's experience unique what can we learn from other situations state wide or nationally?
The 9 members present felt that it was important to continue an active steering committee. The quality of the suggestions and length of this meeting give testament to the value of this meeting. The next meeting is set for two months hence- March 27th at the same time and place. In general, we'd welcome your suggestions for list functioning It was also, requested that we return at least once annually to a face to face social like we've had in the past.
4) Minnesota E-Democracy
As mentioned we were joined by Tim Erickson in addition to his laudatory comments about WOD, he shared some on MN E-Democracy. There is work being done on Rules updating, a citizen's guide for participation, a facilitator's guide, and developing a functioning steering committee on line, We learned that an early backer of the Minnesota effort is a large ISP in the Cities and they have donated the server and cover costs. The Cities' effort is working on getting more membership especially in St. Paul. Also, the model is being replicated in Chicago. Erickson talked on potential enhancement of soft ware to do more functions if a larger pool of Minnesotans were doing local efforts like Winona's as this might interest funders.
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Randy Schenkat 1358 Skyline Dr. Winona, Mn
55987 507-452-7168
