[Winona Online Democracy]
At the risk of
resuscitating a dead horse, I have thought about the recent comments about
participation in WOD, including the posting by Steve Schild about his
research paper (which generated a lot of comment when it first came
out). Taking up his challenge, I actually read the whole
paper.
I think the paper is
well written, clearly organized, and generally neutral in tone - it was a
good piece of research. It poses questions up front
with provocative quotes (by others) about the grand possibilities of
E-democracy and others about how far we have yet to go. But the bulk of
the paper is simply an analysis of the answers that 41 of you folks gave
about WOD. We can't argue with plain reporting, even if the story doesn't
conform to our wishful thinking. Many people said they were hesitant to
post for a variety of reasons and didn't like or trust the views of
others.
It has been pointed
out that there are perhaps only 200 WOD participants out of
a population of 27,000 (50,000+ in the County) - about 1/2% to 1% of the
population. But the comparison I found myself making is not how does WOD
stack up to its own goals (not terribly well), but how does it compare to other
forms of democracy and communication? The experience that I can
share is as a city planning consultant, helping cities formulate comprehensive
plans and zoning ordinances. These documents form the broad framework
and the detailed laws that govern all public and private development activities
in a community for years.
I have not done
careful research, but I can share anecdotally that I have rarely had
participation over 1/10% in the planning efforts I have conducted, and yet
when we reach even that number, people are thrilled at the turnout. And if
I were to ask those people if they like or trusted the process, many would give
answers similar to the WOD survey.
Think of the last
time Winona updated its Comprehensive Plan or Zoning Ordinance - how many
of you attended a meeting to discuss it? If I were doing a plan for a
city the size of Winona I would be delighted to see 25 people show up at
community input meetings on the Plan. Fifty would be astounding (we had 70
in St. Cloud, representing a greater community of 200,000). These
plans and ordinances are routinely discussed and debated by a couple dozen
people on a task force, then reviewed by 7 Planning Commission members and 5
City Council members, at public hearings where there are maybe 10 or 20 others
present. The whole course of the community's future decided by 50 people,
many of whom don't say anything.
By comparison, the
discussions on WOD are quite large. There are certainly ways we could make
WOD a better forum, either technically or culturally, but I'm not so hard
on us with the numbers we have, compared to the work I do.
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