Democracy: Making It Real (Online)

PlaceSpeak is a game-changer because it addresses the profound cynicism currently infecting our democracy by providing an open, accessible, dynamic, transparent and defensible system for public consultation. This presentation was made at Web Summit 2014 in Dublin on November 5, 2014, by our CEO, Colleen Hardwick.

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Speaking Points

Slide 1: Democracy: Making it Real (Online)—Democracy is broken. People don’t trust the process anymore.

Slide 2: Democracy does not Scale—One man. One Vote. Not scaleable; until now.

Slide 3: 2 Models of Democracy: Aggregative—Majority Rule. Competition among Parties. Attempt to satisfy the largest number of people’s preferences.

Slide 4: 2 Models of Democracy: Participatory—Values: Inclusion, Equality, Reasonableness and Publicity

Slide 5: Democratic Process—Public Consultation is part of a Regulatory Process whereby the public’s input is sought on matters affecting them. Its main goals are improving the efficiency and transparency of public involvement in decision-making or policy development. Consultations occur at all levels: neighbourhood, municipal, regional, state/provincial, national or even international. Regulations exist in both the public and private sectors.

Slide 6: Refresher – The Problem—Public Meetings, Door-knocking, Land-line Telephones

Slide 7: Anonymity breeds contempt: Trolls, Gaming of the System, Social Media – bogus accounts and sentiment analysis

Slide 8: Evidence-based decision-making—Authenticating digital identity to physical address. With all these factors, how do we get hard evidence?

Slide 9: Challenges— Privacy by design, Individual Privacy, Provide verified Data. PlaceSpeak is a Privacy by Design ambassador. The designation originated from the past Ontario Privacy Commissioner. Proponent gets hard evidence, people stay private.

Slide 10: 2-Sided model – GeoSocial—Standalone websites, White label application, Register and Verify once, Single Sign-in and API. Black box consultation vs. geoauthentication.

Slide 11: Profile – Digital Identity Authentication—Think of it as a LinkedIn for Public Participation: Profile setup, Privacy, Verification, Notification, Social Media integration

Slide 12: IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation—Features organized along the lines of the IAP2 Spectrum: (1) Inform, (2) Consult; (3) Involve; (4) Collaborate: (5) Empower

Slide 13: Verifiable location-based Feedback

Slide 14: Making Democracy Real—By authenticating individual identity and tying it to place. By protecting individual privacy. By keeping people informed.

Slide 15: Contact Us