Operationalizes Collaborative Democracy into practice: City councils on a local level and parliaments on regional or national level apply technology via institutionalized processes to engage and collaborate with citizens at every stage in law and policy-making, aiming at mobilizing collective intelligence: The first stage of problem identification would demand diverse and lived experience, necessitating input from those with experience, situational awareness for issues, and credentialed expertise with a specific focus on consulting those who are disadvantaged in a current situation. The second stage of solution identification would demand professional know-how responsive to the public interest which could be assured by credentialed experts from diverse sources (e.g. academia, industry, business) based on a value judgment by citizens. The drafting stage of bills should be conducted by people with writing skills, and the ability and interest for policy-making which requires a high level of commitment and greater knowledge of the subject matter. The implementation at the fourth stage should still be conducted by government agencies. However, citizens should participate in Policy Labs to implement bills into practice by identifying problems and potentially better approaches before an idea is finally deployed. The fifth phase of conduction includes the continuous evaluation of bills by ICT-driven consultation of citizens about the suitability of measures including participatory “social audits” to ensure more iterative regulation and legislation.

Proponents: Beth Noveck

For further interest on this topic:

https://www.thegovlab.org/project/project-crowdlaw