[CAnet - news] Government 2.0: The Next Generation of Democracy

For more information on this item please visit my blog at=20
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/ or http://billstarnaud.blogspot.com
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[Some excerpts from my opinion piece at Internet Evolution -- BSA]


Government 2.0: The Next Generation of Democracy
http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=3D506&doc_id=3D154=
118&

For years, experts predicted e-government would be a driving force for
broadband usage. The assumption was that many government services, from =
dog
tags to taxes, could be done electronically over the Internet.  Despite
modest success in this area, e-government hasn't pushed broadband usage. =
But
now many pundits are starting to realize that the better value of
e-government may be allowing the public to have greater input on =
government
operations and processes.

[..]
Now, the goal is to use Web-based collaboration to "reinvent =
government."
Well known author and futurist Don Tapscott advances this concept in his =
new
research project called, Government 2.0: Wikinomics, Government & =
Democracy.

[..]
Wikis and Web 2.0 technologies have the potential to fundamentally =
transform
the way we are governed and radically reshape political philosophy. Not
since the days of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau =
have
we had such opportunity and the tools to address many shortcomings of
democratic society, especially the domination of special interests and
lobbyists.

As Winston Churchill once commented, "Democracy is the worst form of
government, but it is better than any other type of government we have =
ever
tried." Government 2.0 represents an opportunity to redress the many
shortcomings of the worst possible government we have -- democracy as we
know it today.

[..]These are just some simple examples of the possibilities of applying
Internet and Web 2.0 technologies to how we are governed.  We are only
limited by our imagination, in optimizing the Internet as a new
revolutionary tool to truly personalize democracy.  For more musings on =
this
subject, please see my blog, Democracy 2.0 - Next Generation Democracy.



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