Citizen Participation in the Wiki and Facebook Era

How new Internet Technologies are Changing Public Service Delivery

24th October 2008

Kieran LenihanInstitute of Public Administration

Why this seminar?

1. OECD Public Sector Review 2008

2. The Popularity of Web 2.0 websites

3. The potential to involve citizens in improving services

4. The Net generation

5. Potential for value for money for public Service

OECD Review

Call for:New ways of workingGreater sharing of expertise and knowledgeThe use of networks to bring together relevant playersGreater connectivity with stakeholders inside and outside of Public ServiceService delivery from the perspective of the citizen, (who is not familiar with how structures and

systems operate)Full potential of ICT to be realised by public sector organisations

OECD

“Irish citizens and residents are being transformed by the Internet and their own growing expectations from being users of public services to participants and even partners in shaping and delivering public services. In order for the Public Service to keep up with, and tap into, these larger social forces, it should promote transparency as a value that will make the Public Service more dynamic and increase the public’s trust by fostering a debate on the Public Service’s contribution to societal outcomes such as life expectancy and competitiveness.”

The popularity of Web 2.0 sites

Irish Top 10 websites (Alexa Ratings)

1. Google.ie

2. You Tube Web 2.0

3. Google

4. Yahoo

5. Bebo Web 2.0 (40 members worldwide)

6. Windows Live

7. Facebook Web 2.0 (120m members worldwide)

8. MSN

9. Wikipedia Web 2.0

10.Google UK

Bebo

49%

16%

14%

8%

6%

6%

51%

16%

13%

10%

6%

6%

15+ yrs

15-24 yrs

25-34 yrs

35-44 yrs

45-54 yrs

55+ yrs

Male % Female %

The Popularity of Web 2.0 Sites

The Popularity of Web 2.0

Facebook

45%

8%

17%

8%

5%

6%

55%

11%

23%

7%

8%

6%

Male % Female %

The Potential to Involve Citizens….

….Or they will involve themselves anyway

Patientopinion.org, farmsubsidy.net, fixmystreet.com etc

The internet is empowering citizens

Access to information, to communities and to a soapbox!

Net Generation

• The Net Generation, or N-Gen, describes an age band of people in Western society characterised by their access to and use of digital communication devices to satisfy cultural and social needs, conduct business and experience life in ways fundamentally different from their parents. Also commonly known as Generation Y, the Internet Generation or iGeneration, members of this generational cohort were generally born between about 1977 and the mid 1990s ([1]). N-Gen have grown up with the Internet in a period driven by technological change, determining the way they think, work, play and communicate (Tapscott 1998). For N-Geners the digital world and its possibilities are a fact of life, not a marvel. The convergence of computers, telecommunications and Internet technologies in an integrated communications web opened up news ways to organise human relationships and has become the mainstay of an entire generation of technologically-savvy people (Rifkin 2000, p.218). The digital revolution resulted in the disintegration of geographic barriers and gave way to a global society

Net Generation

• Also called N-Gen or Generation Y • Born 1977-mid nineties• Characterised by access to and use of digital

communications• Digital world a fact of life not a novelty• Telecommunications, internet and computers merge

to erase geographical boundaries• New ways of establishing and maintaining

relationships• New ways of expressing individuality.• N-Gen prefer Interactivity

Characteristics of N-gen

• Like public activism

• Dislike slowness

• Privacy not so important to many

• Sharing and collaborating more so

Potential for value for money for Public Service