Targeted consultations/sites for different interest groups

Follow:

  • RSS
  • Cite
Submitted By
Katie Clancy
Tags
Votes: 59

Open government inherently contains the ideas of inclusiveness, transparency and accountability. I'm super excited there is one portal to rule them all, but some groups will be inherently more difficult to engage but should nevertheless probably be a part of the conversation. So they should be targeted specifically to provide input.

Take youth for example - tons of studies demonstrate that the millenial generation care, are willing to engage in open dialogues, and may be drivers of social innovation. However, they are not voting. Where is this differential between civic and online engagement coming from? Do they have specific needs or interests as a group that should be addressed. Open government feels like it should be a natural route to drive increased youth engagement in civic responsibilities.

So I'd like to see smaller initiatives to target groups who may currently face increased barriers to participation in order to generate more dialogue on INCLUSIVE open government. Right now, I'm noticing that the dialogue tends to be from educated, interested voices - which is great - but it does mean we could be missing important structural barriers to openness for the future that could exacerbate inequality in "openness". For example, let's talk with aboriginal groups. Immigrants. People living in poverty who don't necessarily have access to online infrastructure. And then aggregate their feedback into this one site so it is part of the greater dialogue.

How to do this?

Youth: you could cerate a smaller, flashier website that is more appealing to those youths, and try targeting specific groups (high schools and universities, maybe?). Perhaps ask different questions - not just what they think open government should look like, but what would a government they would actually want to engage with look like? This might be bleeding the lines a little bit, but the end result could be very informative for this discussion on openness.

Aboriginal Canadian groups: specifically consult with leaders and groups. They have a strong voice (see: Idle is no more), and specific attention needs to be given to ensure that they have an opportunity to dialogue on open government, their needs and wants, and addressing any barriers to participation.

Other specific groups could include immigrants and/or diaspora groups (As Minister Kenney said himself - some of the biggest users of Canada's websites) and Senior Citizens. I believe open consultations are ongoing with Industry and civil society already.

This is a really important step in maintaining a spirit of openness. Open is cool because it is, inherently, open to all. It is hard to be all things to all people - so let's make sure we've scoped restrictions to openness and hopes for it at all levels within Canada's action plan. And then build cool, open solutions *together* (whether through crowd sourcing or policy initiatives) to address those problems.

Add new comment

Rules of Engagement

We look forward to hearing from you. Your ideas and feedback are central to the development of both the Open Government portal and the Government of Canada’s approach to Open Government.

While comments are moderated, the portal will not censor any comments except in a few specific cases, listed below. Accounts acting contrary to these rules may be temporarily or permanently disabled.

Comments and Interaction

Our team will read comments and participate in discussions when appropriate. Your comments and contributions must be relevant and respectful.

Our team will not engage in partisan or political issues or respond to questions that violate these Terms and Conditions.

Our team reserves the right to remove comments and contributions, and to block users based on the following criteria:

The comments or contributions:

  • include personal, protected or classified information of the Government of Canada or infringes upon intellectual property or proprietary rights
  • are contrary to the principles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Constitution Act, 1982
  • are racist, hateful, sexist, homophobic or defamatory, or contain or refer to any obscenity or pornography
  • are threatening, violent, intimidating or harassing
  • are contrary to any federal, provincial or territorial laws of Canada
  • constitute impersonation, advertising or spam
  • encourage or incite any criminal activity
  • are written in a language other than English or French
  • otherwise violate this notice

Our team cannot commit to replying to every message or comment, but we look forward to continuing the conversation whenever possible. Please note that responses will be provided in the same language that was used in the original comment.

Our team will reply to comments in the official language in which they are posted. If we determine the response is a question of general public interest, we will respond in both official languages.