[okfn-discuss] workshop on emergent democracy // tuesday 19 august in shoreditch

Tue Aug 19 14:54:49 BST 2008

On 19/08/08 02:32, charlesarmstrong wrote:
> hallo rufus
> 
> you make some substantial points so apologies for what is bound to be an 
> inadequate response at this hour.

Really burning the (post-) midnight oil I see :)

> - i do not assert a causal relationship between technological innovation 
> and new organisational forms, i merely observe that there are clear 
> connections between the phenomena.

Absolutely -- I hope you did not construe my response as suggesting you 
did. I simply took the title "Emergent Democracy" and your excellent 
blurb as impetus to look at one particular thing. As you stated there 
are many things that could be altering technology. That said, I do note 
that of many (most?) your speakers tonight come heavily from the techy 
side of things.

> - by background and temperament i am an ethnographer. i tend to base 
> speculation about the future upon past observation. i've never yet 
> encountered a society that didn't concentrate authority in some manner 
> so i don't expect that to change. the communities where i've seen 

Surely the question was the extent to which that authority was 
concentrated, and perhaps more importantly, monitored. The 'Dictator and 
the Anarchist' story was all about the fact that concentration of power 
may not be problematic if combined with other factors (such as the 
nonrivalry and open licensing of the underlying good being governed).

> highest levels of participation in formal democratic processes were 
> (surprise surprise) in small towns in northern california but i think 
> they are probably exceptional. when i try to imagine an emergent 

Very interesting. As an ethnographer would you have any pointers to 
literature on this. I'd love to know more about what actually happened 
in said northern californian towns.

> democratic system operating in practice i still see 95% of people taking 
> only occasional interest in decision-making. but there does seem to be a 
> certain proportion of the citizenry who are motivated to take on more 
> responsibility than the current system permits them. for me the key 
> thing is not how many people are involved in decision-making, but how 
> easy it is for someone who decides they want to get involved to start 
> doing so, and the way they are able to start exerting influence.

Absolutely. The question is how much they do on their own. That is why I 
  had linked information (and technology) with the free-rider problem 
for I think that is what creates problems for the informed (or simply) 
active minority.

> in hosting the event tonight i'm not seeking to forge a consensus, 
> rather to hear a bunch of interesting people with different ideas talk 
> about their work and maybe start to spot some patterns emerging. now bed!

Of course, the entire purpose of this is discussion -- something already 
successfully achieved (or at least started) even before the physical 
meeting :) I was simply contributing here in lieu of my inability to 
attend what looks like it will be a fun and fascinating evening.

All the best and look forward to hearing more,

Rufus