Christchurch's new Central City Plan published
"The draft Central City Plan has been developed and written from the 106,000 ideas shared by our community during the six-week Share an Idea campaign.
This includes all ideas shared through the website, the two-day Community Expo attended by 10,000 residents, the public workshop series 450 residents participated in, meetings with various key stakeholders and discussions with councillors, interest groups and professional institutes. The draft plan also takes into account the work Council had already done to revitalise the Central City and other relevant Council policy."
(Christchurch City Council, 2011)
[The Christchurch City Council have published a draft Central City Plan to invite further commentary on Christchurch's rebuilding process. This stage of the consultation process begins on the 16th of August 2011.]
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
UK Research Excellence Framework: a brief guide to the proposals
"The four UK higher education funding bodies issued a second consultation on proposals for the Research Excellence Framework (REF), including proposals to assess the impact of research on the economy and society, and for citation information to be used by some panels to inform their review of research outputs."
(HEFCE, 2009, UK)
1). The Research Excellence Framework: A brief guide to the proposals' (Adobe PDF 124K).
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
UK Protection of Freedoms Bill – Public Reading Stage
"On Friday 11th February 2011, the Coalition Government published the Protection of Freedoms Bill. ... Some of the measures came from the 14,000 ideas left on the Your Freedom website.
The Government is committed to continuing this public engagement with the content of the Protection of Freedoms Bill. This website gives you the opportunity to comment on each clause contained in the Bill. Your comments will get collated at the end of this public consultation and fed through directly to the Parliamentarians who will carry the Bill through the House of Commons (go to the Parliament website to learn about the passage of a bill). These comments will assist and challenge MPs, aiding their scrutiny and debate on the details of the Bill. This is a pilot for the 'public reading stage' that the Government wants to introduce to give the public an increased say in all bills"
(UK Cabinet Office, 2011)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Lessons in participation from 'Our Budget, Our Economy'
"Efforts to improve political engagement don't come much bigger than the work done by AmericaSpeaks.org, which has set itself a mission to 'reinvigorate American democracy by engaging citizens in the public decision-making that most impacts their lives'.
One of its recent efforts was a 'national town meeting' to discuss ways of dealing with America's federal budget deficit. It saw 3,500 Americans gathered at 57 sites across the country on June 26, 2010.
Participants from a range of social and political backgrounds debated 42 options for closing the deficit (a report to Congress is available), and at the end of the day 91 per cent said they were 'very satisfied' or 'satisfied' with the tone and quality of the discussion.
And in an interesting result that shows the value of deliberation and discussion, only 15 per cent said their views were not at all influenced by others and just three per cent said they did not learn anything during the meeting."
(eDemocracyBlog.com, 7 December 2010)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Kiwi Wiki Informs Aotearoa Policing Policy
"Today's launch of a [Aotearoa] Policing Act wiki gives Kiwis an innovative way to suggest the wording for a new Act of Parliament. The wiki is the latest step in a comprehensive review of the 1958 Police Act. The officer in charge of the review, Superintendent Hamish McCardle, says the wiki provides an online space, similar to a whiteboard, where anyone can post their ideas on what a new Policing Act should say. The 'wiki' format is similar to that used for the popular on-line encyclop[a]edia, Wikipedia. 'Launching a wiki version of a statute is a novel move, but one we hope will yield a range of views from people interested in having a direct say on the shape of a new Policing Act,' Superintendent Mccardle says. If successful, one outcome is for the wiki Act to be given to the parliamentary select committee considering the official Policing Bill next year, along with other consultation information generated during the 18 month long review. 'This may well be one of the first pieces of legislation developed in New Zealand [Aotearoa] with the aid of such an online tool.'
The wiki can be accessed at http://wiki.policeact.govt.nz, or by using a link from the Police Act Review website (http://www.policeact.govt.nz). 'All the instructions are on the website and are easy to follow,' says Superintendent McCardle, 'and users can add their views within minutes.'
The Policing Act wiki joins other wikis launched to encourage New Zealanders to engage with public sector agencies. A good example is the Participation Wiki (http://wiki.participation.e.govt.nz), hosted by the [New Zealand] State Services Commission.
For further information/comment, contact Hamish McCardle +64 21 483 467"
(New Zealand Police, 5:08pm 25 September 2007)
Fig.1 "Shane aka Pajama Boy gives us all a peace lesson".
CONTRIBUTOR
The Constellations ProjectSHARE
