The Perfect Citizen

The role of the citizen in creating a new Ireland is an important one. What foundations, skills and moral attributes should the perfect citizen have?…

…Perhaps its time to look at what was once viewed as the old-fashioned notion of citizenship. What is the perfect citizen? What foundations, skills and moral attributes should they have to ensure that we create a more sustainable form of success. What should we do to create such citizens and what can we learn from others?

Commentators are all agreed on one thing – the overarching role of education. There is also a broad consensus on the idea that to build these solid foundations, we need to start as early as possible in the education system.

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Gordon Brown (talking at TED)  on global society, and how technology enables a global community to fundamentally change the world..he discusses how in future foreign policy should not be dictated by political elites, but instead should be run through listening to the public opinions of people who are blogging and using other online technologies to communicate across the world..he discusses combining the power of a global ethic  with the power of our ability to communicate and organise globally, with the challenges we now face, most of which are global in their nature, Brown gives the example of  climate change which  can not be solved in one country, nor can the financial crisis or terrorism…

The great project of our generation according to Brown , is to build for the first time out of a global ethic and out of our global ability to communicate and organise together, a truly global society, built on that ethic, but with institutions which can serve that global society and thus  make for a different future.

Just half of the UK population has used the internet in the last year to access information about government or local council services or completed a government form or process online, according to Ofcom research.

Forty-two per cent of people interviewed said that they had looked for information online about a government or local council service, or used services such as paying their road tax or registering for Child Tax Credits online. Among people who have the internet at home, this rises to 55 per cent who have used these services online.

However, only 15 per cent of people from areas of multiple deprivation have used similar information or services online. Areas of multiple deprivation are defined by a range of factors including economic, social and housing issues.

The research comes as more and more services, such as central and local government services, are available online.

EASIER TO ENGAGE
The majority of people (70 per cent of the online sample, 60 per cent of the general population) say that the internet has made it easier to engage in citizen participation activities, such as contacting an MP or signing a petition. But in areas of multiple deprivation less than half of people interviewed agreed (42 per cent) and 20 per cent disagreed.

LACK OF AWARENESS
However, respondents were not always aware of what can be done online (for example, contacting your MP, getting in touch with the local council or joining a campaign). Among the online sample interviewed, 31 per cent were unaware of online citizen participation opportunities and lack of awareness increases to 72 per cent amongst those in areas of multiple deprivation.

A recurring theme throughout the research was a desire to keep traditional methods of contact. Thirty three per cent of the online user sample would rather deal with someone face to face, for example, when contacting their MP. Sixty three per cent of people living in areas of multiple deprivation expressed the same view.

TRUST AND CONFIDENCE ISSUES
Trust and confidence were also issues. Almost half (46 per cent) of those from areas of multiple deprivation said that they did not sufficiently trust the internet for civic activities and 40 per cent said that they lack confidence to participate in citizen activities online. Among the online users, one in ten (9 per cent) said that they lack confidence to participate in citizen activities online and the same proportion (9 per cent) agreed that they don’t sufficiently trust the internet for citizen activities.

MOTIVATORS FOR CITIZEN PARTICIPATION
Feeling strongly about an issue or cause is the most important reason for people to take part in citizen activities (whether on or offline) among both online users and multiple deprivation area populations (42 of online user sample and 43 per cent of people living in areas of multiple deprivation). Being invited to take part also plays a role with just under a third of people asked.

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All of the presentations were very interesting and will all be online shortly. I will update you on their availability and provide a full report on the event in a subsequent post as soon as the remaining presentations go online.

In the meantime here is the presentation I gave on
‘Working with Web 2.0 (Social Software in the Workplace)’

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What price happiness? The question is of course rhetorical. How can you put a price on something so intangible, or calculate the cause and effect of wealth to well-being? How can you, in short, quantify the unquantifiable? But that’s exactly what UK online centres have set out to explore in new research. What price, then, digital inclusion?

When such a question moves from the poetic to the practical, the next questions it inevitably begs are Who pays? followed eventually by Who benefits? We can be fairly certain that, on the whole, technology adds value to our lives and to the economy. How much value it can add is the focus of the research, written by FreshMinds, and due to launch at the end of April. It attempts to break down the benefits and associated costs of digital inclusion for five core groups – individual people, private sector organisations, the government, society and the wider economy.

The flipside of our increasing reliance on ICT – in public, economic and social life – is that the digitally excluded, by default, also become excluded from public services, modern working life and society itself. Digital inclusion is at the heart of the debate not just around skills and the knowledge economy, but around social justice and personal well-being. The new research is a continuation of UK online centres work in this area, and stems from a previous report which examined the links between digital and social exclusion. It found 75% of those counted as being socially excluded were also digitally excluded*. Those already at a social, educational or financial disadvantage are therefore three times more likely to be off-line, and missing out on the potential benefits, conveniences, opportunities and savings computers and the internet can provide….

Full article on eGoV Monitor

Link to the research report