“digital democracy” helen milner digital leaders annual lecture 24 february 2015
TRANSCRIPT
Helen MilnerChief Executive, Tinder FoundationCommissioner, Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy
Digital Democracy
Online conversations did drive street protests
• Conversations about liberty, democracy, and revolution on blogs and on Twitter did immediately precede mass protests
• 20% of blogs in Tunisia were evaluating Ben Ali’s leadership the day he resigned; 5% the month before
• 25 January 2011, Tahrir Square protests had 600,000 views on YouTube; 23 hyperlocal Egypt videos on the protests had 5.5 million views
• In the week up to Mubarak’s resignation, tweets from and about Egypt rose from 2,300 a day to 230,000 a day
Opening Closed Regimes: What Was the Role of Social Media During the Arab Spring? University of Washington, 2011
UK spends most in world shopping online
• UK spends £2,000 per person online shopping, significantly higher than the next highest markets Australia (£1,356 per head) and the US (£1,171 per head).
• More than £1 in every £5 of UK retail spend (other than food) is now online.
29.6 million35 million
UK Facebook UsersUK 2010 General ElectionTurnout
We opened up our channels
• Input via email, video, a web survey, and a web comment thread
• Roundtable discussions • Interactions on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn• A letter to the vice chancellor of every university
in the UK• Online student forums • We held formal, open (and live-streamed)
evidence sessions of the Commission • We had informal meetings with a wide range of
people
Prepare our children to takepart in our democracy
The Cyber Chamber or Wiki Westminster Hall
Parliament should be fully interactive and digital
Helen Milner@[email protected]