Who is designing the

digital public realm?

Catherine Howe, Chief Executive Public-i

What is the data telling us?

Consistent growth of

Internet takeup

At time of writing, over 80% of the adult population are online and 92%

have mobile phones. Around 50% of the UK population own a smart

phone.

Technology needs to be considered in the context of social change

Consistent growth of

‘social’ behaviours

Users who access the internet from mobile devices are more likely to

create content, consume content, and look for information online – in

turn, allowing them to become more active participants.

Digital exclusion is becoming

social exclusion

Those already at a disadvantage and arguably with the most to gain from the internet are the least likely to be making use of it and further disadvantaged by not using it.

What do we mean by Digital?*

*what do I mean?

Our relationship with the public is changing

We limit ourselves by simply considering changes to the way we communicate

Self Publication: Disintermediation of the Media

Virtual Community and Social Networking: Wide scale use of Networked

Power

Collaborative Culture: Creating a sharing economy

Radical Openness: Disruption of the democratic relationship

Networked Technology: Smart Cities and new streams of information

Customization, Making and Self-Service: Disruption of manufacturing and

the industrial economy

Technology or Social Change?

The Internet is the most significant technological development of the

last 100 years. At least.

Disintermediation

Disintermediation and new forms of power

Political Parties have less

relevance

Local Media is struggling to

survive

There is no space for

discretion

Your thinking will be done

in public

There are new rules of engagement

Networked Digital

Open Agile

Participatory Culture and a Network Society

Collaborating

Participating Sharing

Creating

Connecting

Open by default: this is open not just in terms of information but also in terms of

thinking and decision making

Digitally native: not in terms of age but in terms of the individual adopting the

behaviours and social norms of the digital culture

Co-productive: an expectation that everyone in the conversation has power to act

and the potential to be active in the outcome as well as the decision-making process

And as the name says, networked: able to be effective via networked as well as

hierarchical power as a leader, to blur boundaries and to work across groups

The qualities of Democracy in a Network Society

Government is no

longer the only one

creating public

space

What could digital civic space look like?

Data?

Creativity?

Augmented

reality?

More of the same?

Opportunities to sell stuff?

Building and making?

It doesn’t have to be

defined by the technology

There are other ways of

looking at this

http://www.uckfieldnews.com/

http://lewes.co.uk/

http://hollingdeannews.wordpress.com/

A new Public Sphere?

Co-production and

ABCD

New kinds of spaces

Networks….of

networks

Society not Technology

Digital Civic Space

Open

Co-

productive

Place defined

by Citizens

Representative

Public

What does this mean for leaders?

Does this change the relationship with the public?

Transactional services

Clear accountabilities

Deficit model of community

engagement

Hierarchical power

Informed consumers

Co-produced services

Blurred boundaries

Asset model of community

engagement

Networked Power

Active Citizens

Customer Citizen

Will we just communicate with the public or collaborate with them?

What will the public realm look like online?

Catherine Howe

catherine.howe@public-i.info

Thank you for your time