A long article by PBS’s Mark Dupreau:
“It’s easy to see governments as nameless, faceless monoliths, something impersonal or, even worse, untrustworthy. Much of that is because government culture remains steeped in traditional ideas about public relations and outreach work, notions that have become archaic in an Internet-enabled, hyper-connected world. Just as private companies are learning to embrace social media to manage brand reputations, governments must adapt if they wish to effectively communicate with their “customers” — a.k.a. their citizens and stakeholders.
I propose that using authentic and transparent personalities as public outreach ambassadors can help transform “government for the people” to “government with the people.” This should also have an indirect positive effect on the government organizations — the brands — they represent.”


When young activist associations met up in September 2008 at La Rochelle, democracy and engagement proved to be further slices of the ‘Eutopia’ cake.
Over the past ten years, the Granada locality of Jun has become a cybernetic laboratory for the whole of Europe.
Council of Europe Forum for the Future of Democracy hosted by the Government of Spain and the City of MadridMadrid, Spain, 15–17 October 2008
What are the most democratic countries in Europe? How would we find out? We could look at electoral turnouts. But while elections matter, Demos, the UK think tank, doesn;t believe that democracy is something that should start and finish at the ballot box.
The UK government is keen for local government to harness technology to revolutionise its services; but a culture change is needed first, says The Guardian newspaper.
Last week, the UK think tank Demos launched the 
Management guru Don Tapscott, the co-author of best-seller “Wikinomics”, wants to teach governments to harness the power of the Internet to reinvent democracy.
The method of selecting representatives for presenting the view of a constituency was deployed at the time when internet and mobile technologies were not available and there was no method of making a collective decision on policies to government the society.
From climate change to social care, innovation will be critical to meeting the public service challenges of the future. But traditional approaches to generating new ideas will not be enough. Rather than focusing on processes and pipelines, policymakers and service deliverers needs to harness the potential of citizens to be innovators in their own right.
A new website for young people has been launched by West Sussex County Council aimed at giving them vital information and a voice for their concerns.
