Wiki Government: How TeChnology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful
Beth Simone
The advent of the Internet and technologies for collaborative work with information makes it possible to change the work of existing state institutions and create new mechanisms for solving problems both at the local, regional and national levels. The author puts forward the idea of creating a wiki-government — a new culture of government, which consists in involving citizens who have unique competencies and are ready to offer the country their experience and knowledge to work remotely. The prototype of such collaboration is Peer-to-Patent, an interactive project that has radically changed the patenting process. It is based on the work of teams of volunteers, based on social networking technologies. This approach makes it possible, through a new form of collective action, to increase the effectiveness of state structures, strengthen and improve democracy, creating, as the author claims, "a government of the people, for the people and with the participation of the people."
