Oceania

Index: Participation and Civic Engagement

Curated on July 22, 2013July 18, 2019 by admin

The Living Library Index – inspired by the Harper’s Index – provides important statistics and highlights global trends in governance innovation. This installment focuses on participation and civic engagement and was originally published in 2013.

Percent turnout of voting age population in 2012 U.S. Presidential election: 57.5
Percent turnout in 2008, 2004, 2000 elections: 62.3, 60.4, 54.2
Change in voting rate in U.S. from 1980 to most recent election: –29
Change in voting rate in Slovak Republic from 1980 to most recent election: –42, the lowest rate among democratic countries surveyed
Change in voting rate in Russian Federation from 1980 to most recent election: +14, the highest rate among democratic countries surveyed
Percent turnout in Australia as of 2011: 95, the highest rate among democratic countries surveyed
Percentage point difference in voting rates between high and low educated people in Australia as of 2011: 1
Percentage point difference in voting rates between high and low educated people in the U.S. as of 2011: 33
Number of Black and Hispanic U.S. voters in comparison to 2008 election: 1.7 million and 1.4 million increase
Number of non-Hispanic White U.S. voters in comparison to 2008 election: 2 million decrease, the only example of a race group showing a decrease in net voting from one presidential election to the next
Percent of Americans that contact their elected officials between elections: 10
Margin of victory in May 2013 Los Angeles mayoral election: 54-46
Percent turnout among Los Angeles citizens in May 2013 Los Angeles mayoral election: 19
Percent of U.S. adults that used social networking sites in 2012: 60
How many of which participated in a political or civic activity online: 2/3
Percent of U.S. social media users in 2012 that used social tools to encourage other people to take action on an issue that is important to them: 31
Percent of U.S. adults that belonged to a group on a social networking site involved in advancing a political or social issue in 2012: 12
Increase in the number of adults who took part in these behaviors in 2008: four-fold
Number of U.S. adults that signed up to receive alerts about local issues via email or text messaging in 2010: 1 in 5
Percent of U.S. adults that used digital tools digital tools to talk to their neighbors and keep informed about community issues in 2010: 20
Number of Americans that talked face-to-face with neighbors about community issues in 2010: almost half
How many online adults that have used social tools as blogs, social networking sites, and online video as well as email and text alerts to keep informed about government activities: 1/3
Percent of U.S. adult internet users that have gone online for raw data about government spending and activities in 2010: 40
Of which how many look online to see how federal stimulus money is being spent: 1 in 5
Read or download the text of legislation: 22%
How many Americans volunteered through or for an organization at least once between September 2011 and September 2012: 64.5 million
Median hours spent on volunteer activities during this time: 50
Change in volunteer rate compared to the year before: 0.3 decline

Sources

Dailey, Lucas, “OpenGov Voices: Open Government is About Raising People’s Opinions.” Sunlight Foundation. July 12, 2013.
File, Thom, “The Diversifying Electorate—Voting Rates by Race and Hispanic Origin in 2012.” May 2013.
Smith, Aaron, “Civic Engagement in the Digital Age.” Pew Internet & American Life Project. April 25, 2013.
“Volunteering in the United States, 2012.” Bureau of Labor Statistics. February 22, 2013.
Rainie, Lee, “Social Media and Voting.” Pew Internet & American Life Project. November 6, 2012.
Rainie Lee, and Aaron Smith, Kay Lehman Schlozman, Henry Brady, Sidney Verba, “Social Media and Political Engaegment.” Pew Internet & American Life Project. October 19, 2012.
“Society at a Glance 2011: OECD Social Indicators.” OECD iLibrary. Accessed on July 22, 2013.
Smith, Aaron, “Neighbors Online.” Pew Internet & American Life Project. June 9, 2010.
Smith, Aaron, “Government Online.” Pew Internet & American Life Project. April 27, 2010.
“2012 Voter Turnout.” Bipartisan Policy Center. November 8, 2012.

Power of open data reveals global corporate networks

Curated on July 11, 2013August 3, 2018 by Stefaan Verhulst

Open Data Institute: “The ODI today welcomed the move by OpenCorporates to release open data visualisations which show the global corporate networks of millions of businesses and the power of open data.
See the Maps
OpenCorporates, a company based at the ODI, has produced visuals using several sources, which it has published as open data for the first time:

Filings made by large domestic and foreign companies to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Banking data held by the National Information Center of the Federal Reserve System in the U.S.
Information about individual shareholders published by the official New Zealand corporate registry

Launched today, the visualisations are available through the main OpenCorporates website.”

How Open Data Can Fight Climate Change

Curated on June 26, 2013August 15, 2018 by Stefaan Verhulst

New blog post by Joel Gurin, Founder and Editor, OpenDataNow.com: When people point to the value of Open Data from government, they often cite the importance of weather data from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That data has given us the Weather Channel, more accurate forecasts, and a number of weather-based companies. But the most impressive – and one of the best advertisements for government Open Data – may well be The Climate Corporation, headquartered in San Francisco.
Founded in 2006 under the name WeatherBill, The Climate Corporation was started to sell a better kind of weather insurance. But it’s grown into a company that could help farmers around the world plan around climate change, increase their crop yields, and become part of a new green revolution.
The company’s work is especially relevant in light of President Obama’s speech yesterday on new plans to fight climate change. We know that whatever we do to reduce carbon emissions now, we’ll still need to deal with changes that are already irreversible. The Climate Corporation’s work can be part of that solution…
The company has developed a new service, Climate.com, that is free to policyholders and available to others for a fee….
Their work may become part of a global Green Revolution 2.0. The U.S. Government’s satellite data doesn’t stop at the border: It covers the entire planet. The Climate Corporation is now looking for ways to apply its work internationally, probably starting with Australia, which has relevant data of its own.
Start with insurance sales, end up by changing the world. The power of Open Data has never been clearer.”

'Wiki' style government policymaking means everyone is a lobbyist

Curated on June 11, 2013December 6, 2018 by Stefaan Verhulst

Robert Halfon MP is a member of the UK Commons Public Administration Committee (PASC) in the Guardian: “We need to end phoney consultation in policymaking – and stop trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to implementation… Another week, another lobbying scandal. But what if the government found a way to really listen to all its citizens, to genuinely involve the public in policy making? So that it would no longer be an issue of who has the government’s ear – because everyone would?
A report published by the Public Administration Select Committee, which I sit on, calls on government to adopt an open, “wiki” style approach to policy making, where public opinion, ideas and contributions are sought and welcome at any and all stages of the policy cycle. This kind of genuine public engagement would contrast sharply with the status quo: tokenistic exercises in phoney consultation about issues that have already been decided.
We all welcome the government’s moves towards more digital engagement, but what our committee really wants to see is more direct, real public involvement in policy making, whether that is via the internet or other means. The most important point is that government treats public engagement as a serious part of policy-making. That will mean communicating and engaging in ways that are tailored to every audience, in new and more traditional ways. This is not just a time or cost-saving exercise, although using existing and new technology and media well should bring those benefits. This is about making better policy. To those who say it can’t be done, our report contains examples from New Zealand, the US and even as far afield as Redbridge councilshowing that if there is real will, crowd sourcing of policy and real public engagement can be possible…
We have moved from being subjects to citizens to active open-source citizens – and yet our policy making does not recognise this. The public no longer want to be handed out policy like tablets of stone from Mount Sinai. In fact they want to go up the mountain with Moses. However, they have to be able to believe that their input can make a real difference. Genuine engagement means ensuring that a good proportion of the public actually participate in open policy-making. Although this will be a challenge for government to achieve, without it there’s little point.”