Democracy Island

Current projects include the following:

The Rulemaking Fair

Our plan is to build a virtual world environment to offer government entities and interest groups an on-line space for conducting citizen consultation.

In short, this project will use the metaphor of the “county fair,” a familiar civic event in the life of a community. This will be a place – like a meeting tent, a town hall or even a shopping mall – where groups can congregate. We will create a virtual space with booths for purveying information in textual and graphical form and assembly areas for interaction and deliberation among real people represented by avatars. The “county fair” environment will signal that the dedicated space is both fun and civic-minded. Interested parties, such as trade associations, activist groups and scientific experts, will be able to rent booths for presentation of information and advocacy. These interest groups are the best organizations to attract people to the fairs. By inviting one group to join, others will follow and will draw their constituents. But this will be a space where deliberation, exchange of views and education, rather than advocacy, are also possible. A rulemaking “fair” will remain open throughout the traditional notice-and-comment period. Many such fairs can take place at the same time. We can repurpose the same space again and again for new rulemakings, allowing us to build a dedicated space, for example, for transportation related or environmental issues.

Citizens can walk from booth to booth, learning about the proposed rule and the various positions – not simply from reading information but from talking with other members of the community. People enjoy exploring new environments. They will mill about in the fair, stopping at booths, chatting with “neighbors,” talking to experts and encountering agency officials, some identified by a unique uniform.

Because the environment is persistent, those booths and the information they convey can remain open even when the avatars have gone home. The online fair can operate continuously, without staffing, but it can also become the venue for planned events during which larger groups assemble to give speeches, debate, question panels of experts, interact with models that illustrate relevant data and show the implications of various alternative decisions, and register their views in varying ways.

Since there will be a defined (virtual) geographic space associated with the fair, interested people will know where to go and to come back to. We will be building a place that people can “happen upon” and develop an interest. Groups will be able to set up locations near the fair to do ongoing advocacy and education. Lawyers can use this as a place to meet clients. Young people can get involved. We will design the space to cultivate an ongoing community of practice that will not place an extra burden on the agency nor require the resources that would be needed to hold hearings in real space.

It is unrealistic to expect the federal government itself will create an online notice and comment rulemaking “game.” It need not do so. Rather, this will be a private space where people get together to produce input that makes its way into the normal rulemaking context. By making this a private space, interest groups and activists can use it to hold events. Instead of trying to capture the ear of the regulator, the activist can use this space to convince the public and engender public debate. Interest groups know how to make an issue engaging and to galvanize public support. They can transform abstruse legal subjects into relevant subject matter for people’s lives. In this large yet controlled space, there is room both for the government and for interest groups to organize events. This will become the “place to be” to talk about rulemaking. If one group organizes something, everyone else will have to be there. If, as we propose, the virtual world does spur thoughtful, productive and informed discussion, it will become central to the work of agencies without creating more work for them.

Furthermore, we realize that this kind of deliberative event will not work for every rulemaking. But many rulemakings are of particular public note or the agency especially needs feedback on them. These are the rules we will focus on as we explore the possibilities for bringing people together for real time participation.

We envision the following features:

• A fairground with booths to house the materials and avatars of participating organizations, stakeholders and experts.

• Booths for the relevant government entities.

• Booths will offer information about the rule, alternative rules, and any other information that parties want to make available. Information can be in traditional text form. But avatars can also easily build graphical objects and simulations to convey information.

• Presentation arenas for speeches, debates, panel presentations, question and answer sessions, and other events.

• Special dress and avatar appearance users can use to play a role or demonstrate membership in a particular group or support for a particular position. We will provide the tools for participants to create their own.

• Interactive exhibits. For example, a participant will be able to add an argument to an “argument tree.” Other participants can select what they consider to be the best among these arguments and put the corresponding virtual object in a special place so that members of the community can visually measure the most widely held views among the community. Or, for example, at the agency booth, people will be able to signal support or disapproval of a particular section of the draft rule by placing a green or red object next to the draft.

• Decision-making spaces where small groups can gather to deliberate.

• Various “irrelevant” amusements that encourage engagement and make the experience fun. Why not have a virtual bean bag toss or a cotton candy machine where rulemaking takes place? Civic engagement should be enjoyable. Think, the Fourth of July.

• A central stage and seating that allows “town hall” style meetings to discuss topics of broader interest