A state government agency head that we’re acquainted with recently announced that all of their public meetings will now be held only on Zoom; no longer in person. A pretty dumb policy in our estimation. Online engagement has grown the reach of government exponentially – no doubt it’s changed the game in terms of the sheer number of people who can participate. And it seems clear that the future means hybrid meetings – both in person and online. But just giving angry people a new platform to be angry on doesn’t solve anything. And the people who are intimidated by both technology and the power of government are no better off now than before. The rules of good, authentic, effective public participation remain the same whether it’s online or in-person. It’s not about platform, it’s about performance; public participation needs to be done with skill, not just with new hard- or software.
I think you’ll find this piece from Pew Research on the future of digital democracy interesting.