Is Online Community a Policy Tool?

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) today published an interesting paper entitled 'Is Online Community a Policy Tool?'. In it the author, William Davies, asks whether online communities can be leveraged by government to support community and provide the 'social glue' that connects citizens to each other. My response would be 'yes' (on the proviso that the community tool in question is properly realised.) A few months ago I authored a short document for the City of York Council, providing four strategies for how York could become a technologically innovative, connected city. I argued that York should encourage active citizenship through decentralised e-communites, as part of its vision to become an inclusive, creative, modern city capable of attracting and retaining intellectual capital. On a related note, I would love to see an service that converged Yellow Pages listings with an eBay-style reputation system (there are a number of local tradesmen to who'd get a negative rating from me.)

Posted by monoman at 02:47 PM on November 29, 2004