Participedia

Date: 

Monday, May 10, 2010, 12:00pm

Location: 

124 Mount Auburn Street, Suite 200-North, Cambridge, MA

A Crowd Sourced Approach to Discovering, Understanding, and Diffusing Democratic Innovation

Archon Fung, Harvard Kennedy School

Participedia is a wiki-based platform with an ambitious goal: strengthening democracy around the world. The website consists of a user-generated library of examples and methods of participatory governance, public deliberation, and collaborative public action. From citizen involvement in budgeting to oversight groups that ensure better health care and social service delivery, government initiatives that encourage democratic participation demonstrate powerful results. Participedia was launched in September of 2009 and uses the same wiki platform as Wikipedia to tell stories about efforts such as participatory budgeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil; municipal evaluation meetings in China; and the CaliforniaSpeaks health care dialogue with citizens.

About Archon Fung
Archon Fung is Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Citizenship. His research examines the impacts of civic participation, public deliberation, and transparency upon public and private governance. His Empowered Participation: Reinventing Urban Democracy examines two participatory-democratic reform efforts in low-income Chicago neighborhoods. Current projects also examine initiatives in ecosystem management, toxics reduction, endangered species protection, local governance, and international labor standards. His recent books and edited collections include Deepening Democracy: Institutional Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance; Can We Eliminate Sweatshops?; Working Capital: The Power of Labors Pensions; and Beyond Backyard Environmentalism. His articles on regulation, rights, and participation appear in Political Theory; Journal of Political Philosophy; Politics and Society; Governance; Environmental Management; American Behavioral Scientist; and Boston Review. Fung received two SBs and a Ph.D. from MIT.

Innovations in Government Seminar Series
This event is part of the Innovation in Government Seminar Series, which explores various aspects and approaches to the study of government innovation. This year-long series seeks to educate and inform the next generation of government innovators. A light dinner will be served.