Greetings from "Encouraging Democratic Participation with Software" by Vanessa Teague from Democracy Developers. They make open-source software to support democracy. However, this seems to be about explaining how the electoral system works and contacting MPs. However, this is a very narrow view of the democratic process and leaves out policy development. Policy is developed in a complex messy process involving political parties, lobbyists and others.
As a member of a professional body, I am occasionally asked for input to
policy documents to be presented to MPs. Occasionally this works very
well. In one case a senior Public Servant accused me of plagiarizing the
name of a government initiative. But I pointed out the name was in the title of the submission I helped write, long before the policy was announced.
But not everyone is part of an organisation with lobbying skills. I asked Vanessa if we could provide open online forums for those
who are not a member of a party, or a lobby group, where they could find like
minded individuals and develop what they want.
