Community participation online

When public authorities plan new building projects, they often encounter resistance from local pressure groups wanting to defend their own interests. This can lead to conflicts and irrational disputes. The Zeno software platform provides a means to marshal the debate.

A slow-moving tortoise could never be beaten in a race, greek philosopher Zeno of Elea claimed. The pursuer would first have to reach the point at which the tortoise had set off. Since that point is constantly moving, the creature stays in the lead, admittedly at a decreasing distance but which never reaches zero. This paradox problem was once the source of heated discussion.
Even if mathematicians have long since managed to solve it the problem still hasnt gone away. One example: A local authority wants to start a building project. Like the tortoise, it passes through successive stages to obtain planning permission. Local residents who oppose the project get together to try to retard the planning process and, if possible, stop the project. In our experience, such conflicts usually follow an unstructured and even chaotic path, says Dr. Angi Voss of the Fraunhofer Institute for Autonomous Intelligent Systems AIS, who had come up with a solution. Our Zeno mediation platform allows the discourse between town planners, the builder and subcontractors and local residents to be managed in an organized fashion.
A case in the city of Esslingen, Germany, illustrates the working methods of the Mediation Systems team. In early 2001 the chief burgomaster, backed by the major political parties, announced plans to construct a new housing estate composed of single-family dwellings in an established district of the town. The local residents were not in agreement. They set up a protest group, created a Web site stating their demands, and published numerous articles in the local press. When the situation seemed to be reaching an impasse, the town council proposed setting up a platform to allow public participation via the Internet. For four weeks, some 30 individuals took part in the discussion using Zeno - and around hundred followed the debate, calling up plans, sketches and text material from the virtual library. Mediators collected the input and correlated the facts. Afterwards, they sent a commented summary to the members of the local council, which was filed as part of the planning documents.
This pilot project produced important findings, which team leader Voss summarizes as follows: If an electronic e-government system is not to succumb to the tortoise effect itself, it has to satisfy three questions: How relevant is it to the needs of the people involved? Is the software easy to use and does it provide a clear picture of the way the debate is proceeding? And how good is the mediation?For further information:,Dr. Angi Vo? ,Telefon: +49 22 41 / 14-27 26 ,Fax: +49 22 41 / 14-4 27 26 ,E-mail: [e-mail]
Oliver Marker ,Telefon: +49 22 41 / 14-24 20 ,Fax: +49 22 41 / 14-4 24 20 ,E-mail: [e-mail]
Fraunhofer-Institut fur Autonome Intelligente Systeme AIS ,Schloss Birlinghoven ,D-53754 Sankt Augustin ,http://www.ais.fraunhofer.de/
Links: ,AIS: Team Mediation Systems ,http://www.e-partizipation.org/
AIS: Beschreibung Zeno 2 ,http://zeno.fraunhofer.de/
RWTH Aachen: Schildkrote-Paradoxon ,http://www-users.rwth-aachen.de/gunter.heim/HTMLarchiv/011101.htm

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