Deliverable 5.1

Scenario definition, advisory board and legal/ethical review

Press Release

The primary goal of this deliverable was to describe in depth the three use case scenario contexts, the emerging stakeholders, as well as the anticipated success criteria within the remit of the WeGov project. For each of the cases, the proposed architecture, as well as the anticipated methods of engagement with the WeGov dashboard and broader tool-kit were outlined.

With regard to the anticipated success of this endeavour, this will be measured through three live field trials (diversity of opinion on consumer policy, health service delivery, and public policy research in the social sciences) that will be conducted in Spain, Germany and UK as follows.

The first field trial will be developed in UK and will address health service policy regarding the NHS as well as the efficacy of policy makers (such as those in 10 Downing street) and their communication strategies with regard to citizens.

The second field trial will involve discussions around consumer policy in Spain and Germany.

The third field trial will apply the toolbox for investigating its usage as a complement to political opinion polls in Germany.

In the case of the Hansard Society scenario, the key added value is that where users were not traditionally clear as to weather health service providers are considering their opinions, the WeGov service would provide immediacy and transparency. Where users had previously complained that policy making platforms were not immediately accessible and that engagement did not produce clear outcomes, WeGov would provide clarity as well as reach to a wider audience.

In the case of the Gov2u scenario the main objective was one to move beyond the silos of policy platforms to open social networking sites, where citizens & policy makers alike are engaging in meaningful debates. This informing of citizens about recent developments in consumer protection policies and the ensuring of their effective representation, identifying relevant debates/ questions/ forum topics is key for the success of an initiative such as WeGov. In this scenario, the focus of the discussions falls particularly on consumer protection issues taking place on SNS (such as for example Facebook groups, twitter), where citizens freely comment and debate.

Finally in the Gesis scenario the aim is to outline risk in the public domain (in this case the example is the use of Gorleben as final storage for nuclear waste). Following from this is the push for investigation by informed users who post their opinions and feedback summary back on SNS. Success here can be defined through a large eParticipation drive towards increasing the attention of the citizens and the risks they face by gathering structural comments, which might help in solving the shared problem. The aim within this scenario is also to monitor topics, stakeholders (policy makers) are interested in and would like to stay informed about. Another goal is to keep users informed about the risks of SNS regarding privacy settings and the terms & conditions surrounding risk management.

Having defined and discussed the use case scenarios in depth, the deliverable goes on to provide a detailed report on the legal and ethical constraints within which the

project needs to operate. More specifically the individual case scenarios and their legal/ethical ramifications have been discussed so as to pre-empt any risks regarding privacy, user identity, ownership of data and most importantly consent. In addition to this, the advisory board within the WeGov project, its role, scope and anticipated impact is also discussed within a dedicated chapter of this deliverable.

Finally, the deliverable concludes with the chapter on risk management, which explains all the potential risks involved within the WeGov project, from a technical standpoint as well as from a political or business one. Each use case scenario is again cross referenced within this section with a detailed outline of what critical factors to consider when mitigating risks involved.