Summary

Representative Steve Urquhart of Utah was seeking a way to encourage greater political dialogue among Utah's constituents. Representative Urquhart founded Politicopia, a new e-democracy initiative, which serves as a continuous virtual town meeting. The site was set up using a simple wiki-based platform, which enables focused debate on current and potential state legislature bills, as well as on a variety of broader political issues.

Business Challenge

Representative Steve Urquhart of Utah was seeking a way to encourage greater political dialogue among Utah's constituents.

Approach Taken

Representative Urquhart founded Politicopia, a new e-democracy initiative, which serves as a continuous virtual townmeeting. The site was set up using a simple wiki-based platform, which enables focused debate on current and potential state legislature bills, as well as on a variety of broader political issues.

Results Achieved (metrics)

Within days after being created, citizens began using Politicopia to shape the debates and legislators responded accordingly. Users were quick to provide summaries of bills, pro and con arguments, comments, links, and more. Two weeks prior to a school voucher vote, Politicopia attracted 150 comments on the issue - helping to clarify the financial impact of vouchers. The voucher bill passed 38-37, with two representatives explicitly citing the dialogue on Politicopia as having a strong influence on their vote. Wiki sites similar to Politicopia are now being formed in Rhode Island, Indiana, Montana, Connecticut, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

Lessons Learned

The Politicopia site shows that with advances in technology, the public can engage in direct and meaningful political debate on issues that matter to them.