Iceland Crowdsources Its Constitution
As it drafts the country’s new governing document, Iceland’s Constitutional Council is turning to social media sites to make the process transparent and to collect input from the public.
The council has made a draft of the document available online and is accepting recommendations for amending it.
“It is possible to register through other means, but most of the discussion takes place via Facebook,” Berghildur Bernhardsdottir, a spokeswoman for the constitutional review project, told the Associated Press.
Recommendations need to be approved by local staff before being passed on to the council and posted online for discussion, but suggestions then approved by the council are added to the draft of the document.
Suggestions from the public that have been added thus far include livestock protection and a clause that specifies who owns the country’s natural resources (the nation), according to the AP.
The council is also using social media to make its own deliberations and discussions more transparent.
Throughout the process, which is due to finish in June, the public can sit in on weekly council meetings via live broadcasts on the web and Facebook. Further public discussion takes place on the council’s YouTube, Flickr and Twitter accounts.
Since the distinctively open process made national news, however, a couple of these channels have been dominated by supporters from around the world.
“I would like to express my profound awe, gratitude, and jealousy toward the awesome transparency and collective national effort that the people and leaders of Iceland are showcasing in this fantastic process,” wrote one Facebook commenter. “The world can only hope that our leaders look to Iceland as an example.”
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, KeithBinns
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