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SpeakUpForChange

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The SpeakUpForChange app brings the concept of deliberative democracy to social media on a major public policy issue.

Summary / Yhteenveto:

Speakupforchange.com is aimed at investigating the potential of social media and their ability to make a positive contribution to Canadian democracy and policy discourse. This project will focus on Facebook as the social network of choice due to its high penetration and uptake within Canada. This project will present Canadians with an opportunity to express their views on a major public policy issue through an interactive choicebook within facebook. A choicebook is a unique consultation tool that provides a means of enabling a broad exploration of a serious public policy issue.

Problem / Ongelma:

There are over 10.3 million active Canadian facebook accounts. At over 30% of the population this represents a significant community and critical mass of potential participants. There is ample evidence of superficial engagement on issues such as copyright and driving restrictions in Ontario. Through this project we intend to show how social media can be utilized in a meaningful way on a public policy issue. We believe that through social networks we can encourage an increase in civic literacy through a balanced investigation of an important policy matter.

The application and the supporting initiative is aimed at addressing the following questions:

  1. Will Facebook users move beyond superficial activities/participation and engage in an in-depth investigation of an issue?
  2. What lessons from consulting on the internet need to be adapted to social networks?
  3. What are the types of interactivity that Facebook users prefer to use?
  4. What is the best means to reach, invite, engage, and connect with social networking users?
  5. How can viral marketing or virtual word of mouth be facilitated and enriched?
  6. How can in-person outreach be linked to participation in online social networks?
  7. Which types of ads and ads service work best to encourage active participation in the social network?
  8. How can an active community be built out of the participation?
  9. What are the interface preferences of the social media community?
  10. Will participants consider participating in future activities inside or outside of the social network?
  11. Does informed participation create a more meaningful experience to participants than a survey?
  12. How can governments create, engage, and maintain their own social media communities?

Users / Käyttäjät:

We want to set a participation objective that is significant and represents a substantial scale. Our goal is to have 20,000 Canadians complete the interactive, deliberative, SpeakUpForChange choicebook of 20 to 25 minutes in length.

Primary target audiences:

  • Active/engaged Youth aged 16-30.
  • Youth in General
  • Canadians in General

Partners:

  • Ascentum (Public Involvement Firm)
  • Apathy is Boring (Not-for-profit organization aim at engaging youth in democracy)
  • The Globe and Mail (Canada's largest National newspaper)

Organizations:

  • Energy/Climate Focused Organizations
  • Democracy Organizations
  • Elected Officials
  • Student Organizations
  • News Media
  • Bloggers

Use-case / Käyttötilanne:

The application has been developed and is live. It can be linked through by using the following URL: http://www.speakupforchange.com

Data / Tiedot:

The server, application, and data captured is stored in a secure hosting facility in Ottawa, ON, Canada. The application is developed in PHP in compliance with the Facebook Application guidelines.

Instructions and demo / Ohjeet ja demo:

The SpeakUpForChange application is completely functional and was officially launch July 31, 2009. It is running within facebook. It can be quickly accessed by linking through http://www.speakupforchange.com.

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