Possibly getting off topic, but I’m assuming the interest here is in Discourse sites that provide an interface between the general public and government institutions. What I’m seeing where I live is elected officials attempting to use social media to fulfill this function. The results aren’t great.
Last year, after seeing my local MP (Canadian Member of Parliament) getting yelled at on Facebook, I contacted them to suggest setting up a Discourse forum as an alternative to posting on social media. I got a response from someone who worked in their office. They had some interest in the idea. Unfortunately, I didn’t pursue things any further. I hadn’t fully thought through the idea and wasn’t in a position to implement it at the time.
My thoughts now. The forum should:
- be owned by a somewhat neutral, but upstanding third party. Public libraries might be the ideal candidate for this.
- strive to get the backing of a variety of public institutions, businesses, and individuals: political parties, elected officials, the local Chamber of Commerce, citizen groups, arts groups, local celebrities, community minded businesses, etc.
- shield public individuals from abuse
- be structured and moderated in a way that gets the best feedback, ideas, criticism, concerns, questions, etc, that are generated by the public in front of the eyes of elected officials. It should make the job of being an elected official easier, not harder.
Discourse could accomplish this in a way that social media can’t. The big stumbling block is that it would require a dedicated group of people to do the work.
I’m somewhat reluctant to post this as I’m making an effort to not suggest pie-in-the-sky types of ideas. This seems like something that could be done though. There are multiple ways it could be sold, starting with trying to get government institutions and elected officials onboard with the idea of Discourse as an alternative to posting on social media.
Edit: an example of a real world problem where this could be useful is what’s going on with forest fires at the moment in western Canada. There are members of the public with experience in forest management whose knowledge isn’t being passed on to the government officials who are responsible for setting forest management policy. The public is divided on the issue, with some focusing on climate change, others focusing on forest management. There are extreme views on both sides making it difficult to have a reasonable conversation (see Facebook comments on the issue.) Elected officials are being pushed and pulled in all sorts of directions. It would be a difficult task, but a Discourse forum (or forums) associated with some level of government could help with this.