User Guide Menu
Overview of Digital Democracy
Digital Democracy is about getting action on the things that are most important to you!
Digital Democracy will enable your community to identify its top priorities in a democratic way. These priorities will be forwarded to your MP and other key decision makers, who will be invited to state on the website what they have done in response.
What makes Digital Democracy different?Digital Democracy boldly claims to be the world's first mass participation, online democratic forum. It is not a government initiative, and was developed by a group of British citizens who found it difficult to influence the decisions taken by others that affect their lives.
Lots of sites enable debate and voting over issues, but with Digital Democracy the site members have absolute authority over identifying, prioritising and voting on the issues. What's more, Digital Democracy has the power to enable participation of every British citizen in the process of democratic decision making.
How to use Digital Democracy
Getting StartedWhen you first visit the site, you will be invited to answer two simple questions: What concerns you? and... What should be done?
After answering these questions press the button marked GO to start categorising your proposal.
Becoming a MemberDigital Democracy will then invite you to become a member, as the site needs to identify which community you live in. You will be asked to enter your name, post code, and your email address.
You will also need to pick a user name. This should be un-connected to your real name so that other site members won't know who you actually are unless you want them to. This will enable you to propose and debate issues that might be controversial within your community. When you have entered this information Digital Democracy will email you a link to click and activate your membership.
It's all free, and don't worry we operate in full compliance with the data protection act and will never give details of your name and address to any third party. Please see our privacy policy.
Proposals
CyclesThe site runs over a fortnight cycle where the first 12 days are spent entering and promoting proposals, and the last 2 days are spent voting for the most popular proposals. The voted outcomes are then forwarded to key decision makers, who are invited to respond on the website, see results. Then the whole system resets and starts again.
Making a ProposalYou already made a proposal when you stated what concerns you and what should be done. Digital Democracy will now ask you to categorise your proposal firstly by 'area' and then by 'category'.
The choices for area include local, regional and national. Local refers to your political constituency, region refers to your region within the country and national refers to the United Kingdom. So, is your proposal local, regional or national? Think about it as the area to which your concern extends.
There are a number of categories and these include earth, economy, health, education and various others. You must check one of these choices to categorise your proposal.
Finally, Digital Democracy will ask you to confirm your proposal and its categorisation. If you are happy then enter your proposal. However, you must think carefully as you can only make one proposal every fortnight.
Please be aware that abusive and foul language will not be tolerated. Proposals containing such language will be deleted and the proposing member will be sent a warning. Further transgressions will result in loss of membership.
FAQ: What if I don't want to make a proposal?
That's fine. You can just log in and browse the proposals made by other people from your community, your region or the whole nation. I hope you find it interesting seeing what others care about!
Promoting a Proposal
The purpose of this page is to allow you and your community to identify its top priorities.
When you enter your proposal, Digital Democracy will take you to the 'Promote Proposals' page, or you can just go there using the tabs. At this page you can promote a proposal using the "promote" button. You can promote one proposal in each category. However, you can't promote your own proposal.
Voting
At the beginning of day 13 the proposals phase will close and Digital Democracy will enter its voting phase.
At the end of day 14 voting will be closed and the outcome will be reported to the elected representative for the area concerned. The decision maker will then be invited to describe any action that might be taken to address the proposal. The feedback from the decision maker will be uploaded onto Digital Democracy for you to see, results.
Casting a VoteThe proposals determined by members to be most popular (having gained most promotions) will be subject to voting. Votes will be conducted in every political constituency in the country, across each region and across the United Kingdom. The debating chambers associated with the most popular proposals will stay open to inform your judgement throughout the process of voting.
- Local Voting
- Regional Voting
- National Voting
You have now determined which proposal is most popular within your your community. ONLY members of your community may vote on this proposal. You can vote for or against the proposal.
The results of the vote will be sent to your communities elected decision maker (MP or Councillor), who will be invited to describe any action that might be taken to address the proposal. The feedback from the decision maker will be uploaded onto Digital Democracy for you to see.
Site members from your region have also determined which proposal is most important to the largest number of members in your region. If you live in the region, then you can vote for or against the regional proposal.
The results of the vote will be sent to your regions elected decision making body / Regional Assembly, who will be invited to describe any action that might taken to address the proposal. The feedback will be uploaded onto Digital Democracy for you to see.
Every member of Digital Democracy from across the United Kingdom can vote for or against the most popular national proposal. The results of the vote will be sent to the Prime Ministers Office, who will be invited to describe any action that might taken to address the proposal. The feedback will be uploaded onto Digital Democracy for you to see.
Debating Chambers
Every proposal on Digital Democracy has an associated debating chamber (or discussion forum). You can enter a debating chamber by clicking on a proposal or by clicking on the 'Discuss' tab. The debating chamber will enable you to learn about other members' position on the proposal and will help you formulate your own opinions on the matter. These debating chambers serve to help you decide whether to promote a proposal or which way to vote.
The debating chambers for a proposal will be available during the lifetime of that proposal (12-14 days) and will disappear at the end of the promotion or voting phase.
Sometimes thousands of people may be discussing this proposal. When you you enter a debating chamber you will be placed with no more than 20 people from your constituency, region, or country, depending on the categorisation of that proposal. If you logout of Digital Democracy, you will be placed in the same chamber when you return.
Digital Democracy will not tolerate foul language, abusive behvaviour, or bullying within debating chambers. If you suspect this is taking place, click 'report this message.' Please refer to our moderation policy
.Social Networking
What's in a name?Whenever you see another member's name, you can click on it and access important social networking functions. You can:
- Make friends
- Send them a message
- Compare views
- Make Representative You will soon get to know other members through discussing proposals in the debating chambers and through the other networking functions. If you find that you agree with a local member's position on a category (earth, policing etc), then you can give that member your vote on proposals that fall within this category. The member then casts two votes on this category instead of one - they have become your representative for this category. However, if at any time you wish to take your vote back, then you may.
If you click the 'Make Friends' button, then a message will be sent to the user asking them if they wish to be your friend. If they agree, then they will be entered into your friends list. Equally, you can end a friendship at any time.
You can send messages to any other member, and also view messages that have been sent to you in your inbox. Others members will receive an Email notification from Digital Democracy to tell them that they have received a message, but will not be able to determine your personal Email address. If you do not wish to receive messages from another member you can block them at any time.
If you click "compare views" Digital Democracy will compare the proposals you have promoted with the other members record of promotions, and determine the degree of similarity. The higher the returned percentage, the more you have in common with the other member. Of course, Digital Democracy cannot perform this task until you have promoted some proposals otherwise there would be nothing to compare. This is a great way of finding people in your community who care about the same things as you.
FAQ: What does the number at the end of the name mean?
This number directly relates to the number of different people who have given that member their vote for a specified category. It directly describes the number of people represented by the member and is termed their 'representation score'. Members exceeding set threshold scores will be able to make proposals at regional and national levels. You can make users your representatives by going to their user profile.
Most of the social networking functions may be accessed from the 'My Profile' tab. In addition, your profile displays information about you including your user name, political constituency and region. This area also enables you to display information that you have written about yourself to other members. As you become familiar with Digital Democracy you will start to appreciate the importance of this section as it enables other members to tell 'what you stand for'. All of this information may be publically displayed or hidden from other members at your discretion, and to make any changes just click the 'Edit Profile' button.
In addition, from your profile you may:
- Access mail facilities
- Find members with similar views
- View your Activity Record
- Check your 'Representation' status
- Access your Current Promotion Record
- Network with Friends
You may access your inbox to view messages you have received, as well as send messages, as described above.
This feature is unique to Digital Democracy. When this button is pressed, Digital Democracy will compare your priorities with those of others in your local area. It will then create a list of members, with those most similar to you at the top. You can set the distance of search from anything beyond 1km.
This feature simply keeps a record of the proposals you have entered, promoted and voted for.
This area enables you to check precisely how many votes you are able to cast in any category. In addition, it enables you to view the members who have given you their vote.
This area lets you know from which category you have already made promotions, and which categories you have yet to promote during the current cycle.
Finally, this section lists the other members that you have made friends with. You can send them private messages, or choose to end you friendship!
FAQs
Other
Data ProtectionWe operate in full compliance with the data protection act, please see our privacy policy for more details.
Moderation Policy (Do's and Don'ts)Digital Democracy expects respectful conduct in the debating chambers. Members should not use abusive or foul language and should always respect the right of others to hold a different opinion. If you disagree with a proposal, don't be abusive to the proposing member in the chambers, just don't promote the proposal!
However, we recognise that serious issues are being discussed and passions roused. If you are worried that you may say something offensive in the heat of the moment, always remember-
Criticise the proposal not the member
Members using foul language and making hurtful remarks to other members will be given a warning. Persistent offence will result in loss of membership.
