It is becoming more obvious that many local leaders are not familiar with social and economic trends and weak signals, and, as a result, are often not able to develop effective strategies to address emerging issues that impact the quality of life in their communities. As a result, a process we call “mobile connecting” is evolving. With the advent of smart phones and GPS systems, we are entering a new age that will reshape how our society operates by instantaneously accessing the knowledge and opinion of all interested citizens.
This eventually will lead to a new concept ,"mobile governance," where community leaders, especially in progressive communities, begin to realize that they and their staffs are not able to keep up with an exploding array of new ideas and methods. These leaders will develop new "knowledge connection" processes that will utilize community members to find cutting edge concepts and techniques to resolve new challenges. As these new types of processes develop, a shift will occur from the norm from radical individualism, so rampant in our society, to levels of deeper collaboration.
Participants will be introduced to the theory and practice of “mobile governance.” An emphasis will be placed on how local communities can develop a new system of decision making called Direct Consensus Democracy using mobile technologies in which all interested citizens are in control of four phases of development: 1) identifying the most important issues, 2) defining key factors for the most important issue identified using a “citizens forum” that is both in real time and virtual, 3) strategies developed by teams to deal with the issue, and 4) voting by interested citizens on the best strategy.
Who should attend: Elected officials, senior staff of public bodies, educators, economic developers, community and state planning consultants, and anyone interested in how to update our democratic institutions for a constantly changing society.
What you'll learn: Three key ideas: 1) why the concept of “mobile governance” resonates with the current needs of democratic processes, 2) what are the key elements of “mobile governance” to include Direct Consensus Democracy, and 3) how would the system of “mobile governance” be organized.
Rick Smyre, president, Center for Communities of the Future, Gastonia, North Carolina
Dewey Harris, assistant county manager, Catawba County, North Carolina, Newton, North Carolina
key words: mobile governance, networks, progressive communities
issue areas: Futures Methodologies, and Governance and Communities