A BRIEF GUIDE TO MYSOCIETY

06/12/2009

Bespoke e-Democracy web-project mySociety has seemingly found the cure to Britain’s insufferable political malaise.  Tired of the same institutional wheels being reinvented by the usual suspects, the proprietors of mySociety envision an age of technological Renaissance, an epoch without wheels, bodies, or even people.  There, in this digitised Promised Land, exist none of the traditional levies of power and prestige that once impeded the onrushing flow of democracy.  There too, through such self-empowering, pronoun-building projects as TheyWorkForYou, WhatDoTheyKnow, and FixMyStreet citizens can imagine full autonomy without the mediation of pesky, opportunist middle-people. 

On this well-manicured surface, mySociety seems capable of magic.  After all, accomplishing in a few short years, what could not be achieved by hundreds of years of theorizing men, would be nothing short of miraculous.  Nonetheless, with the simple elevation of mice (tools) over men (substance), the developers at mySociety believe anything is possible.  Add that simple leap of faith to a market strategy that employs such blank-slate concepts as democracy and empowerment – capable of selling anything from mass war to pick-up trucks – and Presto! problem solved.  Yet Tw(iteration) aside, what lies behind the obvious enthusiasm is less clear.  Is it all just sleight of hand? Can the internet, in the words of Tom Steinberg, win?   

It’s the New Me!

For mySociety, the past has proven too They-centric.  Even information – a commodity fast being taken for granted now – was largely inaccessible.  Whether suppressed by politicians or mangled by public relations officials, unmediated information could only be accessed by stealthy and well-trained investigative journalists. 

To the developers of flagship site, TheyWorkForYou, "there is nothing that a bit of 'transparency...can't fix."  It is this insistence on Soros-approved Popper power that provides theraison d’etre for many of mySociety’s projects.  For instance, trademark site TheyWorkForYou is Parliament TV without all the histrionics.  Users can access a formidable database cataloguing the voting records, stances, expenses and statements of every sitting Lord and MP.  Mapumental is a life / work planner cum atlas facilitating a material escape to the nearest-in exurbs money can buy.  GroupsNearYou is a web bulletin board for those in search of more than a part-time drummer.

Though what really sets mySociety apart from older, more top-down forms of media, is their emphasis on interaction.  Instead of being passive consumers of information, citizens are expected to act.  And, in the spirit of Simon Critchley, no democratic action is more powerful than that of the demand.  With projects like No. 10 Petitions, PledgeBank, WritetoThem and FixMyStreet, citizens can begin to break down the walls dividing the info-Haves and the general Have-nots.  It really is that simple.   

Believe, the Hype

Out of the many charges levelled at e-Democracy – its propensity to alienate entire demographics per Peter Sissons or its very middle-class perspective - one rare target is its wild-eyed naivety. Paradoxically, while mySociety is premised on a very cynical trust no one, especially politicians, watchdog populism; just a scratch below the surface sits a flummoxing credulity.  Citizens accustomed to the idea that politics is really nothing more than a horribly dirty game, filled with dissemblers and rational self-interest maximisers, are expected to overcome this entrenched bias and rediscover the face value of politics.  In the age of PR, such expectations seem less great than utterly chimerical.  A great leap too is required to believe that by simply watching, and possibly witnessing some political misdemeanour, citizens can change the messiest of circumstances from the comfort of their homes. 

 A greater symptom though can be found in Steinberg’s insistence on non-partisanship,

"We are not party political…It is about building useful tools for anyone who wants to use them.  And unlike most think tanks that say they’re non-partisan, we really are – none of that ‘It’s not official, but everybody knows they’re really close to party X’ nonsense here."

While an appeal to common-sense is very appealing, it carries with it the propensity to reduce politics to an empty slogan, similar to Nike’s ‘Just Do It’ or MTV’s ‘Vote or Die’ campaigns.  One has to be sceptical too of the widespread enthusiasm e-Democracy has garnered from those at the very top of the political hierarchy.  If e-Democracy really were able to instigate the changes that the people-at-large hope for, surely it would not be so generally embraced by those who stand to lose most from change.  Even an even handed sage such as the Economist’s Walter Bagehot considers mySociety part and parcel of a new communitarian civic conservatism, wherein the next government “plans to devolve power to local councils and use the internet a lot.”

 

Take your Vitamins

 

In the end, mySociety, if nothing else, may prove to be a useful supplement to those who hope to keep tabs on the ever evasive owl of Minerva.  It remains an impressive piece of web-infrastructure that bears the potential to at least remind those in power that they are, like the surveillance state in reverse, being watched.  Plus such an optimistic point of view seems both refreshing and wise during these very grim times.  After all, participatory democracy, like magic, is predicated on these very giant leaps of faith.  If no one buys in, the show is most definitely over. 

Ryan Mahan