I love games - video, board, card, whatever. I cut my teeth on BBS games (bulletin-board system, online dial-up text-based system, for those who are not ancient) pre-internet, but loved the way even then games could build community. My grade school classes clamored to play Oregon Trail, where I learned a bit about that part of history, piquing my interest in the frontier era and learning that caulking wagons is apparently not as easy as one might hope.
As the world bid 2020 goodbye and geared up for the start of a new year, many have had their eyes on the future challenges and successes for technology in 2021.
Civic organizations, government, and activists are becoming more adept at using digital technologies to engage on community issues, participate in public discourse, and stay connected. This civic technology-- such as online petition platforms, feedback mechanisms, and collaboration tools-- can improve government service delivery, bring transparency to opaque decision making, and create a strong social fabric and network of participation. (tldr: we think civic tech is pretty cool.)
Training citizens is a critical, but often challenging, part of NDI programs. With the rise of smartphone technology in recent years, some barriers can be overcome through remote, or distance, learning. In one recent example with the Zambia election process, NDI hosted in-person trainings at major cities in the provinces. In-person trainings are a common, but extremely costly, methodology, often demanding over half of a budget.
Over the past decade, the landscape for expanding democratic principles has been shifting from a relatively stable environment where successful programs supported the electoral process, fostered citizen participation and advocated for open governance to an unstable world where the traditional tools for building democracy are no longer right for addressing a narrowing space for public expression.
We all remember sitting in the classroom, teacher in the front and class clowns in the back. Traditional education and training have followed the same format for centuries, but now technology is changing the game.
Check out the new publication NDI has on iTunes. "Strengthening Parliamentary Accountability, Citizen Engagement and Access to Information," the guide is now available to anyone with a iPad/iPhone/iTouch, a Nook, and available for download from the Lulu store.
Strengthening Parliamentary Accountability surveys the amazing work of parliamentary monitoring organizations around the world that are working with parliaments to hold them more accountable, make them more responsive, and ultimately better serve citizen needs. The guide is part of the work of NDI's Opening Parliaments initiative.
What is Lulu? Glad you asked. It is the service we used to publish and distribute the books. Following a formatting guide for how to upload, we were able to create a template through Google Drive, making it easy to upload the content into proper formatting and then used Lulu to convert into an epub. After some tinkering, guide was submitted and approved. After a bit more waiting, the ePub was placed on the iBookstore and Nook bookstore for free distribution, and free downloading.
Keep an eye out for more NDI publications on iTunes, and look for us to pop up in the Kindle bookstore soon.
