Peak Democracy Forum Services
Peak Democracy uses the web to overcome barriers to civic engagement through a series of forums carefully designed and monitored to optimize civil civic engagement.
Citizens who are too busy to attend town hall meetings can learn about issues and provide feedback at the time and place of their choosing.
Citizens who are too intimidated or polite to state their opinions can make signed or unsigned public statements in a forum that is structured for civility (but note that to prevent systematic abuse, users must register with Peak Democracy).
Citizens who are cynical can feel heard by giving them an interactive channel with their government officials, and equally important, with their fellow citizens.
Moreover, Peak Democracy makes it easy for government officials to inform constituents, solicit their insights, analyze their feedback, and thereby follow through with more credible decisions—ultimately improving citizens' trust and confidence in their government.
By addressing these widespread problems, Peak Democracy intends to make its services mission-critical to mature democracies, a foundation for stabilizing emerging democracies, and a catalyst for stimulating nascent democracies.
Why hasn't this been done before?
Over the past few years, there has been stunning growth in the web as a platform for general comments, specific feedback, as well as networking and collaboration. These uses of the web are not fads; they are highly valued and lasting growth trends. Why, then, have governments been reluctant to integrate on-line forums into their public comment processes?
Many web sites that provide discussion forums for political issues are controlled by companies, groups or individuals with a political bias. And correspondingly, these biases control the agenda, if not the discourse, of those forums. In many cases, outspoken individuals dominate, and the exchanges can be very uncivil. It's not unusual for the government and/or elected officials to be the target of these uncivil exchanges.
Being the target of uncivil exchanges is not new to governments or elected officials. Indeed, over the years governments have developed sophisticated techniques to conduct public meetings that enable individuals to freely voice opinions and ideas while maintaining a level of civility required for productive meetings.
Most governments haven't yet integrated on-line forums into their public comment process because they don't have the in-house technical skills or outsourcing funds required to mirror this process on the web. Enabling individuals to freely voice political opinions while maintaining civility on the web requires new techniques - techniques that Peak Democracy has pioneered.
A third party solution that can be customized for each government (yet is common enough to spread the costs across many governments) hasn't been available – until the advent of Peak Democracy's forum services.