Semi-Direct Democracy. Ideology. Digital Ecosystem for communities.
Semi-Direct Democracy
This model of the Digital Ecosystem based on communities that share common values and interests fosters a coherent semi-direct Democracy which will emerge from the advancement of technology.
The diagram above, Figure 1, illustrates the framework of the semi-direct democracy system, which is composed of the Digital Ecosystem’s components described in this article.
The Digital Ecosystem is the key to unlocking semi-direct democracy, allowing citizens to have a more direct say in governance.
At a high level, the diagram (Figure 1,) shows the various entities and their relationships, including:
c1-cn: digital communities that are created through the digital ecosystem.
These communities are part of society and can vary in size (local, national, international). When a digital community is linked to a digital institution and then to a governmental institution, it may be required to be a local or national community for decision-making matters. However, if the semi-direct democracy system is applied at a regional or European Union level, international communities can also be considered, allowing for a more diverse and representative participation.
i1-in: digital institutions created by the digital communities.
These digital institutions represents the interests of the digital communities
Similarly, digital institutions can vary in scope (local, national, international). When a digital institution is linked to a governmental institution, it may be required to be a local or national institution for decision-making matters. However, if the semi-direct democracy system is applied at a regional or European Union level, international digital institutions can also be considered, allowing for a more diverse and representative participation.
i1 List — in Lists: created by the digital institutions
These lists are created by the digital institutions where:
- Policy Proposals can be proposed or requested
- Petitions can be signed and submitted
- Public Initiatives can be launched and supported
- Citizen Requests can be made and tracked
These lists allow citizens to actively participate in decision-making processes and shape their community’s development.
These digital institutions can facilitate community decision-making by:
- Analyzing agreements and negotiations between parties
- Recommending votes for a party based on community interests and alignments
- Enabling communities to make informed decisions through transparent and data-driven processes
p1: protest (unregistered/spontaneous gathering)
cp, 1: protesters becoming a registered digital community
ip, 1: digital institution is created by a digital community cp, 1, which is created by protesters p1
Protests are a democratic right, enabling citizens to mobilize, raise awareness, and push for reforms that promote social and political change.
However, it is also possible for protests to fail in bringing about change if their voice is ignored or not properly expressed. This can occur when protesters struggle to articulate their demands coherently, or when their message is drowned out by other voices or suppressed by those in power. In such cases, protests may not effectively translate into tangible political or social change, despite the passion and dedication of those involved.
Protests, as temporary institutions, can transition into permanent digital communities (cp, 1) , which can establish digital institutions (ip, 1) to formally present requests and negotiate with authorities, thereby amplifying citizen voices and fostering sustainable social and political change.
A digital institution <ip,1> can be equivalent to other digital institutions, such as <i1>, but with the added value of tailored tools and features that cater specifically to the needs of protesters and the digital institution they establish, distinguishing it from other digital institutions.
<cp, 1> Digital Community Features:
- Community engagement and discussion forums
- Social media amplification and awareness campaigns
- Petition management and signature collection
- Mobilization and organization
<ip, 1> Digital Institution Features:
- Leadership and decision-making processes
- Resource allocation and funding management
- Communication with authorities and negotiation support
- Protest event planning and coordination (e.g., planning official events or meetings)
A-D: elected parties
Representative groups chosen by both offline citizens and the digital ecosystem.
a-d: Electors (Offline)
Citizens who are not part of digital communities, voting independently of the digital ecosystem.
L1-Ln: Bill/Law under vote
Lx: Anti-democratic legislation. Law contrary to the will of people
Ev/r: Electronic vote/referendum initiated by i1-in or by a non-majority party to counter anti-democratic legislation <Lx>
X: the vote rejecting anti-democratic legislation <Lx>
ap: apolitical citizens
Ideology
The Digital Ecosystem represents a visionary ideology aimed at fostering the growth and progress of society as a whole, with a special focus on local communities united by shared interests and values. This inclusive approach empowers residential individuals to contribute, regardless of their affiliation with governmental or political institutions.
As an ideology, the Digital Ecosystem envisions a journey towards societal perfection, guided by the principles of virtue and the common good.
When communities come together, inspired by this ideology and driven by shared values, they form the very fabric of the Digital Ecosystem’s institutional framework.
Digital Ecosystem for communities
In this article, I present the vision that I have about the society, and that can be developed through a digital ecosystem.
The ecosystem facilitates the creation of communities that share common interests to promote values, arts, and professional skills. Through the ecosystem will be created a digital framework to generate new informational and revenue streams that ultimately will bring wealth to the local, national, and international communities.
The solution is to create a digital ecosystem that integrates three online platforms for the representation of the interests of the local, national and international communities.
The proposed ecosystem promotes refined data. Promotes the culture and the information with competency.
Presentation of the ecosystem.
The digital ecosystem is composed of three platforms.
1. An online platform to establish/certify competency.
2. An online platform that will represent the interest of the local/national/international communities.
3. An online platform through which will be created/presented the local/national/international communities.
1. The online platform that establishes/certifies the competency.
This platform is important because it will refine the representation. The platform will provide information regarding the person that is interested in representing the interests of the community/communities, information like the level of education, profession, certification, and other competencies related to the representation activity.
Where can be implemented, the user will register with an email address of a website domain that can certify the eligibility for the desired activity/representation.
The users that obtained a study diploma, will be able to request a digital validation that will be facilitated by the government institution in collaboration with the study institutions through a framework that will be integrated with the digital ecosystem, respectively the online platform that establishes/certifies the competency
This platform will provide an API to connect with all the platforms from the digital ecosystem to be able to share relevant and functional data.
2. The online platform that represents the interests of the local/national/international communities.
This platform provides organizational instruments for the person or the groups of persons that want to represent the interests of a community and also, this platform will connect to the online platform that establishes/certifies the competency to extract necessary information/data in this regard.
With that extracted information, will be realized a hierarchy of the representing groups, based on the competency of a person from the group, or based on the competency that is accumulated by the multiple persons from the group.
A representative group can accumulate competencies grouped on the domain of the activity (professional competency, music, sport, arts, etc.), thus, the communities can choose the representing persons or groups, by knowing exactly what competency these persons or groups have.
The calculation of the competency will be established through an algorithm.
The platform will facilitate the listing of the communities requests, by being published by the chosen persons or groups that represent their interests.
Those requests will be consulted by the government institutions to implement policies, thus, the platform will establish the connection and collaboration between the government institutions and the interests of the local and national communities.
3. The platform through which will be created/presented the local/national/international communities.
The users of the platform will be able to create local/national/international communities that share common values and interests. The refinement of the communities will be implemented through the platform that establishes/certifies the competency, by using the algorithm that calculates the competencies of the users that are part of the community.
Any user can join a community if the user meets the requirements of the respective community
From the created community on this platform, can be created groups for the representation of the community interests, on the online platform that represents the interests of the local/national/international communities.
The platform will provide instruments to create and promote events. The communities can create events and can obtain financial sustainment from private companies and through sponsorship. Also, through the platform can be created new informational and revenue streams.
Through their activities, communities can generate audio and video content that can be broadcasted through the TV channels created through the platform infrastructure or by providing the content to the local/national/international TV channels facilitated by the television providers.
New revenue streams can be obtained through advertising and through the commercialization of products that are created by the activities of the communities (digital content, manufacturing, books, cultural activities, music, sport, education, etc). Users that are not part of a community, but have competency in a domain of activity, can receive invitations of participation to events from relevant communities.
