Seoul's Online Policy Forum
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Title: Seoul's Cyber Policy Forum
Background Information
Title: Seoul's Cyber Policy Forum
Location: Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul, South Korea
Explanation in English: http://www.e-seoul.go.kr/
Primary Sponsor: Seoul Metropolitan Government
Organisation: Information Systems Planning Bureau (CIO) at Seoul Metropolitan Government
Budget: 30,100,000 Won in 2004 (about $ 30,000 in US Dollar)
Project Start Date: Feb. 07, 2003 Project End Date: Ongoing
Executive Summary
In February 2003, the Seoul Metropolitan Government launched a new program to invite discussion on policy issues, opportunities to understand public policy, and to facilitate discussions. Seoul had already operated many online innovations such as Citizen Online Bulletin Board, Submitting Citizens Suggestion online, Citizen Cyber Monitors, and Online Opinion Polls. The new Cyber Policy Forum has a budget of approximately 30,100,000 Won in 2004 (about $30,000 US Dollars).
Since 2003, Seoul 24 Cyber Policy Forums and 29 Youth Cyber Forums were held. Over 2,624 citizens posted their opinions and 142,406 views were recorded in the primary Cyber Policy Forums. A special feature of Seoul’s Cyber Policy Forum allows users to cast votes for good discussions. Citizens can add their votes to certain opinions, then the most popular opinions rise to the top. When comparing each discussion topic, the number of participants posting varied from 40 to 262, depending on the issue. Recorded hits ranged from 2,567 to 20,350. The most popular topic focused on reforming the bus system. Seoul's online forums have the potential to gather diverse opinions from citizens throughout the process of policy-making. New online channels for participation in the early drafting stage of policy-making could be explored. Website: http://forum.seoul.go.kr
Project Rationale and Objectives
The Information Systems Planning Bureau, Seoul Metropolitan Government, has operated the Cyber Policy Forum since 2003. The forum is intended to encourage citizens to discuss policy issues so that their opinions can be reflected in government policies. As Seoul Metropolitan Government is the largest municipal government in Korea, administering a multitude of services to 10 million citizens, e-consultation is important. One topic is selected every month and is discussed for the duration of one month.
Rationale
Citizens often feel that government is remote because they cannot seemingly influence the policy agenda. Although the mayor and representatives are elected by citizens every four years, voting is not sufficient in reflecting citizens’ preferences in government policies. Citizen participation in public administration is important, and it is important to show that the participation has an impact. Efficient and effective ways to register citizens’ opinions are needed.
Objectives
The objectives of Cyber Policy Forum are:
- To provide citizens with opportunities to understand policy issues and to facilitate discussions.
- To encourage citizen participation in public administration and to obtain feedback about policy issues.
- To reflect citizens’ opinions in city policies and produce more tailored policy solutions for citizens.
Audience
Currently there are two types of Cyber Forums: one for adult citizens and one for those of a younger age who may have a different policy agenda to adults.
What was delivered?
What was planned
An online discussion forum on a different topic for each month. Topics could be suggested by citizens and e-Democracy experts -- typically "hot" political issues affecting citizens’ lives around the time of the discussions. Relevant materials are posted to guide citizens on topics, and expert opinions are posted to highlight the pros and cons of various issues. After the month-long discussions end, results are published on the web site. A few excellent discussions are given awards to encourage further discussions.
What was achieved?
Since 2003, Seoul has had 24 Cyber Policy Forums and 29 Youth Cyber Forums. For adult Cyber Policy Forums, 2,624 citizens posted their opinions for topics and 142,406 hits were recorded.
See Statitics under Additional information and sources below.
Communication Activity
Seoul Metropolitan government actively promoted and advertised the operation of Cyber Policy Forums. Mr. Myunho Shin, Director of Information System Planning Division at the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG), was in charge of marketing the forums.
The SMG provided press releases to newspapers, and an advertisement banner was put on 100 governmental agency and NGO web sites. For example, to reach women citizens, a banner ad was put on the web site of the Women’s Development Center.
Cyber Policy Forum was registered in major search engines of web sites, such as: http://www.naver.com, http://kr.yahoo.com, and http://www.daum.net.
E-mails introducing different topics of the Cyber Policy Forum were sent to the 93,000 subscribers of web site of Seoul City.
In addition, the SMG posted advertisements in the underground. The city government used all of these channels to inform citizens about the launch of Cyber Policy Forums.
During the discussion of topics, the SMG posted a title of opinion at the centre of their homepage every day to draw visitor interest. Typically there were 70,000 homepage visitors a day. The site is also linked to the Cyber Policy Forum site so that citizens can easily locate and participate in discussions.
To encourage active participation, the city government offered small gifts to the eight best participants every month. Three top participants are selected by citizens voting online, and another five top participants are selected by public officials after perusing the discussion threads.
Successes
It was proven that ordinary citizens have the capacity to understand policy issues and discuss them, as long as the government provides useful information upfront and offers discussion opportunities. For two years, a total of 2,624 citizens actively posted their opinions on Cyber Policy Forums and a large number of citizens (a total of 142,406 hits) visited and read messages online.
By utilizing new ICT, a large number of citizens can participate in creating public policies that affect their lives.
A special feature of Seoul’s Cyber Policy Forum is that users cast votes for good discussions. Citizens can add their votes to certain opinions, then the most popular opinions are posted after discussion forums and rewarded a small gift from the city government. That encourages netiquette and good online behavior.
See below under Additional information and sources for a list of "Citizens’ Opinions Adopted in City Policies from Online Discussions."
Benefits to Citizens
By influencing government policies, citizens do not think that they are merely passive recipients of government services, rather, they can consider themselves to be real owners of government.
Through careful deliberation and participation, each citizen can learn about and understand complex policy issues and provide meaningful comments from a number of diverse standpoints. The city government posts relevant materials about policy issues, while experts provide information needed to encourage discussions.
According to Mr. Myunho Shin, Director of Information Systems Planning Division, many opinions have been reflected in policy-making as a result of discussions: 23 opinions on 6 topics in 2003 and 18 opinions on 5 topics in 2004 were actively adopted and incorporated into city policies.
Benefits to Authority
- Canvassing citizens' opinions leads to more effective policy-making.
- Considering citizens’ opinions before implementing new policies can save legislative time and financial resources. New programs or policies that are implemented without citizen input might be faced with unexpected problems, citizen resistance or non-compliance.
Limitations
Currently, citizens are active in online discussions, but there are not many officials who participate in the discussions. Future improvement should help increase participation from officials on Cyber Policy Forums.
Evaluation
Seoul’s case is successful when compared to other governments in South Korea and around the world. When comparing each discussion topic, the number of participants posting varied from 40 to 262, depending on the issue. Recorded hits ranged from 2,567 to 20,350. The most popular topic focused on reforming the bus system in Seoul.
E-government Research Institute at the University of Seoul ( http://www.egov.re.kr/) conducted a survey of Seoul citizens between September 24 and October 6, 2003, to examine the satisfaction level of citizens regarding the Cyber Policy Forum.
Number of respondents: 3,289 Seoul citizens, including an offline survey of 500 respondents and an online (e-mail) survey of 2,789 respondents.
Satisfaction: On a five-point Likert scale (1 being dissatisfied and 5 being completely satisfied), the major responses are as follows:
- Citizen understanding of participation procedure: 3.0
- Citizen perception of the level of democracy in the operation of the Forum: 3.1
- Satisfaction about government officials adopting feedback from: 3.0
- Perception of positive aspects in the operation of the Forum: 3.0
According to Director Shin at the SMG, other cities, including Dajeon Metropolitan City of Korea and district offices in Seoul, are benchmarking the Cyber Policy Forum of the SMG. He also said that public officials at the SMG formally concluded that the Cyber Policy Forum has been playing positive role in reflecting citizen opinion and in obtaining new ideas.
- Opinions presented in the Forum have helped public officials to get innovative ideas for policies and to understand what citizens want. This has enabled public officials to formulate policies on critical and controversial issues that reflect citizens’ concerns.
- The Cyber Policy Forum offers an opportunity for citizens to be better informed about the objectives of policy, so a consensus can be formed between the government and its citizens. The Cyber Policy Forum shifts the municipal paradigm, which reduces the overall burden in planning policy while raising public awareness and understanding on the political issues facing the municipality.
- The Youth Cyber Forum allows Seoul's youth to participate in active discussions and in the policy-making process, giving them insight into governmental policies from an early age.
The author of this draft is also conducting a survey of Seoul city officials as a Ph.D. dissertation, which is expected to be finished in February, 2005. The author found one official's comments in the survey: “I feel that citizens’ opinions are novel, innovative, and diverse, which are very useful in making policies and preventing trial and error.”
The e-government of the Seoul Metropolitan Government was ranked the first among 100 large cities worldwide in 2003 evaluated by Rutgers University-Newark sponsored by the UN (http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~egovinst/website/researchpg.htm)
The E-government of Korean central government was ranked 5th in the world in 2004 by the UN (http://www.unpan.org/egovernment4.asp ).
The Seoul municipal government has very comprehensive, systematic and excellent tools on its web site to invite citizen opinions. Cyber Policy Forum is one tool in a system called a “Citizen Participation Portal” on the Seoul city’s web site. The portal includes Cyber Policy Forum, Youth Cyber Forum, Online Opinion Polls, Online Suggestions, Online Bulletin Board, Cyber Citizen Monitors, Online Praising Good Behaviors of People, and Online Love Seoul Communities.
Newspapers and magazines reported discussions on Seoul’s Cyber Policy Forums and their articles showed favorable evaluation. The following are examples from newspaper or magazine articles:
1. Yonhap News: January 29, Seoul launched Cyber Policy Forums, 2003 May 12, 2003, Making a public park in Yongsan area http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/
2. Money Today Newspaper: May 12, 2003, Making a public park in Yongsan area http://www.moneytoday.co.kr/daily_index.html
3. Maeil Business Newspaper: July 14, 2003, Debate on Street Stalls on Cyber Policy Forums http://www.mk.co.kr/
4. Newsmaker magazine: March 12, 2004, Debate on moving Statue of Admiral Lee Soon Shin http://newsmaker.khan.co.kr/
5. Seoul Daily Newspaper: December 31, 2004, Debate on revitalizing conventional markets on Cyber Policy Forums http://www.seoul.co.kr/
Lessons learnt
It is possible to realize digital democracy on a large scale, if the participating government has the appropriate desire and resources. Because South Korea is famous for deploying broadband Internet and high penetration of the Internet at home, access to the Internet is no problem. Furthermore, the City government provides free Internet access at City Hall, district offices, community centers, and social welfare centers to citizens who cannot own Personal Computers.
This experience could be further developed in order to implement a more advanced form of digital democracy, such as holding e-meetings or scheduled online meetings in which citizens, officials and experts meet online and have online discussions in real time.
What could happen next?
The Seoul Metropolitan Government posts summaries of the discussion results which list citizen opinions that are reflected in policies. This allows citizens to see that their opinions are meaningfully used in the policy-making process. Moreover, online opinion polls are used if issues warrant more input.
The cumulative future effect may generate more online citizen participation because they can see that their feedback may more likely influence policy.
Further, Seoul's online forums have the potential to gather diverse opinions from citizens throughout the process of policy-making. New online channels for participation in the early drafting stage of policy-making could be explored.
Online forums could also be connected to in-person public hearings in order to engage ordinary citizens with limited time or ability to attend in-person public hearings. The results of in-person public hearings could also be presented to online forums for further discussion and responses from wider range of citizens.
Finally, protocols that enable appropriate participation of public officials are required to increase their participation. Officials with authority are concerned about the impact of their writing on their responsibilities. Frontline civil servants need managerial permissions set out in advance that enable them to play a basic informational role in order to provide relevant government information that may not be known by discussants.
Additional information and sources
Detailed budget : 30,100,000 Won in 2004 (about $ 30,000 in U.S. dollar) for advertisements and giving awards to a few best discussants.
Budget document at: http://www.seoul.go.kr
Project sponsors: Seoul Metropolitan Government Explanation in English: http://www.e-seoul.go.kr
Audio File: Interview with Director Shin at the Seoul Metropolitan Government
Audio Text
I am Myunho Shin, Director of Information System Planning Division at the Seoul Metropolitan government. We launched the Online Policy Forum in February 2003 to promote citizen-centered administration that provides citizens with opportunities for participation in policy-making. The main purposes of our Online Policy Forums are to enhance citizens’ participation in public administration, invite citizens’ opinions about policy issues, and produce better policies through discussions online.
Thanks to the Cyber Policy Forum, citizens get motivated to actively present various opinions and comments on the selected topics. So far, we have offered discussion topics every month since 2003, and about 2,500 citizens posted creative and innovative ideas on 23 topics. Citizens have shown great interest in our Online Policy Forums. As well as policy suggestions, citizens read and recommend the other's opinion, showing great interest in the Cyber Policy Forum.
For example, more than 18,000 citizens visited Online Policy Forums for one month when reforming bus system was discussed in 2004. After discussion, we summarize discussion results and they are reflected in policies of each bureau.
Public officials, also, are exerting their efforts to reflect citizens’ ideas in policy-making. I'm convinced that the two-way communication made in the Forum is the exemplary benefit that cyber space has brought to us.
Based on these successful results, we will activate our Online Policy Forum further. The forum will continue to be a channel where we can collect and reflect citizen's voices in planning and implementing policy to prosper e-Democracy. Thank you very much.
Statistics
There has been a total of 24 discussions, 2,624 participants and 142,406 hits.
1. Planning & Evaluation Bureau, Planning Division, discussion on Construction of New Capital City, 2003. Nov. 16-Dec. 15, 94 participants, 7,716 hits, 257 per day.
2. Planning & Evaluation Bureau, Planning Division, discussion on Construction of New Capital City, 2004. Sep. 16-Oct. 15, 157 participants, 6,327 hits, 211 per day.
3. Information System Planning Bureau, Information System Planning Division, discussion on Creation of Special School District in northern Seoul, 2003. Dec. 16-Jan. 15. 2004, 87 participants, 4,531 hits, 146 per day.
4. Information System Planning Bureau, Information System Planning Division, discussion on Abolition of Men’s Headship of Family, 2004. July 16-Aug. 15, 262 participants, 7,316 hits, 236 per day).
5. Information System Planning Bureau, Information System Planning Division, discussion on Evaluation of Student Achievement in Elementary Schools, 2004. Aug. 16-Sep. 15, 59 participants, 2,567 hits, 83 per day.
6. Information System Planning Bureau, Information System Planning Division, discussion on Increasing Birth Rate, 2004. Oct. 16-Nov. 15, 69 participants, 3,621 hits, 117 per day.
7. Cultural Affairs Bureau, Tourism Division, discussion on Promotion of Tourism in Seoul, 2004. June 16-July 15, 68 participants, 3,974 hits, 132 per day.
8. Welfare & Health Bureau, Women’s Affairs Division, discussion on Preventing Prostitution, 2003. Oct. 16-Nov. 15, 73 participants, 4,641 hits, 150 per day.
9. Transportation Bureau, Parking Division, discussion on Solving Parking Problems in Seoul, 2003. Sept. 16- Oct. 15, 79 participants, 5,416 hits, 181 per day.
10. Transportation Bureau, Taxi and Logistics Division, discussion on Improving Taxi services, 2005. Jan. 16-Feb. 15, ongoing.
11. Transportation Bureau, Bus System Improvement Team, discussion on Loop Line Bus system in Downtown, 2003. Mar. 16-Apr. 15, 67 participants, 4,014 hits, 129 per day.
12. Transportation Bureau, Bus System Improvement Team, discussion on Reform of Bus System Serving Major Roads, 2004. Apr. 16-May 15, 225 participants, 20,305 hits, 677 per day.
13. Transportation Bureau, Downtown Transportation Improvement Team, discussion on Central Bus-only Lane System, 2003. Apr. 16-May 15, 160 participants, 11,146 hits, 372 per day.
14. Green Seoul Bureau, Environmental Protection Division, discussion on Constructing Environment-friendly Housing Complex, 2004. May 16-June 15, 40 participants, 2,793 hits, 90 per day.
15. Green Seoul Bureau, Environmental Protection Division, discussion on Reducing Kitchen Garbage, 2004. Nov. 16-Dec. 15, 63 participants, 4,558 hits, 152 per day.
16. Green Seoul Bureau, Air Quality Division, Improving Air Quality in Seoul, 2003. Aug. 16-Sep. 15, 66 participants, 3,434 hits, 111 per day.
17. Cheonggecheon Stream Restoration Team, discussion on Downtown redevelopment with Cheonggecheon Stream Restoration, 2003. July 16-Aug. 15, 52 participants, 3,595 hits, 116 per day.
18. Housing Bureau, Urban Beautification Team, discussion on Beautification of Signboard of Stores, 2004. Mar. 16-Apr. 15, 138 participants, 4,405 hits, 142 per day.
19. Construction Planning Bureau, Construction Administration Division, discussion on How to Solve Problems of Street Stalls, 2003. June 16-July 15, 187 participants, 6,721 hits, 224 per day.
20. Construction Planning Bureau, Road Planning Division, discussion on Constructing Open Space (Seoul Plaza) in front of City Hall, 2003. Feb. 7-Mar. 15 , 109 participants, 7,509 hits, 268 per day.
21. Construction Planning Bureau, Road Management Division, discussion on Enacting a law imposing obligation on owners of houses and buildings to remove snow, 2004. Jan. 16-Feb. 15, 231 participants, 6,204 hits, 200 per day.
22. Urban Planning Bureau, Urban Planning Division, discussion on Plan of public parks after transfer of U.S. Army Site, 2003. May 16-June 15, 126 participants, 8,444 hits, 272 per day.
23. Urban Planning Bureau, Facilities Planning Division, discussion on Constructing Open Space Connecting Gwangwhamoon Gate, City Hall, and Soongremoon Gate, 2004. Feb. 16-2004. Mar. 15, 165 participants, 8,997 hits, 321 per day.
24. New Town Development Bureau, discussion on Revitalizing Conventional Market, 2004. Dec. 15-Jan. 16, 49 participants, 4,172 hits, 135 per day.
Citizens’ Opinions Adopted in City Policies from Online Discussions:
1. Topic: Construction of open space (citizens' square, Seoul Plaza)in front of City Hall. Four opinions were adopted in city policies:
- Construct a citizen-centric and pedestrian-friendly square.
- Create the image of City Hall as a center of Seoul.
- Make a path linked to the cultural and historical sites of Seoul.
- Create an artistic space where art performances and festivals can be held.
2. Topic: Loop-line Bus Operation in Downtown. Two opinions adopted in city policies:
- Introduce Bus Management System.
- Introduce 4 types of buses.
3. Topic: Problems of Street Stalls. Two opinions were adopted in city policies:
- Regulate Street Stalls, which can cause inconveniences to pedestrians and an unsanitary environment.
- Strengthen the control over the organized Street Stalls.
4. Topic: Bus-only Lane System. Six opinions were adopted in city policies:
- Install protective walls and shock-absorbant materials around the lane.
- Install shelters for waiting passengers.
- Provide new left-turn and right-turn roads within the bus-only lane to improve convenience.
- Adjust the location of bus stop and install bus bay to ease the bottleneck congestion.
- Introduce free transfer fare system and transfer discounts.
- Leave the left-turn lane
5. Topic: Air Pollution of Seoul. Four opinions were adopted in city policies:
- Reduce the congestion fee.
- Reduce the parking fee by 20% in public and municipal parking lots.
- Reduce Traffic-cause charge imposed on companies.
- Recommend that citizens not drive when dust in the air increases in order to reduce air pollutants.
6. Topic: Downtown redevelopment with Cheonggecheon Stream Restoration. Five opinions were adopted in city policies:
- Research historical heritages and establish plans to conserve them. while carrying out redevelopment.
- Move to Songpa area, a distributional complex.
- Reform bus system and expand bus-only lane.
- Use water from the Han River (90,000 tons) for the restoration. The restoration project should consider the flood frequency of the previous year.
- Leave 3 bridges in the stream.
7. Topic: Constructing open space connecting Gwangwhamoon Gate, City Hall and Soongremoon Gate. Two opinions were adopted in city policies:
- Postpone the removal project of central green space.
- The central government progresses renewal project around the gates, so Seoul City Government should associate its project with the central government. Active public promotion is needed and broad agreement on the project should be made.
8. Topic: Beautification of Store Signboard. Five opinions were adopted in city policies:
- Reduce outdoor advertisement boards
- Award and exhibit beautiful signboards
- Reform the outdoor advertisement rule.
- Subsidize 5 million ($5,000) for stores in Jongno area to change their signboards (Jongno Upgrade Project).
- Form the Committee of Signboard Management.
9. Topic: Reform of Bus System Serving Major Road. Four opinions were adopted in city policies.
- Create dual lane in major road and access road.
- Introduce the integrated fare system.
- Introduce bus-only lane system in 3 major roads.
- Establish Bus Operation Control Center.
10. Topic: Construct environment-friendly housing complex. One opinion was adopted in city policies:
- An environmentally-friendly housing complex project was approved in 2004 and construction is now in progress. The government should reflect citizen opinions in complimenting and correcting the project.
11. Topic: Promotion of Tourism in Seoul. Six opinions were adopted in city policies:
- Place Seoul Tour Guide Booklet in the airports and ports.
- Correct incorrect expressions on signposts and in guide booklets.
- Develop further accommodations such as home-stay, working-holiday and traditional houses. Create an efficient information delivery system for tourists.
- Activate public relations on tourist resources.
- Create systems to help foreign tourists buy postcards on the streets.
- Opinions currently reviewed:
- Create symbol or emblem of Seoul
- Develop tourist products using Han River
- Create shelter for foreigners to rest around tourist information offices
- Tourism Coordinator System
Contact: Mr. Myunho Shin, Director of Information Systems Planning Division at Seoul Metropolitan Government.
e-mail: mhshin1@seoul.go.kr
Author of this submission: Chan-Gon Kim, Associate Director of E-Governance Institute, Rutgers University-Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A. http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~egovinst/Website/ Tel: 732-249-8235
e-mail: chankim@pegasus.rutgers.edu or chan_gonkim@hotmail.com