CitizenScape

CitizenScape is a new product which enables the use of existing social websites, such as community forums or even larger sites like Facebook, to connect to democratic and participatory tools such as ePetitions, webcasts or consultations.

The assumptions behind CitizenScape are simple:

• Council's should not be building social networking sites themselves - there is already a lot of activity online.  Local Authorities need to connect to that rather than starting from scratch
• You need tools that reach out and exist on the sites that people are already visiting - not waste your time trying to get them to visit you
• The social web encourages co-creation and participation - this makes it the right place to start to engage people in democratic debate
  

We are currently running a beta pilot programme called "The Virtual Town Hall" which launched in October 2009.  We will be publishing ongoing results and feedback from this pilot throughout this year and you can read about the latest updates either on the blog or we are using #virtualTH on Twitter.

Virtual Town Hall Project Participants :

• Chorley Borough Council
• Essex County Council
• North Lincolnshire County Council
• Kirklees Council
• London Borough of Redbridge
  

If you would like to follow the pilot, or would like more information on Citizenscape then please email info@public-i.info.

Look at some examples