Kunta.live - a tool for participatory decision-making in local governments

Abstract

This paper presents a tool for participatory decision-making in local governments using crowdsourcing and e-democracy. The concepts of crowdsourcing and participation are discussed from the perspective of decision-making in local governments and an overview of existing tools and solutions for citizen participation in decision-making is given. The enabling/limiting aspects of national, as well as EU-level legislation related to crowdsourcing and participation are also discussed. The process design perspective, describing changes in the process of decision-making when utilising crowdsourcing, is considered. Furthermore, new phases and steps are proposed to the process of decision-making when utilising crowdsourcing and participation through the Kunta.live platform. The requirements for a platform that enables direct democracy and the obstacles that arise in the adoption of this kind of a platform are examined. Finally, theories on public decision-making and the opportunities and limitations in utilising software to supplement decision-making are discussed and topics for future research to promote utilisation of ICT, Web 2.0 technologies and e-democracy software for policy decision-making are indicated.