California has launched what it says is the U.S.'s first digital democracy tool, taking on wildfire recovery as its first focus. The tool, called "Engaged California," was years in the making, and came online with some help and inspiration from Taiwan.
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00:00In Southern California, recovery efforts still ongoing from January wildfires that killed
00:08at least 29 people, destroying over 16,000 buildings and homes.
00:14California Governor Gavin Newsom now using new technology to help the Golden State rebuild.
00:20So the whole idea of this platform is to create additional opportunities for you to directly
00:25engage.
00:26The platform, Engaged California, has been years in the making and aims to be a digital
00:31space where residents can get involved, share their needs and help inform policy decisions,
00:38the tools' relevance and potential for impact highlighted by the wildfires.
00:43What is really important, you know, prioritized for this government entity, you know, to be
00:48responsive to our residents' needs in an era where there's just lots of information, lots
00:54of confusion and lots of, you know, stress.
00:56In a moment like that is the reason why this program was launched to help.
01:04Instead of an email, letter or a phone call to officials that might not lead to action,
01:11residents can head to the website, a place for similar suggestions to gain strength in
01:15numbers and for different opinions to be discussed both online and in person to find a solution.
01:22This concept inspired by a similar tool from Taiwan.
01:27Here in Taiwan, citizen-led discussions on a digital platform like Engaged California
01:32has led to decisive government action in at least 20 cases.
01:36For instance, Taiwan's model has helped find consensus over controversial issues like how
01:42to regulate ride-sharing app Uber and how to tackle scam advertisements.
01:49The pioneer behind digital democracy here is Audrey Tang.
01:53The programmer turned Taiwan's first digital minister, now a cyber ambassador, who helped
01:59set up California's program.
02:04In an exclusive interview with Taiwan Plus, Tang says from Taiwan's experience, an online
02:09deliberation tool not only made policies more effective, but also made people more willing
02:15to engage.
02:17Taiwanese people in Taiwan, despite their political party differences, can nevertheless
02:22agree on things related to Uber, to the liability of online platforms when it comes to fraudulent
02:28advertisements and many other things.
02:31It increases the connective tissue of the civil society.
02:35So that with the civic muscles, people do feel that it's not just about partisan politics,
02:41but also about the co-creation of policies.
02:44In an era of information overload and countless online forums, trust between users and the
02:50platform's makers is invaluable.
02:53Given California's population is almost double that of Taiwan, that ups the challenge.
02:59But Tang is hopeful.
03:01We are now seeing a shift from the vertical institutional trust to this horizontal, this
03:06crowd-based trust.
03:08Of course, this transition is never easy.
03:10We're slightly out of our comfort zone here.
03:13But I do think that this new form of trust will be more scalable and more resilient.
03:18From a Taiwan experience, it also made us anti-fragile against the polarization attacks.
03:24Though optimistic about tech-driven solutions, Tang says it's also important to have some
03:30level of skepticism, a sentiment California's program makers also had, to ensure the tech
03:36works in favor of people and their true opinions.
03:41Trusting is absolutely critical to the platform, but we want to be very flexible.
03:46We want to not limit ourselves by any one particular choice in the technology.
03:52The other thing that's really critical about building the trust is that we show we're listening
03:59and that we take action.
04:02In the face of catastrophe, it takes a village to bounce back.
04:06For California, they say they've built a town hall for the modern era, using tech to
04:12help find the solutions people want.
04:15Luffy Lee, Patrick Chen, and Joyce Zen for Taiwan Plus.