Expanding citizen access and public official accountability through knowledge creation technology: one recent development in e-democracy
Michael Shires, M.S. Craig · 2003
The authors describe an addition to the conversation regarding enhanced democracy through technologically-assisted means (e-democracy) focusing on enhancing and expanding the typically unidirectional flow of statutes and procedural documentation from government to individuals. A new knowledge creation application is described that significantly improves the utility of available public records and enhances the ability of citizens to use them to ensure better and more consistent governmental outcomes. The application, called Minutes-n-Motion, uses neural net search algorithms to create multidimensional knowledge cubes inserted into a user-friendly interface to allow user-defined structuring of public information. The application improves access to public records and allows users to evaluate public actions in details from multiple perspectives with relative ease, thereby improving public official accountability and both the fairness and the consistency of the public process.