Sergio Amadeu da Silveira - Cidadania e Redes Digitais

eng
c i t i z e n s h i p a n d d i g i t a l n e t w o r k s
communicate their views on issues of climate change. Eventually some 44 groups
were formed in 38 countries (including Brazil). It was the very first attempt in history
to arrange a geographically dispersed, international, Internet-centered, citizens’
meeting on crucial set of policy issues.
Each group contained about 100 participants who were selected through a
method that attempted to obtain adequate diversity by age, class, occupation, and
other social categories. All participants were given information in advance either
on the Web or on paper of the current state of expert knowledge and contrasting
opinions about conditions of global warming. On September 26, 2009, the participants
went to meeting places in their home countries and spent the morning and
afternoon considering a list of questions about global climate change. As an observer
and “scientific expert,” I attended a citizens’ consultation at the Science Museum in
Boston, one of four such gatherings in the U.S. Each of the groups listened to brief
statements by program moderators present at each gathering. During a full day’s
work, participants watched several brief videos prepared by World Wide Views organization
to highlight questions and key controversies in each issue area. After they
had seen the videos and listened to a brief statement of orientation by the organizers,
the citizen participants convened in small groups — several or eight people — deliberating
on the issues presented. After an hour or so, they would vote, offering their
conclusions on the issues in question.
The approach employed here was adapted from methods long used by the
event’s main sponsor, the Danish Technology Board, methods used to elicit citizen
participation in the evaluation and shaping of emerging technologies 6 . The Internet
made it possible to coordinate multiple worldwide citizens’ consultations within a
24 hour period. When they were finished, each group was informed about the result
from corresponding groups in other parts of the world, time zone permitting.
Data from the voting indicate that those who participated in the World Wide
Views process conveyed a much greater sense of urgency about global warming
and greater willingness to take action than was characteristic of most governments
around the globe at the time. Some 89% participants affirmed that short
term reductions of carbon emissions in developing countries be reduced by 25-
40%. This was a far more ambitious target than ones preferred by most world
6. http://www.tekno.dk/subpage.php3?page=forside.php3&language=uk.
50