Mexico City recently launched a massive experiment in citizen participation and digital democracy. It has asked its more than 9 million citizens to contribute to the process of drafting of a new constitution with the help of social media.
The crowd-sourcing exercise is the first of its kind anywhere in the World. The local citizens can put up their suggestions for review and inclusion in the Constitution. In case their suggestion is met with popular support (more than 10000 people signing their agreement with the proposal), the person gets to personally make his or her case in front of the review committee of the Constitution. Citizens can also annotate proposals by the Constitution’s drafters via an online editing software similar to Google Docs.
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The idea, in the words of the Mayor of the city, is to “Bestow the constitution project, with a democratic, progressive, inclusive, civic and plural character.”
There are various levels of participation on offer, from ranking the city’s biggest problems in an online survey to making detailed comments on draft proposals. For people without internet access, 300 computer kiosks have been set up throughout the city with staff to guide them through the process.
In three weeks, Change.org collected more than 200 petitions, which have been signed by more than 10,000 people. The exercise is an ongoing process and is poised to inspire inclusion and participation from the citizens in a big way.