Open Source Campaigning
As part of the “We can’t turn them away” campaign, Dan Hardie has asked bloggers to post any responses they receive from MPs. Alistair Darling has replied to my letter… but only to say he will be investigating further, and will write again soon. When he does, I shall obviously post his response here.
The drive is an excellent example of Open Source Campaigning. ‘Open Source’ is a phrase taken from computer programming, where a group of programmers can all work on a project together. Tasks are itemised, and any programmer can take on an assignment from the list, complete it, and upload his code to the central source. Eventually a new version of the programme is available for release - usually for free.
The Iraqi asylum campaign fits the defintion for Open Source Campaigning for several reasons. It has a very specific policy objective, which lends itself very well to letter writing campaigns. The “list of tasks” does not even need to be written: Thanks to online tools such as WriteToThem.com and TheyWorkForYou.com we already have an available list of the MPs that need to be contacted. Individual bloggers and concerned citizens know exactly what is required of them, and the “ask” for each individual is actually very small - they just need to write a letter to their MP, and post the response. Those bloggers leading the campaign can take on the baton from there, calling to account any MPs who have given an ambiguous response, and lauding those MPs who have pledged their support to the campaign.
Meanwhile, Journalist Jay Rosen has been exploring the concept of Open Source Journalism. His recent article Blowback: The Journalism That Bloggers Actually Do has that meta-quality that I love. He has written a response to a curmugeonly article from Michael Skube in the LA Times, complaining that bloggers only give “opinion” and never do any fact finding. In response, Rosen lists many examples where bloggers have been fact-finders. Crucially (and here is the lovely ‘meta’ part) most of those examples were sent in by bloggers themselves.
Of course, most campaigns rely on some kind of public interaction to make them effective. I suppose what distinguishes an ‘appeal’ (such as the search for Madeline McGann, or a murder enquiry) is that not everyone can help with an ‘appeal’ as they can with an Open Source campaign. In the case of journalism, not everyone can provide researchers with an interesting story or case study for an article. But they can do a little piece of fact-finding research for an Open Source Article. All that is required is for the participants to care enough about the final outcome.
The next task for the “We Can’t Turn Them Away” campaign will be a honing excercise. Of all the MPs in the House of Commons, it is especially important to get comments and messages of support from those who have army regiments based in their constituency. The hive-mind needs to itemise every regiment who has worked in Basra (and therefore benefited from the local Iraqi workforce in some way), and then identify the relevant MP. For starters, it happens that none-other than Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague is the MP for the huge Catterick Garrison. Armed Forces Bill Committee Member and Home Affairs Committee Member Bob Russell is the MP for Colchester, another big army town. Have they been approached yet?
August 26th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
[...] Getting the public engaged in politics has always been something I’ve supported, and bringing the politicians closer to the people they claim to represent a key way of doing that. Robert Sharp highlights “Open Source campaigning“, coordinating the campaigns and publishing the result, in an open and collaborative way. [...]
August 28th, 2007 at 8:39 am
[...] 2) Campaigning Robert Sharp calls it Open Source Campaigning, but the point is the same. The web, and more specifically blogs, allows us to campaign for initiatives such as the plight of Iraqi Employees and get MPs to do something about it. Without this platform I’d be complaining over my morning muesli and hoping one of the papers started it. And what if they didn’t? ********* [...]
September 25th, 2007 at 10:19 am
[...] In all seriousness, I wonder if a form of open source detective work is possible. No, not each member of the public scouring a designated portion of the Algarve looking for Madeline… But given the many cases of missing persons, and the huge amount of ground to cover in any search, on the surface it looks like a classic opportunity for a more collective endeavour. In the age of digital communications - and importantly, digital photography - I wonder if a constructive and co-ordinated effort is possible, and what form it would take? [...]
November 23rd, 2007 at 7:38 pm
[...] One of the aims of the Liberal Conspiracy website is to act as a place where claims of a Lefty or Liberal nature can be co-ordinated, and where information can be stored or linked to. It is not surprising that the drive against ID cards is the first such campaign into which we are dipping our collected toes. Do visit Sunny’s post, and participate in this ‘open-source’ campaigning if you can. [...]
June 26th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
[...] Hardie gave an account of his experiences running his Iraqi Interpreters campaign. He mentioned my post on Open Source Campaigning, but said he thought that ‘open source’ wasn’t an appropriate label, because you [...]