{"id":2030,"date":"2015-10-31T23:28:39","date_gmt":"2015-11-01T03:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/lets-crowdsource-the-constitution\/"},"modified":"2015-10-31T23:30:16","modified_gmt":"2015-11-01T03:30:16","slug":"lets-crowdsource-the-constitution","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/lets-crowdsource-the-constitution\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s crowdsource the Constitution!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Reykjavik<\/a>
Reykjavik from Hallgr\u00edmskirkj church tower, April 2013.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Did you know that crowdsourcing is more than one thousand years old? Just think about the direct democracy of Athens developed around the fifth century B.C. As an example, once a year citizens were encouraged to participate in the process called ostracism<\/em>. Through a formal procedure, anyone could submit a name of a politician who they believed posed a threat to the state. Two months later, anyone could vote, using ostrakas<\/em> (or pottery shards) in lieu of today\u2019s smartphones, in favor or against exiling given\u00a0politician.<\/p>\n

The term democracy<\/em> is derived from the Greek words \u03b4\u1fc6\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2<\/em> (d\u00eamos<\/em>) “people” and \u03ba\u03c1\u03ac\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 <\/em>(kr\u00e1tos<\/em>) “rule.” The concept of the \u201crule of the people\u201d very much reflects what a crowdsourcing is at its core. It is based on the idea of empowering people and providing them the venue to express their opinions. While businesses are increasingly reaping the benefits of crowdsourcing, whether finding innovative ideas internally or externally, it is interesting to consider applications of this concept in organizations that have traditionally been more insulated from technological advances; the government is a great example.<\/p>\n

Could crowdsourcing be applied to tackle complex decisions at the national level?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Icelanders attempted to resurrect the idea of democracy in its pure form. The rewriting of the constitution in Iceland between 2010 and 2013 through the use of crowdsourcing was an unprecedented event on a global scale. The idea was a consequence of a general distrust towards political parties in Iceland following the disastrous effects of the collapse of the country\u2019s financial system in 2008.<\/p>\n

The Icelandic constitutional approach was based on three steps: i) selecting the National Forum comprised of 950 quasi-randomly selected citizens; ii) organizing an Assembly of 25 constitutional drafters with diverse professional backgrounds, notably excluding<\/em> politicians; and iii) soliciting feedback on 12 successive drafts from the citizens through social media, including Twitter and Facebook (see an example below), as well as email and mail. While the resulting proposal was approved in a 2012 referendum by two-thirds of voters, it did not pass through Parliament.<\/p>\n

\"iceland-facebook1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Why the Icelandic crowdsourcing initiative failed?<\/strong><\/p>\n