The argentinian activist Pia Mancini is the co-founder of DemocracyOS, an open source mobile platform which enables citizens to get informed, debate and to vote on legislation discussed in parliaments. Later she co-founded the political party "Partido de la Red"- the Net Party- which states that once elected into the Argentinian congress, the representatives will base their vote solely on what the citizens decided on the mobile platform. Pia Mancini will be a speaker at OuiShare Fest 15 as part of this year's program track: "Reinventing Democracy". [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXfYNdapq3Q&spfreload=10[/embed] In her inspiring TED talk she shares her vision on democracy in the 21st century and how new technologies can help create a more participative political system. In the beginning of the speech she points out the basic problem with our current democratic system: "We are 21st-century citizens, doing our very best to interact with 19th century-designed institutions that are based on an information technology of the 15th century." Throughout the speech she raises the question how democracy should be implemented in the 21st century. People all over the world are now able to engage in discussions and articulate wishes and concerns using information technology. However, our political systems have remained nearly the same for about 200 years.
[...] Our democracy is neither just a matter of voting once every couple of years. But it's not either the ability to bring millions onto the streets. So the question I'd like to raise here, and I do believe it's the most important question we need to answer, is this one: If Internet is the new printing press, then what is democracy for the Internet era? What institutions do we want to build for the 21st-century society?
We are very much looking forward to continue the discussion on these questions with her at OuiShare Fest and to think together about the alternatives to our current political systems and a form of democracy which is suitable for the 21st century.
We are using the hashtag #OSFest15 to connect your thoughts and comments.
Join us in May, 20-22 at Cabaret Sauvage, Paris!
From now until the OuiShare Fest, we will be publishing a weekly video post of our speakers to raise discussions that we look forward to continuing at the Fest.