vTaiwan
vTaiwan is a Consensus Formation Platform operated by g0v. It utilizes several open-source tools, including Pol.is, to allow citizens to participate in the legislative process. The platform has accumulated around 200,000 users so far source. Here is how vTaiwan works source: 1. Proposal Stage: The discussion begins offline and online to determine the agenda. Slide sharing is done through slideshare, and FAQ editing is done using Typeform. 2. Opinion Stage: Individuals can post their opinions on the proposed agenda, and others can vote in favor, against, or pass. The AI of Pol.is categorizes individuals with diverse opinions into multiple opinion groups. This process visualizes the concerns and priorities of specific opinion groups. It is important to note that One person, one vote is highly valued in this stage source. 3. Reflection Stage: Decision-makers engage in face-to-face discussions, which are live-streamed, and the minutes are recorded using HackPad. Anyone can participate in the chat during the live stream, ensuring transparency.
4. Approval Stage: After the discussions, guidelines, policy formulations, and government announcements are made based on the visualized points raised during the debate.
vTaiwan is also utilized in roles such as a Regulatory Sandbox. For example, there was a discussion on how to handle Uber in Taiwan source. In the case of UberX, consensus was reached on issues such as not lowering the minimum fare and only picking up passengers dispatched through the app. The decision was then sent to the relevant government agency for adoption or rejection. Public officials translated and clarified the recommendations into specific policies and consulted with the original petitioners for further input. This step highlights the importance of involving analog institutions in the translation of digital feedback source. For more information, you can refer to /halsk/vTaiwan and the MIT Tech Review article titled "The Simple but Ingenious System Taiwan Uses to Crowdsourced Its Laws" source.