Start Small

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The following is the original (partially formatted from the spoken language) and commentary on Audrey Tang's answer to Mr. Seki's (from Code for Japan) question, "How do we find good fields (that the government is looking for)?" The following is the original text of Audrey Tang's answer to Mr. Seki's (from "Code for Japan") question, "How do we find good fields (that the government is looking for)?

Response by Audrey Tang (original in English)

“I think ultimately very small-scale experiments have its place because for the government that is not much to lose anyway. And so if you start many such smaller experiments and get people into a mood of experimenting, most governments should be okay. As I said, we only started with, like, 10K USD with the Ethereum Foundation’s help.

... Then each government agency or department also has their relative priorities compared to other departments, or other cities. So, in a sense, if trying out a new mechanism is an effective way to uplift their relative priority compared to others, that by itself increases the legitimacy of the decision maker of that department or that jurisdiction.

So I don’t think it’s necessarily just because it’s a good mechanism for decision making, it’s also a popularity and legitimacy mechanism. So it’s important to frame it this way: ‘You can let these many people know about your priority, these many people now know about the digital public infrastructure, these many people now know the importance of this SDG,’ and then you can uplift that voice. Compared to the money they might spend on an advertisement agency, these small experiments are nothing, right? And so it’s always easier to frame it in this way.”

explanation

Importance of small-scale experiments

Audrey Tang suggests starting with "small, small-scale" experiments where the government sees little risk. For example, Taiwan started quadratic funding with a small grant of about $10,000 from the Ethereum Foundation.

The major advantage is that it is easier to obtain approval within the government on a small scale, and the psychological hurdle of "trying it first" is lowered.

In other words, it is effective to persuade the government from the perspective of "if this small-scale experiment works, it will appeal to you (the department or head in charge).

Serves as a mechanism to increase popularity and legitimacy

Audrey Tang sees quadratic funding, for example, not only as "a mechanism to streamline decision-making," but also as "a means to increase popularity and legitimacy.

For example, it can serve as a publicity stunt to promote the SDGs and the importance of digital infrastructure, and has the advantage of encouraging direct citizen participation at a much lower cost and in a much more direct manner than spending big money on an advertising agency.

Small scale → successful results → expansion

By creating "best practices" through small experiments and presenting the results in an easy-to-understand manner, other departments within the government and other local governments will be interested in trying the same methods.

Emphasizing "scalability" and "reproducibility" will pave the way for larger budgets and new projects.

summary

To find "good areas" or "areas of interest" for the government, it is effective to start with small-scale experiments to reduce risk and build a track record of success.

Furthermore, Audrey Tang suggests that by tying it to socially high-profile themes such as the SDGs and digitalization, it can be brought into a form that governments are more likely to be proactive in getting on board.

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