In 2011 the Icelandic Constitutional Council used a variety of social media tools to engage citizens in the process of redrafting the national constitution. The Council posted weekly
drafts of articles for the new constitution on its website and invited public comment and debate. Videos of each of the Council’s sessions were streamed live on its website and on Facebook. The Council also maintained “a Twitter account, a YouTube page where interviews with its members are regularly posted, and a Flickr account containing pictures of the 25 members at work, all intended to maximise interaction with citizens.”[1]
- Visit the Icelandic Constitutional Council’s website here.
[1] Haroon Siddique, “Mob rule: Iceland crowdsources its next constitution,” The Guardian, June 9, 2011, accessed February 29, 2012, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/09/iceland-crowdsourcing-constitution-facebook
The initiative highlighted on this page was identified and researched by students from Northwestern University as part of a course that was a collaboration between Northwestern University School of Continuing Studies and the OIG. This research was done by Greg Andrus, Shawn Mahoney, and Ethan Gillani, Winter Quarter 2012. For a full transcript of their research please contact instructor Donald Gordon at donald-gordon@northwestern.edu.