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tags: events
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# [SHARED] How you can influence your government's technology choices

> This was prepared for a session run at MozFest 2021. Rather than add more strategies or success stories for specific strategies, participants discussed situations where:
> - the civic tech scene fixed a problem they and their social bubble experienced and exacerbated societal inequality (a design thinking approach, and possibly government led prioritization of citizen problems - using a methodology like participatory budgeting - were suggested as solutions)
> - government couldn't be trusted or was irrelevant (strong NGOs trusted by civil society could build legitimacy instead, including having the ability to influence government)
> - government was so hopelessly behind on the issue (especially regulatory) that civil society HAD to act (as the only actors able to, even if government should have had the responsibility)
> - local politics may be easier to influence than national, but by winning over ambitious local politicians, you can get your issue brought to a national stage eventually
> - the electorate didn't understand the issue, so working with politicians or government to educate the electorate might be more effective than trying to organize a public campaign

These suggestions are organized into 2 categories:
* things anyone can do
* things that require relevant skills, for example tech experience

Feel free to add anything that's not included, or add examples in each category (especially with links to more info!)

For people joining the MozFest session tonight, please get your stories ready: what did you try? How did it work out?

## Influence politics

### Vote for political parties that share your views, and let them know that's why you're voting for them
* parties from the European Pirate Party to the CDU in Germany have endorsed open source
* This may be harder/impossible in 2 party systems, in places where political campaigning costs lots of money, or where civil society fundamentally doesn't trust the government

### Join a letter writing campaign to lobby elected representatives

Example:
* Free Software Foundation Europe's [Public Money? Public Code!](https://publiccode.eu/) or the [Electronic Freedom Foundation's campaigns](https://act.eff.org/action)
* next level: get more deeply involved with the campaigning org (become a member or volunteer) to increase their impact
* or create your own if it doesn't exist

### Reply to a public consultation opportunity (a city council meeting, online consultation, etc)
* depends on your level of gov't
* campaign orgs may be able to help ID opportunities

> Civic tech efforts to make consultations more accessible must take into account the access needs of everyone in society, lest a limited fix risk exacerbating social inequity

### Start a citizen's initiative

Example:
- [some US states allow ballot initiatives or referenda](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initiatives_and_referendums_in_the_United_States)
- create a [UK Parliament petition](https://petition.parliament.uk/)
- create a Swedish [citizen's proposal](https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medborgarf%C3%B6rslag) for municipalities and regions
- German [Volksinitiative](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksinitiative_(Deutschland))
- Amsterdam [citizen's initiative](https://www.amsterdam.nl/bestuur-organisatie/gemeenteraad/werkt-raad/invloed-raad/initiatieven/)

> This may not work if you have a strong corporate/industry groups disagreeing with your initiative, and they have the ability to lobby against you

### Tell your preferred political party that you have a technology policy recommendation, and that they should adopt it
* or join your party and then join their committee to develop their technology policy

### Contribute to your technology policy becoming more mainstream
- act like it's obvious people should know about this
- tweet at politicians about your tech policy preferences, or better yet, success stories
- talk about it at parties
- talk about it with your neighbors
- write letters to the editor
- talk to journalists about it
- advocate for adopting a version of it anywhere you have influence (your workplace, hobby association, religious group or club?)

### Create a grassroots campaign
- and if you get it large enough, launch a referendum

## More specialist skills

### Join a local civic hacker or tech for good outfit
* in NL, Code For NL has a lot of members who work for gov't. The effect: all members join discussions of gov't technology
* In London, Newspeak House used to host meetups that blend this
* The [Civic Tech Guide](https://civictech.guide/) can help you find projects aligned to your goals

### If you're a vendor, participate in gov't procurement

### Get a job with government/become a public servant
- in any capacity!

## Further reading

* [Mistrust: Why Losing Faith in Institutions Provides the Tools to Transform Them](https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324002604) by Ethan Zuckerman - on enacting grassroots change
* [The bucket list for involved citizens: 76 things you can do to boost civic engagement](https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2019/11/12/the-bucket-list-for-involved-citizens-76-things-you-can-do-to-boost-civic-engagement/)
* [A Civic Technologist's Practice Guide](https://cydharrell.com/book/) by Cyd Harrell
* [Chapter 3, 'Ways to contribute'](https://cydharrell.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ACPTG-Sample-Chapter-3.pdf) is shared publicly (PDF) (aimed at tech/tech adjacent folks)
* [Introduction: making change happen – citizen action and national policy reform](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08b25e5274a27b20009af/1052734655-gaventa_etal.2010-making.pdf) (PDF), by John Gaventa and Rosemary McGee, excerpted from the book [Citizen Action and National Policy Reform: Making Change Happen (Claiming Citizenship)](https://www.zedbooks.net/shop/book/citizen-action-and-national-policy-reform/). Case studies of 8 campaigns that changed national politics