1. Digital tools to bridge
the representation gap
Dr. Fotis Fitsilis
Head of Documentation and Supervision
Scientific Service
Hellenic Parliament
Annual conference
Panel 5, 10 March 2021
3. Representation gap
▪ Definition:
‘technology induced disruption of seamless link of
trust between parliaments and citizens’
▪ Not in the sense of ‘democratic representation’
▪ Rather similar to ‘generation gap’ (only bigger)
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4. Is there a new digital reality?
▪ Notion of ‘citizen engagement’
▪ Advancement of digital communication
▪ Well studied since beginning of century
see e.g. Norton, P. and Leston-Bandeira, C.
▪ So, is there anything new?
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5. Digital realm
Social media
• Omnipresent
• Omnidirectional
Rise of algorithms
• Weak regulatory environment
• CambridgeAnalytica incident
Legal informatics
• New standards, tools and services
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6. How to put parliaments into
the equation
The ‘smart’ parliament approach
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7. Stakeholders
MPs
▪ Adjust rapidly
▪ Links to electorate
▪ Individual differences
▪ Lots of success stories
The institutions
▪ Late adopters
▪ Whom to inform?
▪ Individual differences
▪ Distinct successes (UK)
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8. How to change this?
Harvest the
power of legal
informatics
tools & services
▪ Building inclusive digital platforms
▪ Re-link parliaments with citizens
▪ Proof-of-concept selection
▪ Citizen-centric solution design
▪ Use of standards & open software
▪ Mobile-first approach
▪ Use of emerging technologies
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10. 10
Some conclusions
▪ ‘The future is now’ cliché holds
▪ Institutional adaptation of parliament
▪ Make up lost ground with emerging tech
▪ Semantic web compatible solutions
▪ User-centric (i.e. citizen-centric design)
11. Contact and disclaimer
email: fitsilisf@parliament.gr
web: https://fitsilis.gr
The information and views set out in this presentation
are only those of the author and do not reflect the
official opinion of the Hellenic Parliament
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