By Rachel Lehmann-Haupt
We need a new motor to run government," says Marcel Bullinga, the flamboyant Dutch new media guru and author of The Net, That's Me. Re: The Digital Future. Published last month, Bullinga's book presents grand designs for that motor, a form of direct democracy based on his prototype software program, Decision Maker. In 1996, Decision Maker enabled one of the Netherlands's first political debates on the Net and grabbed the attention of the Dutch government. In his new role as senior adviser on new media to the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning, and the Environment, Bullinga is developing programs that move beyond Net debate and directly tap citizen's opinions without the interference of government officials. "The same intelligent agents that steer airplanes," Bullinga declares, "can be built to steer government."
ELECTRIC WORD
Democracy 2.0
