How We Do It:
As a user you can download an 'App' for a specific event, such as an election, or a specific purpose, such as a ballot or a proposed change in the way things are likely to be done, or simply to enable you to communicate with your organisation and its management.
This download is free of any charge and will run on any touch-type device, such as an iPhone, and Android based phone, an iPad or tablet or even a mouse driven computer.
You can view any of the content that is displayed, either on your device or in some instances on your TV screen, for free.
If you want to respond or make your voice or opinion heard (& count!) then you will need to register formally. This is a 'once onl'y requirement, and it is needed so that we can verify that you are indeed a 'real human being', rather than a 'computer robot' sent by hackers.
During the verification process there may be some questions which you will be asked, usually in the form of a tick-box (i.e. age group, gender, post-code, email address for verification etc.). This information is needed to be able to deliver meaningful results to the proposals being made or the questions being asked in the video and to help ask you questions that are relevant to YOU.
And NO… We never ask you for your banking details (EVER). All that is required is your Street and Number to verify the information on the Electoral Roll. Boundaries are from time to time changed to reflect the population movements between electorates. Some new boundaries are divided down the middle of a street so your street number is important to confirm the changes and with very local issues this could be important for your politician to understand your local issues
Each different application may have a different (free) downloadable App, depending on the circumstance (i.e. an election) or the organisation or the questions being asked.
Once you have downloaded the App, which usually only takes a minute or so, then there is no further requirement other than watching the content (if you decide that you want to) and make your viewpoint known (also entirely at your discretion).
Please note, some (but not all) Apps, may have a modest charge of usually around the $0.99 mark (for US users), or a fee in the currency and in line with that which is normally associated with registering to vote in the country you live in (for non-US users) attached to them - this is to cover any expenses involved in the verification process, in order to validate the system and to enable us to measure responses to the questions being asked.
This single App can be used many times, to respond to a variety of different questions, statements or videos... all at your discretion.
Whenever there is a new statement, proposition or question available for you to view (and potentially respond to) you may opt to have an automatic email notification sent to your device to alert you of this - of course, you never need to respond if you don't want to.
In short, this is the first time that on a grand scale your opinion is being genuinely sought by those whose decisions may affect your life and it is the first time that you can have a say in what happens and how major decisions that may have deep and long lasting effects on you, your family and your family's family can be influenced by what you feel and think. However we mostly engage using video so it is always dynamic and entertaining rather than laborious. Whenever possible we keep the responses to a touch screen gesture - left or right swipe (sometimes up and down as well depending on the options in the question - thus minimizing the intrusion and time taken to interact.
Welcome to a new age of mobil smart phone driven Engagement and potentially more agile and responsive Democracy.