Over the last few years, e-Democracy has generally focussed on what ‘tools’ you have available for your online work, and far too little on how these tools are actually used.

One interesting discussion I’ve been involved in recently is around the persona that should be adopted when undertaking online activity. It’s not an area that’s really considered much, if at all, but it could be important.

It’s taken as granted that from consultations to electoral registration drives, the work is undertaken in the name of the organisation or authority from which it originates. “Whatchester District Council would like to hear your views on…” is the standard form for these things. The problem from a human communications angle is that, whilst Whatchester District Council doesn’t actually exist, even if it did, it would be able to hear you.

A council is not a human entity, and people cannot be expected to interact with it in the same way they would with a real person. How often is the term ‘faceless bureaucracy’ heard in complaint about a problem, primarily when no-one will take responsibility for something.

So why should online engagement be any different. If you’re prepared to take ownership of a project internally, why not take it externally too? Intuitively there are risks to this, but i very much suspect that they can be mitigated, first by making it clear that the ‘you’ owing this process is you at work, and when you go home, you are no longer in that role. Second, the greater mitigation may well lie in the fact you have given this degree of ownership and openness in the first place.

People respond better to human contact. Remember that advert for the army a few years ago, shot from a soldier’s point of view, where some locals stopped shouting at him when he removed his sunglasses and was able to make eye contact with them? In a similar vein, if you go to the samaritans website, you’ll see that you are asked to email ‘Jo’ or write to ‘Chris’. Both gender neutral names, and doubtless not the real people who deal with these enquiries, but clearly a powerful tool for people in times of need.

Isn’t it time we stopped talking in terms of ‘an authority’ engaging with the public, and gave pride and ownership over the process to the actual people who do. You should be proud to stand up for the engagement work you’re undertaking, and if you’re not, then perhaps there’s a third benefit of taking this approach.

You should look at why you’re not.