THE WEAK SIGNAL OF MOBILE GOVERNANCE by Rick Smyre

Rick Smyre is our Catawba County Future Economy Council Guru. He might not accept such a label, but I am going to give it to him anyway. Rick has been a Futurist for years and has spoken at many conferences on Futurism. Rick is the President of the "Communities of the Future" organization.

Below is an article that he has written about "Mobile Governance." I hope that you are willing to give it more than a quick glance. This article deserves to be read a couple of times. You know how sometimes you will listen to a new album and think it isn't good, but you give it a second try and then another as you start to enjoy its nuances. I believe that this is that type of article. I would love to have a thorough discussion of this article in the comments section. So without further ado, here is a new dynamic governing philosophy called "Mobile Governance."

We live in a time of great historical disruption and transition from the Industrial Age to what some are calling the Connected Age, where a new language will be needed to identify ideas and methods not a part of present reality. No longer will traditional thinking and action be able to adapt to a society and economy that is constantly changing, interconnected and increasingly complex.

Nowhere will this need to anticipate a different type of future be more important than in the area of governance for a democracy. It is my contention that we are reaching the upper limits of representative democracy that is based on checks and balances. We need to begin to dialogue about a new concept of democracy that utilizes the emerging connective technologies that will allow citizens to provide their existing knowledge and opinions and enter into decision making from any place at any time. At the same time, growing groups of citizens capable of identifying weak signals and emerging ideas, and conversant with new knowledge and able to use emerging mobile technologies will be required for the next phase of democracy to be successful.

Our representative system of democracy originally was established on certain assumptions. One was that those who were the most talented would be elected and not those who had the most wealth. A second was that virtue would be at the core of those who were elected. A third was that wisdom in the sovereignty of the people would provide the common sense needed for effective decision making for democracies. A fourth was that checks and balances would prevent power from residing in only one branch of government.

Over the years, this traditional approach has served us well until recently. With the advent of technologies that connect people and growing challenges in real time from throughout the world, the interlocking complexity of issues have reached a point where the knowledge of experts is not enough, and, at times, counterproductive. This is especially true when any emerging challenge requires new knowledge based on what is in the process of developing and not what has occurred in the past.

As a result, it is my opinion that we are on the brink of a true transformation in democratic governance that will exploit the potential of new technologies when combined with new capacities of leaders able to facilitate new processes that can access the opinions and ideas of a broad, diverse, knowledgeable and interested pool of citizens. What will begin to dawn on people is that there are no experts in a time when the very undergirding ideas and methods that made traditional society effective are no longer valid. We are in a time of such historical transformation that we will need the interest, involvement and knowledge of many people working in collaboration to deal with the congruence of major challenges such as climate change, peak oil and shift of energy systems, biodiversity loss, population growth and the interaction and impacts of multiple new technologies. We are entering an age of societal research and development that has historical implications….none less so than rethinking how democracy may evolve and be aligned with the needs of a new type of society that is more distributive and organized around interlocking networks.

With this in mind, there is a weak signal that I see beginning to appear in various areas of the country. It is becoming more and more obvious that many local leaders are not familiar with trends and weak signals, and, as a result, are not able to ask appropriate questions and help facilitate effective strategies for emerging issues. As a result there is a new process beginning to emerge that I think will become more and more important…..a process I have dubbed "mobile connecting" that links those interested locally (especially non-leaders) in a search for key people anywhere in the world to bring new ideas and weak signals to the attention of existing key local groups responsible for making decisions for the present and the future. With the advent of smart phones and GPS systems, we are entering a new age that will reshape how our society operates and that will allow citizens to have the flexibility to connect their needs to the common good. In fact, in an interconnected, systemic age, self-interest and common good become one.

This will become more and more important in my opinion, and eventually lead to a new concept ,"mobile governance," where those elected officials and staff members, especially of medium size and smaller communities, begin to realize that they are not able to keep up with new ideas and methods. These leaders will develop new "knowledge connection" processes that will utilize the community members (especially the millennials under 32) to find cutting edge ideas and send them to their existing organizations as well as build new local and regional interlocking networks as appropriate . This will be one of the most important outcomes of this type of process....leading eventually to a shift of the norm from radical individualism and turfdom so rampant in our society, to levels of deeper collaboration.

Ultimately, a transformational governance and decision making structure will emerge, in my opinion, due to mobile technologies in which as many people in the community as are interested are involved in research and development ( of ideas and projects ). The weak signal of this emerging systemic change is seen in the way President Obama and his staff are utilizing the Internet for multiple purposes of citizen involvement. These purposes will be as diverse as searching for new knowledge, identifying key issues and emerging ideas, developing collaborative strategies, and participating in real time decision making for those who want to be involved. There may even be a new connection between governance and economic development in the way revenue streams are created for local people who identify emerging ideas and methods that are adopted by the community.

What is being realized by more and more people is that in this age of emerging systems, creating dynamic connections among people, new ideas and networks will be the lubricant and the glue to insure vibrant and sustainable democracies in a different kind of future. The age of representative democracy will slowly fade into the dimming glow of Industrial Society. It has served us well, but is too limited and too slow to anticipate and adapt to constantly changing conditions. What is emerging from the mist of the future is unknown at this time, but I Phones, smart mobile technologies, cloud computing and a different kind of leader able to facilitate connections and ask appropriate questions, will be key factors in the emerging next phase of democracy.