Lack of activism leads to 'apptivism'

Wednesday 14 June 2017

The low turn-out in elections in Jersey, and the poor attendance at public meetings is becoming legendary, for all the wrong reasons - but could the States have clicked on a digital solution?

It's called 'Apptivism' and a pilot online chat is being launched today, allowing islanders to share their views on life in Jersey with the States without having to visit a polling booth or parish hall.

It's been created by a civic engagement start-up in London, and co-founder Simon Day, told Express: “What’s really interesting in a place like Jersey is there is really high levels of internet usage and facebook usage and a lot of people are interested and care about the community and the environment and the Island, but a lot of people are put off because they’d have to go and publicly talk in a meeting and there are people who really dominate the comments section of newspapers.

“So what is nice about this tool is you can start to have a dialogue about government and you can start to give your views on issues that are important.”

Tom McMinigal, Policy and Research Officer for the States, said: “The Government of Jersey is delighted that Apptivism has chosen Jersey as a location for testing their civic engagement software. As a government, we are keen to explore new channels for the public to engage with us, give feedback and express concerns."

Apptivism runs through Facebook Messenger and aims to give people a quick and easy way to add their voice to government consultations without having to attend a meeting and Mr Day said Apptivism aims to “make it easy, attractive, social and timely” to participate in civic engagement.

Islanders are able to click on a link and immediately join an interactive conversation, which takes around three minutes.

Pictured: a screenshot of the interactive chat being piloted by Apptivism. 

Participants will be able to share their views on the environment and community, compare their answers to how other users have responded and leave any comments they might have on specific issues.

Apptivism's other co-founder, Alex Tupper said: “We hope to reach over 5,000 people in the first live test of our new chat software.The results of the anonymous pilot will be presented to the States and if user feedback is positive, the software might become a regular feature of government public consultation.”

The trial, which is being supported by Digital Jersey and the Chief Minister’s Department, will take place over five days, starting today, 14 June, and it will run until Sunday 18 June.

Digital Jersey’s CEO, Tony Moretta, said: “We are really happy to be supporting Apptivism in Jersey. The Island provides a dynamic environment to test new technology and to help residents' express their views.”

Click here to have a go!