Wellington
There was striking evidence that Open Source can lead to Open Society at the first day of
One of the keynote speakers, AudreyTang from Taiwan , outlined how a quiet (and unheralded, at least in New Zealand) revolution hascompletely changed how democracy is practiced in the 23 million people nation sitting off China'scoast.
It started with a parliamentary sit-in in 2014 – aided and abetted by Taiwan's digital wizardsas informal representatives debated how to use internet tools to ensure that all voices are heardbefore any new legislation is put in place.
Eventually parliamentarians agreed that what was proposed by the
Now, the feelings and opinions of many different people (and animals and the environment) areconsidered. The role of parliament is to enact this debate outcome through legislation.
Audrey gave an example of a furore that arose as Uber looked to set up shop in Taiwan. As in manyother countries around the world, taxi drivers and others were most upset at the proposal.
But, unlike other countries its citizens put in place what is known as a 'focused conversationmethod'. The pros and cons, and feelings of all the parties received an airing.
When Uber, the taxi drivers and government got together after this; it only took two hours for acompromise - satisfactory to all - to be nutted out.
Now Taiwan, having been effectively a dictatorship in its first 40 years after the Second WorldWar, may be giving the proverbial fingers to the nearby Chinese power autocracy.
Even so, the lessons that Audrey made, that are possible through the application of digital toolsto democracy, felt right at home among this particular audience.
Some of these points included:
I obviously wasn't the only one who thought so too. Audrey received the longest, loudest ovationfrom the audience – indeed many did it standing!
(There's completely different written material from Peter Kerr at:)