Post Tagged with: "consultation"

Public Policy Consultations No Field of Dreams

My weekly technology law column  (Toronto Star version, homepage version) focuses on the release last week of the results of a CRTC public online consultation on new media that will feed into hearings on the issue early next year.  Given that it was a consultation on new media, the Commission established a special website last spring for the month-long consultation and commissioned noted pollster Nik Nanos to serve as moderator and report back on the results. The Nanos report does not cast judgment on the success of the consultation – it merely reports the factual results – but there is no hiding the fact that by Internet standards the consultation failed to attract a large audience. Over the course of an entire month, the website generated just over 2,500 unique visitors with an average of 84 visitors per day.  Only 284 Canadians registered with site, posting a total of 278 comments.

I argue that while the Commission should be commended for trying, it is clear that public consultations are no field of dreams – it takes more than a "if you build it, they will come" approach. With the increasing desire of governments and businesses to use the Internet as a tool for public feedback, it is worth examining why the consultation failed to spark significant interest.

Read more ›

September 16, 2008 8 comments Columns

“Limited Consultation, Considerable Action”

Another Canadian DMCA mashup hits the Internet, this one focusing on the lack of public consultation on Bill C-61.

Read more ›

August 5, 2008 2 comments News

Growing Calls for a Copyright Commission

In recent days, there have been mounting calls for the creation of copyright inquiry or Royal Commission to sort out the copyright file.  Christopher Moore, John Degen, Howard Knopf, Julianna Yau, and Russell McOrmond have all joined the call (to varying degrees), while Yau has established a Facebook group to […]

Read more ›

December 20, 2007 5 comments News

Growing Calls for a Copyright Commission

In recent days, there have been mounting calls for the creation of copyright inquiry or Royal Commission to sort out the copyright file.  Christopher Moore, John Degen, Howard Knopf, Julianna Yau, and Russell McOrmond have all joined the call (to varying degrees), while Yau has established a Facebook group to […]

Read more ›

December 20, 2007 Comments are Disabled Stop CDMCA

OECD Consultation on the Future of the Internet Economy

The OECD is conducting a major Ministerial conference on the future of the Internet economy in South Korea next year.  In advance of that meeting, it has launched a public consultation on the issues.

Read more ›

September 3, 2007 Comments are Disabled News