Guido Fawkes causes suspension of Defra wiki

I predicted the potential for an ‘open wiki’ experiment to succumb to abuse earlier this month, and it looks like Defra’s environment contract wiki may be heading that way.

As at 14.07 this afternoon the wiki reads:

Please note - the Wiki has been "locked" for the time being to prevent editing. Thanks to everyone for their interest so far - do visit again and continue the discussion. In the meantime, you're welcome to read the comments and materials submitted.

The most likely cause of this suspension is abuse of the wiki by readers of Guido Fawkes right-wing political blog.

Guido made two posts yesterday urging his readers to use the wiki to add their own "novel viewpoints".

The first post, 'wiki wickedness' links to the wiki, and tells readers you don't have to register to contribute.

The second post, DEFRA Abandons Online Open Government Experiment - Co-conspirators Help Guido Gets His Revenge on Miliband, gloats explicitly over the fact that Guido and his readers have disrupted Defra's  'open government experiment'.

Although I had reservations about the Defra wiki, I wholeheartedly supported the idea. Guido's actions are pretty despicable and I wonder what - if any - safeguards can be taken to prevent abuse of social networks being used for political purposes?

I suppose I feel personally aggreived by Guido's puerile and petty action -  where Guido and his hangers on see a chance to score a cheap political shot I see a real opportunity for government to explore the possibilities of edemocracy.

But I also have to bear in mind that Guido's actions are - in fact - one of those possibilities.

Guido's online influence and following is significant. His ability to issue orders and have large numbers of people act on them makes him almost as powerful as a political party in its own right (you could argue that he is a more powerful presence online than Labour). 

Blogging and social media guru Jeff Jarvis wrote about politics and the internet back in April. He noted:

"The internet is only doing to politics what it has done to other industries: it disaggregates elements and then enables these free atoms to reaggregate into new molecules; it fragments the old and unifies the new. So in the end, the internet gives us the opportunity to make more nuanced expressions of our political worldview, which makes obsolete old orthodoxies and old definitions of left and right."

While Guido's current actions still revolve around a left vs right ideology, Jeff's point is still relevant. The attack on a government department's online consultation tool wasn't conducted offically by the Conservative party butby an anonymous individual who has built such a following that he can use it to carry out political activity.

I don't like what Guido has done to the Defra wiki, but the fact that he has been able to do it demonstrates that traditional politics is being disintermediated by the internet.

New power balances are starting to aggregate and for the first time, we have seen an online political network have a tangible effect on a real government initiative.

UPDATE: David Wilcox has a good round up of the Defra wiki story including links to a Google news feed of the how the story unfolded around the world.

Comments

[Drew B]

Nice new design Simon! Like it :-)

[Guido Fawkes]

I think you need to lighten up.

Miliband does not really care what the "citizens" think. The Wiki was a PR exercise in sham consultation.

"He sees policy as something that has to be worked out and pushed through the policy forums, the conference, the Cabinet and the Commons. There's no real participatory element in it."

-Benn Diaries (Free at Last!) p643

The Wiki idea is a good one for collaborative projects. Politics is not collaborative. The reality is that politics is a clash of ideas and ideology as well as parties. Only a deluded wonk would overlook that non-trivial detail.

Wiki's can only work as policy development tools when used by a community with common values. The policy making political class do not have common values.

So if you invite those who oppose your ideas to contribute to refining them you should not be surprised when they seek to frustrate your objectives.

Miliband is the wonk equivalent of the nutty professor. Heseems surprised that his experiment has blown up in his face.

[Simon Collister]

Hi Guido. Thanks for dropping by.

I do agree that politics is a clash of ideas and ideaology and public policy is derived from debate within interested and affected parties.

The wiki experiment should work if set-up better. I have said that; others have said that. It should also, as David Wilcox said, have used 'back-channel' methods to stimulate the correct responses. Traditional paper consultations are sent to stakeholders (I bet you hate that term!) by post but opened to everyone who wants to take part. Disinterested parties rarely find out about them let alone take part.

The wiki should be used as a collaborative tool by relevant parties and anyone else with an interest.

My quarrel lies in individuals wilfully urging others to ruin an initiative that - true intentions aside - may significantly change the way policy is formed.

If you disagree with Miliband then take issue with Miliband as a minister.

And for the record, I am a particularly cheerful character!