It’s true! Well, almost true. At the beginning of August, Iceland’s new constitution was written by 25 ordinary citizens with help from social media. After their economic collapse in 2008, Iceland decided that their new constitution would not be written based upon their mother country of Denmark, but rather on the ideas stemming directly from their own citizens. An elected assembly of 25 individuals from Iceland’s public became highly active on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter (called crowdsourcing, an idea that was brought up often in Calgary’s own 2010 mayoral election) in an attempt to solicit suggestions and comments pertaining to their new government. On July 29, 2011 the new constitution was received.
An amazing, yet almost bewildering advance in the way government interaction is becoming more integrated with the public and international communities. Perhaps one day Canadian citizens will have direct impact on say, the Japanese government.
Check out the whole story at http://singularityhub.com/2011/08/03/25-ordinary-citizens-write-icelands-new-constitution-with-help-from-social-media/
