About

About this website

Having spent the best part of a decade observing British politics and taking an interest in developments in technology, it seemed to me that not enough thought is given to the end point of the current wave of 'e'-related innovation.

Openness and transparency and new busienss processes and online campaigning and websites and platforms and all the rest are all good things... but is it enough for them to be good in themselves or do we need to think more clearly about the implications of the changes they are bringing about?

Without being clear about the long term vision, we may well end up somewhere we don't want to be, and with no plan to get to a better place.

These changes are not just a pretty interface to existing ways of going things (government, democracy) but strongly imply that structural changes on a massive scale are needed.

But the people doing the innovating seem, too often, to be experts in administration and business and, above all,technology while lacking experience in the world of politics.

And the flip side is that the political classes, with a few exceptions, don't fully understand the implications of the technology that is being implemented on their behalf.

So with that in mind, and using it as an excuse to write about what I've learned about politics, I wrote the Revolution Manifesto.

Part of it is reasonably solid analysis of where we might be heading, and part of it is a flight of fantasy, designed to open eyes to what might be possible (or, indeed, required).

I'd like to add my thanks to everyone who's help and patience and ideas made it much better than it would otherwise have been.

The two blogs on this site are where I will be talking about interesting things I spot in the world of eDemocracy (no doubt relying on the thoughts of the many smart people who work in this area) and politics, where I'll be taking a not very partisan look at some of the things that interest me.

If you want to ask more, you can get in touch via the Contacts page or leave a comment on the site somewhere.

About the author

Richard Parsons (that's me) was first a journalist at, and then editor of, ePolitix.com between 2000 and 2006 – a fascinating job which combined my interests in both politics and technology. I'm currently working on more specifically IT-related projects, but have retained an interest in politics and policy issues.

I decided to write this blog because it seemed to me that the potentially enormous impact of the internet on our democratic institutions was being pushed to the sidelines by the focus on eGovernment. These posts are my small attempt to redress the balance.

About this WordPress installation

Thanks to everyone who's work I've used in putting this site together, and who helped me set it up and fix bugs.

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