🪴 Quartz 4.0

Audrey Tang Keynote for LibreCon 2016

Aug 16, 202332 min read

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukna6wZg-8A Audrey Tang gpt-4.iconnishio.icon

  • Introduction

    • Hello everyone, and welcome to LibreCon. I’m very happy to be here virtually to share with you some ideas of digital innovations in public service transformation. My name is Audrey Tang, and I’m from Taiwan, where I serve as a Digital Minister. Taiwan is about seven hours ahead of Spain. We are an island of about twenty-three million people. Six months ago, we elected our new president, Dr. Tsai Ing-wen. I was very happy because I voted for her, although I did not know that I would eventually join her cabinet. I’ve been in the cabinet for about six weeks now.
    • Hello everyone and welcome to LibreCon. I am very pleased to be here virtually to share some ideas of digital innovation in public service transformation. My name is Audrey Tan and I am from Taiwan and I am the Minister of Digital. Taiwan is about 7 hours ahead of Spain. We are an island of about 23 million people and six months ago we elected a new president, Dr. Tsai Ing-wen. I was very happy because I voted for her, but I did not expect to be part of her cabinet after that. I have now been in her cabinet for about 6 weeks.

  • I voted for her because we share some very similar values such as marriage equality, aboriginal rights, and a deep respect for ecology. She’s a progressive thinker and I’m very happy to have this chance to serve in the public service. By the way, we both love animals. I live with seven cats and two dogs, and she lives with two cats and three dogs.

  • I voted for her because we share very similar values of marriage equality, indigenous rights, and deep respect for ecosystems. She is a progressive thinker and I am very happy to have this opportunity to serve in public service. By the way, we are both animal lovers. I live with 7 cats and 2 dogs and she lives with 2 cats and 3 dogs.

  • During the transition time, I was an advisor to the previous cabinet on open data affairs. The previous cabinet was headed by the previous Premier, Dr. Simon Chang. The transition, which took four months, was completely peaceful. I think this is because Simon, a former Google engineer who belonged to no parties, mandated that all the public service systems built under 1 million euros must be made open source by default. This means that barring the exception of national security or privacy, every public service system must produce data that is under an open license and that can be read by free and open-source software. Just by this act alone, Taiwan has become the top place in the Global Open Data Knowledge Foundation index.

  • During the transition period, I was an advisor to the previous cabinet on open data affairs. The previous cabinet was led by the previous Prime Minister, Dr. Zhang Shanzheng. The transition period lasted four months and was completely peaceful. I believe this is because Simon is an engineer at Google, not affiliated with any political party, and mandated that all public service systems built for less than 1 million euros be open source by default. This means that with the exception of national security and privacy, all public service systems can generate data under an open license and read it with free and open source software. This act alone puts Taiwan at the top of the Global Open Data Knowledge Foundation Index.

  • Our current Premier, Su Tseng-chang, is also an independent and he has formed a cabinet that has more independent members, including me, than members of any party. This is why I often say that we’re now moving towards a post-party politics era. The two independent premiers did something very interesting during the transition. They agreed that all the ministries must upload all their checkpoint documents to the internet for the new cabinet to download. This means that this is not a transition between two parties but from one cabinet to the public and then to the next cabinet. This is the norm now in Taiwan. Independent politicians are considered normal. For example, our Taipei City Mayor, Dr. Ko Wen-je, who was a surgeon, is independent. Our Vice President, Dr. Chen Chien-jen, a master of epidemiology, is also independent. I think this political…

  • Our current Prime Minister, Su Zheng Chang, is also independent and he has formed a cabinet with more independent members, including myself. This is why I often say “we are now moving beyond the era of partisan politics” The two independent prime ministers did some very interesting things during the transition period. They agreed that all ministries would upload all checkpoint documents to the Internet for download by the new cabinet. This means that this is not a transition between two parties, but from one cabinet to the public and then to the next cabinet. This is now the norm in Taiwan. Independent politicians are considered normal. For example, our Taipei Mayor, Dr. Ke Wen-Tseh, is a surgeon and an independent. Also, our Vice President, Dr. Chen Jian-ren, is a master epidemiologist and he is also independent. I find this political trend very interesting. It shows that Taiwanese politics is moving in a new direction. We are moving beyond party lines to promote policies that are more focused on the public good. This is an important step for Taiwan to lead the world in digital innovation and public service transformation. I am very pleased to be part of this new era.

  • sunflower movement

  • Sunflower movement

    • The political climate changed much like in Spain because, in 2014, we had an Occupy movement where students occupied the national parliament. This was because the legislators at the time refused to deliberate a trade service agreement. The so-called Sunflower Movement was essentially a demonstration. It wasn’t just for protesting, but demonstrating that when the legislature refused to debate something, there was a way for ordinary citizens, the occupiers, to deliberate on this issue together using deliberative technology. This technology was supported by hundreds of people who donated their skills and time.
    • The political climate has changed, as it has in Spain. Because in 2014, there was the Occupy movement, in which students occupied the National Assembly. This was because legislators at the time refused to discuss a trade services agreement. The so-called Sunflower Movement was basically a demonstration. It was not just a protest, but a demonstration of how the public, the Occupiers, could use interactive technology to deliberate together on this issue when the legislature refused to debate something. This technology was supported by hundreds of people who donated their skills and time.

  • GovZero

    • We were part of this GovZero movement, which called to “fork” the government. What does this mean? It means that whenever we see a government website not to our liking, for example, the National Environmental Agency, instead of criticizing, we would build a parallel site that invites everyone to see exactly the same data but in an open format that allows for citizen participation. We did this for the national budget, the national dictionary, and many other government websites. The best thing about it is that you don’t have to remember the website address because it exists exactly the same, except that “o” is changed to a “0”.
    • We are part of this GovZero movement and have made a call to “fork” the government. What does this mean? It means that when we find a government website that is not to our liking, say the National Environmental Agency, instead of criticizing it, we will create a parallel website in an open format that allows all to see the exact same data and allows for citizen participation. We have done this for the National Budget, the National Dictionary, and many other government websites. The best thing about this is that you don’t have to remember the website address. The best thing about this is that you don’t have to remember the website address, because it is exactly the same entity, only the “o” changes to a “0”.

  • Why are there so many civic hackers?

    • Why are there so many civic hackers in Taiwan? Why are there so many people who want to donate their time and skills for democracy? I think this is because in 1989, when the personal computer revolution was just starting, that was also the year that I learned programming. It was also the year that Taiwan moved from a dictatorship and enjoyed press freedom. So, we are a generation who learned computers and enjoyed the freedom of speech. Then again, in 1996, when we had our first presidential election, that was also the year of the web and of telecom privatization. This also guaranteed people basic access to the internet and made it much more available. So again, democracy and the internet grew together and fused into each other. I think, perhaps uniquely in the East Asian context, when we see the free software movement, and then later the open-source movement, and then the free culture movement, we see “free” as “freedom” as something that enables and works with the freedom of speech. It’s just incidentally free of charge.
    • Why are there so many civic hackers in Taiwan? Why are so many people willing to donate their time and skills for democracy? I think this is because in 1989, when the personal computer revolution began, that was also the year I learned to program, and also the year Taiwan emerged from dictatorship and enjoyed freedom of the press. So we are the generation that learned computers and enjoyed freedom of speech. And again, in 1996, when we had our first presidential election, it was also the year of the privatization of the Web and telecommunications. This also guaranteed people access to basic internet and made it more available. So again, democracy and the Internet grew together and merged with each other. When I look at the free software movement, then the open source movement, and then the free culture movement, which is perhaps unique in the East Asian context, we see “freedom” as freedom. It works with and enables free speech. It just happens to be free.

  • Crowdsourcing as a National Agenda

    • Crowdsourcing as our National Agenda
    • Because of the Occupy movement in 2014, by the end of that year, there were a lot of city-level elections, just like in Spain, where the occupiers or people who supported the occupiers became mayors, sometimes surprisingly. So now we needed to adapt the technologies that we used on the street, which listened to millions of people, and scale it further so that it could work with the public service. The Premier at the time, Simon Chang, said we now needed to work on crowdsourcing as our national agenda. What does crowdsourcing mean? It means that the private sector, the public sector, and civil society, instead of working at arm’s length, it’s now possible for the public sector to say, “I actually have no idea how to solve this problem” or “I have just an inkling of an idea, I don’t have the details.” Instead of imposing on the public, the public sector would invite all the stakeholders in the private sector and civil society to join in agenda setting.
    • Because of the Occupy movement in 2014, there were many city-level elections at the end of that year in which, as in Spain, Occupy and those who supported Occupy became mayors. So now we needed to further scale up the technology we were using on the streets to listen to millions of people and to be able to work with public services. The Prime Minister at the time, Zhang Xianzheng, said we needed to put crowdsourcing on the national agenda. What does crowdsourcing mean? It means that instead of the private sector, public sector, and civil society working arm in arm, the public sector will be able to say, “We actually have no idea how to solve this problem” or “We only have part of the idea, we don’t know the details.” Instead of the public sector imposing on the public, the public sector invites all stakeholders in the private sector and civil society to participate in agenda setting.

  • mental cold

    • Flu of the Mind
    • I’ll take a very concrete example. I call this a “flu of the mind.” It’s a virus of the mind called a meme, called the sharing economy. Just like a real biological virus, it has many different strains. Every practitioner of the so-called sharing economy gives it a very different definition and operation. One particular instance is called Uber. The Uber strain of the sharing economy says basically that the public transport system is too old, it is too inefficient, and they think that by introducing an algorithm that dispatches cars, they can work much more efficiently. That was the meme. Just like a meme, if a driver believes this and drives for Uber, regardless of whether it’s legal or not, it spreads. It spreads to other drivers and even if the driver, after driving for a while, found out maybe it’s not the best deal after all, still, the message has already spread. So when we talk about an Uber issue, we found out there’s very little a national state can do about Uber because, well, it’s an app and it operates not in a physical office in Taiwan, so any legal action that we can do is found to be somewhat limited.
    • Let me take a very specific example. I call it the “common cold of the mind”. It is what we call a virus of the mind, a meme, a sharing economy. Like a real biological virus, it has many different strains. Practitioners of the so-called sharing economy give it very different definitions and operations. One particular example is called Uber; Uber’s strain of the sharing economy basically says that the public transportation system is too old and too inefficient, and they believe it can operate more efficiently by introducing an algorithm to dispatch cars. That was Meme. Like Meme, when a driver believes this and drives for Uber, it spreads, whether it is legal or not. It spreads to other drivers, and even if a driver realizes after driving for a while that it may not be the best deal, the message has already spread. So when we talk about the Uber issue, we find that there is very little the state can do about Uber. Because it is an app and it operates out of a physical office in Taiwan, not a physical office. So we have determined that the legal action we can take is pretty limited.

  • decision

    • Decisions
    • So we thought maybe the best idea is not to declare it as one way or the other. Maybe the best way is for people to deliberate, to think together, instead of arguing very loudly through media. What we thought is the way that links all the stakeholders together and listen to what each other has to say and hopefully come to a consensus. This is because deliberation, thinking deeply about something, is an inoculation against ideology. It’s an inoculation against this kind of memes that just blind people to each other’s feelings and new facts. A proper deliberation, as we established during the Sunflower Movement, has four different steps. The technologies that we need to employ differ from stage to stage. The first stage is what we call the objective stage or facts. In this stage, people are welcome to propose anything. We don’t do a bad thing, we don’t do any kind of polling, we just collect observable facts for all the stakeholders involved. Then we ask about people’s feelings. The same facts might elicit different feelings. I can feel happy, you can feel sad or angry. There’s really no right and wrong, but it is very important because on the subsequent stage, which is ideas, the best ideas are judged by whether they can take care of the most people’s feelings. Finally, after facts, feelings, and ideas, we move to decisions. Of course, the public sector, the minister, still has to bear the responsibility of decisions, but
    • So we thought the best idea might not be to declare it one or the other. Perhaps the best way is for people to dialogue and think together, not argue very loudly through the media. We thought the best way was to bring all the stakeholders together, listen to what each other is saying, and hopefully reach a consensus. This is because thinking deeply about something and having a dialogue is an inoculation against ideology. It is an inoculation against this kind of meme that blinds people to each other’s feelings and new facts. There are four different steps to proper dialogue established during the Sunflower Movement. The techniques we need to use are different for each stage. The first stage we call it the objective stage or facts. In this stage people are welcome to suggest anything. We do not do anything wrong, we do not do any kind of polling, we just collect observable facts involving all stakeholders. And we ask about people’s feelings. The same fact may elicit different emotions. I can feel happy, you can feel sad or angry. There is no right or wrong in this, but it is very important. Because in the next stage, ideas, the best ideas are determined by taking into account the emotions of the greatest number of people. Finally, after facts, feelings, and ideas, we move on to decisions. Of course, the public sector, the ministers still have to be responsible for the decision, but at least they can take into account people’s ideas, people’s emotions, and facts to make the decision.
    • However, it usually did not work that way. This is because there was a gap between the language used during agenda setting within the government and the language coming from private sector representatives. These representatives may want to keep some of the information to themselves and share only some of the information with the government. Of course, independent experts, scholars, and academics share in very different ways, but on the whole this is very different from the general language of the people on the street, which uses the language of the experts. The more the government wants to maintain a unified position before announcing anything, the wider the gap between the information of the people on the street and the information of those in government. The wider the gap, the more the ideas on the street become ideology. Ideas are great, but ideas must take into account people’s feelings and facts. Ideas in an environment where people do not even share basic facts and feelings grow into ideologies. To me, ideology is a more dangerous form of meme that blinds people to new facts and to the feelings of others.
    • So our first priority for open government is to make all data public. Not only the government, not only the public sector, in our data portal we invite people from the private sector and civil society to provide data. This is what we have done. And second, we provide a platform for people from the public sector, the private sector, and civil society to share their perspectives on problems and propose solutions. By doing this, we aim to enable governments to put the public interest first and allow citizens to participate in the policy-making process.

Feelings

  • We need a scalable tool to collect people’s feelings either synchronously or asynchronously. In the case of Uber, over about three weeks of time, we used this open source free tool called Polis. In Polis, we basically share one sentiment that is shared by your fellow citizen. As you click yes or no, your avatar would move in this two-dimensional map that automatically clusters people who share different feelings, who share the same feelings. At the beginning, people were very polarized, they were in the corners. But because we say we only take as agenda anything that can convince a super majority of people, meaning all of the majority group plus half of the minority group, people compete to get more nuanced, much better ideas that would take care of the maximal people’s feelings. So on the feeling stage, basically what we’re saying is that we welcome people’s feelings that are also common feelings among other people. So we identify consensus among divisions.
  • emotion
  • We need a scalable tool to collect people’s emotions synchronously or asynchronously, and in the case of Uber, in about 3 weeks time, we used this open source free tool, Polis. in Polis, you basically have one emotion that your fellow citizens share share. When you click yes or no, your avatar moves on this two-dimensional map that automatically clusters people who share different emotions and people who share the same emotion. At first, people were very extreme; they were in the corners. But since we say that what we take as an agenda, i.e., only what can convince half of the whole majority group and half of the minority group, people compete to get more sophisticated and better ideas that take into account the emotions of the maximum number of people. So in the emotional stage, basically we are saying, we welcome people’s feelings which are common feelings even with other people. So we identify agreement within the divide.

Consultation

  • By the end, we did get a bunch of consensus items that everybody, including Uber drivers and taxi drivers, can agree to. Then we would ratify it. But before ratification, we meet with all stakeholders at a time on a face-to-face live consultation. Because the facts and feeling stage are already collected, for this we deploy another set of technologies using live streaming, using chat room, using stenographer responses that basically collapse everybody’s responses to the common feelings. All the stakeholders, once they promise something or they clarify something, it’s then kept not only through live stream but through a transcript for the entire country and for the world to see. So in this case, people speak with a lot of stability because they know thousands of people are watching. By the end of this consultation period, the Ministry of Transport takes the consensus items and ratifies it into our new taxi regulation.
  • discussion
  • In the end, we came up with a set of agreed-upon items that everyone, including Uber drivers and cab drivers, could agree on. And we approve them. But before we approve it, we do a live face to face consultation with all stakeholders at once. The facts and emotions stage has already been collected, so for this we deploy another set of techniques using live streaming, chat rooms, and stenographer responses. This basically brings all stakeholder reactions together into a common sentiment. When all stakeholders promise something or articulate something, it is retained not only through the live stream, but also through the transcription for the whole country and the world to see. So in this case, people speak very steadily because they know that thousands of people are watching. At the end of this consultation period, the Ministry of Transportation will take up the agreed items and approve them into our new cab regulations.

Regulation

  • In the regulation, basically, we take the best parts that Uber has to offer, for example, the five-star rating system, the ability for people to ride share, a way for people to keep track of their past travels, and a way for the car not necessarily to be painted yellow. But then we put it into a way that we understand that will not negatively impact any other stakeholders groups. Because of this, other legitimate companies or coops, even locally, that want to operate as something like the taxi fleet can now compete on a fair basis, knowing that the popular will is behind it.
  • regulation
  • The regulations basically incorporate the best parts of what Uber offers, such as the 5-star rating system, the ability to rideshare, the way they track past trips, and the way the cars don’t necessarily have to be painted yellow. But put it in a way that is understood in a way that does not negatively impact other stakeholder groups. This allows other legitimate businesses, cooperatives, and local businesses that want to operate as a sort of cab fleet to compete on a level playing field, knowing that the public will now support it.

Media Studio

  • Of course, all these consultations are very hot topics for the media because there were a lot of projects, there were a lot of conflict. But there are many other important issues that need public consultation that may or may not get the same coverage in the media. That’s why, as soon as I became the Digital Minister, I started running my own media studio. For example, I have this “Why Slack” page at whyslack.com/AudreyTang that basically is an “Ask Me Anything” platform. People from the press, individuals, stakeholders, foreign journalists, anyone can ask any question here and I strive to answer within 24 hours. Every answer of mine is sent to thousands of subscribers’ email boxes. Through this kind of direct communication method, I’m able to make transparent everything that I have participated in. For example…
  • Media Studio
  • Of course, these consultations were very hot topics for the media, many projects, many conflicts. But there are other important issues that need public consultation and it is uncertain if they will get the same coverage in the media. So when I became Digital Minister, I started running my own media studio. For example, I have this “Why Slack” page at whyslack.com/AudreyTang. It’s basically an “Ask Me Anything” platform. Press people, individual people, stakeholders, foreign journalists, anyone can ask questions here and I will try to answer within 24 hours. All my answers are sent to the mailboxes of thousands of subscribers. Through this direct method of communication, I can be transparent about everything I participate in. For example…

Transparency

  • When the then Senior VP of Uber Strategy, David Plouffe, visited Taiwan, I did meet him, but under a 360 camera that records the entire conversation from the time he enters my door to the time he leaves my door. The entire video is published not only on the usual social media but also transcribed using the same transcription technology, which is called “Say It”, developed in my society in the UK. Every word that I say, every word that he says is covered and recorded, so there is minimal worry about a single stakeholder setting the agenda. Rather, I invited him to share his side of the story and facilitate communication with other stakeholders.
  • transparency
  • When David Plouffe, then Senior VP of Uber Strategy, visited Taiwan, I met with him under a 360-degree camera that recorded the entire conversation from the moment he walked in my door to the moment he left. All videos are transcribed and published using the same transcription technology developed by my society in the UK, “Say It”, as well as the usual social media. Every word I said, every word he said will be covered and recorded, so there is minimal concern about a single stakeholder setting the agenda. Rather, I invited him to share his story and facilitate communication with other stakeholders.

Integration

  • In addition to the data portals that we already have, in addition to the portals that allow everyone to share their raw material, what we need to work on next is integration. There are very few people with the ability to engage all the different sources that come from the private, public, and civil society. If all our data systems can publish using a well-known compatible API format, particularly the Open API specification, it becomes much easier to integrate it into investigative journalism, chatbots, virtual reality, or any devices that we make.
  • integration
  • In addition to the data portals we already have, in addition to portals that allow everyone to share their raw materials, the next thing we need to address is integration. Few people have the ability to handle all the different sources coming from the private, public, and civil society. But if all data systems can be exposed using compatible API formats, especially the Open API specification, it will be much easier to integrate it into investigative journalism, chatbots, virtual realities, or any device we create.

Procurement Laws

  • As the Digital Minister, I also proposed a change to our procurement laws so that all the public systems paid by taxpayer money are constructed with a machine-readable version of itself. The human-readable version may be just a shell, a front end to the backend API. Once the API is made open, independent ministries and units can connect their services together. A connection does not need to be made as one, but rather, others can do this kind of integration.
  • procurement law
  • As Digital Minister, I also proposed a change in procurement law that every public system paid for with taxpayer money should be built to have a machine-readable version of itself. The human-readable version could be a shell as a front-end to a back-end API; once the API is open, independent ministries and units can connect their services together. The connections need not be made as one; rather, others could do this kind of integration.

Tools

  • To determine the roadmap, we use a lot of offline tools such as business origami. Our team meets every week to decide on the roadmap. We run our daily Kanban board using post-it notes. But because our team is now about 15 people, we have two locations and it’s no longer practical to use the same physical board every day. That’s why we also use the Wekan system, which is an open-source system that enables this kind of Kanban integration to drag every card from waiting to doing to finished. Wekan is just one of the many tools that we offer.
  • We’re still working with the Sandstorm team. Sandstorm is a collection of independent, open-source API, open-source application, open-source web-based projects. This includes file-sharing Davros, EtherCalc, EtherPad, a collaborative note-taking documentation, and Wekan Kanban board. All this is built on inside the government in the government cloud. This means that all the ministries and even people in the regional government can share each other’s collaborative documents very easily and deploy new applications as easily as installing an app on your phone. This kind of space is…
  • tool (esp. software, etc.)
  • To determine the roadmap we use many offline tools such as Business Origami. Our team meets weekly to determine the roadmap. We run a daily Kanban board using post-it notes. But now our team is about 15 people, we have two locations and it is no longer practical to use the same physical board every day. So we also use the Wekan system. This is an open source system that allows this kind of kanban integration that drags all the cards from waiting to execution to completion.Wekan is one of the many tools we offer.
  • We are still working with the Sandstorm team, which is a collection of independent open source APIs, open source applications, and open source web-based projects. This includes file sharing Davros, EtherCalc, EtherPad (collaborative note taking documents), Wekan Kanban boards, and more. All of these are built on the Government Cloud inside the government. This means that people from all ministries and even regional governments can share collaborative documents with each other very easily and deploy new applications as easily as installing an app on a smartphone. This kind of space is…

Public Digital Innovation

  • What we call the public digital innovation space is an internal startup inside the national government. Our work is based on this very simple idea: maybe voting is just the beginning of democracy. Everybody can vote. On the other hand, in Occupy, a few people can dedicate a lot of time to do agenda setting by occupying the Parliament. But we cannot just have democracy with these two methods. It is too fluctuating, too unpredictable. The way we work is by having an open data, open API platform so that everybody can share freely and do analysis using the data that’s produced by public systems. Every time people have a petition or a question, the public servants have a way to systematically answer it within a given time frame.
  • This is the beginning. Then, these people need to learn to discuss with each other. This takes trust and trust takes time. Eventually, people will learn to listen. Once people can learn to listen to each other, then we can make new cases, more nuanced regulations that take care of every stakeholder’s interests. This is how we crowdsource agenda-setting eventually. We understand that at each time, the people with the ability to participate get gradually fewer and fewer, but it is okay. As long as people form a ladder of learning and share the technology, share the process in the Commons, anyone who wants to learn more can connect with people higher up in the ladder.
  • Public Digital Innovation
  • What we call Public Digital Innovation Space is an internal startup within the national government. Our work is based on this very simple idea: maybe voting is just the beginning of democracy. Everyone can vote. Occupy, on the other hand, allows a small number of people to occupy Congress and devote much of their time to agenda-setting. But you cannot have democracy in just these two ways. It is too variable and too unpredictable. We need to have a public data, public API platform that everyone can freely share and analyze using the data our public systems generate. Every time people have a petition or question, public officials have a way to systematically answer it within a certain timeframe.
  • This is the beginning. Then these people need to learn how to discuss with each other. This requires trust, and trust takes time. Eventually, people learn to listen. When people learn to listen to each other, we can make a new case and create more sensitive regulations that take into account the interests of all stakeholders. This is how we ultimately crowdsource agenda setting. We understand that, each hour, progressively fewer and fewer people have the capacity to participate, but that’s ok. As long as people form learning ladders, share skills, and commons processes, anyone who wants to learn more can connect with those on the ladder.

Singularity

  • Conflicts can often be resolved by introducing a time dimension. This is mathematically called resolving singularity. We listen to one side’s ideas, document them fully, and make the interim consensus publicly available. Then we ask for more feelings and ideas from the other stakeholders, and so on. Like a spiral, this will eventually converge into something that has much more consensus from society.
  • specificity
  • Conflicts can often be resolved by introducing a time dimension. This is mathematically called resolving singularity. We listen to one side’s ideas, fully document them, and publish an interim consensus. We then seek more sentiments and ideas from other stakeholders. Then we repeat the process. This is like a spiral that eventually converges on something with much more consensus from society.

Conclusion

  • To conclude my talk, I would like to quote from Dr. Tsai Ing-wen’s inauguration speech. She said, “Before, democracy was a clash between two opposing values, but now democracy must be a conversation, a dialogue between many different values. We need to build a unified democracy that is not hijacked by ideologies. We need to build a pragmatic democracy that can respond timely to the needs of the private sector and the civil society. Finally, we need to build a democracy that lets people take care of each other and each other’s feelings. We do this just by listening, and all the technologies, all the open technologies, are there to help us to listen to each other at scale. So just keep listening to each other. Thank you for listening.”
  • Conclusion.
  • To conclude my talk, I would like to quote from Dr. Tsai Ing-wen’s inaugural speech. She said, “Democracy used to be a clash of two opposing values, but now democracy must be a conversation, a dialogue between many different values. We need to build a unified democracy that is not hijacked by ideology. We need to build a pragmatic democracy that can respond to the needs of the private sector and civil society in a timely manner. Finally, we need to build a democracy where people value each other and each other’s feelings. We do this by just listening, and all the technology, all the open technology, is there to help us listen to each other at large. So keep listening to each other. Thank you for listening to me.”

This page is auto-translated from [/nishio/Audrey Tang Keynote for LibreCon 2016](https://scrapbox.io/nishio/Audrey Tang Keynote for LibreCon 2016) using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at @nishio_en. I’m very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.

Graph View

Backlinks