USE OF ICT IN THE PARLIAMENT

e-Parliament

Parliament is one of the main pillars of democratic societies and thus plays a key role in the promotion and enhancement of democracy and democratic values. Parliaments, as democratic institutions, have three main functions which comprise all of the above elements. These are: legislative, representative,
and oversight of government. ICT has having a profound impact on all sectors- public, private and civil society. The use and deployment of ICT is becoming pervasive and has led to critical innovations in government, business and the way in which citizens interact, not only with government but also among themselves. It is important to note that ICT, especially in the context of developing countries, are by no means limited to the use of desktop computers or the internet. They also include other new technologies such as mobile telephones, wireless communications etc. One critical aspect of this that could lead to the innovative involvement of parliaments in promoting democratic governance relates to the use of ICT to network of constituents, as well as to enhance access to local, regional and global knowledge networking amongst MPs.

The state of ICT in parliament today: The internet and the web have changed everything. Communications became rapid and interoperability significantly improved. While many systems continued to be proprietary, the exchange of document and information became easier. The personal computer, which had been primarily a local device, became a tool that allowed would-wide access and, in some cases, world-wide exposure. These changes in the underlying technical infrastructure led to the development of systems and services that have become critical for legislative bodies. It is learnt that many developing country MPs expressed keen interest in e- parliament and in the e-parl.net proposal. It is important to respond to this demand for the increased use of ICT in daily parliamentary work. The e-parliament is defined as the use of ICT in parliamentary institutions with the objective of enhancing and strengthening their core functions and operations. The e-parliament is building a new kind of international institution one that is democratic and transparent, in which any one can participate. The e-parliament has been created to address two major problems facing humanity: a global democracy gap, and a problem-solving gap. The Key word in e-parliament is still parliament. Therefore e- parliament should be regarded as a complementary concept describing the institutional- approach to applying modern technologies. Yet, this concept is continually evolving as new technologies arise, innovative ICT applications in the parliamentary environment emerge, and the evolution of the global information society advances.

Role and importance of websites in parliament: Web (2.0) play an important role for parliaments in supporting their basic objectives of representation, accountability, accessibility, transparency and effectiveness website that provide access to the daily life of parliament have become a major resource for legislative bodies to support the work of their officers and members, to provide information access to citizens and to communicate with their constituents and with the civil society. Achieving a balance approach to place the website at the service of all requires parliament’s commitment and political and managerial decisions to make it more comprehensible, user-friendly, contentriented and content-rich, as well as easily accessible by all.

Parliamentary interactive websites: The website of a parliament is a reflection of the values embodied in its vision of developing an e-parliament for increasing transparency, accessibility and accountability. The content of the site, the timeliness of its documents, schedules, and vote results, the clarity of the information presented: the `comprehensiveness of the lines to related material both internal and external: the case and understandability of the use interface; the utilization of a variety of  formats, such as audio and visual to portray the work of the legislature: and the capacity to support dialogue with citizens in multiple ways are all indications of a legislative body’s commitment to the quality of the website and the achievement of those values. It can require a considerable amount of time to obtain both the political consensus and the resources needed to build and maintain an effective parliamentary website. These sites will contain links to documents produced for the assembly session and resulting from the assembly sessions. It will include:

– Upcoming programs and agendas
– Transcripts
– Legislation database
– The legislative process
– Legislation fact sheets
– Latest News and Events

Committee websites : Committees are the ‘policy work shop’ where proposed legislation is discussed, analyzed, debated, revised, and put forward to the full body, often with an accompanying report. Committee’s websites to provide their own members and the public with access to their members and the public with access to their membership lists, areas of competence or jurisdiction , schedules ,agenda, web casts of meetings, records of activities, and copies of legislation and related documents within their purview. Web sites are becoming important resources for the committees themselves and for citizens, civil society groups, the press, government agencies, and others who follow their work. Committees are increasingly turning to audio and video technologies to make their deliberations available in real time. This may include the use of TV and satellite channels as well as web community casting at grass root. Many parliaments are seeking to do more in terms of real time web casting and providing on demand access. This content area will contain information about Standing Committees. It will include:

– List of Committees
– List of Committees Members
– How Committees operate

Members’ websites: As more citizens turn to the Web for information about the work of their governments, their legislatures and their elected officials, they expect to find authoritative and meaningful content, and, increasingly, to be able to communicate their own views on policy issues. The Websites of members, therefore, have become a potentially important resource for the public. However, their development faces a number of challenges. There can be a tendency by some to use the website primarily as an instrument for political advertisement. Yet, as some studies have indicated, constituents, went more focused information tailored to their different needs, and prefer to be informed about policy issues and the member’s views and actions in addressing them. Members’ sites that these requirements are considered relevant and useful to citizens. In their efforts to be more understandable and focused on the needs of their constituents, they also advance the objectives of transparency, accountability, inclusiveness, and more equitable access. This can help to further the goal of a more informed and engaged electorate. An important recent development on members’ sites has been the use of the newest web technologies to communicate with constituents. Some representatives have begun to express their views through blogs or place video clips on publicly available services to present their ideas through new media. Several are also testing the value of web-based social networks, particularly those Who are involved in election campaigns. These are exploratory efforts, but the resulting experiences should provide interesting and informative. As technology makes legislators themselves more accessible, however, it can also pose significant challenges. Citizens expect to be able to use email and other methods of electronic communication to express their views to their representatives, and many of them expect to engage their Members in a dialog. Yet, the volume of email can become overwhelming, especially when it is used in orchestrated campaigns to influence Members and committees. This content area will contain all information and contact details for all Members of the Jatiyo Sangsad,

– Members by district/ province
– Members by name
– Personal profile

Guidelines and standards for websites:  Creating a website or giving each MP a PC or a laptop computer
Cannot alone bring to parliaments the real transformative impact that ICT could otherwise have. As websites have become integral to the work of parliaments, it is important to develop guidelines and standards to assist in creating effective sites. Such guidelines would be helpful to committees, members and parliamentary officials to establish goals and benchmarks for their sites and to judge their quality periodically. One set of long –standing guidelines was released by the Inter-parliamentary Union in 2000’.While some portions of this document need to be updated in light of the most recent developments concerning the Web; it is still a valid and useful instrument to help assess the state of parliamentary website through the world. A number of questions in the survey were included on the basis of the IPU guidelines. The basis of parliamentary website reflecting the following   concerns:   Accuracy, Are documents correct in   content and presentation and are activities reported correctly? How is this   ensured? Are there procedures or systems in place to identify and correct errors? Are the procedures pro—active and retro-active? How quickly are errors corrected?  Timeliness, how soon are documents available and activities (debates, votes, etc.) reported? Do members have access? before others? How are the competing demands of accuracy and timeliness resolved?  Completeness, are all relevant documents and actions related to the bill linked, so the users can obtain a complete understanding from a single location on the website? Clarity Especially in the case of legal language, is an explanation provided? Are the legislative actions understandable or are there links to explanatory materials? Impact, D0 any documents provide an understanding of the possible impact of a proposed bill? What issue does it purport to address? What are the pros and cons? What data supports the proposals? How does it affect existing? Usability How understandable is the website to users? How is this verified? ARE special measures taken to ensure that those with disabilities can use the site? Intranet and Internet websites, some parliament maintain a single website with exactly the same information for both the parliament and the public. Others maintain two websites or _two different views of one website. One for the officials and members of the parliament and one for the public. This is a choice for Each parliament and is often dependent on the extent to which the website used by the members of parliament needs to provide access to information that is confidential,  proprietary, or in draft formats. For parliaments that maintain two different views or different sites for members and the public, the survey sough only to determine whether the public has access to the same non-confidential information and documents, such as final votes and final votes and final versions of documents, on the same basis as members.

Conclusion: Parliaments in today’s world have an unprecedented opportunity to capitalize on the benefits of ICT to enhance their efficiency and their effectiveness in performing their constitutional functions. Seizing such an opportunity will also help them play a major role in shaping the information society of tomorrow. To do so requires the development of a vision and a plan for innovation and the application of ICT within the parliamentary setting and the effective management of its implementation. Yet, the active involvement of Members of Parliament, parliamentary officials and other concerned stakeholders will be essential for achieving these goals.

Author : Mohammad Mizanur Rahman

References:

01. World e-Parliament Report 2008, United Nations, 2008.
02. United Nations Development Programme, Empowering Parliaments through the Use of ICTs, 2006.
03. Inter—Parliamentary Union, Guidelines for Parliamentary Websites, 2009.
04. Web site of Bangladesh Parliament (www.parliament.gov.bd)
05. National ICT Policy-2009, Bangladesh.