As an independent government agency, the FCC is required to open up all rule-making activity to enlightenment from the public. Historically, there has always been an open window at the FCC where anyone can file their comments with the FCC. Eight years ago, the FCC added the electronic comment window to their website where citizens could file their comments online, but it still required a lot of leg work on the part of the public to find the correct information for filing. The FCC wanted to further simplify the process as they launched their National Broadband Plan. They came to Ideascale with the primary goal of lowering the barriers to participation in the FCC's dialogue. Because of the long term impact the National Broadband Plan could affect, the FCC wanted to make sure that anyone, whether they were tech-savvy or not, could engage in the regulatory process of the FCC.

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FCC: NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
GOVERNMENT CASE STUDY
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IDEASCALE

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The Federal Communica?ons Commission (FCC) is an independent United States
government agency. The FCC was established by the Communications Act of 1934 and is
charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire,
satellite and cable. In the service of those tasks, the FCC is also in charge of promoting the
National Broadband Plan which seeks to ensure that all people of the United States have access
to broadband capability.
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As an independent government agency, the FCC is required to open up all rule-making activity to
enlightenment from the public. Historically, there has always been an open window at the FCC
where anyone can bring and file their comments with the FCC. Eight years ago, the FCC added
the electronic comment window to their website where citizens could file their comments online,
but it still required a lot of leg work on the part of the public to find the correct information for
filing.
"
The FCC wanted to further simplify the process as they launched their National Broadband Plan.
They came to IdeaScale with the primary goal of lowering the barriers to par?cipa?on in the
FCC’s dialogue. Due to the long term impact the National Broadband Plan could affect, the FCC
wanted to make sure that anyone, whether they were tech-savvy or not, could engage in the
regulatory process of the FCC.
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When the FCC launched broadband.ideascale.com, they saw:
• Over 60,000 responses from the public, an unprecedented number.
• Which topics were most important to the public. The site was organized around the 17
different aspects of the plan and the most relevant parts became identifiable by the
conversation that bubbled-up around them.
• The highest number of Public No?ces ever published. By offering the FCC an easy-to-
organize platform and offering the public an easy-to- use interface, the responses were more
effective and more impactful.
• The feedback from the crowdsourcing site was incorporated into the discovery process that
led to the current version of the Broadband Plan. In other words, those who participated in
the public dialogue directly affected changes that were implemented by the FCC in the
National Broadband Plan.
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All of this information is now filed as part of the public record, properly labeled and organized.
The success of broadband.ideascale.com is an excellent indicator of how public democratic
2IdeaScale Case Studies
FCC: National Broadband Plan
Lowering the Barriers to Participation

3. 3IdeaScale Case Studies
dialogue will take place in the future.
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Since launching the National Broadband Plan crowdsourcing site, IdeaScale has continued to
work with the FCC on other public matters including Net Neutrality and looks forward to future
projects, public participation, and feedback.
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“I think IdeaScale presents a unique opportunity to government agencies. It offers them the
prospect of directly communicating with their citizens and the IdeaScale platform is such a user-
friendly interface that it allows any civilian the chance to truly engage with their government. It’s
an incredibly important relationship to establish,” Haley Vandyck, Director of Citizen
Engagement, Federal Communications Commission.
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The Importance of Public Opinion
The government issues 8,000 regulations every year. Independent government agencies operate
under the mandate to involve public opinion in any rule-making. This ensures the success of good
programs and a better democratic operating model. According to The Manual on Public
Participation in Environmental Decision-Making, this best practice can also have an economic
benefit: “If the public is involved in the full decision making process, their concerns may be met
early on in the planning process when changes may be easier to make, rather than late in the
process when even small changes may cost both time and money. [And] even if the public does
not agree with the final decision, they are more likely to understand why the decision was made
and thus may not oppose it.” IdeaScale is a platform that helps agencies and citizens communicate
effectively to achieve all of these goals.
About IdeaScale
IdeaScale has developed an idea crowdsourcing technology that empowers communities to drive
innovation.
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The software allows organizations to involve people that matter to them by collecting their ideas
and giving them a platform to vote. The most important ideas bubble to the top.
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In late 2009, the FCC, who’s mission it is to, ”make available so far as possible, to all the people of
the United States, without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or
sex, rapid, efficient, Nation-wide, and world-wide wire and radio communication services with
adequate facilities at reasonable charges,” selected IdeaScale as a partner to increase public
participation and dialogue surrounding the creation of the National Broadband Plan.
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As of March 31, 2010, almost all U.S. federal agencies were using the IdeaScale platform. The
websites for NASA, the VA, and the FCC reported the highest participation rates.