Presented at the PSA Parl 2021 Annual conference Panel 5, 10 March 2021

1. Digital tools to bridge
the representation gap
Dr. Fotis Fitsilis
Head of Documentation and Supervision
Scientific Service
Hellenic Parliament
Annual conference
Panel 5, 10 March 2021

2. Content Layout
▪ Definition
▪ Framing the topic
▪ The ‘smart’ parliament approach
▪ Some (premature) conclusions
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3. Representation gap
▪ Definition:
‘technology induced disruption of seamless link of
trust between parliaments and citizens’
▪ Not in the sense of ‘democratic representation’
▪ Rather similar to ‘generation gap’ (only bigger)
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4. Is there a new digital reality?
▪ Notion of ‘citizen engagement’
▪ Advancement of digital communication
▪ Well studied since beginning of century
see e.g. Norton, P. and Leston-Bandeira, C.
▪ So, is there anything new?
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5. Digital realm
Social media
• Omnipresent
• Omnidirectional
Rise of algorithms
• Weak regulatory environment
• CambridgeAnalytica incident
Legal informatics
• New standards, tools and services
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6. How to put parliaments into
the equation
The ‘smart’ parliament approach
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7. Stakeholders
MPs
▪ Adjust rapidly
▪ Links to electorate
▪ Individual differences
▪ Lots of success stories
The institutions
▪ Late adopters
▪ Whom to inform?
▪ Individual differences
▪ Distinct successes (UK)
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8. How to change this?
Harvest the
power of legal
informatics
tools & services
▪ Building inclusive digital platforms
▪ Re-link parliaments with citizens
▪ Proof-of-concept selection
▪ Citizen-centric solution design
▪ Use of standards & open software
▪ Mobile-first approach
▪ Use of emerging technologies
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9. Examples: virtual worlds, e-deliberation
& participatory legislation
 Standartised
 Machine-readable
 Semantic web compatible
 User-friendly
 Inclusive
 Safe
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10. 10
Some conclusions
▪ ‘The future is now’ cliché holds
▪ Institutional adaptation of parliament
▪ Make up lost ground with emerging tech
▪ Semantic web compatible solutions
▪ User-centric (i.e. citizen-centric design)

11. Contact and disclaimer
email: fitsilisf@parliament.gr
web: https://fitsilis.gr
The information and views set out in this presentation
are only those of the author and do not reflect the
official opinion of the Hellenic Parliament
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