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Impact of new technology on the work of parliaments
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Overview | Key points | Viewpoint | Papers presented | Comments and questions
Overview
Technology provides opportunities for parliaments to explore new ways of conducting their business. At the same time it presents challenges for parliamentary administrations in terms of adapting traditional practices and procedures, as well as meeting the expectations of members of parliament and the public.
Papers presented at the ASGP meeting held in Geneva in September 2002 explored the impact that new technology has on the work of parliaments, including on the availability of information and on procedures and administration.
Key points
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The economic development of a country directly impacts on the level of access to information that the public can have in relation to their parliament.
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Expectations increase as technology improves. The existence of the Internet and the availability of so much information on it creates an expectation among parliamentarians and the public that information about the parliament will also be included. There is also pressure on parliamentary administrations to improve the available service.
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The need to modernise access to parliamentary information has created administrative challenges, including the need to ensure value for money in and the professional management of information technology projects. This has required the training of parliamentary staff in project management skills.
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For bicameral parliaments, establishment of compatible systems between the two houses of parliament is vital for ensuring that the two houses can continue to communicate effectively with each other.
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The quantity of parliamentary information available on the Internet is one issue, but equally important is the ability to find that information. Access to information, particularly by the public, can be more difficult if systems issues, such as the way the information is organised or the availability of a good search engine, are not addressed.
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The needs of the user of parliamentary information are as important as the needs of the producer of that information. The user's knowledge of parliament needs to be taken into account. For example, public confusion between the two houses of a bicameral parliament, or lack of public differentiation between government and parliament, are issues that can impact on the delivery of information to the public and the public's ability to find that information.
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For countries with bilingual and multilingual populations, a particular challenge is to provide information in all the relevant languages.
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Where there was disparity of development and access to technology within a particular country, access to parliamentary information was more difficult for those people with limited or no access to technology such as the Internet. This needed to be considered in terms of equality of access to parliamentary information and the impact it could have on people's knowledge of and interaction with parliament.
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Systems of artificial intelligence offer opportunities for more accuracy in legislative work as well as the computerisation of some of that work. They also offer opportunities to improve parliamentary archival systems, including storage of information.
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Exchange of information, whether it be between members of parliament and officials or the public, is increasingly being conducted by electronic means, which means more immediacy in relation to contacts as well as increased expectations.
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Mobility of technology as it relates to parliament is an important consideration. With society becoming more and more mobile, parliament's information technology services need to keep up with this trend.
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Parliamentary websites provide a window of opportunity for international contact between parliaments.
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Staffing issues include the need to find a balance between internal experts and outside consultants, particularly as technology changes so much from year to year.
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The development and deployment of new technology needs to be as invisible as possible. When parliamentary systems are being computerised, it is important to provide assurances to members of parliament that the services and publications they require will not be put at risk in the move forward.
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Security of information is a further critical consideration in deploying new technology in the parliamentary environment.
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arliaments must not only take account of existing technology but also must have an eye towards trends in the development of technology in the foreseeable future.
Viewpoint
"Effective functioning of democracy demands effective communication between the citizens and their representatives. The new technologies make possible instant linkages between the electorate and the representatives paving the way for making the representative democracy more meaningful and responsive."
Yogenda Narain, India
"Legislatures are now looking to technology for more sophisticated means of managing and disseminating their information. Recent technological advances and the emergence of standards that enable the re-use and exchange of information in many different formats have made it possible to rethink the entire process for capturing and organising information found in the parliamentary documents, while continuing to provide the traditional paper publications."
Marie-Andrée Lajoie, Canada
Papers presented
The papers and debates on the impact of new technology on the work of parliaments are available in Constitutional and Parliamentary Information No.184, 2002.
Availability of information
Paul Hayter, United Kingdom
Procedural questions
Marie-Andrée Lajoie, Canada , and Robert Myttenaere , Belgium
Management and administration
Georg Posch, Austria
Comments and questions
We welcome comments and questions as a means of continuing discussion on these issues. These should be emailed to the ASGP Joint Secretaries:
Comments and questions, along with responses to questions, will be posted on this site.
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