-E-democracy in Jun
This story started when José Antonio Rodriguez Salas (the future major of Jun) met an American girl while he was a councilor. That girl was Virginia Johnson, the future assessor of Al Gore. During that period he learn a lot about new technologies and he came back to his town with the purpose of develop some ideas. The first step was to introduce Jun people into the new technologies and Internet, especially the older generations. Furthermore the city council gave some money to buy computers and other kind of hardware.
In December 1999, Rodriguez Salas (at this time major of Jun) declared Internet as a Universal Right and the free access for all the citizens, since that moment everyone in Jun could enjoy the new possibilities that the new tool brought them. It was the first town in the world that did it. Ten years later, pioneer countries in technological innovation, such as Finland, did it. It has to take into account that in 1999 Internet was not so develop as it is now and it was something unusual for the society, at least in Spain.
Two years after, in 2001, it was held the first interactive plenary session in the world. Romano Prodi, the President of the European Commission declared Jun the birthplace of e-democracy and Rodriguez Salas its “father”.
Although its idea could not carry out in a completely way. There is a European Policy that does not allow competing with the telecommunication operators. To enforce this policy, National Commission of the Telecommunication Market prohibits offer Internet free.
-Goodbye Bureaucracy
Nowadays, due to the new tools that Internet offers us, the plenary sessions of Jun are more participative, the citizens just need a computer, a webcam and software that is facilitated by the town hall. Every inhabitant of Jun can give his/her opinion via twitter or sending an e-mail before, during or after the councils. All the complains are reviewed and must be answered in 24 hours.
In the elections of 2004 Jun’s citizens voted by SMS or using an electronic signature which was completely private. After the great results of participation in this municipality, some other countries tried to do it, like Switzerland and France that applied this new way of voting in five Parisian districts.
Another idea of Jose Antonio Rodriguez Salas was to apply the information technology to everyday life. That is why some of the usual things that we do daily or weekly have been “disappeared” for the inhabitants of Jun. For example, the patients that need a regular medication do not have to go to the doctor to take a prescription. Each one has its information digitized and it updates automatically. The people that go to the health centre have been reduced in 40%, the queues are shorter and there is more space and time to attend the emergencies. This kind of “electronic prescription” has been demanding in the rest of Europe.
The last idea was to create an application to allow the citizens of Jun access to all its information and to contact with the city council via mobile devices. This project has the name of “M administración” and it was subsidized (as other projects, such as the installation of the network) by big telecommunication companies like Telefónica, for being the first town that did it.
This new application has allowed people to enjoy more leisure and concerned less about the bureaucratic document. Jun’s citizens can complain directly and instantaneously to the major, so it’s easier for them to make known their problems and concerns. In many cases people do not complain because “it is a waste of time”. But in this little town everyone has his/her own opinion and they share with their neighbors and with the city council.
-Curiosities
The statistics support these ideas. According to municipal information the major of Jun, José Antonio Rodriguez Salas answered 27000 e-mails in 2007. The last year he answered 47000 (129 per day).
Rodriguez Salas is not only an active user of Internet (he has a blog, a channel in Youtube, a Twitter account and he is in Facebook too) but also has a lot of followers. He is the most followed major in Spain (Twitter 9.315 and Facebook 8.821), the third Spanish politician in Twitter and he is in the Top Ten in Facebook. Recently he has announced that his campaign for the next election will be made exclusively via Internet.
The Flag of this town is very curious. It is the only municipal flag in the world that has an encrypted message. As Rodriguez Salas says: “If you transform “0” into a “.” and “1” into a “-” you will have a message in Morse code”. The code was chosen by the citizens and it means “Love”.
Although being a small town it has appeared in many international media. In 1999, after declaring Internet Universal Right, Jun appeared in newspapers all over the world, from The New York Times to Sidney Morning Herald. In 2009 the Major of Jun was interviewed by BBC World and after that he appeared i the front page of Microsoft France (It is in French only).
Jun has held a lot of meetings about new technologies in which has participated politicians of the entire world. Recently there was a course for Latin American majors to learn about the possibilities that new technologies offer to them and its towns or cities.
This little town (4328 inhabitants) is known as “the town of Internet” and his major is commonly known as “the portable major”. Now we have seen that e-democracy is possible if the politicians want it to be. But maybe they are afraid of being so close to the citizens because they could be directly judged by the people who are representing.
Sources
An interview to the major of Jun in a Spanish Talk Show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42dF4kbyAOc
Webpage of Jun: http://www.ayuntamientojun.org/
An article about Jun in Público (Spanish Neswpaper): http://www.publico.es/espana/43152/teledemocracia-desde-un-pueblo-andaluz
E-democracy in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-democracy
Jun in Wikipedia: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jun
An article in Cafebabel.com: http://www.cafebabel.co.uk/article/26830/jun-granada-town-internet-savvy.html
Ranking of the Spanish politicians in Social Networks: http://www.granadablogs.com/joseantoniorodriguezsalas/?p=4750
María Lalinde
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