Using Technology to Improve Constituent Communication in Algeria

by Meagan Dorsch

I am excited to be in Algeria with an NCSL delegation to share experiences with members of parliament and staff on how to use technology to communicate better with the public and the media.

One of the challenges of cross-cultural communication about legislative strengthening is figuring out what ideas work best in different countries.  For example, Virginia Delegate Kristen Amundson and Ric Cantrell of the Utah Senate staff gave an overview of the technology tools they use in their legislatures. Both highlighted features like blogs and podcasts, tools that parliament members were familiar with but had never used. Ric did a terrific interactive session with the Algerians on how to set up and begin writing a blog from beginning to end.  The audience was really engaged and enjoyed these sessions, but they expressed concern that if they offered this type of technology to the public, it would not be used.

We learned that of Algeria's 34 million people, only about 1.9 million own a computer. But 28 million Algerians own a cell phone. And it is projected that by the year 2010, Algeria will have 36 million mobile phones--more phones than people! This is why Ric's second presentation on "text blasting" resonated so well with our audience.

Ric and the Utah Senate started "text blasting" five months ago with a small Utah company, Vox Partners. Anyone can sign up as a subscriber to receive a short text message sent out by Ric's office about things that are going on in the legislature. Ric demonstrated this process by importing the cell phone numbers of everyone in our NCSL delegation into his Vox website. He typed in a message, sent it off, and 8 seconds later we all received his message. When our ringers went off inside the workshop, the Algerians' eyes lit up! Ric told the crowd that Utah is beginning a movement by using this form of technology, but if Algeria picks it up, they could truly become a pioneer!

You can read all about the members of our delegation and our experiences--even how I regretted my choice of shoes to take on the trip--in a blog that we set up specially for our delegation, Algiers 2008. But I also want to share a few other highlights here in The Thicket.   

Tim Rice of Illinois' legislative IT department and former Illinois Sen. Steven Rauschenberger conducted a session on how the Illinois General Assembly uses technology to track legislation and voting on the floors. The Algerians were very interested with this technology. From our side, we were very impressed with the Algerians' IT department. This small staff has worked very hard to upgrade their system, and they offer more technology options than some American state legislatures.

Wendy Madsen and I presented a communications plan for parliamentarians and staff members, complete with templates (in Arabic and French) for them to fill out. Many members told us they were very grateful for the assistance and wanted additional time to meet with us to make sure they filled out the document correctly. This is a working document that takes time for members of a legislature to feel comfortable with using, so we did not expect anyone to get it overnight.

We were fortunate to work with Dr. Tatah of the FILA organization in planning and organizing this workshop. FILA is the equivalent of legislative support services. FILA offers the lower house of the parliament bill drafting, computer services and communications services.