ABSTRACT for the HOIT-94 Conference in Copenhagen. Accepted! Termites at the Foundations: Information, Participation and Democracy Mark D. Pesce Network Zero 1978 15th Street San Francisco, CA 94114 mpesce@netcom.com There is an increasing desynchronization between the mechanisms of democracy and the machinery of capital and business. This desynchronization is causing a wide variety of side-effects due to undampened feedback in social, governmental, and economic systems. Alvin Toffler, in _Future Shock_, _The Third Wave_, _Powershift_ and _War and Anti-War_, has consistently outlined the increasingly wide informational gap between economic entities, such as multi-national corporations, and the governments which would attempt to regulate them. McLuhan, in _Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man_, noted that the planet had become an electric extension of man's collective nervous system; despite this, the extension is almost entirely one-way, at least with respect to the mechanisms of self-governance. Yet the power of fax machines and cellular telephones in the revolutions in China and Eastern Europe only highlights a basic fact: bilateral communications infrastructures are potent engines for democratic action. Any mechanism or political movement which attempts to correct this desynchronization, in an attempt to make democracy compatible with electric media, must deal equally with two sets of requirements for any solution of the problem: a technical one and a political one. The technical requirements of a democracy are simple, but subtle and extensive. It is necessary for the citizenry to be able to make "informed" decisions, and this requires that they work from a adequate knowledge base. This information must be accessible, in the broadest possible sense - not just available, but easy to navigate, search and cross-reference. Furthermore, the citizenry need an "agora", where the issues of the day can be debated in open forum, where interested parties can seek compromise and common ground for political solutions. The practicality of the technical implementation of a system which effectively augments democratic procedures is bounded by two factors which must be considered of primary importance: cost and ubiquity. Any proposed system must have a _very_ inexpensive, easy-to-maintain infrastructure that can quickly become ubiquitous. This paper will suggest a technical design which can satisfy the requirements as stated above. At the back-end, or "host" end of the infrastructure, dial-up access to the World Wide Web (WWW) or a similar network-wide hypermedia tool through the Internet would provide an effective distribution mechanism for large amounts of information, information which can be linked arbitrarily to show relationships, and allow for annotations. At the front end, inexpensive video game consoles (of which there are more than _50 million_ in America alone) combined with inexpensive telecommunications technology can provide a Mosaic-like interface, that is, a point-and-click environment to the world of available information. It will be shown that such a system would retail for less than US $100. This puts it well within the reach of all but the very poorest citizens In addition to providing access to the mechanisms of government, it could form the basis of a powerful research tool, which could be used by adults and children alike. Any proposed implementation must be based in reality, and therefore must deal with the realities of the political environment into which it is introduced. Any system which spreads the decision making authority throughout the citizenry erodes the base of some power elite. Power elites, even in democracies, tend to defend their power bases, and would find a system, as defined above, polemical. It can be expected that power elites will resist any attempts to spread their power bases and therefore will block the implementation of systems of this or similar natures. It is therefore necessary to develop a strategy by which these mechanisms can be developed and accepted by power elites as a way of removing the burden of information management in certain situations. Such a strategy is necessarily subversive, without endangering the stability of the government or the welfare of the citizenry. Small power bases are easier to transform than national or global ones; therefore, neighborhood or community-based actions face the highest posibility of success. It is also necessary, in order to avoid apathy or perceived helplessness on the part of the citizenry, to focus on local efforts with immediately perceivable effects Furthermore, it is necessary to select a subject which is intensely interesting to the citizenry, and effects all aspects of their daily lives. The environment, especially with respect to hazardous waste and refuse management, is such an issue. Any system which can provide an effective, easy-to-use interface for the management of ecology on a local level would be a potent tool for two reasons; it would interest the citizenry in civic activities which would have profound and immediate effects on their own lives, and it would provide a non-threatening entry point for systems of democratic augmentation. Acceptable to both power elites and citizens, it could, potentially, be quickly and widely accepted. Furthermore, hypermedia tools, like Mosaic, can be used to create maps of "deep ecology", which illustrate the interconnectedness of the elements of the enviornment, and lead to a more complete understanding of the interrelationships of that environement. A demonstration of this system, using a San Francisco neighborhood as an example, will be shown in conjunction with the presented work.