The challenge is how to give more citizens a voice in governance without overwhelming their representatives. There are two approaches; both rely on existing technology. In order to participate in online democracy, one needs a verifiable identity. The current version of that technology is the “digital certificate”. Members of Congress and Hill staffers tell me that a message from a verified member of their district carries far more weight than a (possibly mass-produced) e-mail. That’s one near-term way to move closer to networked democracy. A more ambitious approach would involve large-scale discussion boards in which every citizen, with a verified identity, could weigh in on issues. The challenge here would be to sort the wheat from the chaff. The solution is to let the citizenry to do the sorting itself by filtering up the best suggestions online. Early forms of such methods are visible on slashdot.org, digg.com, and even Amazon.com.
http://whatmatters.mckinseydigital.com/internet/participatory-technocracy