Doku: US NOW

Us Now from Banyak Films on Vimeo.

"I think it takes a while for government and politicians to get used to big changes in technology. It took a long time for parliament to adapt to the television age. "

George Osborne, MP


SYNOPSIS

In his student flat in Colchester, Jack Howe is staring intently into
his computer screen. He is picking the team for Ebbsfleet United's FA
Trophy Semi-Final match against Aldershot . Around the world 35,000
other fans are doing the same thing, because together, they own and
manage the football club. If distributed networks of people can run
complex organisations such as football clubs, what else can they do?

Us Now takes a look at how this type of participation could transform
the way that countries are governed. It tells the stories of the
online networks whose radical self-organising structures threaten to
change the fabric of government forever.

Us Now follows the fate of Ebbsfleet United, a football club owned and
run by its fans; Zopa, a bank in which everyone is the manager; and
Couch Surfing, a vast online network whose members share their homes
with strangers.

The founding principles of these projects -- transparency,
self-selection, open participation -- are coming closer and closer to
the mainstream of our social and political lives. Us Now describes
this transition and confronts politicians George Osborne and Ed
Milliband with the possibilities for participative government as
described by Don Tapscott and Clay Shirky amongst others.


CONTRIBUTORS
Saul Albert
Giles Andrews
Lee Bryant
Alan Cox
Liam Daish
David Courtier-Dutton
Becky Hogge
William Heath
Shane Kelly
Ed Miliband
Paul Miller
George Osborne
Sophia Parker
MT Rainey
Clay Shirky
Tom Steinberg
Matthew Taylor
Don Tapscott