Why would lawmakers need their own social network? According to Igor Lebedev, deputy speaker of the lower house of parliament – the State Duma – currently there are two hundred forty five thousand deputies of all levels in Russia – and they are not integrated enough. According to the spokesman, the complexity of solving political issues requires professional cooperation – that’s why deputies and experts should have one platform to freely talk to each other without distractions.
Lebedev believes that the upcoming social network for political professionals will not only allow to organize discussions between deputies and experts, but also attract lawmakers from all over Russia. This would engage regional politicians on par with centers, which could in theory streamline the legislative process. Developers are finalizing the system and moderators – yes, this social network will have moderators – will mass-invite deputies as soon as the project goes live. One of the problem spots will be municipal deputies – the lowest legislative level – of whom there are two hundred thousand people in the country.
Why would there be moderators if this is a network for political professionals? Well, you can never be too sure. Izvestia newspaper talked with representatives of the social network, who highlighted the strong security of the service, including protection from fake accounts. Due to the large number of municipal units, local deputies will be required to submit their credentials as proof to the moderators – such as their deputy ID and links to official pages. Once they’re in, deputies will be able to work on their profiles just like on any other social networks. Deputies will be sorted for ease of browsing with several parameters, such as legislative level – municipal, regional and federal, as well as factions and committees. Developers also boast self-maintaining profiles, saying that deputy pages will be updated automatically depending on their online activity.
Meanwhile, the government is also rebooting the G2C services. July 14 Russia’s Telecom Ministry has launched an open beta for the new and improved state services web portal. Currently it looks somewhat like an add-on to the main service with a more streamlined interface. The principle it used was “less is more” – previously the government had the ambitious goal of eventually making all imaginable governmental services available through the website, but a few months ago this idea was scrapped in favor of quality of quantity. The new beta has just three services – users can check any outstanding fines, unpaid taxes and court-mandated outstanding payments. If there are any, users can pay them right then and there. The system, while allowing to do fewer things, is, indeed, more efficient. For example, in order to check up one’s tax debts the user only needs to take two steps on the new websites, while on the old one they need to click through six screens. Moreover, the new website rises up to the challenge of our modern time – the design is responsive and works equally well on traditional computers, tablets and smartphones. By the end of the year the beta will have more services, keeping simple and easy to use design a priority.
