What happened to BBC Action Network?

I was interested to note the fate of the BBC civic actvisim site iCan or Action Network which will close on April 30th 2008.

It seems as if it was always going to be fairly experimental coming out of a brainstorming session at the BBC on how to provide an open social space online to promote active citizenship and launching in 2003. Another suggested motivation was to have a better and quicker understanding of grassrooots local issues for journalists. The site allowed people to set up local campaigns, add media, find followers and build networks.

It was one of the first user-generated websites to embrace online democracy and help people publicise their campaigns and articles online.

The blurb on the site said it closed because the social media landscaped has changed signigicantly since the site was set up five years ago and now the popularity of blogs, social networks and e-democracy tools such as e-petitions. Although none of these tools really play the same role in terms of being a hands on tool for local campaigns with access to networks of local politicians etc.

It would be great to see the BBC publish some sort of evaluation of the site, its successes and challenges to inform other public media type initiatives. These types of sites using UGC are usually fairly resource intensive in terms of moderation with the added risk of being accused of bias. It did however provide a unique space for local activity and networking that seemed to fit very well with the BBC charter of "sustaining citizenship and civil society".

Is there a place for public broadcasters to host hyper-local sites such as EveryBlock or set up local social networks for people to interact on.

David Wilcox has some interesting comments and questions in a recent post on the future of BBC's remit for e-democracy and citizen journalism in his blog Designing for a Civil Society

In closing comments on the Action Network the BBC promise

a wider digital democracy broadband project, ultimately aiming to provide video of debates and speeches from our main institutions, information on your local and national representatives, guides to issues and the institutions, and easy ways for anyone to plug in and take part.