epractice.eu - eParticipation and eDemocracy Network Community

Call for papers extension - 2nd International conference on eParticipation (ePart) 2010

2010-02-19 15:14:32

The 2nd International conference on eParticipation (ePart) 2010 29 August 2 September 2010; Lausanne, Switzerland (co-organised with EGOV 2010) www.demo-net.org/epart Call for Papers The scope of the ePart 2010 covers the whole range of research in eParticipation. Its principal aim is to review research advances in both social and technological scientific domains, seeking to demonstrate new concepts, methods and styles of eParticipation. This second ePart conference focuses on, but is not limited to, the following topics around eParticipation: The Research landscape, directions and foundations Research methods, method integration and techniques Cultural and normative differences in eParticipation Comparative analyses of eParticipation practices eParticipation projects: design, implementation, evaluation, quality and impact Technologies for eParticipation, policy modelling, simulation and visualisation Online conversation and deliberation, eConsulation, ePoling, eLegislation, eElectioneering, eVoting, Social networking Education, training courses, and curricula The conference allows for four distinct types of submissions: Completed research papers Ongoing research and innovative projects Workshops and panels on pertinent issues PhD colloquium submission. ePart is closely aligned with EGOV 2010 - the IFIP eGovernment conference and the EGOV community. Note that this year both conferences will be located for the first time outside the DEXA cluster of conferences. ePart 2010 is sponsored by IFIP, WG8.5. Important Dates Submission of papers: 3 March 2010 Submission of workshop/panel proposals: 15 March 2010 Submissions to PhD colloquium: 15 March 2010 Notification of acceptance for papers: 30 March 2010 Notification of acceptance for workshops/panels: 30 April 2010 Publication All accepted completed research papers will be published by Springer LNCS. Ongoing research and innovation projects papers will be published by Trauner Druck. Outstanding research papers from the conference might be selected for further development and publication in a special issue of a relevant journal. Conference chairs Ann Macintosh, The University of Leeds, United Kingdom Efthimios Tambouris, University of Macedonia, Greece Olivier Glassey, IDHEAP- University of Lausanne, Switzerland Program committee Georg Aichholzer, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria Kim Viborg Andersen, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark Lasse Berntzen, Vestfold University College, Norway Yannis Charalabidis, National Technical University of Athens, Greece Fiorella de Cindio, University of Milan, Italy Clelia Colombo, Generalitat of Catalonia, Spain Simon Delakorda, Institute for Electronic Participation, Slovenia Annelie Ekelin Blekinge Institute of Technology Sweden Olivier Glassey, Institut de Hautes Etudes en Administration Publique, Switzerland Tomas Gordon, Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communications Systems, Germany Dimitris Gouscos, University of Athens, Greece Mary Griffiths, University of Adelaide, Australia Ake Grönlund, Örebro University, Sweden Konstantinos Koskinas, Panteion University, Greece Patrizia Lombardi, Politec di Turin, Italy Euripides Loukis, University of the Aegean, Greece Ann Macintosh, Leeds University, United Kingdom Ursula Maier-Rabler, Salzburg University, Austria Peter Mambrey, Fraunhofer FIT, Germany Rony Medaglia, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark Jeremy Millard, Danish Technological Institute, Denmark David O'Donnell, Intellectual Capital Research, Institute of Ireland, Ireland Peter Parycek, Danube University Krems, Austria Cristian Peraboni, Universita degli Study di Milano, Italy Vassilios Peristeras, DERI, University of Ireland, Ireland David Price, Thoughtgraph Ltd., United Kingdom Øystein Sæbø, University of Agder, Norway Efthimios Tambouris, University of Macedonia, Greece Konstantinos Tarabanis, University of Macedonia, Greece Ella Taylor-Smith, International Teledemocracy Center, United Kingdom Maria Wimmer, University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany Scott Wright, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom Alexandros Xenakis, Panteion University, Greece

2nd International conference on eParticipation (ePart) 2010

2010-01-11 09:56:04

The 2nd International conference on eParticipation (ePart) 2010 29 August 2 September 2010; Lausanne, Switzerland (co-organised with EGOV 2010) www.demo-net.org/epart Call for Papers The scope of the ePart 2010 covers the whole range of research in eParticipation. Its principal aim is to review research advances in both social and technological scientific domains, seeking to demonstrate new concepts, methods and styles of eParticipation. This second ePart conference focuses on, but is not limited to, the following topics around eParticipation: The Research landscape, directions and foundations Research methods, method integration and techniques Cultural and normative differences in eParticipation Comparative analyses of eParticipation practices eParticipation projects: design, implementation, evaluation, quality and impact Technologies for eParticipation, policy modelling, simulation and visualisation Online conversation and deliberation, eConsulation, ePoling, eLegislation, eElectioneering, eVoting, Social networking Education, training courses, and curricula The conference allows for four distinct types of submissions: Completed research papers Ongoing research and innovative projects Workshops and panels on pertinent issues PhD colloquium submission. ePart is closely aligned with EGOV 2010 - the IFIP eGovernment conference and the EGOV community. Note that this year both conferences will be located for the first time outside the DEXA cluster of conferences. ePart 2010 is sponsored by IFIP, WG8.5. Important Dates Submission of papers: 15 February 2010 Submission of workshop/panel proposals: 15 March 2010 Submissions to PhD colloquium: 15 March 2010 Notification of acceptance for papers: 30 March 2010 Notification of acceptance for workshops/panels: 30 April 2010 Publication All accepted completed research papers will be published by Springer Verlag. Ongoing research and innovation projects papers will be published by Trauner Druck. Outstanding research papers from the conference might be selected for further development and publication in a special issue of a relevant journal. Conference chairs Ann Macintosh, The University of Leeds, United Kingdom Efthimios Tambouris, University of Macedonia, Greece Olivier Glassey, IDHEAP- University of Lausanne, Switzerland Program committee Georg Aichholzer, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria Kim Viborg Andersen, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark Lasse Berntzen, Vestfold University College, Norway Yannis Charalabidis, National Technical University of Athens, Greece Fiorella de Cindio, University of Milan, Italy Clelia Colombo, Generalitat of Catalonia, Spain Simon Delakorda, Institute for Electronic Participation, Slovenia Annelie Ekelin Blekinge Institute of Technology Sweden Olivier Glassey, Institut de Hautes Etudes en Administration Publique, Switzerland Tomas Gordon, Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communications Systems, Germany Dimitris Gouscos, University of Athens, Greece Mary Griffiths, University of Adelaide, Australia Ake Grönlund, Örebro University, Sweden Konstantinos Koskinas, Panteion University, Greece Patrizia Lombardi, Politec di Turin, Italy Euripides Loukis, University of the Aegean, Greece Ann Macintosh, Leeds University, United Kingdom Ursula Maier-Rabler, Salzburg University, Austria Peter Mambrey, Fraunhofer FIT, Germany Rony Medaglia, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark Jeremy Millard, Danish Technological Institute, Denmark David O'Donnell, Intellectual Capital Research, Institute of Ireland, Ireland Peter Parycek, Danube University Krems, Austria Cristian Peraboni, Universita degli Study di Milano, Italy Vassilios Peristeras, DERI, University of Ireland, Ireland David Price, Thoughtgraph Ltd., United Kingdom Øystein Sæbø, University of Agder, Norway Efthimios Tambouris, University of Macedonia, Greece Konstantinos Tarabanis, University of Macedonia, Greece Ella Taylor-Smith, International Teledemocracy Center, United Kingdom Maria Wimmer, University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany Scott Wright, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom Alexandros Xenakis, Panteion University, Greece

Can eParticipation improve democratic culture?

2009-12-03 17:21:36

There seems to be a general consensus that an increase of overall political participation would help to improve democratic culture in general. A strong democracy has to offer different participatory processes to answer a variety of needs of both citizens and government bodies. As no single participation tool is able to cover all forms of participation and wide variety of participation processes have to be practiced - both online and offline. An election for example is excellent in involving almost the whole population in a decision making process but is very restrictive in its options (e.g. parties and people to vote for) and does not facilitate deliberation. A public hearing on the other hand can only be attended by a relatively small number of people but offers an open space to discuss many different options and develop compromises in collaboration. One cannot state that one form of political participation is better than the other but both processes answer specific needs by citizens and government and contribute to the democratic culture at large. The electronic aspect of eParticipation enhances participation processes without losing their intention. eDeliberation processes for example can involve a larger number of participants and lower the barrier to entrance in comparison with their offline counterpart but the key factor still is deliberation. By enhancing the underlying participation processes through the use of information and communication technologies eParticipation is able cover participatory needs which were uncovered before. eParticipation can therefore be an important instrument in the orchestra of participation. The whole article stating the above argumentation in detail can be found here on the PEP-NET blog: http://pep-net.eu/blog/2009/12/03/eparticipation-its-cousins-and-democracy/

IFIP IDMAN 2010 - 2nd IFIP WG 11.6 Working Conference on Policies & Research in Identity Management (IDMAN10)

2009-11-18 12:59:10

In Cooperation with The Norwegian Computing Center will take place in Oslo / Norway, 18 19 November 2010 Special theme: (e)surveillance and monitoring "The omnipresence of surveillance and monitoring systems might be at daggers drawn with public and democratic liberties." The world of the 21st century is, more than ever, global and impersonal. Criminal and terrorist threats, both physical and on the internet, increase by the day. The demand for better methods of identification is growing, not only in companies and organisations but also in the world at large. Identity management is put under pressure, due to the growing number of frauds who want to hide their true identity. Identity management challenges the information security research community to focus on interdisciplinary and holistic approaches while retaining the benefits of previous research efforts. As part of this tendency, surveillance and monitoring are more prominently present in society, both in the public and private domain. The original intention being to contribute to security and safety, surveillance and monitoring might, in some cases, have unintended or even contradictory effects. Besides, the omnipresence of surveillance and monitoring systems might be at daggers drawn with public and democratic liberties.

Web 2.0 and ICT use at the 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference and 4th European eGovernment Awards

2009-11-12 15:40:27

Much focus has been on Web 2.0 technology as an enabler for wider dissemination, awareness raising and not least participation and transparency. It is therefore interesting to see that Web 2.0 technologies are being used in various ways for a range of purposes in this years 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference, 18-20 November, in Malmö (Sweden) and 4th European eGovernment Awards. RSS AND TWITTER FEEDS In addition to RSS feed, twitter feed is available onthe Ministerial eGovernment Conference website www.egov2009.se. Participants are actively encourage to twitter about the Informal Ministerial Meeting on eGovernment and the 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference to use the hashtag #egov2009. EUROPEAN eGOVERNMENT AWARDS PUBLIC PRIZE DECIDED BY ONLINE VOTE Following success of the first online vote in relation to the 3rd European eGovernment Awards 2007 in Lisbon (Portugal) the European Commission and the European eGovernment Awards Consortium decided early on to continue practicing what they preach. In addition to selecting a winner, the objective of the online vote for the Public Prize to: increase the visibility and status of public sector ICT projects in Europe; encourage good practice exchange, and; to encourage active involvement and participating in the European eGovernment Awards by the epractice.eu and wider stakeholder communities. The online vote is an additional ICT initiatives by the Awards Consortium and the European Commission including a fully electronic submission process (via www.epractice.eu) and the remote evaluation of the received submissions by the jury in the first phase of the evaluation. The online voting for the European eGovernment Awards Public Prize was launched late this summer and closed on 11 November at 18:00 CET. For over a month, the members of the ePractice.eu community have been able to vote for their favorite cases from among the 52 European eGovernment Awards 2009 finalists. The voting is now closed but the 52 finalist cases remain published at ePractice.eu and are open to receive members comments. The winner of the Public Prize will be announced at the awards ceremony on 19 November at 18:30 and likely to the subject of a webcast. WEBCAST OF CONFERENCE SESSIONS The plenary sessions and three of the parallel sessions at the Ministerial eGovernment Conference will be webcast live and on demand this year from the conference website www.egov2009.se. In addition the ceremony for the 4th European eGovernment Awards will most likely also be the subject of a webcast. The programme is available on www.egov2009.se/programme VIRTUAL EXHIBITION For the first time the European eGovernment Awards finalist are accessible online through a virtual exhibition. The virtual exhibition can be visited on www.expopolis.com (NB: for practical reasons you have to register). Naturally an electronic version of the conference exhibition catalogue will be available on www.epractice.eu/awardsmediakit as of 19 November when the Ministerial eGovernment Conference and Exhibition opens. OTHER NEWS Ministerial tour of European eGovernment Awards Finalist stands: A ministerial tour of the European eGovernment Awards Finalists stands will take place on 18 November 2009 at the Ministerial eGovernment Conference and Exhibition. Finalist country fact sheets published to enhance the promotion of the European eGovernment Awards Finalists 2009 17 country factsheets from those European countries from which finalists have been selected for the European eGovernment Awards 2009. The factsheets are published in English but will be made available in the relevant national languages in the beginning of November. The fact sheets are available with other dissemination material on www.epractice.eu/en/awardsmediakit NEWS AND BACKGROUND www.epractice.eu/awards www.egov2009.se

Technology and the Justice System

2009-10-21 11:20:06

Experienced in the justice system improvements, the development of legal structures, community life processes in their changes, and they create a parallel society of the individuals expectations of the justice system, justice system to improve the technological aspects as ranked. Countries all over the world as their technological advances within its own borders of countries and other countries with both opportunities and allows to live in unity. As technological progress allows all countries with each other through the justice system where they do not recognize the limits of technology to develop bilateral relations as positive development has shown with. This community of people that they created within the borders of civilization has enabled them to achieve the power to advance. In international competitions, not only their competition, even in countries experiencing their own inner beauty and the excitement of the future for the people of the justice system also is indicative of how much would be safe.

(e) Participatory Budgeting in Germany

2009-10-20 15:59:58

Like in other European countries participatory budgeting is one of the most prominent examples of citizen participation in politics in Germany. More than 115 municipalities or cities are currently about to implement or have already implemented participatory budgeting projects. Some of the participatory budgeting projects are still implemented using only traditional communication channels. In most cases the Internet is leastwise used to spread information. Quiet a lot of municipalities or cities are providing interactive channels on the Internet to support the offline activities. And in a few cases the Internet is the only channel for the citizens to participate. A summary of recent e-participatory budgeting projects in Germany can be found here: http://pep-net.eu/blog/2009/10/20/e-participatory-budgeting-in-germany/

Development of PEP-NET well one track and received in the US

2009-10-13 16:26:04

The Pan European eParticipation Network has developed very well since it was launched in May 2008. With more than 40 members from 17 European countries and various successful activities like for example the joint online consultation with the European eParticipation study and involvements on the major eParticipation related conferences. This success has also been noticed by the organisers of the Personal Democracy Forum in the United States (and for the first time this year also here in Europe). PEP-NET representatives are contributing to the PDF blog (http://personaldemocracy.com/blog-entry/networking-better-e-participation-%E2%80%93-pan-european-eparticipation-network-1) and the network also provides one of the key speakers to the conference in November in Barcelona. This is a great chance for PEP-NET to help to bridge the gap between the US activities in participatory democracy and the work done here in Europe. Links: http://www.pep-net.eu/ http://personaldemocracy.com/blog-entry/networking-better-e-participation-%E2%80%93-pan-european-eparticipation-network-1

World eDemocracy Forum finalists of the 2009 e-Democracy Awards announced

2009-09-08 13:39:45

(From: http://www.edemocracy-forum.com/2009/09/the-world-edemocracy-forum-announces-finalists-of-the-2009-edemocracy-awards.html) For the fifth consecutive year, the World e-Democracy Forum, organized in Issy-les-Moulineaux, will be rewarding those who have made a commitment to affecting meaningful political change through use of the Internet and new technologies. Trophies will be awarded at a ceremony held during in the French National Assembly on Thursday, October 22nd, in partnership with the American web portal PoliticsOnline, the Politech Institute of Europe and Blog Territorial. The 2009 Award finalists are: International e-Democracy Award, PoliticsOnline Created in 1996 by Phil Noble, a specialist in political affairs, PoliticsOnline is the web's oldest political Internet company. PoliticsOnline has partnered with the World e-Democracy Forum since its inception and each year publishes its "Top 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics", a list co-written with the help of internet users themselves, and one of whose members will be awarded the International e-Democracy Award of the year. www.politicsonline.com 1. The Democracy Center, represented by Jim Shultz, Executive Director (Bolivia) www.democracyctr.org Over the past decade, the Bolivia-based Democracy Center has used the Internet to mobilize international organizations around the plight of those in need in developing countries. 2. CLIME, Center for Liberty in the Middle East, represented by founder Eleana Gordon (USA) www.mideastliberty.org In 2009, CLIME (Center for Liberty in the Middle East) launched the Online Activism Institute, with the hopes of offering Muslim women an innovative tool with which to participate in the democratic process. 3. DiploFoundation, represented by founder Jovan Kurbalija (Malta) www.diplomacy.edu A specialist offering training in international relations on a global level, DiploFoundation has prepared over one thousand diplomats for work in the Internet management sector in the context of an increasingly globalized world. 4. EUProfiler, represented by project manager Alexander Treschel (Switzerland) www.euprofiler.eu 2.5 million Europeans have used EU Profiler since its creation, an impartial tool that allowed users to compare their personal political views with those of about 300 European political parties before voting in the 2009 European Parliamentary elections. 5. Peter D. Greenberger, Team Manger Elections and Issue Advocacy, Google Inc. (USA) www.linkedin.com/pub/peter-greenberger/1/550/853 The online tools that Google offers (YouTube, Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Ads) were heavily used over the course of the recent American presidential campaign. Democratic candidate Barack Obama spent 7.5 million dollars integrating these tools into his campaign strategy. Peter Greenberger informs and educates policy makers and administration officials regarding the use of these tools in order to make the political process more accessible to ordinary citizens. 6. The Iranian protesters (Iran) Perseverance and ingenuity allowed the Iranian President's opposition to give their movement a level of force and scale unmatched since the 1979 revolution. They also showed that blogs and social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, played an undeniably central role in the Iranian political crisis. 7. Nazaha, the Arab web portal in the fight against corruption, represented by founder Ibrahim Fahmy (Egypt) www.nazaha-eg.net After having created several online tools to promote democracy and human rights, both in Egypt and in the rest of the Arab world, Hany Ibrahimi Fahmy created Nazaha, which translates to integrity and transparency in Arabic, the first Arab web portal in the fight against corruption. 8. Pollitika.com, represented by founder Marko Rakar (Croatia) http://pollitika.com Since its inception in 2004, Marko Rakar's personal blog, dedicated to the state of economics, politics, and the media, has been one of the most read in all of Croatia. In 2006, he created the collaborative blog "Pollitika.com", which has since become one of the main sources of news and information in his country. 9. Joe Rospars and Obamas New Media Team (USA) http://www.bluestatedigital.com/blog/people/joe-rospars At only 27 years old, he served as the New Media Director for Barack Obama's presidential campaign and contributed to the online collection of close to 500 million dollars. He is the co-founder of Blue State Digital, a consulting firm created in 2004 to help politicians, private companies, and NGOs develop strategies to bring their services online. 10. Twitter (USA) www.twitter.com Twitter allows people from around the world to connect and communicate in a free and simple way. Twitter proved the most useful tool in countering censorship during the Moldavian and Iranian crises when their respective governments tried to tighten controls on information and communication. European e-Democracy Award, Politech Institute/IP Label The Politech Institute is a European Center of Political Technologies founded in Brussels, whose main goal is to bring excellence and innovation to the domain of Information and Communication Technologies in order to advance modern public governance and democracy. In partnership with IP-Label, Politech rewards the year's most groundbreaking European initiative. Close to 50 initiatives and websites were analyzed using two complex indicators that measure innovation, accessibility, content, and diversity of the tools used to reinforce participative democracy, as well as the availability and performance of the website in question over the course of one month. www.politech-institute.org 0. cz2009.eu, Portal of the Czech Presidency of the EU, represented by editor-in-chief Veronika Cvejnova (Czech Republic) www.cz2009.eu For its first European Union presidency, in the first half of 2009, the Czech Republic published a highly interactive website combining opinion studies, educational models regarding European institutions, current events, and useful information. 1. e-Participation.net, represented by Daniel Roleff, editor of Politik Digital.de (Germany) www.e-participation.net e-Participation.net is a joint initiative by Politik Digital, a German political web portal, and British Council, the British cultural agency based in Germany, to create an interactive database of projects and initiatives whose goal is to reinforce citizen participation in the political process. 2. Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, represented by Tony Robinson, head of Internet and Press and Communications Unit (Great Britain) www.socialistgroup.eu The website of the European Parliament Socialist Group offers a place of debate and information in web 2.0 style, combining the power of social networks, multimedia, and podcasts. 3. Toute lEurope.fr, represented by Jean-Yves Nicolas, Administrator (France) www.touteleurope.fr Touteleurope.fr became the premier web portal providing information on the 2009 European Parliamentary elections through full coverage of the election campaign across all 27 EU countries, as well as through the organization of interactive forums involving citizens and important officials, such as President Barroso and various political candidates. 4. Voice, represented by Johanna Schepers, coordinator (Germany) www.give-your-voice.eu Giving Europeans a voice in debates on EU legislation: such is the objective of this e-Participation project, co-financed by the European Commission. Voice introduces new ways for citizens to become more engaged in the legislative process alongside their MEPs. French e-Democracy Award, Blog Territorial Blog Territorial is a collaborative web portal, a forum for exchange of information, analysis, meetings, and debates surrounding current events and innovations in communication at the national level. Blog Territorial is joining forces with the e-Democracy Forum for the first time to reward the most innovative initiative related to online citizenship and/or participatory democracy. www.blog-territorial.com 1. TV Agglo - web TV Montpellier, represented by Stéphane Vincent, General Manager http://www.montpellier-agglo.com/ This video platform allows citizens to ask their elected officials questions regarding city services that affect their daily lives, in order to become more familiar with them and with how to better use them. Elected officials then give a taped response to the questions asked. 2. Auwwwergne Blog platform and social networking site for the Auvergne region, represented by Catherine Henri Martin, Vice President of the Regional Council. http://auwwwergne.com/ L'Auwwwergne.com is a platform for blogs, expression of opinions, and information exchange backed by a social network (the first in the region). It allows members to create a profile, add contacts, join groups, and create blogs on topics of their choice, thus giving a voice to all citizens and establishing a dialogue between them on various subjects. 3. Brasiwiki wiki for the township of Bras-sur-Meuse, represented by Julien Diry, Mayor. http://www.bras-sur-meuse.fr/ The township of Bras-sur-Meuse uses its website as an index and a place of debate. Most notably, it launched a wiki in June 2009, the Brasiwiki, which encourages people living in the area to contribute information and advice, especially in regards to the LUP (Local Urbanization Plan). The township's website also contains links to two useful and interesting blogs, the Mayor's blog and the township's blog, both of which are updated on a regular basis in order to inform and foster dialogue between citizens and their local government. 4. The 27th region site tracking innovation in citizenship http://www.la27eregion.fr/ Hosted by the New Generation Internet Foundation, the 27th region is the first agency for public innovation that allows regions to prepare for the future and to progressively change the way that they perform their duties. It distinguishes itself through continued tracking of regional projects and initiatives, through the proposal of challenges regarding issues central to preparations for the future of the regions and territories in question, and through ongoing research of creative, innovative, and citizen-proposed solutions to such challenges. 5. Place publique independent, online, information site http://www.place-publique.fr Placepublique.fr is a citizen-based media, a forum for engagement on social issues, and a tool for participatory democracy. The website's main goal is to contribute to ethical, scientific, and societal debates through articles and reports, discussions and projects, expertise and education. The "find an initiative" toolbar establishes a directory of initiatives (associations, enterprises, communities, media). An active forum, "my marketplace", offers regular topics of debate related to current events or controversial themes, and allows internet users to express their personal opinions regarding the subject at hand.

Participation 3.0 Collaborators

2009-09-01 12:28:49

Here at E-Democracy.org we've released our Participation 3.0 draft: http://blog.e-democracy.org/posts/488 As a project in Europe (four UK communities), New Zealand, and based in Minnesota, we are interested in working with more communities to extend the ideas in our draft and diversify the global input into the next generation of online civic engagement. Let us know if you'd like to establish a European arm of our effort.

New youth participation website in development

2009-08-20 12:04:45

Hi everyone. Let me first say hello. Im brand new on here and looking forward to getting to know many of you over the coming months. I work for a youth communications company in the UK called Streetscape. We specialise in youth participative marketing and design practises and were currently in the process of creating a tool to facilitate online collaboration. The website is going to be for youth groups but could easily be tailored for any democratic group. Initially we are creating this site to allow youth groups to consult with marginalised young people, or those with physical impairments. The goal is to widen participation and to make it easier for young people to gather the opinions of the wider youth population. The site will contain the usual tools (polls, surveys, blogs, podcasts, petitions, etc.) but will pull them all together in one simple interface with some pretty cool reporting functions. As with all of Streetscapes projects the young people will have as much control as possible. You guys seem to be the experts in this so Id welcome your advice and support. Feel free to get in touch if youre interested in being involved in the development. John PS: We need BETA testers. If youre willing to help well give you a free subscription.

Personal minutes: Bringing Together and Accelerating eGovernment Research in the EU (Brussels)

2009-06-15 14:20:18

2009-06-12 Intro Of the different fields constituting eDemocracy, eParticipation appears to be both the most dynamic and the most promising with regard to enhancing the democratic process. This is manifested by the range of existing applications such as eConsultation, ePetition and eDeliberation and the breadth of research recently pursued. The latter encompasses diverse teams throughout the world with main disciplines ranging from political and social science to specialised ICT systems supporting content management, argumentation, privacy, identification and others. eParticipation activities (Thanassiss Chrissafis) EU: e-participation and e-voting US: transparency and observation rather than e-Voting eDemocracy in Europe (Ioannis Kotsiopoulos) Problem e-participation fatigue e-participation has uneven political effects some parties may benefit more than others Funded research: CIP, PEP-NET Whats the ecology of e-participation? Actors, processes, linkages, dependencies? How are actors and processes linked? Geneva a-voting: Uses new security system? Momentum (Daniel van Lerberghe) Methodology for monitoring evaluating and consolidating projects In France 18-34 year old was majority of non-voters WAVE project visualizes output of discussions But missing: Results of pilots and trials not published only finished websites (at most?) Also missing: projects aimed politicians getting hold of Web 2.0 important to link both groups politicians and citizens DEMO net (John Shaddock) Started 2007, Suspended 2008, Terminated 2009 Reasons? What can we learn? Aim: link practitioners and researchers Industry: dont know yet how to develop monetize Government : why never beyond pilot stage? If successful than gets killed for power issues. Politicians fear loosing power. For those using pen and paper, e will be a threat e-participation threat or opportunity for politicians? fear of losing control or chance to link closer to citizens? Explain, show it in operation Discussion: link e-participation with e-government e-government is now about cost-cutting most IT focus on saving money, better processes better: community engagement people target political social issues representative us. Participative democracy how do we link the capacity to make decisions its about leadership at local levels Role of eEnvironment (Jiri Hrebicek) Various effects: Transparency, prevention, standardization Principle 40 eEnvironment monitoring use and effects of natural resources and allow public access to information single information space in environment issues (SISE) can support SEIS single information space Shared environmental information space SEIS for transparency and participation on environmental issues information tools for allowing citizens to cooperate and be informed about environmental issues Social media to support e-participation (Elenora Panto) Sanpablo: citizens discuss problems and solutions (but public services who sponsor the problem dont notice) Icity: semantic assistant to provide targeted information on touristic things (OWL, sends feedback) Multichannel platform to collect information from different sources Literacy: participation media (access mostly solved, equipment, broadband) Example: on berlusconis blog are thousands of comments but how to get the comments from the network?? Teledemocracy center (Peter Cruickshank) eRepresentative: whats new, what do colleagues and experts think, what do we decide dont develop shiny e-participation apps ,understand the needs and motivations of politicians and citizens, their own perceptions substantive content of information how use shapes organizational context HUWY project: young people inspire problem solving, politicians use as info source ePetitioner: looking local, Bundestag evaluates, moves to another system (which one, what was the problem?), public-i develops OSS version needed: long-term studies on participation, not just making an application work, how to promote engagement transparency: citizens must be able to tract the policy process benefit must be clear, show how democracy works Euro Petition: 40% of petitions rejected because of EP was not able to deal with issues (national) Initiation through local authorities Tools to support petitioner to market petitions (mobilize others) Benefit: feeling of self-efficacy What factors support long-term deployment Missing: multi-language, Open source tools ICT infrastructures and architectures for participation and mass cooperation (Michael Kaschesky) E-participation research: Linking networks to policy making, Rigorous e-participation research, C*PEG iPolis research program Research questions: Meta-models for public governance, IT architectures for public participation Relevant theory: Political science and sociology, Management and organization studies, Information systems approaches Valid and robust methods: Qualitative & quantitative analysis, Architecture governance framework Coherent & explicit approach: iPolis Conceptual framework, Example Local information management, Challenge Global information management Replicate across studies: Planned - Testbedsand livingLabs, Best-practice framework metrics Scrutiny and critique: Practitioner & expert feedback, Peer-reviewed dissemination Presentation: https://studium.fbw.bfh.ch/PEG/intra/DB1/AgileResults/Kaschesky--E-participation-Meta-models-and-IT-architectures-PDF.pdf Open Legislative Council (Cyrille Velikanov) No tools exist for mass cooperation.. only communication.. Web 2.0 is about chatting.. much less about deciding and doing Open access Well-informed for discussion Equal playing field for all Requirements: good posts on top, filtering out bad contributions, grouping comments per action, show relevant links, several contribution types, criteria for assessing quality of contribution, possibility to shown if supportive or not of previous contribution, rating of posts and users (prevents mobs attacks and oligarchic ruling , two major problems) Wiki Democracy (Jennifer Shkabatur) Biennale Democrazia Debate of going open access at European University Mash-Up of Google map and crimes, Wiki crimes using Google maps DISCUSSION Questions: whats the goal of participation? Participatory designs? Inequalities among participants! What are the results? Proper evaluation methods Incentives to participate What if people are not interested? They dont need to participate only need to knew that they could (Empowerment) Think of open source some only say what bothers them They participate when feel that they have an impact You need tool to extract valuable information from comments Editing can be done participatory Different views on democracy Everyone involved or just bystanding and agreeing? two perspectives on democracy.. get involved if it bothers you (us/uk) vs. collective effort

White House looking for international best practices in public participation

2009-06-10 21:10:55

Test

Workshop: Social networking tools and widgets to promote or expand eParticipation initiatives.

2009-06-05 09:18:07

we are organising a workshop at eDem 2009 http://www.ocg.at/edem2009/, Vienna, Austria, 7 - 8th September, 2009 Everyone plans to use social networking tools and sites for publicise their e-participation initiative (and those of us sponsored by the Commission are very much encouraged to do this). But, when it comes down to it, what does this mean? How much time needs to be devoted to it? Does it work? So, we thought that, in planning how to do this for our project, we would find out what everyone else is doing. The kind people at eDem 2009 offered a workshop slot complete with computer lab, for a very practical investigation. If you have experience on this topic, wed love you to come to the workshop and share it. It would also be really helpful if you could provide some information in advance we are running a mini survey about tool use via an xl file: http://itc2.napier.ac.uk/HuwyWiki/edem_2009_workshop_framework.xls (download, fill in and return to Ella Taylor-Smith e.taylor-smith@napie.ac.uk ) We also have some space in the conference proceedings if you would like to write a very short position paper on the topic. Theres more information about all of this in the cal for participation: http://itc.napier.ac.uk/itc/projects/huwy/eDem2009_workshop_SNtools_cfp.pdf If youre interested in this, please get in touch.

Swedish EU election campaigners reach out via social networks

2009-04-23 14:41:45

Following on the posting on "Technology use in the 2009 South African elections" Anna Kelly (a Swedish colleague and Head of eStrategy at Solna Municipality) point out earlier today (on Facebook) that a number of swedish parties have been inspired by Obamas 2008 election campaign to make more use of social networks and ICT tools. The inspiration comes at a apt time with the European Parliament elections loomes increasingly large on the horizon. As with any election the main motivational factor is a wish to canvas the electorate, bring out and secure their votes. Most Swedish campaign managers point out that social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube are particular important in this regard as these are the mediums which have the highest number of users. Thus consituting the prime focal areas for potential online canvassing. For those of you who understand Swedish DN.se published an article on the topic: http://www.dn.se/fordjupning/europa2009/svenska-partier-harmar-obamas-webbkampanj-1.850428

Welcoming Argument Visualisation to Europe

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:46:09 UTC

The WAVE project aims at improving the inclusiveness and transparency of EU decision making at the national and European level by using highly integrated, state-of-the-art Argument Visualisation techniques to make the impact of complex EU environmental legislation on climate change more accessible and easy to understand for citizens, special interest groups and decision makers alike.In WAVE, an innovative argument visualisation platform will be deployed (Debategraph) in a cross border context.

In this frame, 3 pilot projects will be created in the UK, France and Lithuania, as well as a central debate pilot. WAVE will mainly target cross-border discussions on drafted and implemented legislation. These discussions will be facilitated on Debategraph so as to understand the impact of the proposed and implemented legislation.Uniquely, Debategraph will not only enable citizens and decision makers with differing points of view to more easily comprehend complex environmental debates; it will also empower them - through the use of a collaborative wiki - to work together in developing integrated feedback on legislation.WAVE will closely work with MEPs and MPs in order to ultimately join up with and inform at least three governments-the national governments of the three trial sites - UK, France and Lithuania. The climate change debate will be used to test the effectiveness of argument visualisation tools in helping citizens from a variety of demographics to better understand complex issues and evaluate the conditions under which these tools can bear an impact on the environment.

Online participation of citizens in EP Committee activities

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:04:00 UTC

Through technology developed by the project partners, EU citizens will get the opportunity to have a closer contact with-and more influence on-their representatives at the European Parliament.

The eCommittee project, part of the EU eParticipation initiative will gather suggestions and questions from citizens and interested organisations from ten EU countries. The questions will address Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) serving on committees looking at climate change and other environmental issues. Beginning now and up until 2010, the project will target six major committee sessions for citizen participation. If MEPs positively respond/react to the citizen input, the pilot scheme could pave the way for a fully functioning system that allows people to have more direct input into all legislation.

In the initial stages, the project team has focused on ensuring that the technical infrastructure was in place, to move along with the proposed participation. The four main project partners have also appointed national moderators in each of the ten targeted EU Member States. The project will use web-conferencing technology combined with the European Parliament's new video and audio streaming services. Slovenia-based project partner Novitech will look after the technical side of the project, provide online collaborative tools and ensure consistent content service before, during and after committee sessions. The project Steering Committee has been identifying and appointing national moderators and inviting concerned stakeholders from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom to participate.

Climate Change legislation expertise is provided by the Belgium-based Climate Action Network, while the Association of Accredited Lobbyists to the European Parliament will handle liaising with MEPs and communicating with the public.

The proposed structure with partners in place enabled environmental non-governmental organisations, business SMEs, labor organisations, climate researchers, student organisations and other bodies interested in climate change to feed their input to their national moderators. Input from individual citizens will also be encouraged. The project planners aim to attract about 200 active citizen participants or an average of ten from each country. The participants will be kept informed of all the relevant news and events relating to climate change and the environment via the project's website, which also features a discussion forum.

If the majority of MEPs on the European Parliament's Environmental Committee and the Temporary Climate Change Committee agree, the sessions the project has chosen to cover will be accessible live via the eCommittee communications architecture. Two master moderators will be present at the committee sessions and will relay questions and comments to the MEPs. Whether this will happen while the MEPs are meeting, or before or after sessions, remains to be decided. It is uncertain how MEPs and the public will react to the new concept. However, if it is a success, then the service could lead to more participation in the pan-European democratic process.

Federated eParticipation Systems for Cross-Societal Deliberation

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:22:54 UTC

The main objective of FEED is to apply a new concept in e-Participation by allowing users to have seamless access to existing federated content that matches their needs for information supporting the several aspects of a public deliberation, when focusing on Environmental and Energy issues. Through FEED, existing federated content and/or other knowledge material (some of it already under processing also by other current eParticipation projects), are contextually annotated or channeled according to the issue and deliberation process specifics, allowing in this way, the platform users to perceive, search for and retrieve it in the context of a participative e-activity.

In particular FEED focuses on improving the quality of implementation of European legal acts and fostering interaction for more meaningful information flows between the regional/local government and citizens. Specifically with the use of the state of the art ICT tools, providing functionalities such as metadata mapping and search and retrieval of interrelated content, FEED will support public debates on a series of issues that stem from European legal acts (Directives, Decisions, etc). Such issues may constitute zoning, environmental permits, energy, and/or others and drive the policy making agendas of regional/local government - the final set of issues and deliberation processes to be incorporated into the FEED pilot will be decided in the initial stage of the project in the corresponding work package. In this respect the FEED trial will tackle both the social and IT challenges for achieving cross societal deliberation on common issues based on state of the art technological paradigms for content federation.

FEED constitutes a Citizen-Driven trial project that provides the corresponding tools and engages a critical mass of public involvement in the initial stages of the legislative process, taking into consideration also any internal sub-stages that the deliberation procedure may introduce while exploiting the on going results from other, pilot eParticipation Legislation-oriented projects run by members of the FEED Consortium. Specifically FEED focuses on:

Empowering the legislation proposal formation stage, driven by the decision makers' need to scan the overall environment where the proposed legislation is going to act upon and identify early any social problems and need, and/or establish the background for a policy or a change in a policy. In this process, the project aims at making available relevant content, that will be managed in a federated environment of information sources - some of them also stemming from projects like LEX-IS, LEGESE, SEAL, DEMO-Net where project partners already participate.

Supporting the debate on a municipal level but with a truly Pan-European orientation, which engages a critical mass of participants in (a) gathering evidence, knowledge and supporting information from a range of sources, including citizens, businesses, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), and other socio-economic organizations, (b) presenting and understanding context, (c) designing the appropriate public policies for managing the problems that meet the needs of the involved parties, including the political context and (d) developing and concluding upon a range of options.

Targeting the legislative and policy issues of Energy and Environment, allowing for verticalisation and real solution-oriented application of existing tools, capitalising on already gained experience and guided by high-caliber experts present in the FEED team.

Testing in practice novel approaches for user involvement, including content federation, Web 2.0 and social networking techniques, context-driven semantic annotation tools, multiple channel interaction paradigms and trust building approaches.

www.jugend2help.gv.at - its your life - its your government

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:45:59 UTC

jugend2help.gv.at represents an eParticipation procedure for young citizens for the development of relevant concepts for the Austrian citizen platform "HELP.gv.at" following the "Multi-stage model for citizen participation" (former: 3-step model for citizen participation):
1.contribution or deliberation,

2 evaluation and concept-elaboration,

3 prioritisation, and

4 integration.

The project focuses on young people living in Austria including all young Austrians and also those who are somehow related to Austria. jugend2help.gv.at was a project initiated by the Austrian Chancellery with partners from the public sector, developed by the Federal Computing Centre of Austria.

Social media for citizens and public sector collaboration

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:44:26 UTC

The Somus project will create new understanding of citizenship, publicity and participation in decision-making in the era of social media. Open, citizen-driven media must support the different phases of participation: public definition of common problems, collection and accumulation of knowledge and other competencies, development of socially grounded innovations, and actual decision-making.

The main objectives of the project are:

To produce basic knowledge about dynamics of information, knowledge and citizenship in the participative media environment
To develop new technical solutions for user-driven media service development
To demonstrate and evaluate new media concepts that are enabled through open interfaces between public sector, mass media and citizen groups
To create and validate a model for open Internet-based research in collaboration with The Open Research Swarm and collaboration network of different actors

The project will result in better understanding of the phenomenon of self-organizing ubiquitous media as well as theories, methods and demonstrations that will be evaluated in real life situations with users.

Integrating Semantics,Social Software & Games in eParticipation

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:49:40 UTC

VoiceS is a complementary project, integrating a serious game and a semantic search function into the existing German and Spanish VoicE platforms that have been awarded with the ePractice Good Label.
The consortium comprises experts from the field of eParticipation, game development, communication and policy analysis from five European countries. VoiceS will update and complement the VoicE internet platforms in order to further promote the dialogue between citizens from European regions and "their" regional policy makers from the European Parliament, thus creating a direct link between citizens and the representatives from their region. The project will continue to focus on the policy area of consumer protection in the EU, a field of high relevance to each citizen. It will build on the community and contacts that have been firmly established in the framework of the VoicE project.

Io partecipo - The eParticipation community in the Emilia-Romagna

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 08:31:11 UTC

Io partecipo I participate is the new project set up by Emilia-Romagna Region to provide its citizens with information services, listening/open communication channels, aiming at promoting participation in public life. The main access channel is the web area www.iopartecipo.net which uses the e-democracy open source kit which has been developed and used by a consortium of regional agencies, within the framework of the Partecipa.net project. MISSION: through the setting up of a system of permanent and meaningful relations with citizens in Emilia-Romagna Region, experimenting with methods and tools fostering participation in regional policies. The goals of Io Partecipo are translated into specific services delivered online. INFORMING: iopartecipo.net delivers customized information: at the basis of the services, there is the identification of users' groups, to which specific interests and needs expressed by citizens refer. SUPPORTING: iopartecipo.net offers customized consulting services. Experts in different fields answer directly to specific citizens' questions and, if they are of general interest, publish them on the web. All the consulting services are delivered free of charge. CONSULTING: iopartecipo.net carries out poll taking on specific themes, which represent a venue for direct and active participation of users according to their interests and needs. The goal consists in creating a two-way relation with users, based on a concrete and constant mutual exchange of data between the administration and its citizens. DIALOGUE: iopartecipo.net activates periodical online forums to open a direct dialogue with citizens on issues and topics of particular public relevance. In a virtual space, different subjects discuss together, and have the opportunity to exchange opinions and reaching shared views. COOPERATING: iopartecipo.net offers citizens the opportunity to become editors! With a specific form they can send news, indications and articles to the Io partecipo editing room.

Public Participation for water protection: U@Marenostrum

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:25:39 UTC

The project is designed as a trial project that explores the strengths and weaknesses of a regional and issue specific approach towards eParticipation. The project aims at supporting citizens and local actors to identify and solve important environmental problems related to the management of water and marine environmental protection in the French Riviera, Valencia and the Ionian Islands regions in order to enhance their participation in the environmental legislative and decision making processes. The local decision-makers as well as MPs will be able to ask for the citizens opinions in order to gather their feedback on a specific policy issue like River Basin Management Plans, Marine Strategy or Costal Zone Management. At the same time, citizens will be better informed about the EU water and marine environment policies as well as about their national water and marine environmental policies. Thus, they will be able to monitor the implementation of the EU legislation in their country. Furthermore, the project will create a framework for exchange and cooperation between Member States. In this way, the actions in the environmental sector will be made more coherent and the conservation of the marine ecosystems and sustainable water resource management will be supported.

The U@MARENOSTRUM Project will establish an eParticipation platform that will i nclude web-based Public Participation GIS which will capture all information on environmental issues on a geographical map.

Top-level decisions through public deliberation on the internet

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:43:47 UTC

This case study found internet-enabled public deliberation having a direct impact on top-level decisions and identified institutional mechanisms by which this occurs. Most government initiatives aimed at promoting online deliberation fall short of expectations because they continue to employ the traditional government-to-citizens model. The participatory governance model developed in this study presents design and process parameters along which more integrative and interactive participatory approaches can be modeled. The applicability of the propositions is demonstrated by systematically collecting online data and analyzing public deliberation on the governance of a worldwide software standard. Self-selection of participants and opposing views, mutual adjustment, and high influence combined with incremental decision-making were shown to be critical for institutionalizing a broadly supported governance approach.

In order to understand better how the co-evolution of internet and democracy can be improved, the present study investigates the following research questions: (1) does internet-enabled public deliberation have an impact on top-level decision-making and (2) are there discernible patterns or mechanisms by which public deliberation is incorporated into top-level decision-making?

The case developed and tested a novel ICT-driven methodology for identifying and tracing processes of public opinion-forming and mobilization on the internet. Deliberation occurred in the natural environment of participants. It demonstrates how processes of opinion-forming and mobilization on the internet were incidental with changes to the Java governance approach. The methodological approach used a combination of quantitative and qualitative coding techniques to systematically identify and analyze relevant sources on the internet.

Based on the unique combination of codes from each dimension attached to statements, 12 major groups of combinations (themes) were identified. This made it possible to trace the dominance of themes over time as well as the key participants supporting themes at different points in time. Comparing the evolution of themes with key outcomes allowed linking processes of opinion-forming to key decisions and actions by corporate actors. Application and testing using a real-life incident of internet-enabled deliberation and negotiation proved the feasibility of the methodology and ICT-toolset for tracing and structuring internet-content.

DOWNLOAD LINK: Top-level decisions through public deliberation on the internet: Evidence from the evolution of Java governance

ePractice Library

PNYKA

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:30:52 UTC

Research and Development of Electronic Voting Systems based on Formal Methods of Risk Assessment and Management focusing on the drawing of Public Confidence.

Rate Your Politician

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:18:40 UTC

Rate Your Politician has the mission to become the global market leader in the use of the Internet and information technology to collect high quality, in-depth data on public opinion, voter trends and market research; providing people, companies, politicians, educational institutions and political parties with a greater view of the countries public opinion. Rate Your Politician has developed a web platform which encourages accountability and effectiveness in government, increasing people's access to accurate, real time information about government and public opinion. By promoting active citizenship and encouraging people to express themselves and connect with others with shared interests. We encourage citizens in democratic nations to take action on what matters to them and we give them the e-democracy tools to organise and interact. Rate Your Politician is engaged in developing an e-participation framework at the local, regional, national and International levels that allow people to come together from different community backgrounds and different religious faiths to, make informed choices, and take action on the issues that matter to them. We promote transparency, accountability, and trust across media and government. New technologies, particularly the Internet technologies, provide a useful mechanism for engaging with young people. Young people are largely a disenfranchised group in society that can be reached through new understandings in social informatics. Although youth are quick to uptake online tools, providing these tools is not sufficient to engage young people in the democratic decision making process in their country. Rate Your Politician aims to address these issues. This has resulted in the development of the UK and Ireland's high-level national public stages, which situate online dialogues, active rating and debating in a much broader, supporting framwork. Our work will continue to research ways of developing online consultation tools that are both used and useful in society.

e-pnyka.gr

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 10:38:41 UTC

E-pnyka.gr is a public podium, aiming at public involvement into issues of wider social impact. The goal is to form a publicly driven think tank and thus be able to form deliverables which will in turn be published to organizations, political parties, media and all related parties to the context of the deliverable reports / proposals.

Neighbourhood Empowerment in North London

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 17:38:08 UTC

Neither the social technology nor an understanding of community empowerment issues are sufficient on their own to ensure that communities grow stronger, but together they can change the way the world works. What is Harringay Online? Harringay Online is a neighbourhood network working to strengthen the neighbourhood of Harringay in the north London Borough of Haringey. Through social networking technology Harringay Online provides a virtual high street cafe-cum-village hall, which blends web-based and real world neighbourhood interactions to build stronger more empowered communities. What does Harringay Online aim to do? Harringay Online is focussed on achieving four main outcomes: - Building a sense of place in a neighbourhood an understanding and appreciation of the neighbourhood to encourage a feeling of belonging and regarding a place as home. - Building social capital in the neighbourhood building networks, norms and trust that enable people to act together more effectively to pursue shared objectives simply put building community spirit or neighbourliness. - Empowering local people to take action shape their neighbourhood working to improve local peoples ability to influence local decisions and affect local circumstances - Engaging people in local democratic processes. Ultimately our goal is to increase the wellbeing levels of people in neighbourhoods.

Citizenlink eParticipation Awards

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:09:39 UTC

In 2008 in The Netherlands for the first time a national eParticpation Awards scheme was organised. Its aim is to reward succesful initiatives in the field of eParticipation and to inspire potential followers. eParticipation is conceived of as using ICTs to involve citizens in improving public service delivery, the democratic process and societal inclusion. There are two categories: an initiative by Government and an initiative by Society. Selection is based on compliance with the Dutch eCitizen Charter. Out of 32 cases an independent jury nominated 10, and choose two winners. The Awards are organised by Citizenlink on behalf of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.Citizenlink (Burgerlink) is an initiative of the Dutch Government to improve the performance of the public sector by involving citizens. To that end Citizenlink promotes quality standards, measures citizen satisfaction and stimulates eparticipation. Citizenlink will run from 2008-2010 and is part of ICTU, the Dutch implementation organisation for ICT and government. The awards were granted by the Secretary of State for Internal Affairs at the Governent 2.0 Conference on December 4th, 2008. The 2 winners were RotterdamIdee in the category Government and Buurtlink in the category Society. RotterdamIdee was first because it provides citizens the possibility of co-decision in projects to improve their city. This opportunity was used widely and other cities can easily copy this approach. Buurtlink wins because it provides a ready made format for a neighbourhood website. It makes use of available applications and its basic postcode structure facilitates citizens meeting one another.

Participatory budgeting in the City of Freiburg

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 09:18:56 UTC

The city of Freiburg im Breisgau used the DEMOS approach (http://www.epractice.eu/cases/demos) combined with the DEMOS budget planner (www.demos-budget.eu) to conduct a participatory budgeting trial from 7 April to 9 May 2008. The goals were to engage members of the public in participating in planning the citys budget for 2009/10 and to generate ideas and knowledge for savings and efficient spending. In addition, the aspect of gender budgeting was introduced to address gender-specific issues connected to the citys budget.

EU: Public Prize Online Voting is now open! Vote and win free admission to the Ministerial eGovernment Conference

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UK: Birmingham City Council launched e-Petitions website

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SI: eService available for organizers of public events and demonstrations

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EE: eVoting is gaining ground in Estonia

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FR: Online opinions on how to simplify administrative procedures

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NL: Public online consultation for the Charter of Responsible Citizenship

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EU: First live broadcast of the European Elections in 2009

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LU: Politics online

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EU: A first glimpse at 2008 greenhouse gas emissions trading data

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BE: jeparticipe.be: a new portal on active citizenship is launched

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FR: Environmental information portal to be launched in June 2009

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EU: Online consultation on the SEMIC.EU Multilingualism Study

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The SEMIC.EU Study on Multilingualism describes efficient ways to deal with multilingual data exchange and argues that pivot mappings are the key to preserving meaning. The study can be summarised as follows:

Interoperability in a multilingual environment:

How should multilingualism be incorporated in Semantic Interoperability Assets?
How should pan-European federated applications be interconnected?

The SEMIC.EU Study on Mulitilingualism argues that any mapping between different languages should be performed by using pivot mapping and appropriate mapping languages.

English as a pivot language:
All data exchanged as well as the defining artefacts within a Semantic Interoperability Asset should be available in the pivot language accepted by all partners. Usually, English is used as the pivot language in the context of the European Union. It is highly advisable to widely use the pivot language, e.g. for identifiers, in technical artefacts like XML schemata, etc. The pivot mapping reduces the number of mappings.

Schema Mapping and Controlled Vocabularies:
This approach exploits two elementary mapping techniques. Schema mapping, on the one hand, can be used for structural changes and is a syntactic method to solve semantic issues. The usage of controlled vocabularies, on the other hand, requires more sophisticated techniques such as taxonomies, multilingual thesauri, or ontologies. These techniques offer powerful means to translate terms on a semantic level superior to pure machine translations.

Further information:

BG: eConsultation on the domain .eu in Cyrillic

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The survey aims at exploring whether Bulgarians citizens and companies wish the .eu domain to be able in Cyrillic alphabet. In addition, anyone is invited to suggest a .eu domain which should consist of two letters, with at least one of the two being in Cyrillic.

The answers to the online poll will be used to draft a Bulgarian opinion to the European Commission, as the latter is the only entity which can present the Bulgarian position regarding the .eu domain to the Internet Corporation for Names and Addresses (ICANN).

In June 2008, Bulgaria became the first country to request with ICANN the registration of a national Internet domain in Cyrillic.

Further information:

NL: eParticipation Award nominees 2008

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A wide composite jury has looked at thirty candidates and selected five initiatives in the category of Government and another five in the category of Society. The key selection criteria for eligibility are the three-participation standards of the Civil Service Code: admissible governance \',\' responsible management\' and \'active involvement.

The nominees are 10 interactive (web 2.0) websites.

In the category of Government, the following initiatives were nominated in alphabetical order:

http://www.burgernet.nl/

http://www.ikgaverder.nl/

http://www.rotterdamidee.nl/

http://www.voorst.nl/

http://www.watstemtmijnraad.nl/

In the category of Society, the following initiatives were nominated in alphabetical order:

http://www.berekenjerecht.nl/

http://www.buurtlink.nl/

http://www.geluidsnet.nl/

http://www.lombox.nl/

http://www.octopus.nl/

The jury of the eParticipation Award 2008 was led by Tom Cook (former Chairman, Internet Society) and also comprised: Marcel Boogers (lecturer, Politics and Public Administration, University of Tilburg), Valerie Refresh (Professor of ICT and Social Change, Erasmus University Rotterdam), Steven de Jong (promoter Civil Council for the Government), Olf Moffatt (director, Computerization Agency Chain Work and Income), Ruben Nieuwenhuis (Director Innovation, Dutch.com) David Rietveld (municipal Den Haag), Stans Jonneke (general Online Political Director) and Peter van der Well (old-jury WebWijzerAward).

The eParticipation Award 2008 is intended for successful initiatives in the field of eParticipation to continue to serve as inspiration for others. eParticipation means the use of information and communication technology to improve public services, public administration and social cohesion.

The organization of the ceremony is led by Burgerlink, a three-year incentive programme (2008-2010) whose primary aim is to improve public services by involving civilians.

Further information:

Original Press release Citizenlink (Burgerlink) in Dutch

Website of the Conference Overheid 2.0 (Government 2.0) in Dutch

UK: Winners of the Building Democracy Innovation Fund 2008/09 announced

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The winning entries will receive grants of up to £15,000 to run pilot projects to promote democratic engagement. Each project enables and assists people to discuss public issues and to influence government and local policy making in innovative ways.

Michael Wills, Minister for Democratic Engagement, said:

Active participation in local and national decision making is essential to an effective democracy.

The 2008/09 winning projects will give people from across the country the opportunity to influence local and central government policy making.

The winning projects are:

Yoosk.com: An online question time linking the public with local and central government.
(Run by Thumbsize Ltd.)
UK Feedback: An online forum for feedback about public services
LocalEyes The \'Voice\': A web-based consultation tool to enable defined groups to have their say in decision making.
(Run by The Shire Initiative.)
All Hansard on TheyWorkForYou.com: To add the pre-2001 Hansard data to TheyWorkForYou.com, and build exploratory tools.
(Run by MySociety.)
Policy Slam: Inclusive debate events to get the public and policy makers interacting.
(Run by nef (the new economics foundation.)
Tagwagon: A converted campervan to take technology direct to local communities to map and record their opinions. The project works with disadvantaged young people in East London.
(Run by Bold Creative.)
Young Assets: An East London-based credit incentive system for engaging \'hard to reach\' young people in local politics.
(Run by Spice Innovations)
Empowering the blind citizen: Providing training and tools to enable blind and partially sighted people to participate in e-democracy.
(Run by Screenreader.net Community Interest Company.)
Cambridge Parliament High Support Needs Committee: To establish a committee to represent the views of over 1,000 people with high support needs in Cambridgeshire.
(Run by Speaking Up.)

Mr Wills added:

The range of innovative applications was impressive from taking democracy to the people in a campervan through to helping blind people to make the most of e-democracy opportunities.

I look forward to hearing about their successes in engaging people.

The first round of the government\'s Building Democracy Innovation Fund was launched in December 2005 and a second round was launched in May 2007.

Successful projects launched in 2007 included the Speakers\' Corner Trust, which created new opportunities for people to develop open, face-to-face public discussion and debate.

Note: Crown copyright material reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majestys Stationery Office (HMSO).

Further information:

AT: International Conference on eParticipation ePart09

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The scope of the ePart09 covers the whole range of research in eParticipation. Its principal aim is to review research advances in both social and technological scientific domains, seeking to demonstrate new concepts, methods and styles of eParticipation.

ePart09 is dedicated to innovative and rigorous eParticipation research. It aims to bring together researchers from a wide range of academic disciplines. It provides the scientific community with a platform for discussing and advancing research findings, for networking among researchers, and for providing an environment for young researchers to enter into a community which deals with a highly complex and multi-faceted discipline of research.

The first ePart conference focuses on, but is not limited to, the following topics around eParticipation:

The Research landscape, directions and foundations;
research methods, method integration and techniques;
comparative analyses of eParticipation practices;
quality and impact of eParticipatio projects inclusive eParticipation;
understanding online conversation and supporting deliberation;
representatives and eParticipation;
social networking and eParticipation;
cultural and normative differences in eParticipation;
education, training courses, and curricula;
governance and eParticipation and toolbox;
policy modelling, simulation and visualisation.

Paper submission is now open and further information on submission guidelines can be found here. Additional details about call for proposals are available in the call pages.

The event is co-located with the eighth international EGOV conference 2009. It is free of charge and open to all.

Event email: a.macintosh@leeds.ac.uk, ePart@uom.gr

AT: 2009 Conference on Electronic Democracy EDem2009

1239193758

There are a number of eDemocracy applications, ranging from transparency sites and information, discussion, deliberation and consultation platforms to decision-making and voting systems, thus encompassing the entire democratic process. As technical devices have matured and feasibility is largely not considered an issue any more, other questions are now considered:

To what extent can eDemocracy support and enrich our democracy?
What and where are the interfaces, what methods can be used to integrate eParticipation in present public administration processes?
How can we ensure that the greatest number of people are reached and are able to use the means of participation?
How can the modern media support political education?
How can the Internet increase participation in political discussion?
What are the limitations and the risks of eDemocracy?
How may traditional Decision Support Systems be included in the eDemocracy framework?
How may microeconomic models (e.g. game theory) contribute to the understanding of the dynamics created by electronic citizen involvement?

The EDem 2009 aims to be opportunity to look into these questions and discuss the answers. During the conference experiences will be shared, examples of good (and maybe not so good) practice analysed, the State-of-the-Art and future scenarios will be presented and discussed.

The call for papers is open. The organisers are looking for contributions on all areas and levels of electronic democracy and participation systems. Projects can also be submitted, and, if accepted, would be presented as examples of "hands-on" demonstrations of eDemocracy and eParticipation. The main conference language is English; submissions in German are also acceptable.

Contributions from individuals from academic and professional backgrounds as well as public administration offices, public bodies, NGOs, education institutions and independent organisations are welcome.

The deadline for papers' submission is 17 May 2009. Submission may be sent in PDF format to alexander.prosser@wu-wien.ac.at or peter.parycek@donau-uni.ac.at. Submission via a Web page will be made available soon.

The conference fees are 95 for authors, 115 for those who register as participants prior to 17 July 2009, and 115 for those registering after that date. The registration facility will be made available at http://www.ocg.at/edem2009/reg.html.

Event email: alexander.prosser@wu-wien.ac.at or peter.parycek@donau-uni.ac.at

GR: 3rd International Conference on e-Democracy

1233097200

Recent developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have paved a world of advanced communication, intelligent information processing, and ubiquitous access to information and services. The ability to work, communicate, interact, conduct business, and enjoy digital entertainment virtually anywhere, is rapidly becoming common place due to a multitude of small devices, ranging from mobile phones and PDAs to RFID tags and wearable computers. The increasing number of connected devices and the proliferation of networks, provide no indication of a slowdown in this tendency. Next Generation Society: Technologies and Lefa.

On the negative side, misuse of this same technology entails serious risks in various aspects, such as privacy violations, advanced electronic crime, cyber terrorism, and even enlargement of the digital divide. In extreme cases it may even threaten basic principles and human rights.

The aforementioned issues raise an important question: Is society ready to adopt the technological advances in ubiquitous networking, next generation Internet, and pervasive computing? To what extent will it manage to evolve promptly and efficiently to a Next Generation Society, adopting the forthcoming ICT challenges?

The e-Democracy 2009 conference is dedicated to this issue. Through a comprehensive list of thematic areas under the title "Next Generation Society: Technological and Legal issues", the 2009 conference will try to stimulate discussions, create awareness, and provide information on the technological, ethical, legal, and political challenges ahead.

The list of topics that will be addressed is as follows:

Identity management
Privacy, trust and dependability
Cyber-crime and organized crime
Digital surveillance, tracking, and monitoring
Social networking, blogs
Education and training
Online security
Pervasive, ubiquitous, and intelligent computing
e-Participation and Local e-government
Digital divide
Web-mobile ethics
Cyber-economics
Virtual communities

The event is open. There is a registration fee for participation. The expected number of participants is around 200 people. Additional details on important dates and deadlines may be viewed online.

Event email: secretariat@scis.aua.gr

BE: eDemocracy and eParticipation Workshop

1242982361

eDemocracy is an emerging field of activity inspired by advocates of direct democracy (political level) and ICT (technical level). Despite this, there has already been considerable research in the field (from the political science, social science, technology, information theory and computer science domains). Of the different fields constituting eDemocracy, eParticipation appears to be both the most dynamic and the most promising with regard to enhancing the democratic process. Nevertheless eParticipation is a relatively young field as far as research is concerned, despite of the continuously growing needs.

This workshop will gauge the status of current research both conducting actual eDemocracy and eParticipation experiments and in studying (observing) various aspects of such activities. The latter includes studying and identifying the barriers to greater online citizen engagement in policy-making.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

Direct democracy examples such as eVoting,electioneering and polling.
eParticipation experiment design.
Assessment of impact and comparative research.
Tools and practices for eConsultation, ePetition, conflict resolution and mediation, eDeliberation and others.
ICT for argumentation support, collaboration and content management.
National policy issues and initiatives.
Risks associated with eDemocracy.
Two thirds of the workshop's duration will be devoted to presentations and one third to discussion on future research issues. The detailed agenda will be made available to all participants once contributions by perspective speakers have been received and finalised.

Additional information can be found in the workshop's call for participation.

The workshop is open to all eGovernment stakeholders and in particular to:

Representatives of eGovernment research projects in FP6 and FP7.
Researchers, interested practitioners and promotion experts.
The event is open to all, but places are limited. Short abstracts of no more than 150 words from those wishing to give a presentation are accepted. All submissions are to be sent via email to eGovR@eurodyn.com not later than the 29 May 2009.

Event email: eGovR@eurodyn.com

FR: World e-Democracy Forum 2008

1210111200

The 2008 edition of the World e-Democracy Forum 2008 will be held over two days during the French Presidency of the European Union and the Franco-German ICT year.

In this context, the Forums main focus will be placed on European issues and on the challenges of e-Government 2.0. The programme features the following plenary sessions:

Europe Facing the eGovernment Challenge?
Digital Identities Technological and Geological Stakes;
Data Processing Security: Towards a New Generation of Public Services;
From Digital Divide to Digital Solidarity.

In addition, several simultaneous roundtables will take place, including:

Digital solidarity issues;
Reducing the democratic divide, eParticipation a real opportunity for Europe;
Citizen communication and eServices;
eGovernement, transparency and democratic involment : which way for eInclusion?

The eDemocracy awards winners will furthermore be announced at a dedicated ceremony on 17 October.

This edition will gather again over 1 000 participants from around the world, including renowned speakers, decision-makers, researchers and experts as well as businesses and NGOs representatives.

Attendance is free for administration representatives, teachers and students. There is a 200 participation fee for delegates from private companies. Registration can be performed online.

Event email: N/A

UK: Special Track on eGovernment and eParticipation at the crossroad ICDIM 2008

1211148000

This special track is organised within the context of the third IEEE International Conference on Digital Information Management (ICDIM 2008).

It aims to bring together researchers and practitioners from different subject areas including enterprise architectures, interoperability, semantic web, semantic web services, social software, and foster discussions about ongoing research and experience in the domain of eGovernment and eParticipation.

Selected papers from this track will be considered for publication in IEEE Intelligent Systems, Special Issue on Transforming E-government and E-participation.

Papers, which should be formatted according to the IEEE template, are to be submitted electronically by 1 July 2008 to the track chair at vassilios.peristeras@deri.org.

Participation is free-of-charge. The information pertaining to the registration is soon to be available at the conference website.

Event email: service@dirf.org

EE: eDemocracy Conference 2008

1211839200

The 2008 eDemocracy Conference addresses the opportunities that ICT and the Internet provide for citizens to take part in the policy-making process and to have a say in political decisions.

The event will introduce the new Estonian governmental participation portal OSALE (www.osale.ee) which opens a new way for citizens to express their opinion. Furthermore, TID+, a new participation tool which is being developed with the support of the European Union, will be presented. Based on the experience of the Direct Democracy Portal (TOM in use in Estonia since 2001), TID+ is intended to be made available to all. With this event, the Estonian experience is about to enter an international arena.

The conference further focuses on an analysis of Estonian eVoting experiences and gives an overview of future perspectives, plans and developments. One exciting prospect in that respect is the emergence of m-voting, which will be discussed in the afternoon session.

Expert opinions will also be voiced in a panel discussion on whether and to what extent online participation and the New Media influence politics and shape democracy. In general, attendees will gain the opportunity to express their opinion on this matter.

Attending the conference is free-of-charge. Registration is to be performed online.

Event email: liia@ega.ee or nele@ega.ee

ES: e-Democracy Seminar

1182376800

This seminar on e-Democracy is organised by University of Mondragon (Spanish Basque Country) in collaboration with the Basque Parliament and the Basque Government as part of the list of Summer Courses offered by the University.

The event has been designed for those wishing to learn more about defining eDemocracy projects, developing project management plans and implementing projects aimed at improving public administrations transparency, citizen participation in local government and decision making.

The methodology proposed by the organisers covers several objectives, among which:

eDemocracy concepts definitions, historical development, distinction with related eGovernment activities and topics;

Teaching the basics of eDemocracy models from social, political, technological and institutional perspectives, as those models are being used today in numerous towns, cities, and local government agencies in countries and EU regions;
Sharing aspects of some of those models, from the organisational and resources point of views notably;
Analysing a list of e-Democracy Best Practices (BP), including steps to follow during the implementation stages, tools available to help with the implementation and management of these BPs;
Giving an overview of a selection of real-life initiatives in e-Democracy in order to complement the theory of e-Democracy models, and to provide an open forum for Questions and Answers.

The course will be given in both English and Spanish. More information relating to registration is available on the seminar website.

Event website
http://www.sc.ehu.es/scrwwwsu/programas/b5i.html

Venue
Miramar Palace
Pº Miraconcha 48
20009 San Sebastian
Spain

Contact
E-mail: olizarralde@eps.mondragon.edu

AT: EDem2008

1198018800

An event organised by the Centre for e-Government of the Department for Governance and Public Administration, of the Danube University of Krems (Austria) in cooperation with the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, the conference EDem 2008 will take place on 29-30 September 2008 in Krems.

Various existing eDemocracy applications encompass the entire democratic process. In this context several questions arise, including:

To what extent can eDemocracy support and enrich our democracy?
What and where are the interfaces and methods that can be used to integrate eParticipation in present politics public administration processes?
How can we ensure that the greatest number of people are reached and are able to use the means of participation?
How can the modern media support political education?
How can the Internet increase participation in political discussion?
What are the limitations and the risks of eDemocracy?

The EDem2008 conference is intended to provide the opportunity to look into these questions and discuss the answers. During the conference, experiences will be collected, examples of good and bad practice analysed, and the State-of-the-Art and future scenarios will be presented and discussed.

The final programme of the event has been made available.

Participation to the conference will require the payment of a 95 fee. Those wishing to participate as guests should contact noella.edelmann@donau-uni.ac.at by email. Registration can now be performed online on the event website.

Event website:
http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/de/department/gpa/telematik/veranstaltungen/id/11094/index.php?URL=/de/department/gpa/telematik/11094

Venue:
Danube University of Krems
Department for Governance & Public Administration
Centre for E-Government
Dr.-Karl-Dorrek-Straße 30
3500 Krems
Austria

Contact:
E-mail: noella.edelmann@donau-uni.ac.at

EU: e-Gov 2.0: pave the way for e-Participation 2009

1256124395

Description (short summary):
The new Information and Communications Technologies are gradually giving rise to a radical transformation in the current scenario. Globalisation, the new economy, the predominant role of finance in economic activity, the opening up of international markets: these are only some of the features of the epoch-making change underway. The introduction of the new digital media have resulted in a thorough transformation of communication and access to information, as well as in reorganising the way in which the production processes of both businesses and government bodies are organised, while establishing and experimenting with new systems of training and instruction.

As far as the public sector is concerned, there is no mistake in the fact that the development of the information systems of the public administration has proven to be a formidable tool when it comes to restoring the efficiency and quality of services. The process of reorganisation and innovation aimed at improving public-sector performance still represents only one facet of the necessary adjustment of the modus operandi of democratic institutions to meet the demands of the new social context.

Political institutions are called on to respond not only to the challenge of raising levels of administrative efficiency, but also of addressing the inadequacy of the channels traditionally used to satisfy the demands of the political process. Being citizens of an information society means not only being able to access the services of a more efficient public administration, one capable of designing services that meet the needs of its users, but also being offered a new way of taking part in public life.

The previous edition (2008) of this volume is available in the ePractice Library.

Number of pages: 396

US: Web 2.0 in the process of eParticipation

1255016445

Descritption text (short summary):
The presidential campaign of Barack Obama during the 2008 elections sparked new discussion about the public engagement issue in the political processes. The campaign used Web 2.0 tools intensively to reach the general public, seek support and collect feedback from voters.

In this paper, the major website of this project, "Organizing for America" (OFA), is analysed from the perspective of eParticipation, which is a concept that includes all the processes of public involvement via information and communication technologies.

Number of pages: 19

EU: Citizens speak out A louder call for European eParticipation

1235948400

This brochure aims to inform on the policies and projects really making a difference to the eParticipation landscape in Europe, including those projects funded by the eParticipation Preparatory Action (2006-2008).

Number of pages:
28

ES: Summary of the report ICT in the National Health System

1235343600

ative forms part of the monitoring process of the Avanza Plan´s "Healthcare Online Programme", in wich the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs (Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo, MSC) and the Autonomous Regions collaborate alongside the Minsitry of Industry Tourism and Commerce (Ministerio de Industria Turismo y Comercio, MITYC), acting through red.es. Its purpose is to make the information gathered during the Avanza Plan´s Healthcare Online Programme available to all agents involved. Aditionally, data has also been collected that reflects the initiatives carried out over the last decade by the regional Departments of Health and the Healthcare Services in the Autonomous Regions and the boost these have given to the Healthcare Online Programme.

The report includes:

a brief introduction;

a section about Plan Avanza (Healthcare Online Programme);

the Strategy of the Ministry of Health (Using ICT to improve Healthcare services provided to the population), and

a selection of indicators (basic date, infrastructure and information systems, eHealth services, and financial information).

Original URL:
http://observatorio.red.es/articles/detail.action?id=3039&request_locale=en

Number of pages:
45

Description (short summary):
The publication is a summary of a much larger report entitled "ICTs in the National Health System". The initiative forms part of the monitoring process of the Avanza Plan´s "Healthcare Online Programme", in wich the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs (Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo, MSC) and the Autonomous Regions collaborate alongside the Minsitry of Industry Tourism and Commerce (Ministerio de Industria Turismo y Comercio, MITYC), acting through red.es. Its purpose is to make the information gathered during the Avanza Plan´s Healthcare Online Programme available to all agents involved. Aditionally, data has also been collected that reflects the initiatives carried out over the last decade by the regional Departments of Health and the Healthcare Services in the Autonomous Regions and the boost these have given to the Healthcare Online Programme.

The report includes:

a brief introduction;

a section about Plan Avanza (Healthcare Online Programme);

the Strategy of the Ministry of Health (Using ICT to improve Healthcare services provided to the population), and

a selection of indicators (basic date, infrastructure and information systems, eHealth services, and financial information).

Original URL:
http://observatorio.red.es/articles/detail.action?id=3039&request_locale=en

Number of pages:
45

EU: Study on Interoperability at Local and Regional Level. Final Version

1182463200

The aim of this Study is to improve stakeholders understanding of interoperability (IOP) at the local and regional level. This report is based on the analysis of stakeholders needs, IOP good practice cases in Europe, relevant literature and the feedback of stakeholders.

The overall objective of the study on local and regional interoperability is to address the following:

Status of local and regional interoperability in member states

Key success factors of local and regional interoperability

Key barriers of local and regional interoperability

Recommendations to different stakeholders.

See the Executive Summary with valuable final recommendations

See also Good practise cases

Author(s):
Efthimios Tambouris, Konstantinos Tarabanis, Vassilios Peristeras and Naoum Liotas.
Consortium: Center for Research and Technology Hellas / Institute of Informatics and Telematics (CERTH/ITI), European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) and Institut für Informationsmanagement Bremen GmbH (ifib)

Copyright information:
Reproduction is authorised, provided the source (eGovernment Unit, DG Information Society, European Commission) is clearly acknowledged, save where otherwise stated.

Original URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment_research/index_en.htm

Language(s) available:
EN

Number of pages:
255

EU: e-Democratic Experimentation in Europe: The Case of e-Voting

1210197600
Description (short summary):
This paper argues that a focus on small-scale forms of political experimentation, such as eVoting, can overcome certain methodological difficulties related to undertaking cross-national comparative analyses of larger-scale eDemocratic experimentation.

Original URL:
http://edc.unige.ch/inner.php?table=Publications&linkid=123&head=e-DC%20Working%20Papers

Number of pages:
23

US: Local e-Democracy Initiatives in the United States

1210197600
Description (short summary):
This paper offers an investigation of practices of eDemocracy at the local level in the United States. This case study is purposefully limited in two ways. First, investigations of e-democracy in the local level have the significant advantage of higher participation per capita since the issues addressed are quite immediate. Second, the US has one of the highest rates of internet penetration and is home to nearly 20 % of the worlds internet users. As the oldest surviving democracy, it is also confronted with many problems characteristic of most western democracies. An investigation into the practices of eDemocracy in the US, therefore, can offer many archetypal insights into how the digitalization of the relationship between citizens and governments affects the age old assumptions of democracy.

Original URL:
http://edc.unige.ch/inner.php?table=Publications&linkid=123&head=e-DC%20Working%20Papers

Number of pages:
28

IT: Not all the online political forums are futile: The case study of the radical community

1210197600
Description (short summary):
This paper draws insights from several interviews (40) that online forums can play important democratic functions within political organizations. It focuses on the case study of the Italian party radicali italiani, and analyses three aspects: i) the technical and organizational characteristics of the forum; ii) the reasons for participating (or not) in the forum; iii) the functions that forum fulfills for the different political actors (leaders, activists and sympathizers).

Original URL:
http://edc.unige.ch/inner.php?table=Publications&linkid=123&head=e-DC%20Working%20Papers

Number of pages:
12

GL: Parliaments in the Digital Age. Exploring Latin America

1210197600
Description (short summary):
Within the framework of incipient electronic governance, this article aims at exploring the ways in which Latin American parliamentary actors use new technologies, especially the Internet. Therefore, regional modalities regarding the use of this means for the strengthening of democratic institutions are outlined herein. Thus, upon the introduction of electronic parliaments, the author identifies development patterns regarding the initiatives of parliaments and political parties with parliamentary representation on the Internet. Further, the author registers the features thereof, evaluates their properties according to their potential in terms of electronic democracy and eventually, and analyses the variables of influence within the different paths chosen.

Original URL:
http://edc.unige.ch/inner.php?table=Publications&linkid=123&head=e-DC%20Working%20Papers

Number of pages:
28

GL: e-Agora, The White Book of the Local eDemocracy

1210197600
Description (short summary):
Compilation of reflections on eDemocracy having as bold experimentations of local eDemocracy in France, Brazil, Chile and Belgium.

Original URL:
http://www.epractice.eu

Number of pages:
69

EU: Report on the ePractice.eu "eInclusion: the Users Voice" Workshop

1208124000
Description (short summary):
Although significant progress is being made towards realising the objective of an inclusive knowledge society through the Riga Ministerial Declaration, the eInclusion: be part of it initiative, and the Ministerial Conference on eInclusion in Lisbon there is still a significant proportion of EU citizens over 40 % who are not actively engaged in using ICTs.

The reasons for this are complex, encompassing factors such as lack of access, cost, cultural and family circumstances and lack of motivation. Against this background, there is a view that industry and government simply do not listen to the user view or the untapped user view - enough. There is a prevailing argument that so-called Web 2.0 technologies will change this situation. Social networking technologies make culture less monolithic and more diverse, allowing the user voice to be heard, and allowing an unprecedented role for the consumer voice.

However, there is also evidence to suggest that significant numbers of people remain at the margins of the knowledge society not least because the complexity and diversity of their lives, and their roles in a technologically rich society, remain poorly understood. The ePractice.eu Users Voice workshop held in Brussels on 21 February 2008 explored these and other issues that lie at the heart of engaging users in the evolving knowledge society.

Original URL:
http://www.epractice.eu

Number of pages:
18

eParticipation analytical framework

2008-06-04 15:57:36
This is a draft anaytical framework for understanding and evaluating eParticipation.