Public life 24 hours

Acronym of the case:

CONNECTION

Web address of the case:

http://www.kapcsolat.hu

Country of the case:

Hungary

Posting Date:

8 July 2010

Last Edited Date:

28 July 2010

Author:

Krisztina Smidt (ELTE-AJK)

E-Democracy | virtual public life | web 2.0

Type of initiative

Project or service
Network
Strategic initiative

Case Abstract

This online structure is made to give opportunity, tools and space to those who want to be heard, who care about public life, or who want to act in public life.

This website is not only a classical web2 page. It focuses on public life, self-organizing and campaign tools, and in this way transfers the whole Hungarian election system into virtual life. The citizens are automatically connected with their MPs, governors and mayors.

The representatives have their own virtual offices to organise their campaign, and professional teams, voters and citizens. They have all the tools to work, such as interactive events, campaigns, donations, petitions, debates, polls, blogs, news, video galleries, forums, groups-clubs, SMS service and entertainment. They can easily address, inform and motivate their supporters, and the supporters can get in touch with their own representative. The citizens can take part in political conversations, and they can use all the democratic tools to influence, speak, organize and get attention.

The system can be easily adapted to the parliaments, parties and civil organisations of any country.

Description of the case

Domain

eGovernment

Topic

eParticipation, eDemocracy and eVoting | Services for Citizens | Infrastructure | User-centric Services

Sector

Communication (infrastructure) | Social Services | Other

Start date - End date

January 2007 (Ongoing)

Date operational

August 2007

Target Users

Citizen | Civil society

Target Users Description

The system is intended for anybody who wants to take part in public life. The system has virtual offices for members of European parliaments, members of national parliaments, local governors and mayors.

Scope

International | National | Pan-European

Status

Operation

Language(s)

English | Hungarian

Policy Context and Legal Framework

Project Size and Implementation

Type of initiative

Participation

Overall Implementation approach

Partnerships between administration and/or private sector and/or non-profit sector

Technology choice

Proprietary technology

Funding source

Private sector

Project size

Implementation: €300-499,000

Yearly cost:

€49-299,000

Implementation and Management Approach

The research started in 2006. The first plan was ready on 2007 January. The Tancsics Mihaly Foundation accepted the strategy and launched the program. In August 2007 we published our system. At first all the content - except news - was available only for members. The virtual offices were not so detailed. Than in May 2008 we opened all the content to the public - except personal details and profiles -, gave the system a new design, restructured the content according to users' experiences, and made ready the offices for the 2010 elections. We started introducing the system to the left-wing politicians (the Tancsics Mihaly Foundation is the Foundation of Hungarian Socialist Party), but unfortunately the politicians did not understand the importance of the internet and interactivity, andÂ unfortunately this case rather became a political issue rather than an issue of profession. But the bottom line is thatÂ those who were active on this system had media attention, andÂ the system works perfectly, serves all the users' needs.