Archive for September, 2009
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9. September 2009 – 15:49 by Bengt Feil (TuTech Innovation GmbH)
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On September 8th and 9th 2009 the European eParticipation, eDemocracy and eVoting community met in Vienna to discuss the latest developments in the field and to work on potential strategies to move forward. I would like to talk about a few impressions of this event which has been supported by PEP-NET and was one of the events of the PEP-NET Conference Series 2009 which includes the eDem 09, Berlin in October, Future-Democracy 09 and the World e-Democracy Forum.
PEP-NET organized a workshop on “Participatory planning: conflicts, context and cooperation” (Thanks to all speakers and many participants!) on the second day of the conference. Detailed information about the talks and workshops at eDem can be found on the live coverage blog both for Day 1 and Day 2. Some participants did also use Twitter to cover the event. Their posts can be found here.
But now on to a few trends I saw in the talks and discussions:
Technology is just a tool: One of the most repeated (and possibly most true) statements by speakers and participants was that there is a need to drop the “e” in eDemocracy/Participation/Government and shift the focus of research and practical work towards the social and procedural questions. Technology is only a means of organizing processes not the solution to a problem in it self.
It’s about quality not quantity: The sheer number of participants in an online participation process cannot be seen as the most important indicator for success. In many cases the quality of the results is not depended on the number of participants but on how participate with which goal. A few hundred people form heterogeneous social and political background can produce much more sophisticated and balanced recommendations on a political issue than thousands of people who agree on the subject in discussion.
Evaluation of electronic participation processes is very difficult: Several speakers and the workshop led by David Newman tried to identify ways and methods which can be used to judge the success and the performance of eParticipation efforts on a scientific basis. I strongly believe in the necessity of this work but I also think there will not be a tool-set for error-prove evaluation in the near future. This may be one of the reasons why success is still measured in raw number of participants in many cases.
There are leading topics for eParticipation: The discussions and reactions to talks on the event support the point that there are specific groups of topics which lend themselves to eParticipation more than others. Two of them are participation in spatial and urban planning (which is mandatory in many cases and stretches the gap between eGovernment and eParticipation) and participatory budgeting (still a growing trend in Europe). The third group of topics covers internet politics and especially the question of internet filtering and surveillance. Several speakers pointed out that eParticipation projects which did not have the specific goal to address these topics where used by participants to discuss about them. This suggests that governments should try to make use of eParticipation when getting involved with internet politics.
In summary the eDem09 was both a productive gathering of scientists and researchers as well as a possibility to identify some trends in the field. I would be happy about any comments agreeing or disagreeing with my view on the event and the four trends I pointed out.
Posted in Events | 5 Comments »
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9. September 2009 – 09:23 by pol-di.net e.V / politik-digital.de
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The European e-participation-scene gathered in BerlinInAugust 2007 to identify future aspects of the growing field of e-democracy. 25 Participants from 13 countries discussed for two days in the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin (ehemaliges Staatsratsgebäude) what issues are emerging, discussed good and bad practices and tried to build up a network. The British Council Germany gave some funding for travel expenses. On July 17th and 18th 2008 there has been a follow up – BerlinInJuly 2008 . Tom Steinberg, mySociety.org, Politik Digital, politik-digital.de and Christian Heise, e-politik.de / e-demokratie.org were bound to be the inviting group. The group of guests included some of the 2007 guests as well as some new people; important new networks in the field will be informed about the meeting. In total, there were about 40 international persons attending the unconference which was prepared, just as in the last year, through this wiki.
This year, on 15-16th October 2009, there will be another follow up: Berlin in October 2009. Even though this Unconference is by invite only, we are still looking for suggestions of smart, interesting people to join. The only real criteria for attendees: the desire and the determination to get things built that actually help citizens, rather than just talking about how great it could be if someone else did it. If you feel that you would be matching this profile, please contact one of the organising institutions. There are still open slots. We especially welcome non-EU participants. Limited funding is available.
Posted in Events | 1 Comment »
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9. September 2009 – 09:20 by ASAEL
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The European Commission unveiled the 52 finalist projects which will compete for the European eGovernment Awards 2009. The list of the 52 finalists along with the 55 additional good practice is listed below. The Awards ceremony will take place on 19 November 2009 in Malmö, Sweden.
Finalist and Good Practice Projects
EUROPEAN eGOVERNMENT AWARDS FINALISTS 2009:
Category1. eGovernment supporting the Single Market
Category2a. eGovernment empowering citizens
Category2b. eGovernment empowering businesses
Category3. eGovernment enabling administrative efficiency and effectiveness
More Information: http://www.epractice.eu/en/awardsfinalists2009
Posted in Events, good practice, News | No Comments »
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9. September 2009 – 00:07 by Asociacion Ciudades Kyosei / Pedro Prieto-Martin
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“Evolution” of the views on “What participation is”??
Everybody is invited to reflect on it.
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ARNSTEIN, S.R. (1969) “A Ladder of Citizen Participation”, American Institute of Planners Journal, nº 35 (4): págs. 216-224. [http://lithgow-schmidt.dk/sherry-arnstein/ladder-of-citizen-participation.pdf]
IAPP (2000) AIP2 Spectrum of Public Participation, Westminster: International Association for Public Participation. [http://www.iap2.org/associations/4748/files/IAP2%20Spectrum_vertical.pdf]
GRAMBERGER, M. (2001) Citizens as Partners: OECD handbook on Information, Consultation and Public Participation in Policy-Making, Paris: OECD Publications Service. [http://browse.oecdbookshop.org/oecd/pdfs/browseit/4201141E.PDF]
[In Publication] PRIETO-MARTÍN, P. (2009) (e)Participación en el Ámbito Local: caminando hacia una democracia colaborativa, Sololá (Guatemala): Asociación Ciudades Kyosei. [http://www.ckyosei.org/docs/(e)ParticipacionEnElAmbitoLocal.CaminandoHaciaUnaDemocraciaColaborativa.pdf]
[The first two chapters of the book will be presented at the “XIV CLAD Congress on State Reform and Modernization (Salvador de Bahia - Brasil)” - 27.-30. October 2009; they received the 2nd. Prize of the Congress’ Monographs Contest about: “Citizen Participation in Public Management”]
Posted in Uncategorized, Visions | No Comments »
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7. September 2009 – 12:28 by Madarász Csaba
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Do you believe in the power of participation?
Well, if yes, than you should make your professional voice heard, and give the needed phrases, paragraphs to the buttom-up initiative, which is targeting the EU’s long waited public service reform, called the open declaration on public services 2.0, run by a group of people, ran together at the Public Services 2.0 workshop in Brussels.
We don’t know, what is going behind the curtains, but hopefully, this declaration will be presented in Malmö, at the pre-conference (eGovernment Research and innovation – empowering citizens & government service aross sectors and borders) for the 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference.
Turn the pages and move on to submit your ideas to make our public services better armed with 2.0!
photo credit: extranoise – hands on moving stairs
Posted in Events, Projects | 2 Comments »
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4. September 2009 – 18:28 by Olga Lacigova - 21c
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Even though eParticipation is a growing field, we can all agree that the topic of social inclusion in decision making does not saturate mass media and social networking websites on daily basis. This is not surprising to us as we would not be here if eParticipation replaced headlines that for example Michael Jackson makes.
For me, as a newcomer to this moving field, it is quite challenging to find news and information that could make a good Pep-Net blog. Trying to avoid writing about events and conferences I looked for ideas on Google News and found several very interesting articles on eDemocracy in the US and Europe. After paraphrasing what I have read online I posted an article on our Pep-Net blog citing the full source of my writing. Unwillingly and due to a lack of my experience in paraphrasing I have committed to plagiarism which I would like to apologize for.
By writing about my experience I aim to stress the importance of authoring the articles we post as the failure to do so can endanger our position on search engines as well as it can harm our relation with the EC.
by Oli Lacigova
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
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2. September 2009 – 13:55 by Centre for E-Government
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PEP-NET members been thinking about how to collaborate and organise the conferences they organise. One idea was to jointly present the conferences under a PEP-NET framework. Getting the yearly conferences together was not too difficult, the challenge wa to find a title.
During the month of August, all PEP-NET members were invited to vote on their preferred title or to suggest one they liked. First of all, thank you to all who participated. Secondly, here are the results. Looks like we have a result!
PEP-NET Conference Series 7
Pep-Net Conference Notes 4
Pep-Net Camp 4
Pep-Net Lab 2
PEP-NET Democracy Generator 1
PEP-NET Democracy Incubator 1
PEP-NET Notes 1
PEP-Con: xxxx 1
Pep-Net Conference Cup 1
PEP-Cup 1
Noella
Posted in Events, members | No Comments »
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2. September 2009 – 12:30 by Danish Technological Institute
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As you may know a pre-conference to the 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference 2009 is under preparation. The conference is hosted under the Swedish Presidency of the EU, and is arranged by Vinnova, the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems, and the City of Malmö.
Under the title “eGovernment Research and Innovation: Empowering Citizens through Government Services across Sectors and Borders” the aim of the pre-conference is to demonstrate actual use of and potential of eGovernment research and incorporate the following themes:
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Empowering citizens and businesses
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Enhancing opportunities for businesses and citizens in the internal market
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Efficiency and effectiveness in all government services
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Citizen dialogue
As you see the pre-conference is directly linked to the topics of the 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference: Teaming up for the eUnion (www.egov2009.se), 19-10 November, also in Malmö. The Ministerial eGovernment Conference – like the European eGovernment Awards 2009 (www.epractice.eu/awards) presented at an integrated exhibition of the 52 Awards finalists and a ceremony on 19 November announcing this year’s winners – focus on eGovernment supporting the Single Market, eGovernment services empowering citizens and businesses as well as eGovernment enabling administrative efficiency and effectiveness.
The key-note address will be delivered by Swedish Minister for Local Government and Financial Markets, Mr Mats Odell and a dinner will be hosted by Vinnova and City of Malmö in the evening at the old City Hall.
The conference is by invitation only and places are limited, but you are encouraged to register your interest in participating on www.vinnova.se/preconference (see pre-registration). Here you will also find the programme and further practical information.
Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen/Danish Technological Institute
Posted in Events, News | No Comments »
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1. September 2009 – 11:21 by Gov2U
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According to a survey conducted by Ofcom the percentage of 15- to 24-year-olds Britain who have a profile on a social networking site has dropped for the first time – from 55% at the start of last year to 50% this year. In contrast, 46% of 25- to 34-year-olds are now regularly checking up on sites such as Facebook compared with 40% last year.
To view the report http://www.ofcom.org.uk
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
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1. September 2009 – 11:18 by openpolis
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In this second article about Openparlamento.it, we’ll introduce the index of activity, an index we created to measure and compare, from a strtictly quantitative point of view, the activities of the elected officials in the Parliament.
The index has been publicly discussed in one of the openpolis mailing lists for some time.
What follows is a summary of the criteria used to craft it and how it was used to generate a report on the activity in the Italian Parliament, presented to the press in June.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in good practice, Projects, Tools | No Comments »
