Archive for October, 2009
 |
19. October 2009 – 11:47 by Francesco Molinari
|
On November 19th, the EU27 governments will meet in Malmo to sign a Ministerial Declaration that will define the key priorities for e-government strategy in Europe for the years to come.
Recently, a group of Web 2.0 enthusiasts has launched an open collaborative effort to build an Open Declaration on European Public Services, which calls on European governments to embrace the values of transparency, participation and empowerment and so improve public services. The European Commission and the Swedish Presidency of the EU have accepted that the Declaration be included in the official programme of the Ministerial Conference.
Now there is exactly one month ahead of us to collect 2,000 endorsements in order to convince governments to fully embrace these values.
If you share the values of the Open Declaration, please add your name using the link here.
Posted in News, Visions | No Comments »
 |
16. October 2009 – 11:03 by Bengt Feil (TuTech Innovation GmbH)
|
In this post I would like to mention a few interesting posts related to eParticipation in the last week. The goal is to give an overview of what was going on in the eParticipation realm last week. The full articles are always linked to under the short summaries. This kind of digest will be published each week from now on.
The Finnish environmental organisation Dodo makes use of Wikiplanning, invented by Peter Tattersall of the same organisation, to increase participation in urban planning processes.
jyrkivanamo.com
The team of the EuroPetition project has presented a comprehensive flowchart describing the inner workings of online petitioning systems. It both incorporates the steps of the lifespan of an online petition and the different technical and procedural components necessary to make it work.
spartakan.wordpress.com
The final report of the eParticipatory budgeting action 2009 in Hamburg / Germany has been published in German. It includes in depth information about the process, the participation and the results of the effort. An English summary of the report will be published on the PEP-NET blog in the near future.
demos-monitor.de
The Guardian newspaper has been prevented from reporting on a question pending in the British parliament. The social web however did ignore the fact that the Guardian was not able to report and picked up the story in a wide variety of blog posts, Twitter updates etc. making the actual story (related to the company Trafigura dumping toxic waste in the port of Aibidjan in 2006) much more visible to the world than it would have ever been.
personaldemocracy.com
David Briggs debunks the myth that the classical methods of participation engage everyone while online participation does only reach a few. He makes two central points: Firstly that no one participation method will be able to reach everyone and secondly that you might not necessarily want to reach everyone.
davepress.net
Right now there is the informal Berlin in October meeting of eDemocracy and eParticipation experts and practitioners in Berlin. It is the third time this event is held in Berlin after two successful instalments in 2007 and 2008. The proceedings of this meeting can be followed on the wiki:
berlininoctober.e-demokratie.org
In a 98 page report Accenture takes a look at the transition from e-Government to e-Governance. They furthermore suggest a “Public Service Value Governance Framework“ as a model to improve citizen engagement. Of course this report has Accenture written all over it but it still contains some interesting points. The full report can be found here:
accenture.com
Posted in News | No Comments »
 |
15. October 2009 – 16:12 by Madarász Csaba
|
Most of us has heard about the 5th Ministerial Conference and pre-conference taking place in Malmö late November. However the top politicians are forming the agenda of e-government development, the sound of experts and citizens could be also heard in the same city – and of course over the waves of the net.
Beside the fact, that the Open Declaration on Public Services will be presented on the Ministerial conference, another conference , the “popular Malmo09 event aims to offer a memorable creative statement of what Europeans really want from e-enabled government.”
Taking place at the beautiful location of the Garaget, organizers are offering a wide space for engagement and opinion forming and an artistic presence. In their own words:
Anyone interested is welcome to apply to speak, participate contribute ideas or help in any other way. It is particularly aimed at European digital-rights organisations, consumer advocates, and those with a political, academic, artistic or design interest in e-government. No presentation will last longer than eight minutes. Music, pictures and video content is welcome. The event will close with awards for the “pertinent art” which best expresses popular feeling about e-government, and for the best independently coded or mashed-up projects based on public data or public services.
Please spread the call for artwork you can download it here:
The conference is supported by
mydex.org
farmsubsidy.org
mysociety.org
socialinnovationexchange.org
and ctrl+shift
www.malmo09.org
Posted in Events, News, Projects | No Comments »
|
|
15. October 2009 – 11:38 by Bengt Feil (TuTech Innovation GmbH)
|
Climate change is one of the biggest scientific, political and social problems of the 21st century. All nations of the world are challenge by the threads and to a lesser degree opportunities climate change brings with it. Consequently this topic is discussed among world leader in forums like the United Nations Climate Conference later this year. But all these efforts to mitigate the change of climate, even if there was agreement among countries on the necessity to mitigate it, will not stop the impacts of the change immediately. Therefore there is a need to look for ways to adapt to climate change and to protect humans and the environment from its negative effects.
The German ministr
y for education and research has set up a series of large scale projects to research the possibilities of different urban and rural areas to adapt to climate change in the next 50-100 years. The Klimzug-Nord project will undertake this effort for the metropolitan region of Hamburg, which is influenced both by the nearby North Sea and the river Elbe. The project duration is 5 years, has an overall volume of 25 million Euro and it incorporates dozens of Universities, research centres, governmental bodies and companies. This region has 4.3 million inhabitants which will be affected by the changing climate. As the adaptation to climate change does mean major decisions in urban development and other political areas there is a need to get the cities involved in this process. This is where eParticipation meets climate adaptation.
The Klimzug project does include a governance strategy which makes use of eParticipation and other participatory
approaches. The use of eParticipation in this context has two major goals: Firstly to get citizens actively involved in the development of adaptation strategies and secondly to test how participatory tools and processes have to be designed in a context that covers a highly complex topic which stretches an extremely long time period. The DEMOS eParticipation approach developed by TuTech will be used in Klimzug-Nord to discuss possible projects, activities and policies to adapt to climate change as well as to gather the ideas and views of the people living in the region on how to best adapt and which priorities to be set. The different issues to be addressed by eParticipation in this project range from “how to organize water irrigation in agriculture” to “how to prevent major floods in the densely populated city area of Hamburg”.
It will be interesting to see how eParticipation can help to open up a research project to the general public especially with such a complex topic at hand. We will report back on the problems and successes we encounter as we go along in this interesting and challenging project.
Posted in good practice | No Comments »
 |
8. October 2009 – 13:41 by Danish Technological Institute
|
Practicing what we preach, the European eGovernment Awards, ePractice.eu and the European Commission invite members of the ePractice.eu and PEP-NET communities to vote for their favourite cases among the 52 European eGovernment Awards 2009 finalists. The 4th European eGovernment Awards Public Prize is awarded to the finalist receiving the highest number of votes.
There are four categories for the European eGovernment Awards 2009, including the Public Prize. The themes of the categories are in line with the European Union’s framework and reflect the priorities of the 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference. As in 2007, the fourth category is the Public Prize and therefore not subject to expert evaluation.
The Public Prize is based on an online vote by ePractice.eu members for the best case from among the 52 shortlisted finalists. As such, the Public Prize represents a unique opportunity to be part of the process, help the European Commission to select the best practices and support your preferred finalists in winning one of the prestigious European eGovernment Awards.
Vote and win!
Cast your votes for the Public Prize by 18 October 2009 and you might be one of the five lucky portal members to receive free admission to the 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference in Malmö. In addition, all voters who cast their votes before 11 November 2009 – the final online voting deadline – will have a chance at winning some of our other prizes: USB phone chargers and computer screen cleaners.
The winners will be chosen randomly in two separate draws: One for free admission to the Ministerial eGovernment Conference and one for our other prizes. All winners will be notified by e-mail. All portal members who vote online for their three favourite cases from among the 52 finalists will be eligible for the draw, excluding European Commission and ePractice.eu staff and contractors.
If a winner of the free admission to the 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference fails to confirm his/her attendance within five working days after being notified, the invitation will be offered to another voter. Note that the invitation includes admission to the conference only, i.e. all costs regarding travel and accommodation will NOT be covered.
The 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference will be held on 19-20 November 2009 in Malmö (Sweden). This high-level conference offers a unique learning and networking opportunity, bringing together more than 1 000 prominent public and private decision-makers and experts from across Europe and beyond. This is a unique opportunity to be granted admission to this high-profile event: attendance is limited and by invitation only!
How to vote?
Votes can be cast only online, using the voting facility on the ePractice.eu site. In order to vote, you must be a registered member of ePractice.eu (membership open to all) and have the minimum required user profile. Please read the online voting rules here before starting to vote.
Voters are asked to cast votes for three finalists from at least two countries to strengthen the European dimension of the Public Prize. If you vote for three cases from the same country, your votes will be disqualified.
Online voting closes on 11 November 2009 at 18:00 CET.
Further information:
Posted by: Danish Technological Institute, Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen
Posted in good practice, News, Projects | 1 Comment »
 |
8. October 2009 – 12:13 by Sabrina Franceschini
|
Nella splendida cornice dell’Arsenale di Venezia, si svolgerà dal prossimo 23 al 25 ottobre il Venezia Camp 2009.
L’evento vedrà il susseguirsi di convegni, tavole rotonde e seminari in cui verranno illustrati , tra gli altri, Best Practice mondiali per l’e-democracy,strategie di comunicazione per la PA, visioni condivise per favorire la modernizzazione della PA.
Il ricchissimo programma è consultabile all’indirizzo: http://www.veneziacamp.it/programma/
Nella prima giornata segnalo, in particolare, la prosecuzione della discussione per la definizione del Manifesto dell’Amministrare 2.0, che ha visto, fin dalla primavera scorsa, ed attraverso una serie di momenti di confronto, lavorare assieme circa 70 persone tra esperti, amministratori locali, aziende, studiosi.
Il Manifesto Amministrare 2.0 è un documento in progress che diversi attori o network quali FORUMPA, Formez, il Comune di Venezia, ilClub di Amministrare 2.0, Artea Studio e Innovatori PA stanno promuovendo con lo scopo di proporre una visione condivisa per favorire la modernizzazione della PA digitale.
Sabato 24/10 si svolgerà un Bar Camp: a partire dai temi suggeriti (CULTURA DIGITALE, CITTADINANZA DIGITALE, NUOVI PARADIGMI DELLA COMUNICAZIONE, SOCIAL MEDIA Al SERVIZIO DEI CITTADINI) i partecipanti, secondo la classica formula del bar Camp, possono proporre on line relazioni ed interventi: http://www.veneziacamp.it/eventi/barcamp/
Sempre sabato, all’interno di un evento, si cercherà di giungere alla redazione e condivisione di un Manifesto per la cittadinanza digitale.
Questi solo alcuni dei temi ( quelli più vicini agli interessi del nostro network 
per gli altri vi invito a consultare il programma.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
 |
7. October 2009 – 19:12 by Julia Glidden
|
Tom Steinberg has recently made headlines here in the UK with the announcement that he will be acting as an unpaid advisor to the Conservative Party to help them use technology to engage with people and make government more open and efficient. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8290181.stm
It is looking increasingly likely that the Conservative Party will win the next General Election in the UK. And in anticipation of that victory they are publicly commiting to engage with the public more and make data more accessible to everyone. Surely – these are laudable goals whatever ones political loyalties. And surely it is good news that a government in-waiting is openly recognising the power that new technologies can bring in enhancing democracy.
Yet soon as the announcement was made, -Tom was roundly criticised for associating with a political party. Fair enough to one extent. Except that as far as I know no one in democratic engagement circles in the UK has ever been criticised for helping the Labour Party use new technology to engage with citizens. My point here is not so much one of double standards but rather of the danger of ‘politicising’ what strikes me as an obvious good – namely encouraging governments of all stripes to improve the democratic process. What do you think?
Posted in News | 8 Comments »
|
|
7. October 2009 – 15:12 by Sabrina Franceschini
|
The next 24 of October in Venice, Italy, there will be the Venezia Camp 2009. This event is focused on the “digital culture” and will represent a moment to share and to discuss in the free modalities, as the Bar Camp methodology allow, between practicioners, students, private citizens and so on.
The discussions, now open, on barcamp is on wiki at the following link:
http://barcamp.org/veneziacamp2009
I’ll be there!!!
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
 |
6. October 2009 – 15:43 by University Bergamo
|
Saturday October the 3rd about 300.000 citizens demonstrated in Rome in defence of freedom of information. The demonstration was launched by the National Federation of Press and other civic and political organization (like Articolo 21 , trade unions, political parties of the opposition, etc.).
Why this news should deal with debate about (e)participation? Because of at least two of very good reasons …
Firstly, Internet has been a crucial tool for this mobilization, both in the preparation and during the event. A petition online drafted by three eminent Italian jurists (Franco Cordero, Stefano Rodotà, Gustavo Zagrebelsky) has been published on the website of “la Repubblica”, one of the most important Italian newspaper. The petition has been subscribed by about 500.000 citizens (among them, six Nobel). More than 9.000 comments were posted on the website of “la Repubblica” during the demonstration and appeared on the banner of the newspaper homepage. The website made possible a constant coverage of the demonstration and enabled a virtual interaction between participants to the event and people at home. In this case a virtuous circle of online/offline public spheres worked effectively.
The president of Reporters sans frontieres declared that this is probably the widest demonstration in defence of the freedom of press in the world. Of course, the big success of the demonstration doesn’t relay only upon the Internet, but also on the organizational/relational resources mobilized. Three ingredients have been important: the high reputation of who has drafted and launched the petition and its clarity, the national relevance of the newspaper “la Repubblica”, the role of the associations of the journalists. Nevertheless, due to the very restricted spaces on the Italian televisions (included public service) given to the issue arisen by the mobilization, the relevance of the Internet can’t be underestimated. Especially considering that the political opposition to the Government is involved in a phase of internal reorganization.
The second reason of interest of this news is more general. This Italian event reminds us how much freedom of information remains the very basic requirement of democratic political participation. It is impossible to immagine real new forms of citizens involvement in the public life without taking care of the freedom and openess of the public sphere.
Next thursday the European Parliament will debate about the Italian case.
ACF
Posted in News | 1 Comment »
 |
6. October 2009 – 09:27 by Rolf Luehrs
|
The PEP-NET blog has developed very well in the recent months. However, we believe that there is still room for improvement. One thing we have now addressed is multilingualism.
There are several reasons for this enhancement: First of all we are convinced that (e-) participation is in most cases dealing with local or regional issues. There are amazing projects we will never hear about on this blog because the involved or responsible parties do not feel comfortable to write about them in English.
Secondly public administrations are as well focused on their local, regional or national themes. The motivation for many of them to join our international network is currently not strong enough. This hopefully changes if they could communicate about their experiences and demands in their own language and also exchange opinions among each other.
Finally, we are an European network and what is more typical for Europe than all the different languages we are talking in – for the good and the bad.
We are nevertheless hoping (and confident:) that most of the contributions will still be posted or translated in English. Our partner ASAEL has shown that this is possible. But it is no longer mandatory. To prevent us ending up in the Confusion of Tongues, we have provided little flags in the top right corner where our readers may choose to read postings in all or only in particular languages.
We started with Spanish/ English since up to now postings have only been written in these two languages. But we will add other flags as soon as our members are starting to use them.
Feedback is highly appreciated
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
