Archive for the ‘Events’ Category
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2. September 2010 – 17:00 by Centre for E-Government
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The sub-catagories of the ePart 2010 (dedicated to topics on eParticipation and eDemocracy) were foundations, eParticipation initiatives, understanding & evaluation and ICT & eVoting. The conference was colocated with and held in parallel tracks to the EGOV 2010.
KEYNOTE
ANN MACINTOSH (UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS): ARGUMENT VISUALISATION ‐ THE KEY TO UNLOCKING ONLINE DELIBERATION?
„The trouble with socialism is that it takes up too many evenings.“ (Oscar Wilde)
Macintosh presentation focused on argument visualisation with reference to it’s possible value for policy making. Before combining these two research topics, she summarised the history and current state of research in the field of online deliberation by browsing to the main arguments of the following book titles which argue the need for deliberation:
- Hay 2007: Why we hate politics
- Stoker 2006: Why politics matter: Making demoracy work
- Fishkin 1991: Democracy and deliberation
- Dryzek 200: Deliberative democracy and beyon
Others then claimed a potential of the internet for enhancing deliberation, like Dahlgren 2005: The internet public sphere. Whilst this is not a new research area (see Dutton 1992: Political Science research on teledemocracy), with the more sophisticated technology of today we are moving from the traditional text-based to a new form of deliberation. And with people using the web 2.0 a much bigger audience is attracted. Macintosh argued that the linear form of information in debate fails to capture real life argument patterns and does not enable people to think of arguments. The capacity of technology has not been like we expected it in the 90ies. It’s potential to enhance democracy has not been realised yet. Why is that? The overall reason might be to many expectations: One one hand, we are expecting too much from governments and politicians (they need to give up power), on the other hand too much of the citizens (e.g. with reference to the digital divide). Not least we’re also expecting too much of technology.
Online deliberation presents large problem spaces. Coming up with an own opinion and to formulate an informal contribution is difficult, especially when taking into account the complexity of policy development. From the socio-technical perspective, the problems are the following:
- making sense of unstructured text
- knowing what critical questions to ask
- ensuring inclusive deliberation.
This is where argument mapping comes into play – seen as a tool to make sense of unstructured text and visualising language. Argument visualisation provides an alternative way of representing text in online deliberation forms. TheODET 2010 workshop was dealing with online deliberation tools emerging from the labs. If you are interested in argument mapping it is worth browsing the posts tagged „argument mapping“ on http://digitalcitizenship.co.uk where you’ll find a video covering some of the tools presented at the conference.
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2. September 2010 – 14:20 by Centre for E-Government
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From August 29 to September 2 both the EGOV 2010 and ePart 2010 conferences (the ninth conference of the IFIP WG 8.5 group) took part in Lausanne, Mouline – a rather rural but overally nice area (one was literally facing cows when getting off the metro). This year the conferences were hosted at the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration – IDHEAP. Some minutes of the keynotes and selected presentations of the first two days.
EGOV 2010 OPENING
The EGOV 2010 was taking place outside the DEXA framework for the first time this year, starting with some facts and figures about this year’s papers and the invitation to the next conference in Delfth (15 min. from Amsterdam) 2011. Keynote K. Holkeri from Finland focused on open and inclusive policy making.
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27. August 2010 – 16:54 by John Heaven (TuTech Innovation GmbH)
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speicherstadt by Jens Pletsch
As we head full-speed towards autumn, this weekend will see the first eParticipation conference of the season: the EPart2010 conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, which is into its second year and aims to lay the foundations for interdisciplinary eParticipation.
We have a lot to look forward to in terms of conferences: also in its second year is the Personal Democracy Forum Europe taking place in Barcelona from 4th to 5th October, which comes shortly after our very own PEP-NET Summit on 23rd September.
Speaking from our experience of organising the first ever PEP-NET Summit, there is certainly demand for eParticipation conferences from delegates and speakers . Perhaps people have had enough of lazing around on Europe’s beaches and are looking forward to coming together to plan the next steps for eParticipation and think about where to invest their newly-acquired energy and enthusiasm.
If you have had enough of the beach and like the idea of discussing eParticipation amongst Hamburg’s canals in the historic Speicherstadt, then make sure you register soon on the PEP-NET Summit page because places are very quickly filling up. We promised that things would “get loud” at our Summit; judging by the number of people signing up, we weren’t wrong. So put away your bucket and spade, get your trousers on and come and make some noise. Register now to avoid disappointment.
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20. August 2010 – 17:01 by Fraser Henderson - ICELE
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The European Citizens’ Initiative is plagued with implementation challenges, particularly in terms of the digital domain. Thankfully there’s already a bunch of people and projects who are making sense of these - not least the EC funded EuroPetition project.
Hence, in an attempt to bring all this knowledge (and information) into one place, a new group and website has been assembled:-
YourECI website
The Digital ECI is an important aspect of the ECI and this is an opportunity for practitioners in the field of eParticipation to demonstrate that they can add value based on current best practice.
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17. August 2010 – 18:32 by Rolf Luehrs
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The calm of Hamburg’s historic Speicherstadt is not usually disturbed by anything more than the chatter of tourists exploring the picturesque surroundings in the sun, or a sprinkling of rain sending ripples across the canals. (Here is a nice video as appetizer).
But on 23rd September 2010, we’re hoping to make waves that spread well beyond the canals of Hamburg to the furthest corners of Europe!
Along with the keynote speeches from the movers and shakers of European eParticipation, we will be hosting 14 half-hour presentations in our presentation corners. That’s a total of seven hours’ presentations of groundbreaking eParticipation projects in an informal atmosphere, where you will be able to move from one presentation to another and discuss with other participants.
As many as four presentations will be running in parallel, allowing you to move from one to the other according to what you find most interesting. It will get loud in there, but that will only add to the lively hustle and bustle and make sure that this is so much more than just another flashy conference.
We’ve got presenters from all across Europe: Germany, Scotland, England, Estonia, Slovakia, Greece, the Netherlands, and Denmark. The topics discussed will range from open government to grass-roots citizen participation in local politics via participatory budgeting. Our presenters themselves are a diverse bunch, in terms of nationality, areas of expertise, and organisations they work for: we’ve got academics like Peter Cruickshank from International Teledemocracy Centre at Edinburgh Napier University, Civil Servants like Hille Hinsberg from the Estonian Cabinet Office, and Dominic Campbell, founder and Director of UK consultancy and social innovation incubator FutureGov. Then there’s Chuck Hirt, of the Central and Eastern European Citizens Network, André Basten and Hanss Christian Lange from the City of Hamburg … and I could go on. Full details will be published soon together with the final agenda at the summit page - so stay tuned!
The PEP-NET Summit is all about participation, and we have really tried hard to keep that in focus: a glance at the agenda will confirm that there will be plenty of time for discussion, whether in the presentation corners, during the question and answer sessions at the end of each keynote session, or at the end of the day when there is an hour dedicated to summarising and discussing what was said. If that isn’t enough networking for you, make sure you come along to the dinner in the evening. Finally, on the following morning we are offering a tour of Hamburg with an eParticipation focus. Look forward to seeing you in Hamburg!
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13. August 2010 – 09:24 by John Heaven (TuTech Innovation GmbH)
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Noella Edelmann, Danube University
Noella Edelmann will be speaking in the section “eParticipation in Europe: Strategic Aims vs. Practical Application” at the PEP-NET Summit on 23rd September 2010 in Hamburg.
Mrs Edelmann is a researcher at the Centre for E-Government at the Danube University, Krems, Austria. Her research focuses on eParticipation, Open Access, internet and psychology, and user experience and has been published in numerous journals.
Mrs Edelmann’s academic career knows no borders, neither physical nor disciplinary: her first degree is in English and Psychology from Strathclyde University and she also boasts an MSc in Organisational Psychology from the University of London. She now focuses on eGovernment: she has an MAS in eGovernment from Danube University and is working towards her PhD in User Experience in E-Particpation.
Mrs Edelmann is the Managing Editor of JEDEM, the Open Access eJournal of eDemocracy and Open Government and is responsible for CEDEM, the annual international Conference on eDemocracy, formerly known as EDEM.
The Centre for E-Government’s membership of PEP-NET has been a symbiotic relationship. Mrs Edelmann recruits speakers from the Network’s ranks and is organising a special PEP-NET edition of JEDEM together with the team at the Centre for E-Government. Work with PEP-NET has been able to influence the eParticipation calendar of events in Europe and led to the organisation of PEP-NET workshops held at EDEM and other members’ conferences, most recently the PEP-NET workshop “Best methods for undemocratic participation“. Along with several other PEP-NET members, the Centre is a partner in the EU-funded project “OurSpace”.
The Centre for E-Government is part of the Department of Governance and Public Administration. It conducts research, provides post-graduate programmes and is a competence centre for education in E-Government. Amongst its partners are the Austrian Chancellery and Austrian Federal Computing Centre.
The Centre for E-Government is a founding member of PEP-NET.
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10. August 2010 – 08:21 by John Heaven (TuTech Innovation GmbH)
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Paul Johnston, Cisco
Paul Johnston will speak in the section “The Future of eParticipation: Regional, National and International” at the PEP-NET Summit. He works for the Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) at Cisco Systems Inc, where he is head of the European public sector team. IBSG sponsors TheConnectedRepublic.org, a community space where people interested in public sector transformation can meet each other and share their ideas. Mr Johnston launched and helped shape TheConnectedRepublic.org with his Australian colleague Martin Stewart Weeks.
Prior to joing Cisco, Mr Johnston worked for various UK public sector organisations before joining HM Treasury, where his work as a policy advisor contributed to the 2000 Housing White Paper, Market Abuse legislation, and three Spending Reviews. By the time he moved to Cisco he had progressed to become Head of the Treasury’s Local Government Team. Before working in the public sector, he worked as a journalist for Reuters, the BBC and Tyne Tees Television.
Mr Johnston is recognised as a thought-leader in his field, and is perhaps most renowned for the paper he co-authored with Martin Stewart Weeks “The Connected Republic 2.0“, which explores the impact of web 2.0 on the public sector. This paper lent its name to the internet platform that the authors founded, where the ideas at its core continue to be developed.
Mr Johnston lives and works in London. Outside work, his main interests are his family, tennis, philosophy and psycho-analysis.
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9. August 2010 – 16:56 by John Heaven (TuTech Innovation GmbH)
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Richard Wilson
We are pleased to announce that Richard Wilson will moderate the PEP-NET Summit on 23rd September 2010 in Hamburg. Thanks to his track-record as an event moderator - for example at the 2009 Ministerial Conference on eGovernment in Malmö - and his position as a leader in citizen participation, we are certain that Mr Wilson will help you get the most out of the Summit.
Mr Wilson is the director of izwe, a recently-launched social network that gives citizens more influence over their local areas by enabling them to share their opinions and ideas. izwe was founded by a group of researchers, developers and community mobilisers and has formed partnerships with local authorities and decision-makers.
Mr Wilson has delivered public engagement projects for governments, governmental organisations and businesses worldwide, including the European Commission, the BBC and the OECD. Until 2008 he was deputy chair of the UK government’s science engagement programme, ScienceWise. He founded the London-based think tank Involve, of which he was Director until moving to izwe. Involve is a member of PEP- NET.
Mr Wilson recently chaired the largest events for the French and Swedish EU Presidencies. He has written four books, writes for The Guardian newspaper and appears in the national media regularly.
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6. August 2010 – 17:28 by Institute for Electronic Participation
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E-participation & E-democracy workshop was organized as a part of the Citizens Participation University 2010 which took place from 20th to 24th of July in the Civil College in Kunszentmiklós-Kunbábony (Hungary).
10 NGOs representatives and activists from Armenia, Belgium, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Poland and Romania attended the workshop.
Participants were introduced with E-participation / E-democracy concept, political documents of the Council of Europe relating to eDemocracy, current e-participation developments in Central and Eastern Europe and different e-participation tools as well as good practices. The second part of the workshop facilitated open discussion about opportunities for involving e-participation tools into current and future civil society projects in the region.
The workshop was lead by Mr. Csaba Madarász (e-democracy expert and consultant, Hungary) and Mr. Simon Delakorda, M.Sc. (Institute for Electronic Participation, Slovenia)
Citizens Participation University 2010 was organized by the Civil College Foundation and Central and Eastern European Citizens Network (CEE CN).
Csaba Madarász and Simon Delakorda
Workshop presentations:
1. eParticipation in the CEE: NGO’s perspective (pdf, 4,10 mb).
Citizens Participation University 2010 participants @ CEE CN
Simon Delakorda and Csaba Madarász @ CEE CN
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6. August 2010 – 12:01 by John Heaven (TuTech Innovation GmbH)
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Anke Domscheit-Berg
Anke Domscheit-Berg is passionate about the potential for IT to connect citizens with government and does her part to move this field forward, which does not come as a surprise given her academic background, her professional career and her social engagement.
Indeed, it is the last of these that first catches the eye: on her personal blog about her visit to the Barefoot College in Rajasthan, India - of which she is German Ambassador - she describes herself as a feminist with green leanings (and she’s not a bad photographer, either, probably a fruit of her degree in Applied Arts 20 years ago). Dig a little deeper and it turns out that she is an advocate for all sorts of organisations and causes: from Amnesty International to Teach First Germany, via a German organisation banging the drum for female directors and a European Network of leading women in IT which wants to bring more gender balance into Technology Companies - across all leadership levels.
She writes regularly for national publications such as Die ZEIT, Die Tageszeitung, and der Freitag, and specialist publications such as eGovernment Computing and Kommune21. As a leading thinker on Germany’s Goverment 2.0 scene, she is also a regular contributor to the Government 2.0 Netzwerk Deutschland blog. A year ago, she initiated the German Government 2.0 Camp which will take place in September for the second time. Federal Minister of Interior, Mr Lothar de Maiziere, invited her as subject matter expert to his third Netpolicy Dialogue with a focus on eGovernment, where she pressed for a German Open Government Initiative.
But she is more than a commentator with a few smart ideas: following over a decade of experience in consulting firms McKinsey and Accenture where she advised large public sector accounts on their IT strategies (and even a stint at the Northumbria University as a network technician), Ms Domscheit-Berg is now Leader for Innovative Government Programs (including Government 2.0) with Microsoft Germany and became trusted advisor on innovation in eGovernment for public sector CIOs of all federal levels.
So we are really pleased to have Ms Domscheit-Berg speaking at the PEP-NET Summit from her unique standpoint as somebody not only with ideas and convictions but who is in a position to change things for the better.
Social Web:
Blog: www.gov20.de
Twitter: @anked
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