Archive for the ‘TuTech’ Category
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25. May 2009 – 16:10 by ASAEL
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ASAEL colaborará activamente en los debates de las II Jornadas de participación ciudadana que se celebrará el próximo 27 de mayo de 2009 en el centro Joaquín Roncal en Zaragoza. El objetivo de ASAEL es aportar la experiencia adquirida a través del Proyecto Pep-Net de Participación ciudadana, enmarcado en el Programa Europeo de Competitividad e Innovación.
Las II Jornadas sobre participación ciudadana en el ámbito local están dirigidas a cargos electos de la Administración Local, Ayuntamientos, Comarcas, Técnicos de estas administraciones vinculados con la participación ciudadana y representantes de entidades sociales que trabajen en el ámbito de lo local y al ciudadano en general.
Los Objetivos de la jornada son:
• Reflexionar sobre los retos y oportunidades que conlleva la elaboración y aprobación de normas que fomenten la participación de la ciudadanía en la construcción de las políticas públicas.
• Analizar el régimen jurídico vigente en materia de participación ciudadana en el ámbito local.
• Establecer un marco de aprendizaje y análisis desde las experiencias de entidades locales
Las conclusiones derivadas de esta Jornada de Participación Ciudadana serán muy relevantes para la ciudadanía de la región aragonesa, sobre todo a nivel local, puesto que se tratarán temas tales como el marco normativo de la participación ciudadana en el ámbito local y el Reglamento de participación ciudadana. Es fundamental conocer los marcos que permitan promocionar la participación de los ciudadanos.
La elaboración de normas que regulen mecanismos de participación ciudadana requiere de un proceso previo de experimentación y de un alto grado de participación de todos los actores implicado. El resultado final será la clave para una gestión eficaz de los asuntos locales.
«Hoy no se puede gobernar sin contar con la colaboración, las voces y las complicidades de la ciudadanía y de sus organizaciones». Marcelino Iglesias. Presidente del Gobierno de Aragón.
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25. May 2009 – 16:07 by ASAEL
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ASAEL will actively collaborate in the debates of the II Conference of citizen participation which will be held on May 27th, 2009 in the Center Joaquin Roncal of Zaragoza. ASAEL’s goal is to provide the experience learned through Pep-Net Project for Citizen Participation, set in the European Program Competitiveness and Innovation.
The II Conference about citizen’s participation at local level are addressed to Local Governments, Municipalities, Counties, Technicians associated to these authorities and citizen participation representatives of social organizations working in the local level and the citizen in general.
The objectives of the Conference are:
• Reflecting on the challenges and opportunities associated with the approval and adoption of rules that promote public participation in the construction of public policies.
• Analyze the existing legal regime concerning citizen participation at local level.
• Establish a framework for analysis and learning from the experiences of local entities.
The conclusions from this seminar about Citizen Participation will be very relevant to the citizenship of the Aragon region, especially at the local level, since they cover topics such as the regulatory framework for public participation at local level and Regulations for Citizen Participation. It is essential to understand the frameworks that promote the participation of citizens.
The development of governing mechanisms rules for citizen participation requires a prior process of experimentation and a high degree of participation of all actors involved. The end result will be the key to effective management of local affairs.
“Today we can not govern without the cooperation, the voices and the complicity of citizens and their organizations.” By Marcelino Iglesias. Head President of the Government of Aragon.
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21. May 2009 – 12:21 by ASAEL
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On April 29th, ASAEL held the Seminar “Youth Participation in Europe: fighting together against climate change”, in the Urban Environment room, la Calle Indiscreta, from 9am to 6pm.
The Aragonese Association of Local Authorities (ASAEL), through the project “eCLAU”, approved under the European Program “Youth in Action”, has realized a seminar about youth participation in EU Environmental policies, particularly in the fight against climate change through new technologies.
With the implementation of this conference and therefore with the project “eCLAU”, we want to bring closer young people to the European democratic system by promoting their participation in democratic processes particularly through ICT and the use of forums. Taking the advantage of the proximity of the European elections next June 7th and the climate change as one of the most active fields for participation.
The President of ASAEL and the Director of the Aragonese Youth Institute started opening the conference.Subsequently, the head of EU Project Department of ASAEL did a presentation of the overview project “eCLAU”.
After it followed the first round table “Participation in Europe”, that was held with the participation of the Representative of the Environment Observatory, who described the experiences in the Spanish region of Aragon in the processes of public participation in environmental management programs. We also counted on this round table with a representative of the Danish Technological Institute, specialist in eParticipation who talked about eParticipation in Europe, its current status and potential future.
The second round table was focused on “Youth and Environment” and gave the floor to a representative of the Office of the European Commission in Madrid, who talked about the Youth Program and Policy Environment in the European Union. This table showed us a good approximation on participation in Environment thanks to the presence of a representative from the Zaragoza´s Locality, the youth association and the Shire of Sargantana Maestrazgo (Teruel) who told us their experiences in citizen participation.
The fourth round table discussed on “Climate change as an area of participation” with the Chief of Environmental Education of the Government of Aragon who illustrated the environmental education policies as a strategy for participation in climate change; in addition to this, the mayor of the municipality of Velilla de Ebro explained us her experience of the local youth associations in this municipality and the director of the Agency for Environment and Sustainability of the City Council of Zaragoza who outlined the current situation regarding the environment in the city of Zaragoza.
The third round table took place in the afternoon with the title: “The new technologies as a tool for Environment’s participation”, with the participation of an European specialist who came from the Tuscany region in Italy who presented his experience through the European project Ideal-Eu. This table was completed with the experience of representatives of the Aragonese Institute of Youth and Education and a Collective of Environmental Education who exposed youth participation in climate change and some reflections on the use of ICTs.
The event was closed by the President of ASAEL and the Environmental Education of the Government of Aragon’s chief, where they expressed the need to carry out projects like this to encourage youth participation in the fight against climate change and issues related to the environment in general.
The conference had a great impact in the Aragonese media and press, and was disseminated by sending more than 1,400 invitations to organizations and groups such as municipalities, counties, youth associations and entities representing the Aragonese society.
Medias that attended the event contributed to its spread both in radio and television. The audience was very large and very representative as it included the representatives of municipalities, counties, Government of Aragon, Youth Associations, Political Parties, Scouts of Aragon, sporting clubs, youth and general public interested in the theme of the Seminar.
Given to the level of the speakers, the extensive cooperation of the Aragonese institutions and the large group of participants who attended the event, we can ensure that the conference, part of the European project e-CLAU, has been a success.
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19. May 2009 – 17:00 by POLITECH
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The Call for applicants for the European eDemocracy Awards closes on 31 May 2009.The European eDemocracy Awards is an annual award honouring the most valuable European eDemocracy initiative amongst 50 selected websites in the EU 27.
The Award features a wide range of eDemocracy tools and content strengthening eParticipation, transparency, representative participatory democracy and citizen participation in the democratic decision-making processes at the European, national or local levels of governance.
European stakeholders of eDemocracy and eParticipation amongst the EU 27 are welcome to apply.
Those wishing to submit their initiatives or projects can do so by sending an email to
viktorian@politech-institute.eu by 31 May 2009.
The winner of the Awards will be invited to the World eDemocracy Forum 2009 which will take place in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France.
Further information:
Viktoria Nioradze,
Politech Institute
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19. May 2009 – 16:53 by Bengt Feil (TuTech Innovation GmbH)
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The Directorate General for Information Society and Media will join forces with the study on “Bringing Together and Accelerating eGovernment Research in the EU” will organise a Workshop entitled eDemocracy and eParticipation: A research-oriented perspective on June 12th in Brussels.
At this workshop different experts will do presentations and discussion on a variety of topics like:
- 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
More Information and the process for registration can be found here:
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment/studies/trendswatch/docs/social_economic_aspects/20090310-02-call.pdf
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18. May 2009 – 16:38 by pol-di.net e.V / politik-digital.de
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The „Bürgerforum Europa“, a web-based community launched on the initiative of the Bertelsmann Stiftung in cooperation with the Heinz Nixdorf Stiftung, assembles German citizens who care about Europe’s future. By publishing their resolution, the so-called „BürgerProgramm“, the community members direct their claims now to Brussels.
Read the rest of this entry »
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18. May 2009 – 16:17 by E-Voting.CC
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Today at 08:00 am the first legally binding electronic election in Austrian history went online! The Austrian Federal Student Union is being elected starting today morning and running until Friday via a remote electronic channel. Next week from Tuesday the 26th until Thursday the 28th of May an ordinary, paper based voting channel will be opened to ensure.
The paper and the electronic votes will be counted on the 28th and hence the result should be available around Thursday evening.
The voting system was programmed by the Spanish E-Voting specialist Scytl and is hosted at the Austrian Federal Computation Center. The Austrian Ministry of Science and Research is the initiator, Robert Krimmer from E-Voting.CC is consulting the implementation process.
The going online of the voting system this morning went as planned. A minor problem although occurred with the Intranet connection at the BRZ but this was quickly solved and did in no way affect the voting system itself.
We are glad and also a bit proud, that this project is now successfully in the “delivery phase”, we hope everything will keep running smoothly!
Daniel Botz, E-Voting.CC
Posted in good practice, News, Tools, Trends, TuTech, Uncategorized, Visions | No Comments »
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28. April 2009 – 11:05 by Madarász Csaba
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The European Citizens’ Summit on Monday 11 May from 13h to 16h30 will take place at the Palais d’Egmont, Place du Petit Sablon, Brussels. This event is the culmination of the first phase of the European Citizens’ Consultations (ECC) http://www.european-citizens-consultations.eu/ 2009, a unique pan-European debate involving citizens from all 27 Member States in discussions on the future of the European Union and how to respond to the current economic and financial crisis.
After an introduction by Olivier Chastel, Belgium Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the citizens will present their recommendations and discuss them with:
- Wilfried Martens (EPP)
- Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck (ELDR)
- Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (PSE)
- Philippe Lamberts (European Green Party)
- José Manuel Barroso (European Commission)
- Hans-Gert Poettering (European Parliament)
- Mario Sepi (European Economic and Social Committee)
- Luc Van den Brande (Committee of the Regions)
- Alexandr Vondra (Deputy Prime Minister Czech Republic, EU Presidency)
Margot Wallstroem, Vice-President of the European Commission will then make some concluding remarks. The debate will be moderated by Pat Cox, President of the European Movement International.
For details on how to register please see the attachment. You are kindly asked to register by e-mail before Thursday 7th May as places are limited.
For security reasons, only registered participants that received a confirmation e-mail will be allowed to enter.
(How many of you heard about the citizens consultations? And how many of you have been submitting any idea to it, as citizens?)
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27. April 2009 – 15:24 by Dan Jellinek
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Last week, seven e-democracy enthusiasts and practitioners from the UK met in a bar/club/avant garde arts venue called the Shunt Lounge deep beneath London Bridge station (for which fascinating location, our thanks to Manar of UK Citizens Online Democracy).
We were gathered to discuss what shape the UK arm of ‘e-democracy.org’ might take over the years to come. E-democracy.org is a US-based non-profit founded by Steve Clift, the celebrated e-democracy pioneer and innovator and one of the true founding fathers of our field.
A few years ago, a UK government-funded project called the National Project for Local E-democracy (snappy name) brought in Steve and others at e-democracy.org, notably Tim Erickson, to help a few UK communities develop email discussion forums to debate local issues and interact with councillors and other local decision-makers, as part of an experiment with local e-democracy. The group had already established many successful forums in the States.
Forums were duly established in Newham (a London borough), Bristol (a city in the West of England which has been a leader in local e-democracy for some years) and my own home town of Brighton. Others have since been established in Edinburgh and other locations. I and a colleague Mark Walker from the Sussex Community Internet Project were asked to lead the establishment of a small group of volunteers to run the Brighton forum, which has had its ups and downs but has certainly been an interesting trial and may still lead to further work.
Last week’s meeting however was convened in the light of all the UK government money drying up following the winding up of the national project and its successor body ICELE. The local UK issues forums are still pottering along, but there was the feeling that more could be done, and so we met to discuss what form this might take.
The following is a version of my report back to E-Democracy.org, which I thought may be of wider interest to PEP-NET members since it occurs to me that one model for the future of PEP-NET might be (at least partly) as an association of national networks such as the one we might pull together in the UK.
General points made included that:
- A lot of good work has been carried out in the UK issues forums, creating a good network of people with expertise in and knowledge of local e-democracy;
- As far as funding for future work is concerned, there will not be any more forthcoming from the government, and unlikely from councils: we must look to resource work through volunteers; raise money through grants or raise some form of corporate sponsorship;
- It would be great to involve young people in our work, adding an educational element;
- Some interesting things are set to happen in the UK with local e-petitions, and it may be we could tie in with this theme somehow as well.
Given all the above, we decided to try to meet again in a month or two’s time, and in the meantime, to collate as many ideas as possible for practical projects on how to take forward E-Democracy.org in the UK. One possible idea to start us off would be a project to write a book or create a website capturing the essence of what has been learned so far in UK issues forums. This would in essence be a collection of stories, some of success, others of failure, but all interesting and useful.
I will keep PEP-NET informed about how this project develops! It is also great news that Mary Reid, former Mayor of the London borough of Kingston, pioneer of local e-democracy including her own blogging as a councillor and mayor, and former chair of ICELE, has accepted an invitation to join Steve on the international board of e-democracy.org (of which I am also currently a member, though struggling to find the time to do the role justice). Mary’s great energy and expertise will ensure these projects bear fruit, I feel certain.
Best wishes to all PEP-Netters,
Dan Jellinek
Headstar/E-Democracy.Org/SCIP, UK.
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26. April 2009 – 15:20 by Francesco Molinari
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For those who may not know it, the Biological Will is a written statement made by a person who is sound of mind, specifying the limits (s)he deems appropriate to establish for medical treatment, should (s)he be incapacitated to take further decisions due to the onset of a condition of disablement, with no reasonable hope of recovering intellectual integrity.
In Italy, articles 579 and 580 of the Penal Code forbid and sanction as crimes both active euthanasia (homicide of a consenting person) and physician assisted suicide (instigation to suicide and assistance thereto), though with less severe penalties than proper homicide. In spite of that, the Italians attitude to euthanasia has been radically changing in the past few years, probably due to the widespread debate on two controversial cases – the Welby affair in 2006 and the Englaro affair in 2009 – where medical treatment and/or artificial feeding were suspended of two patients for whom there was no chance of recovery.
According to a 2007 survey by the research centre Observa – Science in Society (see http://www.observa.it/view_page.aspx?ID=286&LAN=ENG), 3 out of 4 Italians were in favour of the Biological Will. Quite interestingly for this country, there was no big difference between Catholics (71%) and non-believers (83%).
While the national Parliament is drafting a law on this issue, already passed on first reading in the Senate last 26th March, an Electronic Town Meeting has been arranged jointly by the City of Turin and the Regional Administration of Tuscany, which was held on 25th April, the Liberation Day in Italy. About 360 people (50% Catholics) were gathered for a full day simultaneously in two rooms, one located in Turin, one in Florence, to discuss and deliberate about three specific questions:
1) “To which extent are medical professionals to abide by a patient’s biological will?”
2) “Which limits should be set to the contents of a biological will?”
3) “How should a biological will be structured?”
The ideas, proposals and recommendations emerged from the discussion have been summarised into an instant report, distributed to all participants in the Town Meeting, and that will be handed out to the President of Republic and the legislators of the Italian Parliament in the next few days.
It should be kept in mind that the aim of a Town Meeting is not to seek agreements at all costs, but to elicit different views and interpretations, allowing a comparison among a richer and broader range of opinions. This is why the discussions were not moderated, but only facilitated, by domain experts, having the task of ensuring that sufficient information was provided to participants before and during the event.
In this case, it’s also important to stress is that the Town Meeting preparation started in March last year, with a technical document issued by a high level group of experts, summarising the state of the art on Biological Will in Italy, and which was examined across 40+ meetings and focus groups held in Piedmont and Tuscany, seeing the participation of 650+ citizens overall. The document was also distributed in 130.000 copies jointly with the most read newspaper of the City of Turin, as well as in Florence last February, and made available on a specific website (http://www.biennaledemocrazia.it/testamentobiologico/documenti.shtml).
With this event organisation, the Regional Administration of Tuscany has reached the number of four consecutive Town Meetings since 2006: the previous ones dealt with the principles of a Regional law on participation (first example in Italy), the priorities of regional health policy, and young people’s recommendation to the EU agenda on climate change and energy. More info: http://www.regione.toscana.it/diritti/partecipazione/index.html. It was also the second time for the City of Turin, which hosted a Town Meeting on the Olympic Truce in 2006. More info: http://www.comune.torino.it/treguaolimpica/youngwords/.
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