Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
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3. March 2010 – 13:38 by John Heaven
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My name is John Heaven and I started work at TuTech Innovation on 1st March 2010. I will be working on - amongst other things - PEP-NET. Part of my role will be to work together with Bengt Feil on establishing what members would like to get out of PEP-NET membership, how we can improve what we offer to them, and ultimately ensure that PEP-NET can support itself into the future.
But before I set about that, I thought maybe you’d like to hear about where I’m from and what I’ve been doing until now, especially around eParticipation!
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Posted in Uncategorized, good practice | 4 Comments »
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26. February 2010 – 10:32 by E-Voting.CC
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Today, on Friday 26th of February, the extended deadline for paper submission for the EVOTE2010 conference is due! The last chance to submit you scientific papers and participate in our renowned issue of our fourth issue of the International Conference on E-Voting - EVOTE2010.
The conference will take place from July 21st to July 24th in Bregenz at the beautiful lake Constance.
We are looking forward to another highly international and very interesting event!
Daniel Botz - E-Voting.CC
Posted in Events, News, Projects, Uncategorized | No Comments »
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16. February 2010 – 17:16 by Centre for E-Government
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When talking of digital natives and the new generation, names and definitions are changing rapidly. Thoughts on today’s Generation Z and the differences between Austria and the U.S.
The Baby Busters
Generation X, (often also named the 13thGeneration or Baby Busters/Baby Boomers) was shaped by political experiences such as the end of the cold war and the fall of the Berlin wall and defined as those born after the baby boom ended (birth dates 1961 to 1981). They are characterised by being the first generation with widespread access to television and shaped by the attention they received from the media. The term was used in a wide range of fields from social sciences to popular culture. It was popularised by the author Douglas Coupland in the novel “Generation X. Tales for an Accelerated Culture” (1991).
The Millenial Generation
The demographic cohort following Generation X is – surprisingly enough – described as Generation Y. It is also called Millennial Generation, Net Generation or Echo Boomers. Many sources have Generation Y spanning from the 1970s (during the late years of the Vietnam war) to the late 1990s, others between 1980 and 2000 (cf. Tim Walters, Ph.D. from Forrester Research). Characteristics of this generation vary, depending on region and social conditions. However, it is generally marked by an increased use of communication media and digital technologies. Shaped by the events of its time and the rise of communication technologies, it’s members, who have not yet hit 30, are familiar with almost all aspects of the internet, websites like YouTube and social networking sites. This may explain why they are rather peer-oriented due to the easy use of communication through technology. Compared to their elders, they seem to have a very different social behaviour and are often seen as spoiled children who demand good salary conditions and best time to work.
Participation vs. Command-and-Control
When conducting a survey with Swedish youngsters via Internet and Facebook (report entitle e-revolution), PricewaterhouseCoopers found out that collaboration and participation are not just words and that this generation is one of the most innovative. Attitudes and opinions are formed through the net, young people having a clear vision of it’s role. Generation Y strongly influenced the U.S. presidential election in 2008. 71% of those under 30 years went to the polls for the first time and two-thirds voted for Barack Obama. With a “speak your mind” philosophy, they are much less likely to respond to the traditional command-and-control type of management and don’t fear authorities. Plus, work-life balance is becoming increasingly important.
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16. February 2010 – 15:42 by Danish Technological Institute
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For those of you who are not yet aware: The call for papers for the 2nd International Conference on eParticipation 2010 (ePart 2010 www.demo-net.org/epart) is now open.
ePart 2010 will take place 29 August to 2 September in Lausanne (CH). ePart is co-organised with EGOV 2010 conference so a chance to meet colleagues and peers in both fields.
ePart 2010 covers a whole range of research topics within area of eParticipation. The principal aim is to review research advances in both social and technological scientific domains, seeking to demonstrate new concepts, methods and styles of eParticipation.
ePart 2010 will in particular focuses on:
- The research landscape, directions and foundations
- Research methods, method integration and techniques
- Cultural and normative differences in eParticipation
- Comparative analyses of eParticipation practices
- eParticipation projects: design, implementation, evaluation, quality and impact
- Technologies for eParticipation, policy modelling, simulation and visualisation
- Online conversation and deliberation, eConsulation, ePoling, eLegislation, eElectioneering, eVoting, Social networking
- Education, training courses, and curricula
ePart 2010 papers submission – in line with the above focus areas – will be allowed in four distinct types of submissions:
- Completed research papers
- Ongoing research and innovative projects
- Workshops and panels on pertinent issues
- PhD colloquium submission.
ePart is closely aligned with EGOV 2010 - the IFIP eGovernment conference and the EGOV community. Note that this year both conferences will be located for the first time outside the DEXA cluster of conferences. ePart 2010 is sponsored by IFIP, WG8.5.
Important Dates
- Submission of papers: 3 March 2010
- Submission of workshop/panel proposals: 15 March 2010
- Submissions to PhD colloquium: 15 March 2010
- Notification of acceptance for papers: 30 March 2010
- Notification of acceptance for workshops/panels: 30 April 2010
Publication
All accepted completed research papers will be published by Springer LNCS. Ongoing research and innovation projects papers will be published by Trauner Druck. Outstanding research papers from the conference might be selected for further development and publication in a special issue of a relevant journal.
Conference chairs
- Ann Macintosh, The University of Leeds (UK)
- Efthimios Tambouris, University of Macedonia (GR)
- Olivier Glassey, IDHEAP- University of Lausanne (CH)
BY Danish Technological Institute/Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen
Posted in Events, News, Projects, Trends, Uncategorized, inclusion | No Comments »
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11. February 2010 – 10:57 by Danish Technological Institute
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Live streaming of the “Making Europe more democratic?” debate on Thursday 11 February @ 14:00 CET at http://europa.steiermark.at/stream
The debate aim to answer an array of questions relevant to democracy and surrounding the new European Citizens’ Initiative. The event will be hosted by Richard MEDIĆ, European Media and Communications Expert (former AER Spokesman).
The main speakers include: Sebastian KURPAS, a representative from the European Commission and Johannes W. PICHLER, Professor for European Law at the University of Graz and Director of the Austrian Institute for European Law and Politics in Salzburg (AT).
The initiative is part of the “AER Communications Atelier” under the new European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) the Steiermark Office Brussels will be hosted by the AER (Assembly of European Regions). It is also the first time the “AER Communications Atelier” gives interested parties the opportunity to follow the discussion as a live-stream and to participate actively in the discussion on http://europa.steiermark.at/stream
Danish Technological Institute/Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen
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10. February 2010 – 21:11 by Julia Glidden
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I have spent the day running user groups for an interesting new argument visualisation tool that is designed to make it easier for citizens to participate in policy making on climate change. Check out the new EU-funded project: www.jointhewave.org
Aside from learning some very interesting things about how easily eParticipation practioners fall into assuming prior knowledge (such as asking people what they think about the ‘platform’ or ‘argument visualisation’ when most people don’t know what either of these terms mean!), I also learned something very discouraging about the present state of the climate change debate. One things is for certain - the present fall out among climate change researchers and flurry of media coverage surrounding it is taking a toll that not even the most innovative of social media tools can alleviate.
Anyone familiar with acedemia will recognise the current academic dispute surroung climate change research. It is a sad and familar tale of petty jealousies and turf wars in which researchers conspire to block dissent and promote a self-selected clique. This type of behaviour happens all the time in universities around the world.
Unfortunately, while the researchers conspire to one up each other, average citizens are left dazed and confused about what, if anything, they should do to address climate change. Should they really cut back on the family budget to fund higher environmental taxes? Give up on the car? Cancel the family holiday in Spain? Live with that wind farm down the road?
Henry Kissinger once famously commented ‘The disputes in academia are so fierce because the stakes are so low.’ In this instance, alas, the stakes are not low at all.
It is truly unfortunate that while the so-called scientific experts squabble, the pressing interests and needs of average people are left unanswered. There are enough valid concerns about the various methods being proposed to help save the planet without unnecessary doubt and obsfucation being thrown into the debate by quarreling academics.
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8. February 2010 – 15:40 by Eric Legale
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“Virtual walls are cropping up in place of visible walls” said Hillary Clinton, last January 21, in a very important speech on Internet freedom. We can see it every day in Iran, China, Viertnam, Burma and in many countries a spike in threats to the free flow of information. It also happening in Europe, in Belarus, where President Lukashenko has signed a decree regulating the dissemination of information on the, in the context of a tumultuous presidential election, next year.
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3. February 2010 – 18:17 by Olga Lacigova - 21c
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We still have a long way to go before governments become 2.0 savvy. Recent report published by McKinsey & Company got it spot on!
According to the report and from our experience, in recent years we have seen a significant improvement in the use of information and communication technology by central and local governments. Majority of governments have websites and offer certain public services online such as paying tax, paying for parking tickets or renewing personal identification documents or driving licences. Moreover, public service employees use the internet on regular basis to communicate and to manage other resources.
These improvements were made possible thanks to significant spending by the governments; however, the public sector services still lag far behind the private sector. Many funding schemes designed to transform the government failed, and the benefits are not immediately obvious. Citizens are increasingly more demanding as the use of ICT and social media by private companies is highly advanced and the private sector standards are seem far from reachable by the public sector.
The report points out three main obstacles that decrease the impact of ICT modernisation funded by the public sector: ‘ineffective governance, lack of Web-related capabilities, and reluctance to allow user participation in the creation of applications and content’.
I personally agree with the last point the most. Local authorities are fearful to allow citizens co-create their website or to post blogs expressing their concerns and many believe that council’s website is an official informative source and should not be transformed into a place of discussion and Facebook/Twitter debates. I agree that we don’t want to see offensive postings when we are looking to pay our parking tickets, however, having a space where I can say what I think would help my neighbourhood would come often very handy. So where is the limit and how to overcome this problem?
Source: Jason Baumgarten and Michael Chui (http://tinyurl.com/yfcuc4o)
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19. January 2010 – 23:52 by Civil College
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A new interactive website of the previously introduced Rising Voices, the citizen media training initiative of Global Voices Online has just opened their new project’s website, which aims to map online technology projects, that promote transparency, political accountability and civic engagement in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, China and Central & Eastern Europe.
8 researchers in the next 3 month plans to document 32 case studies of the most innovative technology and transparency projects outside North America and Western Europe.
The team collaborates with well known, like minded mapping, discussion and toolset projects, such as ParticipateDB, Participedia, the International Association for Public Participation, the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation, ePractice, MobileActive’s mDirectory, and LocalLabs.
The project both open for volunteer researchers and welcomes contributors.
The site is offering beside twitter and facebook services, podcast and seem to fill a needed gap, by the sponsorship of the OSI and the Omidyar Network.
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12. January 2010 – 13:31 by Eric Legale
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Vinnova, the Swedish Governmenal Agency for Innovation Systems published “eGovernment of Tomorrow”. In this report, four scenarios are presented for eGovernment in 2020 with the main idea that in the future public participation will grow and trust in government and society will be important.
It is very interesting to read what can imagine the swedish agency: from the idea that “Government goes private” because a private actor emerges with efficiency to the idea of co-production with a strong participation in communities from Government, it is a new style of Government which emerge.
Can we imagine something like a new service “Google Government” in the future?
Or an emerging “Big Brother society” where people felt that, on balance, improved services outweighed the risk to personal integrity?
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
