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Newsletter: “Looking Forward, Looking Back”1. January 2007 – 00:00 by John Heaven (TuTech Innovation GmbH) |
Dear Reader,
2010 has been a busy year for PEP-NET, both in terms of our internal affairs and eParticipation in general.
In true participatory spirit, I do not want to write too much about the trends in eParticipation in 2010 because we want to hand the microphone over to you by inviting you to participate in our online survey “Looking forward, looking back”. We will collate the results and publish them on the blog in January, and I am curious to find out how 2010 was for you.
Suffice to say eParticipation is a jigsaw puzzle where the pieces just keep multiplying, and quickly. To accommodate all of these pieces, the picture has to change all the time: I’m thinking about things like Wikileaks, the massive protests against the Stuttgart 21 railway station, the recent student protests in the UK, public sector cutbacks and even the volcanic ash cloud that forced us to work together without flying. The past week alone has been busy in Europe: the launch of the eGovernment Action Plan and the passing of regulations on the European Citizens’ Initiative.
Our survey is about identifying what you think these jigsaw pieces are and I look forward to seeing the results in January.
You will have many more stories from your countries and I urge you to contribute them to the Europe-wide discussion that is PEP-NET. You can do that by getting in touch with me or my team and members can log into the blog and post their views directly.
PEP-NET: Achievements in 2010 and our roadmap to becoming an NGO
For PEP-NET, 2010 has been very eventful. We have welcomed new members, worked with the Danube University to publish a special edition of their JeDEM online journal on eDemocracy, organised online discourses about eParticipation in Central and Eastern Europe and the future of PEP-NET, including live chats with Hille Hinsberg, Marko Rakar and Simon Delakorda. One of our proudest achievements was organising the PEP-NET Summit in Hamburg on 23rd September 2010. It was our pleasure to host many of you and organise a packed programme of keynote speakers and presentation corners showing off the best of European eParticipation.
Let me remind you that PEP-NET ceased to be a Commission-funded project on 30th September but we are proud to have continued and will found an NGO early next year. Following a consultation process with our members, we are committed to making this work and continuing helping members keep in touch with each other, building their networks, and keeping up to speed with eParticipation news. We are receiving membership applications all the time, and were pleased that our first event since the end of our status as a Commission-funded project took place at Future Democracy on 2nd December.
Our roadmap to founding PEP-NET is as follows:
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Completed by
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Task
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17/12/2010
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Publicise road map to PEP-NET association in newsletter
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01/2011
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Response from members who wish to support the founding process
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14/01/2011
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Final questions regarding PEP-NET e.V. agreed through online deliberation
· tiered membership fees
· board members
· contractual structure
· mission statement
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19/01/2011
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Short policy paper describing PEP-NET, the basis of the new articles of association, made available on Google Docs for members to edit and comment upon
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26/01/2011
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End of comments on/amendments to draft policy paper
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08/02/2011
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Articles of association drafted (in German), translated into English shortly after
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15/02/2011
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Founders meet with notary in Hamburg and sign the articles of association
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22/02/2011
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Notary submits articles of association to registry of associations
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01/03/2011 (assuming registry of associations raises no issues)
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Articles of association approved by registry of associations
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1/03/2011
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Start registering existing members, free membership
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1/03/2012
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Start charging fees for membership
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Recent blog articles
As always, here is a digest of some recent articles on the blog. To see all of the articles, go to pep-net.eu.
“eGovernment Action Plan, Citadel Statement and ECI regulations”
News of three European eParticipation events taking place this week: the presentation of the eGovernment Action Plan, adopted by the Commission and presented at the “Lift Off Towards Open Government” conference; the presentation at the same conference of a statement of actions generated through an online consultation asking people how the aims agreed at Malmö in November 2009 could be realised; and the adoption by the European Parliament of regulations specifying in more detail how the European Citizens’ Initiative will work.
https://pep-net.eu/blog/2010/12/15/egovernment-action-plan-citadel-statement-and-eci-regulations/
“CeDEM11: Extended Call For Papers”
The popular conference, now renamed CeDEM, will take place again next year. The deadline for papers to the conference has been extended to 16th January 2011. The conference itself will take place on 5th-6th May 2011.
https://pep-net.eu/blog/2010/12/02/cedem11-extended-call-for-papers/
“All in a day’s work: Munich does eGovernment, eParticipation & Open Data”
Reporting on Munich’s experimentation with Open Data, starting with a competition to find the best ideas for apps that take advantage of datasets that the state of Munich will release early next year.
“Conclusions from the e-Democracy Conference 2010 held in Ohrid, Macedonia”
This article reported on the largest eDemocracy conference in southeastern Europe, taking place from 12th-14th September, where participants agreed that Macedonia is an example of successful use of ICT for improving democracy that all countries in the region follow. The article contains a list of topics addressed and a summary of the event.
“Second Life for eParticipation? An exclusive sneak preview of Birmingham’s Virtual Library”
Birmingham is preparing to launch a virtual version of its planned £193m library. Using Second Life and working with a local company that specialises in developing 3D worlds, the Library service has built a life-like model that it will use for showing the library to citizens before it is finished and finding out from them how it should be used. PEP-NET got an exclusive sneak preview and you can see pictures of the inside on the article.
It has been a pleasure to work with a group of dedicated and knowledgeable eParticipation experts this year and I look forward to continuing to drive eParticipation forward in 2011. All that remains for me to say is Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope you enjoy a well-earned break.
All the best,
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| Rolf Luehrs,
PEP-NET Coordinator |
Bengt Feil | John Heaven |
