Archive for the ‘News’ Category
 |
18. March 2010 – 17:03 by Civil College
|
We have seen various examples , how national parliaments are using the data available in parliament records to display on websites.
It is unlikely to have a function to easily find and compare voting records of political groups and individual representatives. The data is from the 2004-2010 years, and obtained from the official site.
This mashup site: www.itsyourparliament.eu provides this function with a really accessible user interface and a possibility to comment.
This social responsible mashup have built and mantained by Buhl & Rasmussen without any financial support from the EU or other is a typical case, that we citizens like, admire and even encourage to follow - when somebody has the spirit, talent and skills to point out and re-engineer information holes based on public data sources.
This example highlights the importance of open standards and open data, which technically makes possible to build a services like this. Just like in the offline world, where accessibility to relevant information is a cornerstone for real participation, here, accessing data in appropriate format (open standard) is equivalent.
Empowerment subnews.
In Hungary, a success story of right defender NGO, HCLU (TASZ) is highlighting the issue of e-participation in civil campaigns.
After a journalist investigation on the planned new Hungarian Motor Race court’s financial background - to involve state aid and loan /see the story here https://www.xpatloop.com/news/63685 -sorry, but the editor has some bugs now/, - a couple of NGO’s, dealing with transparency have started to run a small scale email campaign, to get different data, related to the planned investment.
A few hundreds of emails has resulted a big scandal in the Hungarian political arena, and saved 35billion Euros for Hungary.
Writing an email, signing a petition does worth the time investment of a few minutes. Although, there might be only 1 from 1000 cases to produce such a big saving, but we have to be aware and spend some time to scan trough our facebook group messages and emails.
A few minutes every day can make us better e-and-non-e citizens!
Posted in News, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
 |
9. March 2010 – 10:00 by John Heaven (TuTech Innovation GmbH)
|
Here are some news items, events and articles that I found during my first week working on PEP-NET. Apologies if some of them are almost a month old, but I found them so interesting that I thought I’d put them in anyway!
There is an urgent need to address the issue of cyber warfare attacks on the US, according to Janet Napolitano, US Homeland Security Secretary: “US urges ‘action’ needed to fight net attacks”, BBC News website.
For those who can read German, an article by Nina Schröter on politik digital (one of PEP-NET’s founding members) rounds up the news around online politics in Germany. Issues addressed include the German Constitutional Court’s ruling on mass collection of citizens’ data and the Chaos-Computer-Club’s call for an annual “Datenbrief”, a letter to citizens outlining what information is held about them and what it is used for: “Links, zwo, drei, vier“.
Involve, an associate member of PEP-NET, has co-published a literature review of participation, including eParticipation: “Understanding Participation: A Literature Review” (PDF file).
This article has already been linked from a PEP-NET article (”Internet can be muzzled?“) but I thought it worthy of another mention. It’s about Belarussian plans to introduce a law to control more strictly public agencies’ use of the internet. “Belarusian government increases its control over the Internet”, by PEP-NET associate member e-belarus.org
Michael Grimes of the Citizenship Foundation, based in the UK, contributed a thought-provoking article to Savvy Citizens: “Using the internet for effective citizenship”.
Jon Bounds, a chum of mine from Birmingham and renowned social media expert, wrote an article about the implications of social media for the Olympics and how social media threaten their ability to raise revenue through selling rights to their logo. He draws on examples from the recent Winter Olympics including companies who were told off for using the #Olympic hashtag on Twitter: “Hashtags, a new challenge to idiots” by Jon Bounds.
And finally, another social media expert from Birmingham Andrew Brightwell posted some FAQs about social media surgeries for people thinking of coming along. In case you are wondering what a social media surgery is, this post will tell you all you need to know. You might even want to try organising one! “What’s it like to go to your first Social Media Surgery?” by Andrew Brightwell on Podnosh
Posted in News | No Comments »
 |
5. March 2010 – 21:55 by University Bergamo
|
Per chi oggi è interessato alle pratiche emergenti della partecipazione - cittadini, associazioni, partiti, apparati amministrativi, parlamenti e governi - è sempre più cruciale mettere a fuoco lo statuto giuridico, gli spazi di istituzionalizzazione della partecipazione e l’attuazione concreta delle opportunità partecipative collegate.
I vincoli o i limiti delle sperimentazioni hanno spesso a che fare con i gap fra diversi livelli d’azione e possono soffrire di un debole o ambiguo raccordo con le normative. D’altra parte i problemi non sono solo ‘procedurali’, ma si pongono anche sul piano sostanziale: l’esclusione politica dei cittadini corrisponde spesso ad una esclusione sociale e rimanda quindi ai problemi dei contenuti della cittadinanza. Una comprensibile ansia di novità - ‘nuovi’ metodi per partecipare, ‘nuove’ tecnologie applicate alla partecipazione, come nel caso del Web 2.0 - può far dimenticare questi aspetti e può condurre a trascurare sia le opportunità già presenti negli ordinamenti giuridici dei sistemi democratici e forse poco valorizzate, sia i limiti delle sperimentazioni in corso. Allo stesso tempo è necessario tener conto dei caratteri delle culture giuridiche (e politiche) che caratterizzano ciascun paese.
In due dense giornate internazionali di lavoro l’Università di Perugia propone un’occasione preziosa di riflessione e confronto su questi ed altri temi più specifici collegati.
Al link indicato è possibile trovare tutte le indicazioni sull’iniziativa.
“Le Regole della partecipazione. Cultura giuridica e dinamiche istituzionali dei processi partecipativi”.
Università di Perugia, 11-12 Marzo 2010
https://www.unipg.it/convegni/Giurisprudenza-2010/locandina.pdf
Anna Carola Freschi
(Università di Bergamo) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Events, News | No Comments »
 |
26. February 2010 – 10:32 by E-Voting.CC
|
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 »
 |
16. February 2010 – 15:42 by Danish Technological Institute
|
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 »
|
|
16. February 2010 – 15:01 by E-Voting.CC
|
In response to the large number of requests from the community, the organizing committee of the 4th Electronic Voting Conference EVOTE2010 decided to extend the deadline for submission of papers by two weeks from Friday February 12 to Friday February 26, 2010.
Please find further information, templates and the call for papers here.
I hope this helps to finish your papers in time!
Daniel Botz, E-Voting.CC
Posted in News, Projects, members | No Comments »
 |
5. February 2010 – 23:52 by Francesco Molinari
|
Another Electronic Town Meeting - seventh in a row since 2006 - is about to be celebrated in Tuscany right tomorrow. After using it to elicit the informed judgement of hundreds of people on such diverse policy issues as health expenditure, “lawfulness”, climate change, and the “living will” (to name but a few), the Regional Government is now gathering about 100 randomly selected citizens in 5 different locations simultaneously, in order to launch a discussion on the priorities and limits of landscape planning - another primer for this topic and for the use of this eParticipation instrument in Europe.
The Electronic Town Meeting is the modern version of a form of structured participation in local government that has been practised in the US region of New England since colonial times, and in some Western States since at least the late 19th century. Participants receive structured information on a given topic, then they can express themselves individually within small groups and the discussion results are reported, clustered, given back in real time and finally prioritised by means of an electronic polling system that involves everyone in the room in a transparent, yet privacy respectful, way.
The 6th February Town Meeting is all but a trivial exercise. In fact, everyone has in mind the “postcard” image of Tuscany as praised by innumerable writers and film makers all over the world. Yet the region today is also a land of contradictions, for instance between tourism and industrial development, cultural heritage and modern infrastructure building. One only example: the impact of installing renewable energy plants such as windmills could jeopardise the centuries old beauties of the Tuscan landscape irreversibly according to some. Would it be better then to stay dependent on fossil fuels and avoid this permanent loss of quality, and ultimately reputation, of the Regional lifestyle?
The event has been jointly organised by the Councillors of Urban Planning and Civic Participation of the Regional Government of Tuscany. It will be broadcasted in real time web streaming at the following URL: https://stream.rete.toscana.it
More info (in Italian): https://www.regione.toscana.it/regione/export/RT/sito-RT/Contenuti/sezioni/ambiente_territorio/paesaggio/visualizza_asset.html_1661919580.html
Posted in Events, News, good practice | No Comments »
 |
4. February 2010 – 16:22 by Centre for E-Government
|
Recently, the Austrian capital Vienna launched an extensively advertised eParticipation and discussion platform called Wien will’s wissen (Vienna wants to know) for the referendum in February. By now most of the citizens have already received their ballot papers by mail, but they can also participate in online discussions.
Vienna’s government wonders about citizen’s opinions with an online platform going along with the referendum (Volksbegehren). The selection of the topics of the referendum was based on the orientation on factual issues as opposed to ideological ones.
The online platform is to be seen as an additional information and discussion service for the exchange of ideas between citizens and experts. Online contributions and comments can be made on the topics of the referendum. (Citizens will be asked five questions about prospective decisions of the Viennese government.) Plus, contrary statements of two experts – amongst them bloggers and media experts – referring to one of these questions are published.
By registering on the platform with an username and e-mail address everyone is offered the opportunity to submit questions and statements or to comment on the postings of other users. Before going online, all comments are reviewed by editors in order to ensure that people stick to the netiquette.
Implementation of Facebook and Blog
The platform is joining the trend of implementating social networks by including the possibility to use an existing Facebook account for comments. Users can use their accounts for uploading videos or pictures related to the five topics. In doing so, people should be persuaded to voice their concerns without having to go through an additional registration process.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in News | 1 Comment »
|
|
27. January 2010 – 11:51 by Centre for E-Government
|
The Office of Science and Technology Policy Public Access Policy Forum launched a public consultation on Public Access Policy. The Administration was looking for public input on access to publicly-funded research results, such as those that appear in academic and scholarly journal articles. From 10. December 2009 until 7. January 2010, comments on the agenda below could be posted on www.whitehouse.gov/open (forum now closed):
* Implementation (Dec. 10 to 20): Which Federal agencies are good candidates to adopt Public Access policies? What variables (field of science, proportion of research funded by public or private entities, etc.) should affect how public access is implemented at various agencies, including the maximum length of time between publication and public release?
* Features and Technology (Dec. 21 to Dec 31): In what format should the data be submitted in order to make it easy to search and retrieve information, and to make it easy for others to link to it? Are there existing digital standards for archiving and interoperability to maximize public benefit? How are these anticipated to change.
* Management (Jan. 1 to Jan. 7): What are the best mechanisms to ensure compliance? What would be the best metrics of success? What are the best examples of usability in the private sector (both domestic and international)? Should those who access papers be given the opportunity to comment or provide feedback?
Although the forum is closed, Charles Bailey collected links to 45 major institutional submissions to the OSTP consultation on OA.
And Steven E. Hyman’s, Provost of Harvard, response publicised on The Occasional Pamphlet.
Posted in News, Trends | No Comments »
 |
26. January 2010 – 15:42 by Bengt Feil (TuTech Innovation GmbH)
|
The year 2010 already brought with it a someinteresting news for eParticipation. The following items where of particular interest:
The UK government launched its own version of an open data portal to be used be NGOs and other public agencies. Data.gov.uk offers many different types of open government data in standardized formats to be used for analysis and applications. It is interesting to note that Sir Tim Berners-Lee is advising the project - This hints at the willingness for true openness!
Blogs.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
The bloggers of the Department of International Development (DFID) in the UK discuss the challenges and benefits of blogging as they have experienced them in the last 15 months since their started their blog. They clearly lay out the learning curve and the challenge of free publishing by government staff as well as the “real engagement” they were able to achieve.
Blogs.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Evgeny Morozov of the Georgetown University presented his thoughts on three key assumptions on technology and social change. He asks for a re-examination of: 1. Data will organize itself, 2. Technology will democratize our public sphere and 3. Civil society will flourish on the web.
Futuregovnetwork.com
On April 17th and 18th programmers, hackers, designers, journalists and “other nerds” will meet in Berlin to hack on and explore open and semi-open German government data. The goal is to set up a number of applications using this government data in just two days. Detailed information in German can be found at:
Opendata.hackday.net
Peter Cruickshank discusses a model of how local issues are debated which he found at e-democracy.org. He relates this model to petitions and finds that is fits in general but argues that they can empower citizens and elected representatives in relationship with the media and administrations.
Spartakan.wordpress.org
Darve Briggs points out the importance of mobile devices for government engagement. He especially addresses the fact that some people might cut their web-connected computer in a recession but keep their mobile phone.
Davepress.net
Posted in News | 1 Comment »
