Posts in European Democracy Online Exchange
Some detailed data and some interesting analysis about e-participation. The Clickocracy: Obama Raised Half a Billion Online http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/11/20/obama_raised_half_a_billion_on.html James Gilmour No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.175 / Virus Database: 270.9.8/1801 - Release Date: 20/11/2008 19:28
From: http://www.epractice.eu/blog/429 The ePractice blog: discuss, praise, disagree. ePractice.eu provides its members with a blog in which all registered users can post opinions, questions and links to news related to eGovernment, eInclusion and eHealth. Your point of view is what makes ePractice.eu relevant to other public administrators all over Europe, so feel free to post and... Anna Schmitthelm 19 November 2008 1000 cases in ePractice today! Today we reached an important milestone at ePractice: The 1000th case has been published today!!!! I consider this a very important success for the ePractice community, and it demonstrates the participation and interest in ePractice of the professionals and case owners all over Europe. The case number 1,000 is “eParticipation, eVoting and eDemocracy in Denmark” (http://www.epractice.eu/cases/Rostra), submitted by Ms. Lisbeth Hvingtoft, from the Danish National IT and Telecom Agency (NITA). Her contribution shares the insights of Rostra, an online system for public debate and expression of opinions through voting facilities based on the Danish Digital Signature.
Since there's a bit of activity on this email list, I thought I'd respond to Steven's invitation and introduce myself. I'm Anthony Zacharzewski, and I've worked in government at national and local level in the UK for twelve years - ten years in national government, and the last two for my home city of Brighton, on the south coast. My work is general strategy and policy work, from a generalist perspective. I've worked, among other things, on business regulation, health policy, economic productivity and rural affairs. My current job is leading strategic thinking and analysis in Brighton & Hove City Council. I've had an interest in democracy and participation for many years, and am part of a small organisation called the Democratic Society, whose aims are to support political participation and improve democracy. Although time and funding constraints on the founders have prevented us from doing much as yet, we have plans for bigger and better things. The Society's website is at http://www.demsoc.org/ and I write a regular blog at http://www.demsoc.org/blog. Looking forward to the discussions here.
Dear members of the list Do wire, Its a pleasure to be in touch. My name is Cesar Gayoso and I am living in NY .At this moment I am preparing an International Electronical Bulletin about the" Challenges of Latin America in front of the globalizacion and its institutions in the XXI century.In this number scholars and diplomats from South America will be participating . This electronical Bulletin is built by the Internet Independent Network " Red Democratica". I am the founder and the administrator from 1998. This year , on Dec 2008 we will have 10 years of being On line and thats the reason for the publication of this Bulletin . Its the Sixth. The address of the blog is : http://reddemocratica.blogspot.com. Its going to be in spanish and english. And I would like to invite to the members of this presitgious list to this publication with a short article . No more of two or three pages.The deadline is second week of december. There are a lot of topics, as how building electronic global democracy, conflict resolution in the net, human rigths activism and internet , ecology, transitional justice , track 2 diplomacy,etc. Wishing you the best and I hope we can keep in touch, Sincerely, Cesar Gayoso Editor E-mail : <email obscured>
Dear members of the list Do wire, Its a pleasure to be in touch. My name is Cesar Gayoso and I am living in NY .At this moment I am preparing an International Electronical Bulletin about the" Challenges of Latin America in front of the globalizacion and its institutions in the XXI century.In this number scholars and diplomats from South America will be participating . This electronical Bulletin is built by the Internet Independent Network " Red Democratica". I am the founder and the administrator from 1998. This year , on Dec 2008 we will have 10 years of being On line and thats the reason for the publication of this Bulletin . Its the Sixth. The address of the blog is : http://reddemocratica.blogspot.com. Its going to be in spanish and english. And I would like to invite to the members of this presitgious list to this publication with a short article . No more of two or three pages.The deadline is second week of december. There are a lot of topics, as how building electronic global democracy, conflict resolution in the net, human rigths activism and internet , ecology, transitional justice , track 2 diplomacy,etc. Wishing you the best and I hope we can keep in touch, Sincerely, Cesar Gayoso Editor E-mail : <email obscured>
Hi to everyone...
I agree with James! I was shocked to find that not only did I have access to
voter records, but I could analytically see when someone voted and when he did
not!!! Moreover, the party that some of the voters belong to is registered.
This brings up a more philosophical question. Is there some things that should
be kept private? Do citizens have a right to keep their privacy? Does anyone
ask them if they want everyone to know if and when they voted? Will they be the
future target market of representatives?
I am really not sure as to the motives behind "giving public access to election
records" as that surely does not guarantee a "by the book" election process...
Cheers,
Naoum Liotas.
Steven Clift > Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 3:32 PM via NEWSWIRE > See: > http://whovoted.net Why should any of this information be in the public domain? What aspect of "the public interest" is being served by allowing me to see whether you voted? There MAY be a public interest element to allowing a non-voter to discover that s/he is recorded as having voted, but what could they then do? The incorrect record may indicate a genuine mistake or it may indicate personation. But what to do in either case? There is no significant public interest element in allowing a voter to see that s/he has been recorded as having voted, because that does not mean that their vote has been counted or has been counted for the candidate they wished. Those verifications would require a very different procedure. Information about your membership or non-membership of a political party should not be in the public domain - for ordinary electors, it should be a wholly private matter. State and federal authorities and state and federal laws should have no place in the internal elections of political parties to choose their candidates for public elections. Such elections should be private matters for the members of the parties concerned. The role of state or federal law in such private matters should be limited to providing the back-stop of "natural justice" for the members of a political party that fails to comply with its own internal electoral regulations or which adopts regulations that do not comply with the accepted rules of "natural justice". James Gilmour
Subject: E-Democracy '08, London, 11 November: One Week To Go: Final Speaker Programme Online Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 15:34:00 -0000 From: Dan Jellinek <<email obscured>> To: <<email obscured>> ++E-Democracy '08, London, 11 November - One Week To Go: Final Speaker Programme Online http://www.headstar-events.com/edemocracy08/ The UK's most popular annual conference on e-Democracy is back, at the spectacular headquarters of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Why not have a look at our website right now to see our final speaker programme - our best-ever line-up makes fantastic reading! If you have an interest in connecting with communities; consultation; democracy; e-participation; or campaigning, then this event is for you. Topics to be covered include e-democracy in local government, online citizen consultation, grassroots campaigns, open source software in e- democracy and much more. Confirmed presenters this year include Mark Byford, Deputy Director-General of the BBC; Peter Bazalgette, former Endemol supremo and director of YouGov; and Tom Steinberg of mySociety.org. Thanks to all of you who have already registered, and for those who have yet to join, there is just one week to go - sign up today at: http://www.headstar-events.com/edemocracy08/ Fees are just £165 + VAT for public and voluntary sector and £215 +VAT for private sector. I hope to see you at RIBA next week. Best regards, Dan Jellinek Conference Chair.
Hi Steve, This may be of interest to the list: BEYOND EAST AND WEST TWO DECADES OF MEDIA TRANSFORMATION AFTER THE FALL OF COMMUNISM 25-27 June 2009 Central European University, Budapest An International Conference, organized by the Center for Media and Communication Studies (CMCS) at Central European University (CEU) and the COST A30 Action “East of West: Setting a New Central Eastern European Media Research Agenda”, in cooperation with the International Communication Association (ICA). Deadline for abstracts and panel proposals: 15 November 2008 Please submit abstracts to: <email obscured> Conference website: www.beyondeastandwest.net Since 1989, a new media landscape has emerged in Central and Eastern Europe, with new ownership patterns, forms of media organization, journalistic practices, relationships between politics and the media, regulation processes and modalities of media use. A new system has been established, predominantly designed according to Western models and with heavy influence by Western players. Twenty years later, it is time to re-examine these changes. What went right, what went wrong, and what can we learn from this? Were Western media models and concepts appropriate for the post-1989 social, political, economic and cultural realities of Central/Eastern Europe? What are the future trajectories of media development in the region? And how do they compare to those in other regions undergoing systemic transformation - from Latin America to China and the Middle East? The conference “Beyond East and West” will trace post-1989 development and look towards the future. To build research for communication in transition, conference participants will explore the necessary building-blocks for a research agenda. Speakers include Miklos Haraszti, Slavko Splichal, Karol Jakubowicz, Colin Sparks, Monroe Price, Miklos Sükösd, Gianpietro Mazzoleni, Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Nick Jankowski, Beata Klimkiewicz, Peter Molnar, Peter Gross, John Downey, Inka Salovaara-Moring, Andrew Calabrese. Core conference themes: -> Central Eastern European Media Systems 20 Years On -> Media Policy and Democratic Legitimacy -> New Media Developments -> Popular Culture: Media Uses, Media Literacy, Socialism(s) and Nostalgia -> Political Communication between Commercialization and Political Influence -> Samizdat, Alternative and Community Media -> Global Communications, Development and Transition -> Reviewing International Media Assistance Programs For more information on speakers, themes and program go to http://www.beyondeastandwest.net/ Contact: Center for Media and Communication Studies (CMCS) Central European University (CEU) Email: <email obscured> Website: http://cmcs.ceu.hu Phone: +36 1 237 3000 ext 2607 Postal address: Nador u 9, 1051 Budapest, Hungary COST A30 “East of West”: http://www.costa30.eu/ International Communication Association: http://www.icahdq.org/ Conference website: http://www.beyondeastandwest.net/
I've been encouraged to shared the draft Ad hoc Committee on E-Democracy of the Council of Europe (CAHDE) recommendations for your comment. In addition to any comment you might share on the European Democracy Online Exchange ( http://dowire.org/europe ), you may direct private comments to Thomas Buchsbaum the chair of the committee: <email obscured> Placed on the web with this post is a set of slides sharing a high-level overview (text also below) and the draft document being deliberated at this hour by representatives of members states, parliamentarians, NGOs, and academic experts in Madrid. See the very bottom of this message for links to the files. For further background on CAHDE, see: http://www.bmeia.gv.at/index.php?id=70339&L=0 Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org and DoWire.Org The text from the slides. 1 ICT for participatory democracy: CoE standard-setting on e-democracy - track 1 workshop - CoE Forum for the Future of Democracy 2008 'E-democracy' Thomas M. Buchsbaum | Madrid, 16 October 2008 Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs Madrid 16/10/08 <email obscured> 2 e-democracy = the support and enhancement of democracy, democratic processes and institutions, and linked to the (re-) engagement of citizens in democracy and governance an issue of democracy other/more than e-government / eadministration e-participation is part of it 3 e-democracy ? NOT another kind of democracy NOT the latest gadget from an electronics store NOT something of / in cyberspace, unreal NOT a virtual 2nd / 3rd life NOT changing the democratic set-up of a country NOT an issue of technology Sofia IPAIT conference rvsd. 4 the Council of Europe and e-democracy The CoE started work on developing standards on e-democracy a few years ago already was and still is a forerunner amongst intergovernmental organisations has become the only international institution addressing e-democracy in its entirety, and is developing overview & clarification, and standard-setting. 5 the Council of Europe: current timelines on e-democracy creation and mandate of 24 May 2006 to the Ad-hoc committee on e-democracy (CAHDE) public symposium on E-democracy: new opportunities for enhancing civic participation, 23-24 April 2007, Strasbourg CAHDE expert workshops on e-Parliament (December 2007, Vienna), on regulatory frameworks (London, February 2008), and on advice to policy making on e-democracy (Vienna, 11 and 12 March 2008 - jointly with DEMO_NET) TODAY: the 2008 session, Forum for the Future of Democracy, on e-democracy, 15 to 17 October 2008, Madrid a draft Recommendation on e-democracy, by end-2008, for endorsement by the Committee of Ministers 6 "a text to comment upon" / 1 A draft Recommendation consisting of: Recommendations to Member States a kind of executive summary tasks for the organisations secretariat Principles of E-Democracy i.e. facts, leading to: Guidelines on E-Democracy recommendations to different stakeholders, including on: E-democracy, stakeholders, goals Technology Introduction and implementation of e-democracy Enablers, barriers, challenges & risks Rules and regulatory frameworks 7 approaches An INVITATION TO ANYBODY to use e-democracy CAREFULLY; E-democracy is NOT A PANACEA to overcome all democracy deficits, but represents ADDED POSSIBILITIES; a BROAD, INCLUSIVE definition of e-democracy in respect to ALL sectors of democracy (legislature, executive, judiciary) democratic institutions (public/private, formal/informal, etc.) levels of government (local, regional, national, inter-/supranational) kinds of participants areas of expertise involved levels of binding force of participation (campaigning to voting) 8 approaches / cntd. defining / describing the major e-terms; an integrated multi-stakeholder approach; a realistic approach (to benefits & challenges, use & usability); human rights-based & social cohesion-oriented politicians- and media-inclusive; sustainability- & evaluation-oriented; a comprehensive view on e-Parliament; initial thoughts on regulation (inc. security & standardisation): empowerment AND safeguards; + annexed practical guides on the introduction, on generic examples and on the evaluation of edemocracy 9 "a text to comment upon" / 2 is this, what states (can) expect ? is this, what other stakeholders can expect ? is this, what stakeholders would like to get? 10 "a text to comment upon" / 3 is it comprehensive ? are there gaps ? which ones ? anything superfluous ? anything wrong ? is it understandable to stakeholders? Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs PLEASE COMMENT. Thank you. http://www.wahlinfo.aussenministerium.at E-Democracy - Council of Europe (CAHDE) http://www.coe.int/democracy <email obscured> Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs
The following files were added to this topic:
Let's experiment with a Twitter channel related to this conference. See: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23futuredem Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org
We are almost at the magic 100 "needed" to open this exchange. Just 3 short. Send folks to: http://dowire.org/europe I am hoping on a plane in a few hours to attend the Council of Europe's Forum for the Future of Democracy conference in Madrid. Since some of you will be there, this a chance to introduce ourselves help jump start networking opportunities. For those who are not able to attend (attendees came through national government representatives) please introduce yourself as well. To post, simply reply or e-mail: <email obscured> I'm Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com ... and if I don't get packed I am going to miss my plane. :-) Please be more detailed than I am. Cheers, Steven Clift P.S. For on the Council of Europe's e-democracy explorations, see: http://www.bmeia.gv.at/index.php?id=70339&L=0
The other day I put this out on the main Newswire and on the e-democracy Facebook group I run. To take this forward threshold interest we need is 100 members by the end of the week and we are now at 91. If you know of one or two people who would like to take part, pass this along. Thanks, Steven Clift Subject: [DW] Are you in Europe? Join an online exchange on e-democracy Date: Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:27:56 -0500 At the EDem2008 conference in Austria last week the possibility of leveraging the strong base of European DoWire.Org members to connect with the many pan-European e-democracy networks arose. Next week I'll be in Madrid to speak to the Council of Europe's Forum for the Future of Democracy - http://www.coe.int/T/E/Integrated_Projects/Democracy/ - so I thought I'd let you decide if there is an opportunity for us all. Like the UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange - http://dowire.org/uk - there seems to be a space for a simple e-mail list for informal exchange among practitioners (from gov/civil soc/media/politics) and researchers. Tom Steinberg (MySociety.Org) and I quietly seeded a space months ago, but we haven't had time to build it deliberatively. So instead, after consulting with Tom, I've decided to open it up widely based on the extremely successful and highly interactive UK and Ireland forum experience. ... If you are not a registered http://groups.dowire.org member (or if your e-mail address is different than the one you joined under), then visit here to join: http://groups.dowire.org/groups/europe If we jump up to 100 members this week (as a vote of interest) then we can take it the next step and promote the e-list in Madrid to the 47 nations gathered. It is only worth doing this (as an unfunded, independent space) if it is designed to leverage the more formal networking efforts of Pep-Net (mostly practitioners, blog-based) http://www.pep-net.eu , DemoNet (mostly researchers) http://www.demo-net.org , Momentum (EU-funded efforts) http://www.ep-momentum.eu , and the eParticipation (social network) at http://www.epractice.eu/community/eParticipation . I've spoken with people involved in these networks and they are already generating huge amounts of useful information, but the missing link seems to be active and informal online discussion. I'd love to see folks in those projects use the e-list to bring people onto their growing sites by forwarding "what's new" as well as give anyone "doing" e-democracy across Europe a place to ask questions of their peers. Because DoWire.Org is a global network dating back to 1998, this will also promote the transfer of good ideas beyond Europe. The honest truth is that "bridging" online communities require the invasiveness of e-mail (as a default that can be turned off) where people in transit can catch up on their mobile and zip off a thought or two simply by pressing reply. My guess is that if 200 people join the network, there will be a critical mass where rarely will there be a week without at least one topic of discussion keeping our interest. Steven Clift DoWire.Org
From the DoWire Consult online community of practice ... Subject: [Consult] Webinar on E-Participation: TID+ Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:51:07 +1200 (NZST) From: Andrew Glencross <<email obscured>> For those interested in cutting-edge research on e-participation I would like to extend the following invitation for a webinar on Friday 27 June, 10am-12 CEST. Here are the details: TID+, e-tools for active citizen participation Join us for a Webinar on June 27 Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/516244624 e-Participation, or the use of ICT to broaden and deepen political participation by enabling citizens to connect with one another and with their elected representatives, is a concept that is much more difficult to implement than it is to understand. With the development of the TID+ project, citizens and officials are handed a tool that is based on seven years of practical experience. The main result of TID+, a project part-financed by the European Union, is a FOSS software tool that that can be used to organise citizen-driven e-participation. We will tell you more about the project and we'll provide a short demonstration. There will be ample opportunity for you to ask questions and enter into discussion. The webinar will be hosted from the European University Institute in Florence using the GoToWebinar service. Audio will be Skypecasted. You can find all background information considering the project and this webinar on www.tidplus.net The webinar is projected to last for 1 hour 30 minutes. To allow for technical difficulties and for follow-up discussion, the webinar venue will be open longer. Please note that Skypecasting only works with a stable (non-beta) version of Skype installed in a Windows environment. Title: TID+, e-tools for active citizen participation Date: Friday, June 27, 2008 Time: 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM CEST System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista Macintosh-based attendees Required: Mac OS X 10.3.9 (Panther) or newer
Thank you Ella Taylor-Smith, International Teledemocracy Centre, for the tip. - Steve P.S. Cross-posted to the small -practitioner- focused online community of practice started by Tom Steinberg at: http://groups.dowire.org/groups/europe From: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment/policy/eparticipation/information_day/index_en.htm Or: http://tinyurl.com/6hggnm Information Day on the eParticipation Call for Proposals 2008 An Information Day was held on the eParticipation Preparatory Action Call for Proposals on 20th May 2008. Please find below the documentation. The formal adoption of the work programme and the launch of the call is expected early June. The information and documents given below regarding the Call are only provisional and may be subject to change. What More Information Page Updated 30/05/2008 Call opens provisionally early June Call closed 29 August 2008, at 17:00 hours (Brussels local time) tbc Budget 5 million Euro Documentation For information about the Call 2008, read the draft documentation below: Call Documents Download Draft 2008 workprogramme ~ 312kb Draft evaluation guide ~ 333kb Draft guide for applicants ~ 501kb Information day agenda Information day presentations Presentations by the Commission Download Introduction to eParticipation and eGovernance - Dave Broster, HoU H2 ~ 1,5MB 2008 Work Programme-Thanassis Chrissafis & Sally Taylor ~ 552kb The Guide for Applicants and Contractual Aspects - Willy van Puymbroeck, HoU H5 ~ 1MB The Guide for Evaluation - Priit Ojamaa ~ 531kb Presentations by external participants Download Anna Triantafillou, MOMENTUM (description of the current eParticipation projects) ~ 4,5MB Andrea Schnabl, Technische Universität Wien ~419kb Ferran Cabrer i Vilagut, CONSEN AT CONSEN.org ~ 418kb Prepare & Submit a Proposal Paper submission only! Option Comment Action Offline Preparation / Paper Submissions Pre-registration is recommended The pre-registration should be done by e-mail to the address below. The pre-registration should include the name of the contact person for the proposal, the acronym of the proposal, the full title of the proposal and the language in which the full proposal will be submitted. Applicants are kindly requested to submit their pre-registration, by at the latest, to the following email address: <email obscured> Assistance Contact: <email obscured> Timetable Dates Description 29 August 2008, at 17:00 hours (Brussels local time) tbc Close call (Proposals must be received by the European Commission by this deadline) September 2008 Evaluation of proposals (assisted by independent experts) October/November 2008 Communication of selection results to proposers and start of negotiations by 31st December 2008 Grant agreement signatures December 2008/January 2009 Projects start after grant agreement signatures
Surely this is one worth copying? http://www.mysociety.org/2008/02/22/mysocietys-freedom-of-information-site-goes-live/
Thanks to those attending the BerlinInAugust unconference in August 2007 a new pan-Europe online exchange for democracy online practitioners is being launched along side the international online communities of practice and UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange. Please join now and stay tuned for an introductory messages from Tom Steinberg with mySociety.Org in the UK. In addition to the UK and Ireland exchange - http://groups.dowire.org/groups/ukie - the two most active online international communities of practice are: * Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation - http://groups.dowire.org/groups/consult * E-Democracy and E-Government Researchers Network - http://groups.dowire.org/groups/research Cross-posting to multiple forums on DoWire Groups is highly discouraged.