In addition to the EDem08 conference in Austria Sept 29-30 - http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/edem - and an E-Democracy.Org UK meeting in Oxford on October 2 - http://groups.dowire.org/r/post/3CIcASMpMYo5FwhwRLi4CG , it looks like I may have an opportunity to participate in the Council of Europe's Forum for the Future of Democracy conference October 15-17 in Madrid - http://www.coe.int/T/E/Integrated_Projects/Democracy/ . With two kids (very cute, I might add) in diapers and my full-time focus on E-Democracy.Org, this will pretty much lock up my speaking availability through the end of the year unless others planning to send along an invitation do so very soon. (I remain open to Internet video presentations.) Also, due to the schedule of the (invite-only) Madrid conference, I may be available to speak publicly elsewhere in Madrid, perhaps even elsewhere in Spain/Portugal through midday on the 15th or later on the 17th. I would also consider a possible sponsored quick speech/presentation/etc. on October 14 elsewhere in Europe as well. Anyway, if you would like to explore possibilities, contact me at:OR send possible sponsors to http://stevenclift.com Thanks, Steven Clift http://stevenclift.com Democracies Online Newswire P.S. The video of my stump-style speech to the Personal Democracy Forum is online: http://blip.tv/file/1051161 (leave some comments!) It builds on my new Sidewalks for Democracy Online article that has generated more buzz than I've experienced in years: http://rebooting.personaldemocracy.com/node/52
See: http://www.politech-institute.org/edem_award.asp THE EUROPEAN e-DEMOCRACY AWARD 2008 The European eDemocracy Award is an annual award honoring the most valuable European eDemocracy initiative amongst 50 selected websites in EU 27 featuring 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. 50 eDemocracy initiatives and websites across the EU 27 are selected for the European eDemocracy Award 2008 and analyzed according to 2 combined innovative indices: The IP-LABEL INDEX is a ratio out of 20 measuring these initiatives in terms of availability and performance over a month period. The POLITECH INDEX is a ratio out of 40 measuring these initiatives in terms of innovation, usability, content and diversity of technology and tools strengthening participatory representative democracy in Europe and reflecting 4 key dimensions: 1) The Political Dimension – measures the use of ICT to empower, activate and mobilize political and civil society actors to meet public affairs objectives, while being on top of the political agenda; 2) The Democratic Dimension – measures the use of ICT to strengthen citizen participation in the democratic and decision-making processes and enhances representative democracy. This a key dimension as emphasized by Dr. Lawrence Pratchett’s C.L.E.A.R. Model in which people participate when they can and have the necessary resources to make their argument and when they feel part of something, they like to participate as it is part of their sense of identity, when they are enabled to do so and directly asked for their opinion and when they experience a responsive system; 3) The Civic Dimension – measures the use of ICT to inform, train and educate constituents, citizens and activists about their institutions, representatives, political processes, decision-making and governance structures; 4) The Technological Dimension – measures the diversity of ICT tools proposed, the use of convergent technologies, availability, performance, usability, accessibility and innovation. The EUROPEAN eDEMOCRACY INDEX, a ratio in per cent measuring the democratic contribution of a given initiative and its technological performances, combines POLITECH INDEX (weight 40) and IP-LABEL INDEX (weight 20). EUROPEAN eDEMOCRACY INDEX * 100 Last year winner was … The European eDemocracy Award 2007 was bestowed upon: Burger@Overheid – Dutch e-Citizen Programme POLITECH INDEX: 28/40 IP-LABEL INDEX: 15.1/20 EUROPEAN e-DEMOCRACY INDEX: 71.83% An initiative of the Dutch Ministry of Interior and being part of the ICTU, the Dutch implementation organization for ICT in the public sector, It’s an independent platform stimulating the development of e-Gov from the citizen’s point of view. It involves citizens, advises government bodies and monitors progress, while regularly conducting surveys with its own People’s Panel and annually granting the Webwise Awards for good practices. It proposes an e-Citizen Charter setting quality standards defining multi-channel relationships between government. This Charter was adopted by both national and local Dutch governments and recommended by the OECD as guidelines. This year winner can be … YOU! If you are submitting until August 8th 2008 your initiative of project with a short description of your initiative to the following e-mail address:The Winner will be invited to the World eDemocracy Forum 2008, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
Just a quick note to let those in the Chicago area know there will be a gathering of local e-democracy volunteers and those interested in online civic engagement on Monday, July 21 over lunch. RSVP at: http://pages.e-democracy.org/Chicago Also, there is a start-up effort for a Chicago Region Civic Forum as part of E-Democracy.Org. Go Bears. Sign-up from the link above. Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org
Very very cool news. If you know anyone with a community foundation interested in this, send them E-Democracy.Org's way. Every town needs a local democracy online effort. - Steven Clift P.S. Some links I've prepared for community foundations: http://e-democracy.org/cf From: http://www.informationneeds.org June 23, 2008 New Knight Initiative Seeks to Address Local Information Needs Engaging Community Foundations $24 Million, Five-Year Project Spurs Innovation through Challenge Grants MIAMI — A $24 million initiative by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will engage community foundations in a grant-making challenge to find creative uses of media and technology to help keep communities informed and their citizens engaged. The five-year Knight Community Information Challenge is launched as the media world undergoes rapid change and acknowledges that there is less local information readily available. The challenge is premised on two strongly held beliefs: 1) in a democracy, information is essential for a community to function properly; it is a core need, and 2) since community foundations are established to meet core community needs, they are logical partners in meeting the information needs of communities. This initiative is also seen as an opportunity for community foundations to provide civic leadership. The Knight initiative has three parts: * A grant-making program will invite community foundations to propose ideas to meet information needs in their communities. Knight will make $20 million available over five years to match funding for the best of these ideas. * Once the winners are chosen, teams of “circuit riders” – specialists who bring access to resources and expertise – will be available to help community foundations address their information-needs opportunities. The teams will help community foundations develop the ability to plan and execute their ideas. * The project includes a Media Learning Seminar on Feb. 16-17, 2009 to help community foundations learn about the information needs of communities in a democracy. The first such seminar of this kind was held in February 2008 when Knight and the Council on Foundations co-hosted a gathering in Miami. The 2009 seminar will offer an opportunity to exchange current knowledge, review existing information needs projects and share best practices. A companion meeting hosted by the Council on Foundations in October 2009 will reach out to more community foundations. “Many community foundation executives and board members told us they were ready to embrace information as a core part of their mission,” said Alberto Ibargüen, Knight Foundation president and CEO. “Now it’s time for action. Foundations that value information as an essential element for healthy community advancement – whether neighborhood, town, city or region – will find us a willing partner. By inviting the initiatives to come from the communities, we expect them to be both relevant to local needs and varied.” The challenge is open to all community foundations. Knight plans to consider ideas from other foundations whose focus is local, geographically defined communities, similar to community foundations. The Knight Community Information Challenge involves a two-step process. Community foundations can visit www.informationneeds.org to propose a project in 200 words or less between June 30 and Sept. 15. Those selected to submit full proposals will be notified within a week of receipt, and full proposals will be due Oct. 15. Each full proposal will be required to provide matching funds. The initiative is the fourth in a series of Media Innovation Initiatives created by Knight to address the information needs of communities in a democracy. They include: * The Knight News Challenge, funding ideas that use digital media to deliver news and information to geographically defined communities ( www.newschallenge.org); * The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy, in partnership with the Aspen Institute, will propose public policy that will facilitate meeting those needs (www.knightcomm.org); and * The Knight Center for Digital Excellence, a nonprofit consultancy, helps communities across the United States ensure digital access for every citizen (www.knightcenter.info). The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities. Knight Foundation supports ideas and projects that create transformational change. Visit www.knightfoundation.org ### Contact: Marc Fest, Vice President of Communications, 305-908-2677;
I've written one of my most important articles in years: http://rebooting.personaldemocracy.com/node/52 Sidewalks for Democracy Online Steven L. Clift Government websites don’t have sidewalks, newspaper racks, public hearing rooms, hallways or grand assemblies. There are no public forums or meeting places in the heart of representative democracy online. The question that this essay will ask and answer is not what can we do to redesign democracy for the Internet Age, but, rather, why have we decided to delete democracy from the most visited interface citizens have with “their” government? And what are we going to do about it? Read the full article or download in PDF from: http://rebooting.personaldemocracy.com/node/52 Other articles: http://publicus.net/articles.html ... Along these lines, I invite people in the United States interested in doing something about this to join my non-partisan online community of practice for those in non-profits, government, media, and e-politics called the US Democracy Online Exchange: http://dowire.org/us (It is modeled after a similar space for e-minded democracy builders from the UK: http://dowire.org/uk ) ... The full Rebooting Democracy Series looks to be an interesting read: http://rebooting.personaldemocracy.com/ It's Time to Reboot America. The Personal Democracy Forum presents an anthology of forty-four essays brimming with the hopes of reenergizing, reorganizing, and reorienting our government for the Internet Age. How would completely reorganizing our system of representation work? Is it possible to redesign our government with open doors and see-through walls? How can we leverage the exponential power of many-to-many deliberation for the common good? Click on an individual author's essay, download the entire anthology, or buy the book. However you dive in, join our conversation about these ideas here and at http://www.personaldemocracy.com ! Esther Dyson wrote the forward: http://rebooting.personaldemocracy.com/node/29
I've been waiting years for this one. Clear, simple advice that says if you work for government you have a legitimate role in interactive spaces online. In your professional civil servant role you may, go to where the people are connecting. No more sitting on the sidelines if you have useful, factual information to contribute like a link to a government report that would add value to the conversation. No more fear that (or less anyway) that your boss will rap you for even posting something in a neutral, professional manner. This is a real opportunity to serve in a 21st Century way. Every country needs a similar policy guide or alternatively as a whole, their government will become irrelevant to most people. Countries with civil servants disconnected online, have disconnected democracies. Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org P.S. To discuss or report similar policies in other countries use the DoWire Consult forum: http://groups.dowire.org/groups/consult The Big Deal: http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/iam/codes/social_media/participation.asp I am a civil servant Principles for participation online 1. Be credible * Be accurate, fair, thorough and transparent. 2. Be consistent * Encourage constructive criticism and deliberation. Be cordial, honest and professional at all times. 3. Be responsive * When you gain insight, share it where appropriate. 4. Be integrated * Wherever possible, align online participation with other offline communications. 5. Be a civil servant * Remember that you are an ambassador for your organisation. Wherever possible, disclose your position as a representative of your department or agency. How the Civil Service Code applies to online participation The Civil Service Code applies to your participation online as a civil servant or when discussing government business. You should participate in the same way as you would with other media or public forums such as speaking at conferences. Disclose your position as a representative of your department or agency unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as a potential threat to personal security. Never give out personal details like home address and phone numbers. Always remember that participation online results in your comments being permanently available and open to being republished in other media. Stay within the legal framework and be aware that libel, defamation, copyright and data protection laws apply. This means that you should not disclose information, make commitments or engage in activities on behalf of Government unless you are authorised to do so. This authority may already be delegated or may be explicitly granted depending on your organisation. Also be aware that this may attract media interest in you as an individual, so proceed with care whether you are participating in an official or a personal capacity. If you have any doubts, take advice from your line manager Comment here: http://powerofinformation.wordpress.com/2008/06/18/social-media-guidance/ More links from: http://davepress.net/2008/06/18/civil-servants-and-the-social-web/ Civil Servants and the Social Web There has been quite a discussion in recent times about the guidance for civil servants on how they should interract with the social web: see Emma and Nick for some of what has been said. Well, now, as Jeremy announces, we have the guidance. We knew this was coming, because eGovernment minister Tom Watson told us it was imminent on Twitter. The guidance itself is up on the Civil Service website, while over on the Power of Information taskforce’s blog, comments are being sought. The guidance is nice and short, being made up of 5 bullet points, followed by a bit of text about how the Civil Service Code affects how civil servants operate on the web. The five key points are: 1. Be credible 2. Be consistent 3. Be responsive 4. Be integrated 5. Be a civil servant There is still room for some slightly more detailed guidance, which I understand will soon be on its way. For example there is a difference between a civil servant commenting on a post on (say) this blog; commenting in a post on their own departmental blog; or writing on a personal blog of their own. This stuff needs exploring, and hopefully it will be done so in a social, collaborative way.
I am working up a speech for the Personal Democracy Forum where I will rattle off some of the most dramatic digital information access rights/services/requirements outside the United States. For example, in Estonia with a X-Road system every citizen has the ability to securely view private data held about them from across 70+ government databases. They also can see when that data was access, have a right ask why, and have a process to correct incorrect information about them. Wow. (I am curious how the document register for civil servant drafts is working ... anyone have an update?) Another example. in the UK citizens have been given the ability/right to petition the Prime Minister from a government website. That is significant. I am looking to identify a few more "wow" examples. Send them in:I need someone to confirm how the information register(?) system works in Sweden. Is it true that the public/reporters can go to a government agency and view all e-mail in and out of that agency on system designed to support a pre-Internet right to do that in the paper world? Hey there my Swedish friends. Help me out here. Thanks, Steven Clift
I have two quick ideas that I would like your input on: 1. CitizenMedia@ - http://groups.dowire.org/groups/citizenmedia - I've proposed a new public online community of practice at the junction of "citizens" using civic/social/citizen media tools for community building and "journalists/media orgs" using the same/similar tools to involve the public in generating news. Does this interest you? If so, what focus/use interests you most? E-mail:This idea is informed by E-Democracy.Org's behind the scenes hosting of an online group for Knight News Challenge winners and two recent conferences - http://futurecivic.media.mit.edu/conference/ and http://www.mediagiraffe.org/wiki/index.php/Jtm-mn The group has technically existed for a couple years as a place holder, so you can join as existing Newswire members to register your interest - Send the command -- subscribe -- in a message to: 2. Community-Builders@ E-Democracy.Org - With our local network now growing past 10 communities and the many many independent neighborhood forums/e-lists, I'd like to see a place where "active citizens" on the front lines of making their community a better place could exchange information, lessons, and ideas. There are tons of "expert" spaces broken down by topic, but nothing international that supports the person experiencing all the challenges of local life. Imagine how 500 locally focused "connectors" tied back into potentially hundreds of small local forums might use each other as a resource and bring information and advice back into their local forums. People without local forums could participate and hopefully be inspired to help start a local Issues Forum for in their community as well. We can do this now with our existing infrastructure, a couple volunteer hosts, and some outreach muscle. I'd rather bring along a few promotional partners as well. Down the road I could imagine a more structured Q and A exchange based on selected topics of interest, but that is a good sized grant away from reality. What do you think of this idea? Would you want to be involved in some way? E-mail: As you know, I like to publicly throw ideas against a wall and see what sticks. Nothing here should be read as a promise to do anything! Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org
Subject: Pew Internet releases Election 2008 Report Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:37:30 -0400 From: Cornelia Carter-Sykes <> Fully 46% of all Americans have used the internet, email or cell phone text messaging to get news about the campaign, share their views and mobilize others. Further, the proportion of Americans going online on a typical day at the tail end of the primary season to get political news or information has more than doubled since a comparable point in the 2004 race-from 8% of all adults in spring 2004 to 17% of all adults in spring 2008. These are among the highlights of a new national survey of 2,251 American adults by the Pew Internet & American Life Project between April 8 and May 11. The poll found, among other things, that younger voters are among the most active and intense internet users. These online voters are more likely to support Democrat Barack Obama and that means his partisans were significantly ahead of Hillary Clinton's supporters online in the endgame of the Democratic race. In addition, Obama backers have a higher profile in some online areas than supporters of Republican John McCain. Three online activities have become especially prominent as the presidential primary campaigns have progressed: First, 35% of Americans say they have watched online political videos - a figure that nearly triples the reading the Pew Internet Project got in the 2004 race. Second, 10% say they have used social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace to gather information or become involved. This is particularly popular with younger voters: Two-thirds of internet users under the age of 30 have a social networking profile, and half of these use social networking sites to get or share information about politics or the campaigns. Third, 6% of Americans have made political contributions online, compared with 2% who did that during the entire 2004 campaign. A significant number of voters are also using the internet to gain access to campaign events and primary documents. Some 39% of online Americans have used the internet to access "unfiltered" campaign materials, which includes video of candidate debates, speeches and announcements, as well as position papers and speech transcripts. For the full report please visit: http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/252/report_display.asp About the Pew Internet & American Life Project: The Pew Internet Project is an initiative of the Pew Research Center, a nonprofit "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. Pew Internet explores the impact of the internet on children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care and civic/political life. Support for the project is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The project's Web site: http://www.pewinternet.org Please feel free to forward this email alert to colleagues, friends, or family members who might be interested in it. If you have received this message from a subscriber, you can sign up to receive your own alerts at: http://www.pewinternet.org/signup.asp
New CMF Study Shows Explosion in Citizen Involvement See: http://tinyurl.com/4ttqee Subject: New CMF Study Shows Explosion in Citizen Involvement Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:30:26 -0400 (EDT) From: Tim Hysom <> New CMF Study Shows Explosion in Citizen Involvement The report, Communicating with Congress: How the Internet Has Changed Citizen Engagement, discusses the results of survey research with over 10,000 citizens about their interactions with Congress and their corresponding expectations and perceptions. It is the companion to the 2005 CMF report detailing congressional staff views of the increasing volumes of constituent mail. Key findings from the report include: * Almost half of adult Americans contacted Congress in the last five years to support, oppose or learn more about issues of interest to them. * The majority of people surveyed do not believe Congress is interested in what they have to say, but they want Members' to keep them informed of their views and activities and of the policy issues being debated in Washington. * Those who had contacted Congress tended to be more politically active in other ways than those who had not. * The Internet has become the primary source for learning about and communicating with Congress. * A majority of people who contacted Congress had been asked to do so by a third party - primarily through interest groups - and they place a high value on the role of advocacy campaigns in our democracy. The entire report, including more findings and their implications to Congress and the organizers of grassroots advocacy campaigns, is available for free download from our Web site at http://www.cmfweb.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=64&Itemid=50. We Want Your Feedback! On Thursday, June 19, CMF will release a second report for public comment, Communicating with Congress: Recommendations for Improving the Democratic Dialogue. This draft report puts forward a new model for improved constituent communications and includes specific recommendations for congressional offices, citizens, and advocacy groups. As a collaborative effort, CMF wants your opinions on the proposed solutions and their impact on your office, organization, or business. Stay tuned for an e-mail invitation to view the draft and provide your comments. CMF will then incorporate what we learn into the culminating report of the multi-year Communicating with Congress project. About CMF The Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting a more effective Congress. CMF has pursed this mission for over 30 years by working internally with Member offices, committees, leadership, and institutional offices in the House and Senate to foster improved management practices. Simply put, CMF advocates good government through good management.
After the Personal Democracy Forum (June 23-24) I am hoping to meet with contacts at a number of foundations in New York City and well as those who can help advise E-Democracy.Org on cracking the major donor circuit on June 25. Please send me any recommendations or make a virtual introduction:Thanks, Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org P.S. Don't miss the RSVPing for the small "local up" Uniting Americans Online conversation planned for the morning of June 25: http://pages.e-democracy.org/Uniting_Americans_Online_discussion_in_New_York_City
While I disagree with the premise that government agencies have an either or choice - a great, usable website OR providing access to the underlying data so third parties can make better use of it and ultimately deliver it to more people, it highlights a ground swell of interest among a new generation of digital democracy builders knocking on the doors of power. In short, I expect that we will see public database after database open its back doors by choice to secure competitive relevancy in the eyes of the public and legislative funders or by force through the rule of law. - Steven Clift See: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1138083 Subject: Paper: "Government Data and the Invisible Hand" Date: Fri, 06 Jun 2008 06:53:48 -0400 From: Josh Tauberer <> To: , Open House and Open Gov Data friends, The guys over at Princeton's new Center for Information Technology Policy wrote a really great paper for the Yale Journal of Law & Technology on the role data should have, compared to websites, in government. It articulates a point that I think many of us subconsciously have had in mind: "The new administration should specify that the federal government’s primary objective as an online publisher is to provide data that is easy for others to reuse, rather than to help citizens use the data in one particular way or another." And they suggest an interesting way to push that forward: "The policy route to realizing this principle is to require that federal government websites retrieve the underlying data using the same infrastructure that they have made available to the public. Such a rule incentivizes government bodies to keep this infrastructure in good working order, and ensures that private parties will have no less an opportunity to use public data than the government itself does. The rule prevents the situation, sadly typical of government websites today, in which governmental interest in presenting data in a particular fashion distracts from, and thereby impedes, the provision of data to users for their own purposes." I think this is a worthwhile addition to the opengovdata and publicmarkup.org policy documents --- if not as a direct recommendation (because I think it may be too much to ask for in a grand form) then noted as a long-term goal or (in terms of the second paragraph I quoted) as a benchmark, a concrete way to tell whether data is open. The full citation is: Robinson, David, Yu, Harlan, Zeller, William P and Felten, Edward W, "Government Data and the Invisible Hand" (2008). Yale Journal of Law & Technology, Vol. 11, 2008 http://ssrn.com/abstract=1138083 I've gotten David, the first author (ehm, and long-time friend), to join both of these lists, and he's interested in helping hash out good policy recommendations with us.
Let's give Lee and the Pew Internet project some hearty global feedback via their open survey! Go here: ***http://www.psra.com/polcom.html* and us the Login ID: 1001 Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org DoWire.Org *From:* Lee Rainie ** *Subject:* a Pew Internet survey about politics and the internet Dear Steve: I’m writing to see if you’d be interested in having your email list / listserv folks participate in an online survey about political information and communication. This is a convenience survey -- the people who are interested in it will take it and the people who aren’t won’t take it – so it is not a representative sampling and we will not report the results as statistically-significant findings. Our main purpose is to gather up qualitative details about how politically-engaged citizens get news and information, how they assess the information they find, and how they act on the information. If the stories we get are great and revealing we will be including them in some upcoming reports we’re doing on politics and the internet and I’ll try to find ways to cite them in the book I’m doing with sociologist Barry Wellman about the new networked era. The survey should take about 10-15 minutes to complete and it can be found here: *http://www.psra.com/polcom.html* If for some reason that url doesn’t work, respondents can also try here: *http://vovici.com/wsb.dll/11719/polcom.htm * * * People on your list should use the PIN: 1001 If you or people on your list have any questions about this survey please feel free to contact me:<mailto: >. As always, I am very grateful for your interest in our work and I’m impressed with what you do. Thanks, Lee Director Pew Internet & American Life Project 1615 L Street NW Suite 700 Washington, DC 20036
From: http://www.igotf.org Attending? Please. CALL FOR PARTICIPATION Independent Government Observers Task Force IGOtf.org Gleacher Conference Center University of Chicago August 4-5 I A NON-CONFERENCE I ORGANIZER Public.Resource.Org LOCALHOST EveryBlock PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS EFF CALI Creative Commons SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS Omidyar Network Sunlight Foundation Google Yahoo! Independent Government Observers The Internet has created a new generation of individuals and institutes that practice the time-honored tradition of observing and reporting on the activities of government. These are reporters in the sense of court reporters, not journalists, auditors as in independent investigators rather than CPAs. The classic independent observer is the court reporter, such as Henry Wheaton and Richard Peters, two businessmen in the early days of the Republic who took it upon themselves to collect, print, and sell the decisions of courts. Indeed, it was a business spat between those two that led to the classic pronouncement by the Supreme Court on works of government: The Court is unanimously of opinion that no reporter has or can have any copyright in the written opinions, and that the judges thereof cannot confer on any reporter any such right. Wheaton v. Peters, 33 U.S. (8 Pet.) 591 (1834) The new breed of government observers span all walks of life. In addition to a vibrant commercial sector, there are increasingly a number of nonprofit, academic, and individual citizen efforts. * In Oregon, student reporters at Willamette University provide same-day summaries of all the opinions of U.S. and Oregon Supreme Courts decisions, and weekly summaries of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decisions. * At the University of Arkansas, students have created a National Agriculture Law Reporter. * Marcia Oddi, a sole practitioner and independent recorder of Indiana Law, won the Excellence in Public Information and Education Award from the Indiana Judges Association for her work. The movement to observe the working of government extend to the legislative and executive branches as well and operate at all levels of government from municipal and special purpose local districts to the state capitols and Washington, D.C. At the local level, small businesses such as EveryBlock have taken it upon themselves to report crime, restaurant inspection, and other vital statistics. One might argue that providing a comprehensive, archival, easy-to-use interface to the decisions and publications of government is in fact the job of government. But, transparency and sunlight not only keep our government accountable, they make it better. Independently run observers of government can make government more effective by providing: * Better Presentation. Access to crime statistics, one of the most important feeds from local government, is being provided using far more innovative and intuitive fashion by independent observers, such as Stamen Design for the City of Oakland and EveryBlock for Chicago and other cities. * A More Comprehensive Archive. The Internet Archive has been scanning millions of pages of Government Printing Office documents, digital data that the government does not possess. Likewise, the U.S. judiciary does not possess a digital archive of their own opinions, a function being provided on the Internet by a coalition of nonprofit and academic organizations with the active cooperation of several small businesses. * A More Timely Archive. Same-day summaries and timely news feeds announcing new opinions are not being provided by the courts. In the Legislative branch, far more timely information is provided by GovTrack.us, a service operated by a graduate student, than is being provided by the U.S. Congress. * More Rigorous Formatting. All too often, government publishes data in proprietary formats instead of using open industry standards that can be used with many different kinds of software. In some cases, copyright is mistakenly asserted or the public domain nature of the data is unclear. Independent observers ]can reformat data into standards such as XML allowing far more sophisticated applications to be built. * Bulk Access to Data. Government often provides data at a retail level, creating web sites meant to be used by end users. For example, the Government Printing Office has a site that allows a keyword search of documents such as the Federal Register and the Congressional Record, but does not provide a convenient mechanism for others to download the series in bulk to create alternative sites. Independent observers are able to repackage this information and make it available to developers for reuse without restriction. Organization and Purpose of the IGOtf Non-Conference In 2007, Public.Resource.Org, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, organized two meetings of people involved in placing government information on-line. The first meeting took place October 12, 2007 and brought together CEOs, professors, and nonprofit executives involved in placing case law on the Internet for free access. That meeting was extremely productive in introducing players to each other in a series of cooperative efforts. On December 7 and 8, a 30-person meeting was called with a broader audience of people working across local, state, and federal levels and with all 3 branches of branches of government. The meeting resulted in additional cooperative efforts among numerous players and the group was able to reach a consensus on 8 fundamental principles of open government. These initial meetings received sponsorship support from the Omidyar Network, the Sunlight Foundation, Yahoo!, and Google. It was clear to the organizers that any subsequent meetings would need an open procedure for attendance, would need to scale up to larger number of participants, and would require additional organizational efforts. The results of the post-meeting assessment and interviews with participants and potential sponsors has led us create a more formal structure for a meeting that can accommodate 100 delegates. We have set out several goals for the Task Force in general and the first meeting in particular: * Encourage technical coordination. * Encourage training and outreach efforts. * Raise visibility of efforts by citizens to increase transparency of government. * Determine the need for and arrive a plan for the creation of support services, such as scanning of archives or hosting of content. * Determine the governance mechanism and the model for financing of future IGOTF meetings. We call this meeting on August 4-5 a "non-conference." Unlike a conference, please do not count on sitting in an audience and listening to speakers read slides. The two rooms will be allocated to a series of working groups per the draft agenda below. Draft Agenda of the IGOTF Meeting The non-conference is structured around 3 sets of working group activities: * Case Law (Working Group Chair: Carl Malamud, carl at media dot org). This working group brings together individuals groups involved in the day-to-day work of putting the courts on-line. Topics that will be considered include markup of citations in cases, "universal resolvers" for mapping citations to URLs, recycling of PACER and other documents, and other subjects as appropriate. * Municipal Governments (Working Group Chair: Daniel X. O'Neil, danx at everyblock dot com). This group will focus on issues involved in citizens attempting to build interfaces around municipal government data. Technical issues such as harvesting techniques and presentation techniques will be covered, as will social issues such as negotiating for the release of public data. * Government and Copyright Issues (Working Group Chair: Fred Von Lohmann, fred at eff dot org). This working group will focus on assertion of copyright by government groups. If you would like to organize a working group, please contact carl at media dot org. If you would like to participate in a working group, please contact the working group chairs. If you put word "IGOTF" in your subject line, that will help us filter mail. Accommodations There is no official conference accomodation, but some people are staying at the Embassy Suites Chicago - Downtown/Lakefront at 511 North Columbus Drive, Chicago, Illinois, 60611. The phone number is 1-312-836-5900. The rooms are $250-$300, but many of these are 2-bedroom "suites." Please let us know if you discover alternative hotels. Attending? Please .
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:Assistance Contact: 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
On June 23-24,/ /I will be speaking at the Personal Democracy Forum conference in New York City. I'd like to invite those interested in discussing the topic "Uniting Americans Online" on June 25, 2008 from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. to RSVP via this wiki page: http://pages.e-democracy.org/Uniting_Americans_Online_discussion_in_New_York_City The general theme is to discuss "local up" ideas for leveraging public involvement from this amazing yet highly partisan e-campaign for the White House into sustained online civic engagement that brings Americans of all political stripes together. People are getting fired up by the e-campaign, but what will they do when the election is over? With the right and left political blogospheres in a pitched battle to influence the mass media and Congress nationally, out discussion will focus on pragmatically on "local up" ideas. How can we leverage the millions of people signed up with national campaigns online into local opportunities where people work together across political lines all of the time. How might the tools and huge networks created to win the Presidency be turned over to those working to make their street safe, improve a local school, or involve people in local issues? If this sounds like an interesting topic, join us. The rough agenda will include a quick update from E-Democracy.Org about the expansion of Issues Forums (online town halls) with a chance to offer feedback as well as some highlights from the recent neighbors online discussion in DC. The exact location is to be determined. Space may be limited. RSVP Here: http://pages.e-democracy.org/Uniting_Americans_Online_discussion_in_New_York_City Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org
(For Newswire@ members who want to discuss this, see: http://groups.dowire.org ) I recently bumped into a fairly complete WayBack archive of the original http://www.e-democracy.gov.uk site which included the UK Cabinet Office's important "In the service of democracy" report and consultation. The report's disappearance on the "surface web" is a real loss to e-democracy builders around the world because no government before or since has created such a collection of policy resources. The submissions from the BBC and others (can't find them in the WayBack machine) were very informative because they represented views of different "democratic" interests in society staking their claim to certain responsibilities. Anyway, I've uploaded with this message a couple of the main reports that I found ifor the UKIE@ and Consult@ DoWire Groups in order to bring them back to the surface for historical access. I'd be interested in where people think we are now with e-democracy after reading what was written in 2002. Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org DoWire.Org P.S. On WayBack see: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.e-democracy.gov.uk http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.edemocracy.gov.uk Also note: http://www.mail-archive.com//msg00507.html
If you are on the fence about attending the now two day Personal Democracy Forum - http://www.personaldemocracy.com/conference - in New York, perhaps the DoWire's member discount will entice you to join me at this conference. See the full announcement below. For those outside the U.S., this is one of the best e-democracy events worth jumping over the pond. Their second day (where I will be speaking) includes a major focus on governance and ties to my questions about "White House 2.0" and local up democracy building online between elections. This is a huge shift in U.S. interest in ways citizens can engage each other and their governments online. We've been stuck on e-campaigning for tool long. In addition to the conference, I am planning a gathering either the evening of June 24 or on June 25th. I'd like to update people on the work of E-Democracy.Org, gather your input and have a mini-version of the dynamic neighbors online discussion - http://www.dowire.org/notes/?p=405 - I held in DC the other week. If you'd like an invite, drop me a note:Sincerely, Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org and DoWire.Org Personal Democracy Forum 2008 *Agenda:* To learn how technology is changing the world of government, not-for-profits, and civic engagement. * Date:* June 23–24, 2008 *Place:* Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center (60th and Broadway, NYC). *Admission:* $595 for Early-Bird Special (minus an additional $150 for DoWire members by May 31st only!) *Website:* http://www.personaldemocracy.com/conference * *Special Discount for DoWire.org Members!* *Use discount code "*dowirepdf*" to receive $150 off the Early-Bird special!* Instructions *1. Log onto http://regonline.com/pdf2008 2. Click "early bird registration" 3. In the field that appears and reads "Promotion," type in discount code* *"*dowirepdf*" 4. Continue with registration * Technology and the Internet are changing politics and democracy.* * _Why Attend_* * Hear from the nation's top opinion makers, thought leaders, political practitioners, technologists, and journalists * Network, exchange ideas, and explore how technology and the Internet can help you and your organization succeed in the new networked world. * Learn about new online tools and how to use them to raise money, build support, and change the world * Meet new customers, partners, collaborators, and innovators * _Who Should Attend_* * Political professionals * Non-profit executives and staff * Communication * Bloggers * Social entrepreneurs * Advocacy organizations * Technology companies * Anyone excited about the future of democracy and advocacy. * _Thought Leader Speakers This Year Include:_ * * Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post * Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia * Vint Cerf, Google * Larry Lessig, Stanford University * Craig Newmark, Craigslist.com * Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo * Elizabeth Edwards, John Edwards '08 * Michael Arrington, TechCrunch * Joe Trippi, John Edwards '08 & Dean '04 * Ben Smith, Politico.com * Esther Dyson, EDventure.com * Scott Heiferman, Meetup.com * Robert Scoble, FastCompany.tv * Jason Calacanis, Mahalo * Chuck Defeo, Townhall.com * Robin Chase, Zipcar * Amy Holmes, CNN Political Analyst * Beth Noveck, New York Law School * Mike Turk, George Bush '04 * Patrick Ruffini, Republican Web strategist * Douglas Rushkoff, Author * Sarah Stirland, Wired * Zephyr Teachout, Duke University * Matt Stoller, OpenLeft.com * Jose Antonio Vargas, Washington Post * Ethan Zuckerman, Berkman Center * Ellen Miller, Sunlight Foundation * Cyrus Krohn, e-Campaign Director, RNC * Mayhill Fowler, OffTheBus.net * Steve Grove, YouTube * Lee Brenner, MySpace.com Plus many more! * See a YouTube highlight clip from Personal Democracy Forum 2007: * *_ 2008 Personal Democracy Forum Sponsored By:_* * Mozilla Foundation * AOL * Microsoft * echoditto * Meetup * RealClearPolitics * MSHC Partners * Ketchum * BlogAds * Mobile Commons * ClickToBlue * The NY Observer * CQ Politics * iContact * Townhall.com * justmeans * eventful * Care2 * Aristotle * linkfluence * thepoint * National Journal * freepress Questions? Email: <mailto: >
Does anyone know of a FactCheck.Org for Internet rumors about candidates? As I've monitored reader comments on both national news sites and local newspapers, there seems to be an industry of people dedicated to posting this kind of stuff under various identities even if their posts only remain up a few hours before being removed by the media sites. I've also started receiving "is this true" e-mails from less political friends with these types of rumors with an introduction along the lines of "you are not going to believe this, but it is true ... tell everyone you can before it is too late by forwarding this e-mail" notes. This may be the real e-election both the good and terrible. Steven Clift DoWire.Org From: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/611/story/448278.html Posted on Tue, May. 13, 2008 Web fuels and facilitates the new politics of rumor-mongering By MATT STEARNS - McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON -- Some things about Barack Obama rub some voters the wrong way. "We don't need a Muslim," said Jannay Smith, a retiree from Kokomo, Ind. "Who's to say if he gets in there what he'll do?" Added Steve Shallenberger, a Kokomo electrician: "He's just calling himself a Christian because he knows that's what we in Indiana want to hear." Then there's Sherry Richey, also from Kokomo: "He wouldn't put his hand on the Bible; he wanted the Quran. He won't put his hand over his heart during the anthem or say the Pledge of Allegiance. He's too un-American." All of these slurs on Obama are categorically untrue. Obama, the front-running Democratic presidential candidate, is a Christian, has never been a Muslim, swore his Senate oath on the Bible, says the pledge and generally puts his hand over his heart when he sings the national anthem. So why were people aware enough of current events to attend political rallies in the days leading up to the Indiana primary saying such things? They'd been misled by the Internet. In the ugly new world of online political rumor-mongering, aggressive Googling and e-mailing allow anyone to join the cacophonous misinformation campaign against a politician - in this case, Obama. Dirty tricks have been a part of politics for as long as there's been politics. But the Internet has taken "the old-fashioned slanderous whispering campaign to a completely new level," said Brooks Jackson, the director of the Annenberg Political Fact Check, a nonpartisan organization that monitors the truthfulness of political discussion. "They are more dangerous and more insidious." E-mails falsely claiming that Obama is a Muslim, that he took the oath of office on a Quran and that he refuses to take the Pledge of Allegiance have stormed inboxes. A newer e-mail has a picture, allegedly of Obama posing with his African family, with the title "Say Hi to the next potential first family." In addition, virulently racist e-mails are making the rounds, too. "These things have a heft to them that gives them a seeming credibility that a verbal rumor wouldn't have," Jackson said. "You can replicate them infinitely. We've all got crazy relatives or friends that are sure they're right and the world's wrong. They just blast them out." The anonymous nature of the Internet also makes the origins of the allegations impossible to trace, Jackson said. .... end clip ....
This event is U.S. Eastern time. - Steve From: "Alan Rosenblatt, Center for American Progress Action Fund" <> Sent: 5/15/08, 8:54:19 AM Subject: LIVE STREAMING: Internet Advocacy Roundtable - The Future ofEmailing Congress For those of you who cannot attend the Internet Advocacy Roundtable this month, we are streaming it. Please note, we are testing our streaming services. Please be patient with it. To watch the stream of this event, today at 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm, click here: http://www.americanprogressaction.org/events/IAR_files/iarstream.html The Future of Emailing Congress - New Solutions Offered and Old Myths Busted Thursday May 15, 2008 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM RSVP here http://www2.americanprogress.org/t/29/event/index.jsp?event_KEY=20439 (seats are limited) With Congress receiving hundreds of millions of emails a year, the workload for staffers is crushing. Despite the soaring numbers of emails flowing into Members' inboxes in the past few years, there has been no increase in their staff size or technology budgets in twenty years. Everyone, from Capitol Hill to advocacy groups to grassroots advocacy software vendors, is scrambling to solve this problem. Our speaker this month, Daniel Bennett, may just be the knight in shining armor riding to our rescue. Daniel has the great advantage of having helped to develop the email capability for the congressional correspondence systems and, with that perspective, has developed an elegant solution to the problem - XML Topic Tags. Join us on May 15 for a discussion about this innovative solution, as well as an exploration of the history of how Congress handles email. Daniel will also bust several myths about how the Congressional email system works. Speaker: Daniel Bennett RSVP: here http://www2.americanprogress.org/t/29/event/index.jsp?event_KEY=20439 (seats are limited) Bios: Daniel Bennett is currently consulting for elected representatives and non-profit organizations. He has served the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet as a Practitioner-in-Residence. Previously, Daniel Bennett was the Chief Technology Officer of @dvocacy Inc. He co-founded DotGov Communications, the first private webhoster for Members of Congress. He served as president of the House Systems Administrators Association, co-chair of the Legislative Documents Technical Committee of OASIS/LegalXML and won the Federal Computer Week's Fed 100 Award in 2000. Daniel was Technology Liaison for Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, representative from California's Silicon Valley . He is a writer on technology and politics, including co-writer of "The Net Effect: How Cyberadvocacy is Changing the Political Landscape" and was a columnist for The Cloakroom, a web site for the National Journal. Daniel Bennett received a BA degree from Hampshire College, Amherst, MA. Address Center for American Progress Action Fund 1333 H Street, NW 10th Floor Washington, DC 20005 Directions One block from the McPherson Square Metro station (Orange/Blue lines). Exit on 14th Street, NW side. Walk one block south to H Street, NW. Turn left onto H Street, NW. Enter on left side of street, just after the Cosi. Two blocks from the Metro Center Metro Station (Red/Orange/Blue lines). Exit on 13th Street, NW side. Walk north on 13th Street to H Street. Turn left on H St. (keep New York Avenue Church to your left). Entrance is next building after Cafe Mozart. Contact for More Information About the Internet Advocacy Roundtable (http://www.americanprogressaction.org/events/IAR.html) The Internet Advocacy Roundtable is a monthly forum brought to you by the Center for American Progress Action Fund. We feature in-depth discussions about digital technology strategies for advocacy and policy campaigns. We strive to help the advocacy community use digital technology more effectively and provide a gathering for those working in this space to network and learn from their peers. Our speakers are drawn from experts in the field and our audiences typically include many other experts, as well as people new to the field. The format is designed to maximize discussion time. As a result, we have consistently lived up to our reputation that our speakers will learn as much from the audience as the audience learns from the speakers. The Internet Advocacy Roundtable was launched in August 2005 and now carries on the tradition of our earlier Online Progressive Advocacy Network (OPAN) series. To unsubscribe, click here: (http://www2.americanprogress.org/t/22/content.jsp?content_KEY=2180)