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CitizenScape From: John OFlaherty Date: Dec 27 12:34 UTC Short link

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for your comments and suggestions.

The project is part of the eParticipation Preparatory Action (see
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment/implementation/prep_action/index_en.htm
and www.ep-momentum.eu), where the basic structure is to setup the service in
the first year and then run/evaluate pilot trials in the second year. Our focus
is on the implementation of EU-initiated legislation in local/regional
settings.

In CitizenScape we plan that the pilots will start in January 09 in our partner
regions (Bristol/UK, Donegal/Ireland, Genova/Italy, Zelina/Slovakia) who have
defined their own objectives and subject matter, these will be run and
evaluated until Dec09, and include activities such as:
•	Identifying and recruiting community activists
•	Creating a frame of reference and then code of conduct for the CitizenScape
•	Recruiting and training community moderators to help manage and maintain
the site
•	Integrating Web 2.0 tools with online democratic tools to provide an
easy-to-use coherent service.
•	Amending and extending the Public-i methodology to create an inclusive and
accessible citizen eParticipation process
•	Programme of offline recruitment and training activities in order to
support the online space
•	Implementing the trial with real-life users for a period of one year.
•	Analysis of the results and assessment of the impact of the trial.
•	Dissemination of the project objectives and results, and joined-up
activities with other initiatives in the eParticipation Action.

www.citizenscape.org is our project site rather than our "main site" as such,
as the service in each region will run on a platform that includes the Public-i
Webcasting platform (www.public-i.info) and Web 2.0 tools. These will be made
public in January.

I have forwarded your email to Public-i, our technical partner, to pursue your
excellent suggestions on groupserver.org & Zope/Plone.
I totally agree that we need to give people the choice of how to participate,
yet display the cumulative experience in a holistic manner.

Thanks again for your feedback and suggestions, we will keep you informed as we
launch the service in January,

Happy New Year,

Regards,

John

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:ukie@groups.dowire.org] On Behalf Of
Steven Clift
Sent: 27 December 2008 12:05
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [UKIE-EDem] CitizenScape

Thanks John.

How do you see this actually working on the ground? I visited the website and
see a great list of partners, but I don't quite have a sense of how this
"Integrating Web 2.0 tools with online democratic tools to provide an
easy-to-use coherent service" connects to the field trials. What are folks
really going to do locally?

I think you are right about listing recruitment first because that seems to be
the number one reason why most e-democracy experiments have failed (you can't
really test the technology if few come to the party).

Also, I see that you are using Plone for your main site. Are you taking an open
source approach?

The tool for UKIE and E-Democracy.Org's forums is also Zope-based -
http://groupserver.org - and this working online democratic tool could
certainly benefit from an effort to make it work with Plone (also Zope-based)
in an integrated fashion. At the local level in particular, where audiences are
small and unless you are the incumbent local media site with lots of traffic,
anything that doesn't default to e-mail delivery/alerts will fail to gain
traction. Ideally, your environment will allow people to express themselves via
the web and e-mail, and if you have the resources, a Facebook application as
well. The trick is to give people the choice of of how to participate, yet
display  the cumulative experience in a holistic manner.

Steven Clift

John J O'Flaherty wrote:
> CitizenScape is an EU eParticipation Preparatory Action project that provides
a flexible online space that integrates social networking and other Web 2.0
technologies with more formal online democratic tools in a socially purposeful
way in concrete legislative and decision-making processes. You can check it out
at www.citizenScape.org or contact me at <email obscured>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: <email obscured> [mailto:ukie@groups.dowire.org] On Behalf Of
Steven Clift
> Sent: 24 December 2008 13:56
> To: <email obscured>
> Subject: [UKIE-EDem] CitizenScape
>
> What's the scoop on this project I bumped into:
>    http://citizenscape.eu/
>
> It looks like it is being run out of Ireland.
>
> Steven Clift
>
> -----------------------------------------
> Group home for UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange:
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>
> Replies go to members of UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange with all posts
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>
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> email <email obscured>
> with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange is hosted by Democracies Online -
http://dowire.org.
>
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
> Group home for UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange:
> http://groups.dowire.org/groups/ukie
>
> Replies go to members of UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange with all posts
on this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/39jwd4itzEga9wz70usRvT
>
> For digest version or to leave UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange,
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> with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange is hosted by Democracies Online -
http://dowire.org.

-----------------------------------------
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Replies go to members of UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange with all posts on
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CitizenScape From: Steven Clift Date: Dec 27 12:05 UTC Short link

Thanks John.

How do you see this actually working on the ground? I visited the website and
see a great list of partners, but I don't quite have a sense of how this
"Integrating Web 2.0 tools with online democratic tools to provide an
easy-to-use coherent service" connects to the field trials. What are folks
really going to do locally?

I think you are right about listing recruitment first because that seems to be
the number one reason why most e-democracy experiments have failed (you can't
really test the technology if few come to the party).

Also, I see that you are using Plone for your main site. Are you taking an open
source approach?

The tool for UKIE and E-Democracy.Org's forums is also Zope-based -
http://groupserver.org - and this working online democratic tool could
certainly benefit from an effort to make it work with Plone (also Zope-based)
in an integrated fashion. At the local level in particular, where audiences are
small and unless you are the incumbent local media site with lots of traffic,
anything that doesn't default to e-mail delivery/alerts will fail to gain
traction. Ideally, your environment will allow people to express themselves via
the web and e-mail, and if you have the resources, a Facebook application as
well. The trick is to give people the choice of of how to participate, yet
display  the cumulative experience in a holistic manner.

Steven Clift

John J O'Flaherty wrote:
> CitizenScape is an EU eParticipation Preparatory Action project that provides
a flexible online space that integrates social networking and other Web 2.0
technologies with more formal online democratic tools in a socially purposeful
way in concrete legislative and decision-making processes. You can check it out
at www.citizenScape.org or contact me at <email obscured>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: <email obscured> [mailto:ukie@groups.dowire.org] On Behalf Of
Steven Clift

Donate to Support E-Democracy.Org (and DoWire.Org) From: Steven Clift Date: Dec 26 18:57 UTC Short link

As many of you know, I am rounding the turn on my Ashoka Fellowship (the three
year stipend anyway). When all is said and done, E-Democracy.Org (as well as
the personal time I put into DoWire.Org) must demonstrate that those who value
our e-democracy efforts the most are willing to contribute toward its future.
Please consider joining the growing base of E-Democracy.Org supporters today
with a donation of any amount.

Contributions from around the world are gladly accepted and donations in the
United States are tax deductible.

To donate via major credit card (everywhere) or electronic check (U.S. only),
visit:

     http://e-democracy.org/donate

Happy New Year.

Steven Clift
E-Democracy.Org
DoWire.Org

P.S. Stay tuned for the first monthly E-Democracy.Org E-Newsletter in January.
Those on the Newswire@ are signed up. Those only on other DoWire.Org forums
should sign up at: http://e-democracy.org/news   (Those outside U.S. should
select "Not USA" for state when you register.)

CitizenScape From: John OFlaherty Date: Dec 24 16:05 UTC Short link

CitizenScape is an EU eParticipation Preparatory Action project that provides a
flexible online space that integrates social networking and other Web 2.0
technologies with more formal online democratic tools in a socially purposeful
way in concrete legislative and decision-making processes. You can check it out
at www.citizenScape.org or contact me at <email obscured>

CitizenScape From: Steven Clift Date: Dec 24 13:56 UTC Short link

What's the scoop on this project I bumped into:
   http://citizenscape.eu/

It looks like it is being run out of Ireland.

Steven Clift

Twitter in Parliament From: Steven Clift Date: Dec 23 16:51 UTC Short link

From:
http://www.willhowells.org.uk/blog/2008/12/21/twitter-in-parliament/

December 21, 2008
Twitter in Parliament
Filed under: Politics — Will @ 12:37 pm

It is not my intention that this becomes a blog about Twitter so I’ll let
this be my third and final post on the subject for the time being (the next
will be a small rant on a different subject).

But I wanted to draw attention to Twitter’s appearances in Parliament on
Thursday, and in particular Jo Swinson’s contribution to the Christmas
adjournment debate. As well as being the youngest MP, Jo is one of
Parliament’s few twitterers, as she mentions:

    I want to talk about the possibility of speeding up Parliament’s entry
into the 21st century. I know that the Deputy Leader of the House has taken an
interest in online matters. Indeed, I remember that, before his promotion to
the Government, he was often seen asking questions in business questions to the
Leader of the House about whether we should have more e-tabling of signatures
for early-day motions and such like. More and more MPs are now using the
internet to connect better with their constituents, and Parliament should also
embrace this new technology, whether through social networking sites such as
Facebook, Bebo and MySpace, or through interactive forums, encouraging comments
on websites, podcasts, video logs—known as v-logs, they are small videos that
can be uploaded to sites such as YouTube—or, indeed, a new website launched
today called tweetminster.co.uk. It aggregates all the mini-blogs or
“twitters” of those MPs who twitter regularly. I declare an interest
, as one of the five MPs identified as those who use this service. The others
are the hon. Members for Loughborough (Mr. Reed), for West Bromwich, East (Mr.
Watson) and for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps), and my hon. Friend Lynne
Featherstone. This is an example of a way of connecting more immediately with
our constituents, and I would encourage other hon. Members to make full use of
the advantages that the internet offers, particularly in relation to the
younger audience, who would not normally declare a huge interest in politics.

Jo went on to mention two other important issues of parliamentary
accessibility: the rules which keep footage of Parliament off YouTube and
mySociety’s Free Our Bills campaign, which I have plugged before.

Thanks to mySociety, you can watch Jo’s speech in full right here:

In tracking down Jo’s speech on TheyWorkForYou, I stumbled across two further
mentions of Twitter. Thursday in the House of Lords saw Lord Norton’s debate
about Parliament’s communication with the public. The first mention of
Twitter came from crossbencher the Earl of Erroll, who also mentioned YouTube:

    An interesting development is putting stuff about the Lords on YouTube. I
was interested to see how we are rated. About 10,000 people have looked at the
piece by the Lord Speaker, which is interesting and informative; about 12,000
people have looked at the Youth Parliament which took over the Chamber last
summer; but 47,000 people looked at a pop group called the House of Lords,
which was next on the list. That tells me that people are attracted by
entertainment. If we are to try to get our message across, we shall have to
make it quite entertaining and short, sharp and snappy so that people become
aware of it.
    [...]
    The Lords of the Blog come along with more serious pieces. I have looked at
that and it is heavier stuff to go through, but it is good. We need some short,
sharp things. I think Twitter used very short sentences to track the State
Opening of Parliament; for example, “The Queen has just entered the House”
and so on. I do not know how many people showed interest in that, but all those
little things build up more interest and then some people dig deeper. That is
important.

The final word, though, to the second mention of Twitter, from the Lord
Greaves:

    A lot of noble Lords have talked about modern communication. I very much
applaud the Lords of the Blog, the most interesting being the noble Lord, Lord
Norton, and my noble friend Lord Tyler, but that is because I am interested in
the same sort of things, which is why I am taking part in this debate. I do not
go on Facebook or YouTube and I hope that I will never need to. I know that
Twitter exists, but that can stay where it is. However, I applaud noble Lords
who get involved in such things.

Co-produce an online engagement evaluation guide From: michelle.lyons Date: Dec 11 11:05 UTC Short link

Following on from my earlier post (below) about developing indicators to
measure the impact of online engagement on the policy process I have
developed a draft guide for officials to use when evaluating engagement
activity.

In the spirit of open collaboration I would like to invite you to
contribute to the development of this guide. You can edit and comment on
the content by clicking here -
http://interactive.dius.gov.uk/diuswiki/wiki/Evaluation_of_Online_Engage
ment

Ideally, this guide will complement existing evaluation frameworks for
offline engagement initiatives.

Thank you to those who have already contributed to my initial thinking.

All that's left is, over to you....

Michelle Lyons

Community Manager
Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
+4420 3300 8680

FW: Internet usage in 2008 in Europe From: James Gilmour Date: Dec 10 12:11 UTC Short link

>From - Info-Europa, np.160, 9/12/08
Internet usage in 2008 – Households and Individuals (Data in focus; Science
and technology 46/2008)

http://www.europe.org.uk/admin/mailcasts/go.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fepp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu%2Fcache%2FITY_OFFPUB%2FKS-QA-08-046%2FEN%
2FKS-QA-08-046-EN.PDF&amp

Sorry about the long URL.  It was cleverly condensed in the HTML I received,
but I will not post in HTML.

James Gilmour


No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.9.16/1840 - Release Date: 09/12/2008
16:53

Obama Raised Half a Billion Online From: paul canning Date: Dec 08 18:36 UTC Short link

Note - this report has been spun. Here's it unspun:

Study's Claim on the 'Myth' of Obama's Small Donor Base Is Itself a 'Myth'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/study-that-hits-myth-of-o_b_147135.html

ICELE guides From: Dave Briggs Date: Dec 03 15:23 UTC Short link

It has been brought to my attention that the ICELE guides previously
available via the Lulu website are no longer there - the link
[http://stores.lulu.com/icele] is now dead.

I had four of the guides saved locally, and have now made them
available via my blog:
http://davepress.net/2008/12/03/icele-edemocracy-guides/

London Parks e-Participation & e-Voting & e-Budgeting From: Mary Reid Date: Nov 26 13:19 UTC Short link

Actually, it's £4 million... 10 parks each to get £400,000.

Unbelievable.

Mary



-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:ukie@groups.dowire.org] On Behalf Of
Tom Steinberg
Sent: 25 November 2008 11:12
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [UKIE-EDem] London Parks e-Participation & e-Voting &
e-Budgeting

Oh my God - are they really serious?

Everyone knows internet votes like this are trivial to rig. Are they
seriously proposing to allow up to half a million to be spent like
this? Anyone in my team could knock up a script to vote with plausible
looking data thousands of times, in about 30 minutes.

Tom

2008/11/25 James Gilmour <jgilmour@globalnet.co.uk>:
> Mayor Boris Johnson calls on Londoners to vote to 'Help a London Park'
Greater London Authority (press release) - London,England,UK
> Londoners can vote to choose which parks get the £400000 simply by logging
on to www.london.gov.uk/parksvote , by text message or by
> postal vote. ...
>
> This MAY encourage participation but it uses an unsophisticated voting
system that might well fail to reflect the voters' real
> wishes and it takes a very unsophisticated approach to budgeting.  Given
some of the budgeting tools that are now in the public
> domain, a much more dynamic approach could have been taken to asking
participants for their views on the allocation of all the money
> available.  But maybe this is a small acorn .......
>
> James
>
>
> No virus found in this outgoing message.
> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
> Version: 8.0.175 / Virus Database: 270.9.10/1810 - Release Date:
24/11/2008 14:36
>
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
> Group home for UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange:
> http://groups.dowire.org/groups/ukie
>
> Replies go to members of UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange with all
posts on this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/ORhzOYheey9plEgArqegS
>
> For digest version or to leave UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange,
> email <email obscured>
> with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange is hosted by Democracies Online -
http://dowire.org.
>



--
Director, mySociety
07811 082158
www.mySociety.org

-----------------------------------------
Group home for UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange:
http://groups.dowire.org/groups/ukie

Replies go to members of UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange with all posts
on this topic here:
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For digest version or to leave UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange,
email <email obscured>
with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.

UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange is hosted by Democracies Online -
http://dowire.org.

London Parks e-Participation & e-Voting & e-Budgeting From: Mary Reid Date: Nov 25 17:03 UTC Short link

One of the parks is in my ward and I'd love it to win (King Edward's in SW
London, in case you're asking). But it is thoroughly humiliating to have to
subject it to a reality show vote-in.

The very sketchy information provided about each park gives no indication
about why it should be chosen. In our case, we will no doubt be branded with
the 'leafy Kingston' label, as we have no chance to explain the demographics
and history of this very ordinary area.

This is certainly not what I understand by participatory budgeting, which at
the very least should include some deliberation.

On the other hand, I'd better go off and encourage the readers of my blog to
vote...

Mary



-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:ukie@groups.dowire.org] On Behalf Of
Tom Steinberg
Sent: 25 November 2008 11:12
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [UKIE-EDem] London Parks e-Participation & e-Voting &
e-Budgeting

Oh my God - are they really serious?

Everyone knows internet votes like this are trivial to rig. Are they
seriously proposing to allow up to half a million to be spent like
this? Anyone in my team could knock up a script to vote with plausible
looking data thousands of times, in about 30 minutes.

Tom

2008/11/25 James Gilmour <jgilmour@globalnet.co.uk>:
> Mayor Boris Johnson calls on Londoners to vote to 'Help a London Park'
Greater London Authority (press release) - London,England,UK
> Londoners can vote to choose which parks get the £400000 simply by logging
on to www.london.gov.uk/parksvote , by text message or by
> postal vote. ...
>
> This MAY encourage participation but it uses an unsophisticated voting
system that might well fail to reflect the voters' real
> wishes and it takes a very unsophisticated approach to budgeting.  Given
some of the budgeting tools that are now in the public
> domain, a much more dynamic approach could have been taken to asking
participants for their views on the allocation of all the money
> available.  But maybe this is a small acorn .......
>
> James
>
>
> No virus found in this outgoing message.
> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
> Version: 8.0.175 / Virus Database: 270.9.10/1810 - Release Date:
24/11/2008 14:36
>
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
> Group home for UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange:
> http://groups.dowire.org/groups/ukie
>
> Replies go to members of UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange with all
posts on this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/ORhzOYheey9plEgArqegS
>
> For digest version or to leave UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange,
> email <email obscured>
> with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange is hosted by Democracies Online -
http://dowire.org.
>



--
Director, mySociety
07811 082158
www.mySociety.org

-----------------------------------------
Group home for UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange:
http://groups.dowire.org/groups/ukie

Replies go to members of UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange with all posts
on this topic here:
http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/1fAzbp7W3bmjX3gjzYksMU

For digest version or to leave UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange,
email <email obscured>
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UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange is hosted by Democracies Online -
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Online engagement evaluation From: David Newman Date: Nov 25 14:13 UTC Short link

One thing that makes this hard is that the values by which different people
judge e-participation can be quite different. We found that consulters on the
island of Ireland valued most citizen views, and least citizen participation in
decision-making. The consultees ranking was the other way around (see the
report linked from www.e-consultation.org).

So we turned to the academic literature looking for applicable theories. We
found at least 7 mutually contradictory approaches (e.g. cf. the focus on the
efficiency of a single consultation in the public administration literature,
versus the concern for long-term relationships of trust in the deliberative
democracy literature).

Over the last 3 years I have been going to e-government and e-democracy
conferences and running electronic brainstorming sessions to find out how
experienced practitioners and researchers judge one e-participation example as
better than another. It looks like their criteria can be grouped into around 10
value categories.

Dave Newman, Queen's University Management School

London Parks e-Participation & e-Voting & e-Budgeting From: Tom Steinberg Date: Nov 25 11:11 UTC Short link

Oh my God - are they really serious?

Everyone knows internet votes like this are trivial to rig. Are they
seriously proposing to allow up to half a million to be spent like
this? Anyone in my team could knock up a script to vote with plausible
looking data thousands of times, in about 30 minutes.

Tom

2008/11/25 James Gilmour <jgilmour@globalnet.co.uk>:
> Mayor Boris Johnson calls on Londoners to vote to 'Help a London Park'
Greater London Authority (press release) - London,England,UK
> Londoners can vote to choose which parks get the £400000 simply by logging
on to www.london.gov.uk/parksvote , by text message or by
> postal vote. ...
>
> This MAY encourage participation but it uses an unsophisticated voting system
that might well fail to reflect the voters' real
> wishes and it takes a very unsophisticated approach to budgeting.  Given some
of the budgeting tools that are now in the public
> domain, a much more dynamic approach could have been taken to asking
participants for their views on the allocation of all the money
> available.  But maybe this is a small acorn .......
>
> James
>
>
> No virus found in this outgoing message.
> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
> Version: 8.0.175 / Virus Database: 270.9.10/1810 - Release Date: 24/11/2008
14:36
>
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
> Group home for UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange:
> http://groups.dowire.org/groups/ukie
>
> Replies go to members of UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange with all posts
on this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/ORhzOYheey9plEgArqegS
>
> For digest version or to leave UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange,
> email <email obscured>
> with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange is hosted by Democracies Online -
http://dowire.org.

London Parks e-Participation & e-Voting & e-Budgeting From: James Gilmour Date: Nov 25 10:31 UTC Short link

Mayor Boris Johnson calls on Londoners to vote to 'Help a London Park' Greater
London Authority (press release) - London,England,UK
Londoners can vote to choose which parks get the £400000 simply by logging on
to www.london.gov.uk/parksvote , by text message or by
postal vote. ...

This MAY encourage participation but it uses an unsophisticated voting system
that might well fail to reflect the voters' real
wishes and it takes a very unsophisticated approach to budgeting.  Given some
of the budgeting tools that are now in the public
domain, a much more dynamic approach could have been taken to asking
participants for their views on the allocation of all the money
available.  But maybe this is a small acorn .......

James


No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.175 / Virus Database: 270.9.10/1810 - Release Date: 24/11/2008
14:36

Nominet From: Mick Date: Nov 23 14:09 UTC Short link

I was on the Nominet list until my illness two years ago and it is a
very complex situation. Trying to have an international thing like the
Internet naming standards run by loads and loads of what are effectively
volunteers is a miracle that it has lasted this far...

I wish them on all the best!

Mick

http://greatemancipator.com

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:ukie@groups.dowire.org] On Behalf
Of Jill Sanders
Sent: 23 November 2008 12:38
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [UKIE-EDem] Nominet

My initial reaction is:  can you imagine if gov has its dabs on making
the
connections to domain names?  It would cut off any website it
disapproved
of, and only watchdogs (read lapdogs) for scrutiny.  It would give gov
the
key to censorship by the hidden door.  That nominet so far has been
independent, non-partisan and not for profit is essential.  Gov is none
of
these things!!!  I believe it would be the end of the internet as we
know it
because no gov - local or national, whichever party, whatever
'democracy' -
can be trusted to be fair, open or equal in its dealings with public
media -
especially here.  Gov would love this power!  I can therefore see it
happening....  At first sight, this strikes me as a sinister move and to
be
resisted.  What do others think?
Best wishes
Jill

----- Original Message -----
From: "Taylor-Smith, Ella" <E.Taylor-Smith@napier.ac.uk>
To: "UKIE" <ukie@groups.dowire.org>
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 12:27 PM
Subject: [UKIE-EDem] Nominet

Hi,
Yesterday's article in the Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/20/nominet-domain-name-reg
istry
wasn't the first I've read recently about Nominet's internal wriggling
and
relationship with government and it's hard to see if these are much more

than disgruntled gossip.

However, the article makes an interesting assumption - that it is better

that Nominet stays independent of government.

Could someone more au fait with this than me explain why this is?

For example, I can't see how people and non-commercial organisations
have an
input here, though it aims to represent us on international bodies
(where
other countries have democratically* accountable representation).

Perhaps my question is "how do we influence Nominet?"
-Ella

*a bit subjective of course

Ella Taylor-Smith

International Teledemocracy Centre
Napier University
10 Colinton Road
Edinburgh, EH10 5DT

Telephone: +44 (0) 131 455 2392  Fax:  +44 (0) 131 455 2282
Email: <email obscured><mailto:<email obscured>>

http://itc.napier.ac.uk

Napier University is the best modern university in Scotland* and number
one
in Scotland for graduate employability**
(*Guardian University Guide 2009)
(**HESA 2008)

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Nominet From: Jill Sanders Date: Nov 23 12:45 UTC Short link

My initial reaction is:  can you imagine if gov has its dabs on making the
connections to domain names?  It would cut off any website it disapproved
of, and only watchdogs (read lapdogs) for scrutiny.  It would give gov the
key to censorship by the hidden door.  That nominet so far has been
independent, non-partisan and not for profit is essential.  Gov is none of
these things!!!  I believe it would be the end of the internet as we know it
because no gov - local or national, whichever party, whatever 'democracy' -
can be trusted to be fair, open or equal in its dealings with public media -
especially here.  Gov would love this power!  I can therefore see it
happening....  At first sight, this strikes me as a sinister move and to be
resisted.  What do others think?
Best wishes
Jill

----- Original Message -----
From: "Taylor-Smith, Ella" <E.Taylor-Smith@napier.ac.uk>
To: "UKIE" <ukie@groups.dowire.org>
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 12:27 PM
Subject: [UKIE-EDem] Nominet

Hi,
Yesterday's article in the Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/20/nominet-domain-name-registry
wasn't the first I've read recently about Nominet's internal wriggling and
relationship with government and it's hard to see if these are much more
than disgruntled gossip.

However, the article makes an interesting assumption - that it is better
that Nominet stays independent of government.

Could someone more au fait with this than me explain why this is?

For example, I can't see how people and non-commercial organisations have an
input here, though it aims to represent us on international bodies (where
other countries have democratically* accountable representation).

Perhaps my question is "how do we influence Nominet?"
-Ella

*a bit subjective of course

Ella Taylor-Smith

International Teledemocracy Centre
Napier University
10 Colinton Road
Edinburgh, EH10 5DT

Telephone: +44 (0) 131 455 2392  Fax:  +44 (0) 131 455 2282
Email: <email obscured><mailto:<email obscured>>

http://itc.napier.ac.uk

Napier University is the best modern university in Scotland* and number one
in Scotland for graduate employability**
(*Guardian University Guide 2009)
(**HESA 2008)

This message is intended for the addressee(s) only and should not be read,
copied or disclosed to anyone else outwith the University without the
permission of the sender.
It is your responsibility to ensure that this message and any attachments
are scanned for viruses or other defects. Napier University does not accept
liability for any loss or damage which may result from this email or any
attachment, or for errors or omissions arising after it was sent. Email is
not a secure medium. Email entering the University's system is subject to
routine monitoring and filtering by the University.
Napier University is a registered Scottish charity. Registration number
SC018373

-----------------------------------------
Group home for UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange:
http://groups.dowire.org/groups/ukie

Replies go to members of UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange with all posts
on this topic here:
http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/2EZN7QSR603iMqnS1NqitW

For digest version or to leave UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange,
email <email obscured>
with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.

UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange is hosted by Democracies Online -
http://dowire.org.

Obama Raised Half a Billion Online From: James Gilmour Date: Nov 21 15:17 UTC Short link

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
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19:28

Nominet From: Ella Taylor-Smith Date: Nov 21 12:27 UTC Short link

Hi,
Yesterday's article in the Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/20/nominet-domain-name-registry
wasn't the first I've read recently about Nominet's internal wriggling and
relationship with government and it's hard to see if these are much more than
disgruntled gossip.

However, the article makes an interesting assumption - that it is better that
Nominet stays independent of government.

Could someone more au fait with this than me explain why this is?

For example, I can't see how people and non-commercial organisations have an
input here, though it aims to represent us on international bodies (where other
countries have democratically* accountable representation).

Perhaps my question is "how do we influence Nominet?"
-Ella

*a bit subjective of course

Ella Taylor-Smith

International Teledemocracy Centre
Napier University
10 Colinton Road
Edinburgh, EH10 5DT

Telephone: +44 (0) 131 455 2392  Fax:  +44 (0) 131 455 2282
Email: <email obscured><mailto:<email obscured>>

http://itc.napier.ac.uk



Napier University is the best modern university in Scotland* and number one in
Scotland for graduate employability**
(*Guardian University Guide 2009)
(**HESA 2008)

This message is intended for the addressee(s) only and should not be read,
copied or disclosed to anyone else outwith the University without the
permission of the sender.
It is your responsibility to ensure that this message and any attachments are
scanned for viruses or other defects. Napier University does not accept
liability for any loss or damage which may result from this email or any
attachment, or for errors or omissions arising after it was sent. Email is not
a secure medium. Email entering the University's system is subject to routine
monitoring and filtering by the University.
Napier University is a registered Scottish charity. Registration number
SC018373

[DW] Site - US "Who Voted" Website Provides Public Access to Voter Lists From: James Gilmour Date: Nov 13 14:48 UTC Short link

John Bruce > Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2008 9:27 AM
> I am sure that you are aware that the Marked Electoral
> Registers at Parliamentary and Local Authority elections in
> the UK are available for Public Inspection for a period of 1
> year after the election. Indeed, they can get copies of the
> marked registers for a fee. This enables politicians and
> political parties to establish who actually voted and enables
> them to target their scarce resources at the people who did not vote.

Yes, John, I was well aware of the availability of Marked Electoral Registers
in the UK.  But I have never understood what real
public interest was served by the provision of such marked registers.  I can
understand the political party interest very easily,
but that is no good reason for making such registers available  -  important
though political  parties are to the political system.

Reports from former councillors indicated that they would often look to see if
a constituent attending their ward surgery had voted
at the previous election.  Quite what difference that made to the way they then
handled the constituent or dealt with the issue
raised, I don't know.  But should the possibility that they might react
different not be a matter for concern?

It is not at all clear to me what you mean by "target their scarce resources at
the people who did not vote".  I think it is just as
likely that the political parties would ignore the non-voting electors
completely.  And, more importantly, I don't see how the
public interest would be served such targeting.  We have seen the disastrous
political effects of the extremely sophisticated
targeting by the main political parties on a tiny number of "swing voters" in
the "key marginal constituencies" in UK general
elections.  The total number of these "swing voters" who determined the outcome
has been estimated to be only 80,000 in an
electorate of 44,245,000 of whom around 27,150,000 voted in the 2005 general
election.

James

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19:01

☺