2.2. Communication and interoperability framework for eParticipation

The objective of Masaryk University (MU) is to define the communication and interoperability framework for eParticipation in the field of sustainable development and environment protection at regional, national and international level in order to pick up forms and tools of eParticipation, relevant to the actual level of maturity of society (see Hřebíček, Pitner, & Ráček, 2005). The core research interest lies in creating of the eParticipation ICT tools, platforms and organization management, which will take into account issues such as communication between governments and citizens, businesses and academicians and level of information society.

We identify and analyse informational needs of particular target groups (citizens, national, regional and local public administration, commercial sphere, scientific, research and educational organizations, public and non-governmental organizations) of environmental information with regard to communication with relevant information systems in the Czech Republic and abroad. Based on this research we are going to design structure, formats, attributes and appropriate ICT of effective methods of communication between government and citizens within the European Interoperability Framework of international communication and information system in environmental sphere.

There are three main themes of our research in eParticipation:

·         Interoperability

·         Security

·         Accessibility

We are using a new approach to providing information and services within eParticipation - Web Services, which are placed on technology basics of service oriented architecture. Web services are software systems which enable interoperability and a simple communication among applications in different environment because the communication is based on platform independent standards – particularly on XML language and protocol HTTP.

Further approach is using Open Source Software (OSS) and Open Source platform, which offer outstanding contribution to technical platform of eParticipation. Development of OSS which uses open standards can support the higher interoperability among systems and enable wider system sharing.

Open Source together with web services, Open Document Format and other standards create the technology platform of eParticipation on which it is possible to operate public services connected with eParticipation very easy and effectively.

Figure 1:    Technical platform for eParticipation using web services

References

Hřebíček, J., Pitner, T., & Ráček, J. (2005). Analysis of Environmental Information Management in Czech Republic. In 6th International Symposium on Environmental Software Systems (ISESS'05). Sesimbra, Portugal. International Federation for Information Processing. (May 24 - 27).

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