The eParticipation Network (ePN) is now established!

 

On 9th October 2008, the eParticipation Network has been officially established in order to create a leading forum for eParticipation research and practice. The main objective of the ePN is to preserve the momentum created with the DEMO-net project for integrating and sustaining the European eParticipation research community. The ePN has been established by 10 founding board members. Membership in the Network offers a variety of benefits and access to important eParticipation services, such as support in eParticipation research, large databases of eParticipation projects and publications, advanced educational and training activities on eParticipation, news alerts, access to archives and much more. More information on the eParticipation Network and details on membership (benefits, eligibility and subscription) will soon follow with a Special Issue of the DEMO-net Newsletter.

 

Upcoming DEMO-net Events

 

Doris Allhutter will give a presentation on "Gender and eParticipation" at the "e-Inclusion Ministerial Conference".

 

Sabrina Scherer will present the paper "Investigating Information and Knowledge Management (IKM) in eDeliberation" by Sabrina Scherer, Maria A. Wimmer, and Christian Schneider.

 

Efthimios Tambouris will present DEMO-net results in the panel "Convergence Technologies and eDemocracy" within the Global Forum event.

 

Events Coming Up

 

The 4th session of the Council of Europe Forum for the Future of Democracy is hosted by the Spanish Ministry of Public Administrations with the support of the City of Madrid. The debates will focus on the use of ICTs for enhancing democratic processes and to create new spaces for information, deliberation, consultation and transaction between government and citizens and between citizens themselves. The Forum will address the opportunities and risks of e-democracy and discuss examples of how ICTs can contribute to inclusive democratic practice alongside traditional forms of political participation.

 

Europe and the challenges of e-Governement 2.0 will be the main topic of the World eDemocracy Forum. Debates will be organised to deal with European issues due to the imminent French presidency of the European Union and with Franco-German issues due to the Franco-German ICT year.

 

The "Global Forum / Shaping the Future" is an annual, independent, international and invitation-only event dedicated to business and policy issues that affect the successful evolution of the Information Society. It brings together the diverse expertise of more than 300 high-profile delegates, including both industrial leaders and senior policy makers, from more than 40 countries.

 

eChallenges is supported by the European Commission, and regularly attracts over 650 delegates from leading commercial, government and research organisations around the world. The goal of e-2008 is to stimulate rapid take-up of Research and Technology Development (RTD) results by industry and in particular SMEs, and help open up the European Research Area (ERA) to the rest of the world.

 

This conference focuses on "digital legal information", analyzing its aspects in the light of the idea of freedom of digital legal culture and knowledge and of the technological progress that is shaping law.
Some of the conference topics: Legal aspects concerning management, creation and filing of digital information, Legal blogs and wikis, Quality of legal information available on the web, Semantic tools for the access to legal information, Information technology used in the process of creating rules.

 

This hands-on seminar will explore several key themes related to eInclusion and immigration in the EU, which will be illustrated with relevant case studies presentations and interactive discussion groups.
The three key themes are: Local community development and entrepreneurship, Language and identity in a culturally diverse Europe, Introduction initiatives and services, inclusive eGovernment and participation.

 

This Special Track focuses on how social software, SOAs and semantic technologies transform the citizen-state interaction. Selected papers from this track will be considered for publication in IEEE Intelligent Systems, Special Issue on Transforming E-government and E-participation.

 

The biennial ICT Event is the most important forum for discussing research and public policy in information and communication technologies at European level. The Event brings together researchers and innovators, policy and business decision-makers working in the field of digital technologies. The ICT Event is organised by the European Commission's Directorate General for the Information Society and Media and is usually hosted by the current Presidency of the European Union.

 

Networking sessions on e-government and e-participation at ICT 2008, Lyon, France, 25-27 November 2008

Two networking sessions will take place within ICT 2008 conference of the European Commission submitted by Jeremy Millard and Maria Wimmer. The two sessions are: "eGovernance and eParticipation" organized by Maria Wimmer and "Policy modelling and simulation" organized by Jeremy Millard.

 

Recent Past Events

 

ITA's public seminar at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, in Vienna, 16 September 2008

Hilmar Westholm held an invited talk at titled "Mit neuen Medien gegen Politik(er)verdrossenheit-neue Befunde zu einem "alten" Thema (The role of new media to counter decreasing political participation-new evidence on an "old" issue)".

 

Georg Aichholzer chaired Session 5b: User Centricity and Inclusion II, and Session 11b: eParticipation II at the Seventh International DEXA-EGOV Conference 2008. Efthimios Tambouris presented the paper "eElectioneering: Current Research Trends" by Dimitra Kampitaki, Efthimios Tambouris and Konstantinos Tarabanis.

 

Hilmar Westholm presented the results of a study for the German Ministry of the Interior: "State of the Art of eParticipation in Germany: Strengths, Weaknesses and Proposals". The study was conducted by ifib, Bremen with Zebralog, Berlin.

 

Recent Publications

 

 

DEMO-net Survey