[Air-l] AW: UK Government's Major E-Democracy Push - Reference to Europea n Forum Alpbach 2001

Sun Nov 4 04:09:18 PST 2001

if able to read/listen to German, you may be interested in presentations in the eGovernment working group at the European Forum Alpbach, August 2001, Alpbach/Austria. Presentations and videostreams (RealVideo) available at http://wko.at/alpbach/bm/start-e.htm#AK5.

Sincerely,

Rudolf Lichtmannegger
Economic Policy Department
Austrian Economic Chamber
Wiedner Hauptstrasse 63
1045 Vienna
Austria
ph: ++43 1 50105 4411
fax: ++43 1 50105 298
e-mail: Rudolf.Lichtmannegger at wko.at
http://wko.at/wp

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Steven Clift [mailto:slc at publicus.net]
Gesendet am: Freitag, 26. Oktober 2001 18:34
An: pubpol-l at tc.umn.edu; huridocs-tech at hrea.org; eacn at ukco.org.uk;
ispo at www.ispo.cec.be; Globalcn2000 at yahoogroups.com;
ElectronicGovernment at yahoogroups.com;
E-DEMOKRATI at MAILINGLIST.STATSKONTORET.SE;
communityinformatics at vcn.bc.ca; politech at politechbot.com;
CARR-L at LISTSERV.LOUISVILLE.EDU; apple at apnic.net;
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FOI-L at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU; CYBERIA-L at LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Betreff: UK Government's Major E-Democracy Push - Articles, Releases,
Key Speech (A BIG DEAL)

I am on the look out for other government-led "e-democracy" efforts (at any
level) similiar to the recent UK announcements (see below).  If you are
interested in this issue, join my 2200 person Democracies Online Newswire
e-mail annoucement list <http://www.e-democracy.org/do> for updates on this
new e-government trend.

Thanks,
Steven Clift
Democeracies Online Newswire

*** Democracies Online Newswire - http://www.e-democracy.org/do ***

The "e-democracy" shot heard around the world.

The UK government has just announced a major e-democracy policy.
Yes, a government-led e-democracy agenda.

In my opinion, e-government will succeed only if it stands on two
equal legs - service and democracy.  I expect that many leading
governments around the world will take up the UK's call and launch
their own e-democracy initiatives to build a more balanced and
successful approach to e-government.

This is a completely new phase in the evolution of thought about
government's democratic role in the information age - that of an
initiator and actor and not simply a reactor to political and civic
uses of the Internet that wash over their old forms of decision-
making while elected and appointed officials feel helpless without
the online tools required to be better representatives.

Think of this new movement as "Representative E-Government," where
the two-way Internet is integrated into the governance and
representation process on par with the provision of online
transaction services.  The alternative is a services first approach
that automates the government services that people no longer want in
a way the increases the power of administration over elective
representatives and citizens.  What the UK government has done is
break through the narrow notion that e-democracy is about outsiders
pushing for online voting about everything.  Instead, building
e-democracy is a fundamental responsibility of a legitimate
democratic nation in the information age.

Hooray.

Below are links to some news coverage, a press release from the UK
Prime Minister's office, the major speech given by Douglas Alexander
the Minister for E-commerce and Competitiveness, and another more
detailed press release from the Department of Trade and Industry.

Steven Clift
Democracies Online
http://www.e-democracy.org/do

Press coverage about the e-democracy policies announced by the UK
government:

E-democracy moves up the agenda
  http://www.ukauthority.com/articles/story378.asp
UK Govt calls for e-democracy
  http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/22477.html

Some semi-related coverage:

Blair 'big bang' theory to delay freedom act (Not all rosey)
 http://politics.guardian.co.uk/whitehall/story/0,9061,581045,00.html
Labour MP calls for e-mail democracy (Oct 22, related)
  http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-2001364829,00.html