|
March 2007
Following a successful proposal submitted, by a2d and the IMC software company, within the "Politeia" programme of the Greek Ministry of the Interior, we are now implementing a full scale e-democracy project in the City of Trikala, one of the most advanced cities in terms of ICT adoption.
The development phase is now completed and actual deliberation between citizens and the city council will start around April 2007.
e-dialogos promises to become a best practice on a European scale, integrating on line forums, e-surveys, e-petitions, webcasts etc, under a fully comprehensive and original online public deliberation methodology
which builds upon numerous international best practices in the field.
The project also involves training of project managers and forum moderators as well as a comprehensive communication plan to attract citizens. The technical platform exploits open source tools and standards.
Watch this space for developments.
The City of Trikala sites: www.trikalacity.gr, www.e-trikala.gr
December 2006
This is an honour, a recognition of our expertise in the field of e-democracy and of our competence in contributing and advising the Council of Europe on relevant policy issues and programmes.
The "Partnership Status" is awarded to national NGOs
- which are particularly representative in the fields of their competence, fields of action shared by the Council of Europe;
- which are able, through their work, to support the achievement of that closer unity mentioned in Article 1 of the Statute of the Council of Europe;
- which are able to make known the work of the Council of Europe in their country.
The Council of Europe (CoE) is the European continent's oldest political organisation, founded in 1949 representing 800 million people. It is distinct from the 27-nation European Union, but no country has ever joined the Union without first belonging to the Council of Europe.
The CoE promotes the common fundamental values of human rights, the rule of law and democracy, strengthening the security of European citizens, fostering co-operation with other international and European organisations.
Find more: http://www.coe.int/T/e/Com/about_coe/
November 2006
The European Commission invited us to participate as discussants in the "EMPOWER Civil Society Forum" held at Bergamo, Italy, on 9-10 November.
The purpose of this forum was to discuss the new communication strategy of the European Union, otherwise known as "Plan-D" (Democracy-Dialogue-Debate), in which Vice President Margot Wallstrom calls for two-way communication between EU institutions and citizens.
The use of internet/ICT tools is recognized as a major vehicle in reengaging citizens and we made concrete and innovative proposals which made way into the final agenda.
Vassilis Goulandris, as a member of the "Internet Age" workshop panel, delivered an innovative presentation under the title "Margot's way"
which describes a real e-democracy experiment through the eyes of an average citizen. It actually puts forward a holistic on line platform to advance deliberation on the future of Europe.
Read more: http://www.empower06.eu/
View "Margot’s Way" in a single page (.jpg file) here
October 2006
a2d, an accredited organization with the WSIS, followed the proceedings of the 1st Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which took place in Athens between 30 October - 2 November 2006.
The IGF was one of the most significant outcomes of the World Summit on Information Society, which took place in Tunis between 16 and 18 November 2005.
Read more: http://www.igfgreece2006.gr
On 25 October 2006, a2d was invited by the "Eugenides Foundation" to the concluding event of the innovative "Meeting of Minds" project.
"Meeting of Minds - European Citizens' Deliberation on Brain Science" is a unique exercise involving the general public in a discussion on cutting-edge science. Citizens from nine European countries suggested what they think should be done with our new-found knowledge of the brain. Throughout 2005 and into early 2006 they have debated the ethical, social and legal implications with international experts. The citizens’ conclusions on the use of new technology, medicines and techniques are currently being offered to policy-makers at the European, national and transnational level.
Read more: http://www.meetingmindseurope.org
Eugenides Foundation
The "World eGov Forum" took place in Issy-les-Moulineaux area of Paris, France from the 18 to 20 of October 2006, gathering hundreds of high level experts and representatives, to discuss and debate on e-Democracy and e-Administration issues, under the general theme "what kind of connected society we want?".
Christoforos Korakas was invited at the Round Table 1 (October 18) addressing the issue of "Blogs and Citizen Journalism: between freedom of speech and new mass media". His presentation entitled "Citizen Journalism from an e-Democracy perspective" can be found here.
There were many interesting presentations from other panelists of this Round Table some of which you can find here: Etienne Chouard (here), Julia Glidden (here), Jean Dionis du Sejour (here).
See also the synthesis report of this Round Table (In French) here
On 5th October 2006, we organized and chaired a workshop under the title "New technologies and the challenge for civil society and democracy".
We invited over 100 organizations, academics, journalists and policy makers and it was one of the most successful workshops within the "NGOs and the Constitution" conference organized by ISTAME and PASOK (Solidarity & Voluntarism Group).
The final document of proceedings put forward a series of innovative and concrete policy proposals on civil society and the impact of new technologies for democracy.
See the final programme (Greek only) here
Final policy proposal document (Greek only) here
July 2006
The international eParticipation and Local Democracy Symposium held in Budapest 26-28 July 2006, attracted senior government officials from central and local government, NGO's from around the world and leading eGovernment experts that discussed the evolving relationship between eParticipation, social inclusion and e-Government trying to establish a new conceptual framework for citizen-centric government.
A vast partnership of prominent organisations and institutions built up around the conference featuring among others, the UK Department for Communities and Local Government,
The Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations secretariat (UNDESA),
The Council of Europe,
The US National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS),
the newly created International Centre of Excellence for Local e-Democracy,
The Public Forum Institute (USA), AmericaSpeaks, the POLITECH institute, and many others. See more on the conference at the official Symposium site here
Christoforos Korakas was invited as a speaker by the POLITECH Institute to participate in its roundtable discussion entitled "From e-Voting to e-Participation: Connecting Governments, Parliaments and Civil Society in Europe" to give an overview of the situation in Greece. You can find his presentation here
Don't miss http://icele.wordpress.com/ the official Symposium blog set up by
Griff Wigley where you can find almost everything you need to know about it, with pictures, podcasts of speaches, and very insightfull comentary on this Symposium and its second part due to take place in Baltimore 3 August 2006.
June 2006
access2democracy published the first Civil Society Index (CSI-SAT) report for Greece under the title
"Greek Civil Society: The long way to maturity-2005".
The project is part of an international action-research project coordinated by CIVICUS. It aims to assess the state of civil society worldwide and it is currently implemented in 53 countries. a2d was the National Coordinating Organization for Greece and the research took 16 months under the expert scientific supervision of Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Athens.
The title of our final report is meant to reflect the fact that although the general environment in Greece is rather positive, there is still a long road ahead before civil society gains the position and recognition it deserves within the modern Greek society.
We hope that this report will make a worthwhile contribution to a much needed debate and further research in this field.
Read more on this pioneering project and download the report here
May 2006
 The Community Philanthropy Initiative (CPI) of the European Foundation Centre (EFC) held its 9th Annual Networking Meeting in Brussels, from May 25th to May 26th, under the theme "ENGAGING THE CITIZEN: The role of community philanthropy organisations in increasing civic engagement".
Vassilis Goulandris delivered a presentation under the title: "The role of e-democracy principles and practices for community foundations: a novel approach for leadership and innovation", which is downloadable here.
EETT - Greece 's national regulatory authority for telecommunications - were the organizers of an international conference entitled "The Prospects of Broadband in the Mediterranean ", held between 2-4 May 2006. Vassilis Goulandris was among the panellists during the third day devoted to the theme of broadband for civil society, delivering a presentation entitled "The challenge of e-democracy ".
The presentations can be downloaded here
April 2006
 Over 700 Greek Civil Society Organisations have agreed to join efforts in a bottom-up action to influence the Constitutional Reform process, so as to include and recognize the role and responsibilities of the Civil Society and its Organisations.
access2democracy supports and is actively involved –through Christoforos Korakas- in the Organising Committee and the activities of the initiative. For more info: www.mkosyntagma.gr
March 2006
The City of Athens and the Global Governance Group (GGG) organized the founding conference of the New School of Athens (NSoA), held March 9-11 and hosted by the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation. The NSoA aims to re-establish Plato 's School of Athens , aiming to become a forum of tripartite global dialogue on the most difficult challenges facing our world today.
Vassilis Goulandris contributed to the roundtable expert panel entitled "Should the Corporation be a Social and Political actor? " chaired by Michael R. Tsibris, Vice President of the GGG.
More info here
Gartner, the leading provider of research and analysis about the global IT industry, hosted a one day briefing event in Athens, under the theme "Telecom, Mobile, Wireless & Networking: Now and in the Future". Katja Ruud, Research Director and Phillip Redman, Research VP, delivered insightful presentations on global developments in the field while Microsoft, HP and Cisco offered a glimpse of their current work. a2d wishes to thank Infosystems, the organizers, for their kind invitation to participate in this event.
February 2006
The Greek Federation of Hellenic Information Technnology and Communications Enterprizes (SEPE) announced the Greek candidatures for ' WITSA Global IT Excellence Awards 2006 ', to be announced on 4 May 2006 at the 15th World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) in Texas.
SEPE is a member of WITSA since August 1996, and organized the 14th WCIT that took place in Athens, in 2004.
- For the "Public Sector IT Excellence Award", SEPE proposed the "General Secretariat for Information Systems" of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, for its innovative use of ICTs as an effective response to the needs of citizens, while minimizing the red tape.
- For the "Private Sector IT Excellence Award", SEPE proposed FORTHnet SA, the company that brought internet in Greece.
- For the "Digital Opportunity Award", SEPE
proposed access2democracy.
December 2005
Vassilis Goulandris participated in the 2005 Senior
International Fellows Programme of the Center
on Philanthropy and Civil Society at the
Graduate Center
of the City University of New York.
The focus this year was on community foundations. Vassilis’s contribution was a paper entitled, "e-Democratising Philanthropy: A proposal for the
repositioning of Community Foundations"
in which a proposal is put forward concerning the adoption
of e-democracy principles and practices by community
foundations worldwide, especially in the wake of recent
concerns on the future of the model.
Download
the paper here
November 2005
Professor Nicholas Negroponte of the MIT Media Lab (and
an a2d Honorary Board member) and UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan unveiled The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative
during the WSIS in Tunis. OLPC is the not-for-profit organization set-up to produce and
distribute Nicholas Negroponte’s revolutionary
$100 Laptop. Various countries like
Brazil, Thailand, Egypt and Nigeria
have already expressed strong interest to acquire
these in large numbers and offer them to school children,
enhancing active learning and access. This ultra low-cost, energy-efficient educational tool
is an example of science and private initiative putting
themselves at the service of the poor. Mr Annan said the
laptop could unlock the "magic with each child, within
each scientist, scholar or plain citizen-in-the-making". OLPC is a partner project in ITU’s Connect the World initiative and its founding members are AMD, Brightstar, Google, News
Corporation, and Red Hat.
See and read more: http://laptop.media.mit.edu/
and http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/newsroom/highlights/16nov.html
The 1st open consultation between Greek Civil Society Organisations and the Secretary for the Information Society of the Greek Ministry of Economy and Finance, was held on 15th November in Athens. The initiative was led by a group of NGOs including the "citizen's union Paremvassi", the "Citizens Movement for an Open Society" and WWF Hellas, and supported by the Secretary for the Information Society.
The consultation allowed the Civil Society to present its views and deliberate on the objectives set for the new 2006-2010 Digital Strategy for Greece that was presented by the Secretary a few months earlier.
a2d presented its views and pointed out the merits of eDemocracy and the need to integrate such practices in policy formation processes.
See the presentation made by Christoforos Korakas (Greek Only) here
A short version of the Greek Digital Strategy 2006-2010 can be found here (Annex 3, pp 65 - 83)
September 2005
 The 6th annual e-democracy
conference took place on the 28th & 29th September at
Issy-les Moulineaux near Paris. Access2democracy was present
among other experts from across the world, that gathered to
talk about the latest eDemocracy and eGovernement policy
trends and issues. Participants included academic experts
and researchers, government officials and ministers,
representatives from international and European
institutions, from the Civil Society as well as many
representatives of major IT businesses and online
media.
We followed with great interest the 8th
roundable entitled "From e-voting to e-participation: a new
challenge for Europe" organised by the Politech Institute.
For more information on the event please
visit the conference website.
July 2005
The 8th Symi Symposium, held between 10-16 th July in Rethimno, Crete under the theme "New Challenges to Democracy in the 21 st century" , was successfully concluded.
a2d participated in the main proceedings and also held a series of informal sessions on working project proposals. It was a great opportunity for us to have most of our Honorary Board & BoD members gathered in one place; Michalis Bletsas, Stephen Coleman, Kumi Naidoo, Nicholas Negreponte, George Papandreou and Amartya Sen.
Apart from the significant contributions made and the lively debates that followed, the participants were able to engage in hiking and swimming and indulge in the unique culinary experience of the Cretan cuisine, always in the true spirit of a symposium.
Read more: http://www.symisymposium.org/symi/content/Home.aspx
April 2005
We are pleased to announce that a2d was recently appointed by CIVICUS in order to implement the CSI-SAT project (Civil Society Index-Shortened Assessment Tool) in Greece. The CSI-SAT is an innovative and ambitious project that assesses the state of civil society in countries around the world with a view to creating a knowledge base for civil society strengthening initiatives.As National Coordinating Organization, our mission will be to manage and coordinate the CSI implementation in Greece with a view to better understand the trends, opportunities and obstacles that faces the Greek civil society today. The project is currently implemented in more than 50 countries around the world and a global report is expected to be published towards 2006. Further information will be communicated shortly.
September 2004
access2democracy proudly announces that Professor Lawrence Lessig of Stanford Law School, founder of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society and chairman of the Creative Commons project, has joined the Honorary Board of the organization. More >
a2d announces that it has joined Civicus, the World Alliance for Citizen Participation. The partnership is expected to enrich the resources of both organizations while at the same time it will increase the global exposure of a2d by linking it to the biggest global network of civil society stakeholders. More on Civicus >
August 2004
The partnership offers networking opportunities with other agencies in the OneWorld community, which is comprised of more than 1,500 civil society organizations based in 90 countries. It allows access to online resources and tools for collaboration and is a platform for knowledge and skill-sharing through workshops and partner meetings on the use of new communication technologies for development. More on OneWorld >
21 May 2004
Launch of "access2democracy" WCIT at WCIT in Athens
 Address by Members of a2d's Honorary Board at the official Launch
Our WCIT 2004 Press Kit
|
Nicholas Negroponte and Kofi Annan unveil
the "One laptop per child" initiative
at the WSIS.
