eParticipate
The eParticipate methodology focuses on the need for clear, accessible, informative and transparent communication as a foundation for eParticipation. It provides tools to support democratic renewal in three main areas (a) Transparent & accessible communication, (b) Getting representation online, and (c) Extending consultation. Based on Market Validation results, the project has initially deployed the service to 10 very different Municipalities in 8 key EU Member States across Europe (Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Slovakia, Spain and UK). Each Local Authority provides live and archived Internet webcasts of local Municipal meetings and other local community events. Citizens can view these broadcast on-line at any time and place and interact as they chose. eParticipate thus promotes greater public involvement in local decision making and enhances the representative role of Local Councillors in their community through the use of ICT. The core eParticipate platform centres on multimedia webcasting however in a manner which informs and encourages engagement with a viewer. The ‘clever’ thing about the eParticipate platform is not the webcasting element, but that it automatically displays critical contextual information such as speaker names, titles / affiliations, agenda items, meeting documentation, presentations and polls / surveys or consultations. The enables Local Authorities to manage their own webcasting without the need for specialist staff or infrastructure. The growing list of tools includes: We can help you deliver professional, accessible webcasts as part of your communications Strategy: www.public-i.info/webcasting.php Message boards enable communities of people to share opinions and discuss ideas with other users. The key difference with the multimedia discussion board is the use of video, audio and still images. Users can choose any of these media in order to contribute to the discussion Bristol City Council and Public-i Group Ltd, with support from the International Teledemocracy Centre at Napier University, have launched a new open source e-Petitioning tool specifically designed for Local Government. Video magazines are a simple yet effective tool to enable organisations to add video content into their communications mix without needing to effect a major website re-design. The immediate impact of the project is on 1.9M citizens in 8 Member States across the EU, while the longer-term impact of eParticipate will be to establish the critical importance of the eParticipation services in the success of all eGovernment initiatives whilst enabling any EU Local Authority to readily implement the proven solutions based on an established best practise methodology. Specific benefits are:
Keywords
eParticipation, eDemocracy, Webcasting
Countries
North Macedonia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Montenegro, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, Türkiye, United Kingdom