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Editorial
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| Dear readers,
Gov2u, an e-democracy promoting NGO has been around for quite some time now. Ever since its establishment, it moved towards the direction of familiarizing citizens with the notions of e-Participation, e-Inclusion and e-Governance and the projects it participated in through all these years, were all major in providing exactly that: a medium to facilitate civil participation and the tools to enable and strengthen this participation process.
We are still continuing in the same path and under the same principles and values that have inspired this organization. Gov2u's involvement in many projects has been active and noteworthy.
In this new issue of our newsletter, you will have the opportunity to read all the latest updates of the projects we are participating in, interesting events and initiatives in the fields we support and believe in, books we strongly recommend and calls for papers.
We will be glad to read your comments or suggestions you might have if you contact us at info@gov2u.org
Have a happy Summer!
The Gov2u Newsletter Team
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Our project updates
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STORK 2.0: Secure identity across borders linked 2.0
Gov2u is proud to announce its active participation in STORK 2.0 (Secure idenTity acrOss boRders linKed 2.0), a major three-year project that has been launched to facilitate the creation and take-up of a single interoperable and sustainable electronic identification (eID) authentication area for Europe, for legal and natural persons. It builds on the success and results of STORK; it takes further steps to decisively push the lines for wider uptake of eID in Europe, aiming at realizing a single European electronic identification & authentication area. Its highly innovative focus lies on the convergence of private and public sectors in an operational framework and infrastructure encompassing eID for secure electronic
natural persons. It builds on the success and results of STORK; it takes further steps to decisively push the lines for wider uptake of eID in Europe, aiming at realizing a single European electronic identification & authentication area. Its highly innovative focus lies on the convergence of private and public sectors in an operational framework and infrastructure encompassing eID for secure electronic authentication.
It includes facilities for mandates, widely useable across the EU, providing strong data protection and secure ways of transferring attributes, all under user control.
STORK 2.0 was presented in two significant conferences recently:
At the Porvoo 17 Conference that was held in Brussels on 10-11 May 2012.
The meeting was co-organized by the Porvoo Group and e-Forum, with support from a number of sponsors. More information about this Conference can be found here.
STORK 2.0 was also presented at the 7th PEPPOL Conference in Rome, on 29-30 May 2012. The event provided insight into the results and the future follow-up of the PEPPOL project. You can read more about this Conference at the STORK 2.0.
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SPOCS
SPOCS, a Large Scale Pilot project in which Gov2u is a partner, aims at proving through its work and results that European cross border eGovernment is obtainable, thus making the lives of citizens and businesses easier, while being more efficient and cost effective than existing public services.
SPOCS was a part of the 4th event of the LSP Roadshow, which was realized in the framework of the 7th PEPPOL conference that took place in Rome (May 29-30 2012 – for more details please visit the SPOCS website). The LSP Roadshow is a stream of events parallel to ongoing dissemination activities of the LSPs and building on specific actions in the e-Government action plan and Digital Agenda.
A major achievement of this project is the development and progress of the five Large Scale Pilots. They are run mainly by Member States and develop practical solutions tested in real government service cases across Europe. You can see the LSP story video for more information on these practical solutions.
SPOCS website
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MyUniversity
Gov2u participates in the MyUniversity project which is currently in its second year. The aim of the project is to provide and equip universities with a cutting edge eParticipation platform that will allow stakeholders in Higher Education Area to interact with each other at university, national and European level using ICT interactive tools.
Currently, all 14 University partners are using their e-platforms and the primary results are extremely promising and encouraging. The goal is to engage as many users as possible and to secure a continuous and dedicated participation.
The Consortium has been presenting the project and the eParticipation platforms to many national and significant International events, like the GDN 2012 International Meeting on Group Decision and Negotiation that took place in Recife, Brazil (20-24 April 2012) and theSEIO2012 in Madrid, Spain (17-20 April 2012).
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WeGov: Where eGovernment meets the eSociety
WeGov has entered into its final period until completion. The WeGov approach consists of a software solution (WeGov toolbox) that aims to support decision-makers in the analysis of social networks. The WeGov Consortium, in which Gov2u participates, launched the Phase 2 Evaluationof the WeGov toolbox in March 2012. Phase 2 evaluation of the WeGov has reached its cruise speed. Numerous events and individual feedback collecting interviews took place since the beginning of the year, involving members from the European Parliament, the German Bundestag and the State Parliament of Nordrhein-Westfalen, in Germany.
The Initial Results of the Phase 2 Evaluation have been promising; the comments have been positive and the Bundestag, where the presentation took place, requested some improvements on the WeGov toolbox version to support their everyday work.
WeGov website
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Interesting initiatives
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The Single Market celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2012
The end of 2012 will mark the 20th anniversary of the European Single Market. The European Commission plans to celebrate this anniversary with a Single Market Week across Europe.
The week will be organized in October 2012 and include the second annual Single Market Forum.
A Single Market Week will take place from 15 to 20 October 2012. A pan-European event will open the week on 15 October in Brussels. The 27 Member States, in collaboration with the EU representations, will organize national events and forums. The Single Market Week will take place at the same time as another initiative organized by the European Commission: the Small and Medium Enterprise Week.
For more information or to find out how to be involved, please check here.
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Events
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International Workshop on Agent-Based Models and Complex Techno-Social Systems
Gov2u, a WeGov Consortium partner, participated in the International Workshop on Agent-Based Models and Complex Techno-Social Systems at Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH)that took place in Zurich, Switzerland, on 2-4 July 2012.
This workshop invited contributions of cutting-edge research that draws on agent-based models or on empirical data to study interdependencies in social life, with a special focus on techno-social systems. The event provided an excellent platform for the WeGov project to get expert-feedback on the WeGov end-user evaluation analysis.
Gov2u presented the paper with the title "The semantics of trust: examining the usefulness of social media data within the context of policy", which was jointly & successfully submitted along with Consortium partners, GESIS and Hansard Society.
Find more about the workshop here
European Forum on Electronic Signature & PKI
Gov2u, a partner of the SPOCS project, participated in theEuropean Forum on Electronic Signature & PKI, which was held on 4-6 June 2012 in Międzyzdroje, Poland.
EFPE 2012 – the Europe's largest international conference on electronic signature and PKI focused on this year over 120 participants from 17 countries. Among them were the representatives of the European Commission, government offices and agencies of government (including the Ministry of Economy, Administration and Digitization of Republic of Poland), local governments, producers of software and hardware solutions and certification centres providing services related to electronic signature. In this year the main topic of the conference was "Trust and Security on Digital Internal Market".
For more details on EFPE 2012, please visit the website.
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Publications
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E-Governance and Civic Engagement : Factors and Determinants of E-Democracy
Governments are increasingly turning to the Internet to provide public services. The move towards e-governance not only impacts the efficiency and effectiveness of public service, but also has the potential to transform the nature of government interactions with citizens.
E-Governance and Civic Engagement: Factors and Determinants of E-Democracy examines how e-government facilitates online public reporting, two-way communication and debate, online citizen participation in decision-making, and citizen satisfaction with e-governance. The book explores the impacts from governments that have engaged their citizens online, discusses issues and challenges in adopting and implementing online civic engagement initiatives globally, and helps guide practitioners in their transition to e-governance.
Find this book in Amazon
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eDemocracy & eGovernment: Stages of a Democratic Knowledge Society
The reference book reviews and presents systematically the use of Internet in administration and politics. A process-oriented layer model defines the options of exchange and participation for all claim groups covering these topics: eAssistance, eProcurement, eService, eContracting, eSettlement, eCollaboration, eDemocracy, and eCommunity. Case studies show practical applications in industry, administration and research. The book is well suited for students in Business, Economics and Political Sciences courses as well as for practitioners interested in the opportunities of digital exchange and participation in the knowledge society.
Find this book in Amazon
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Call for papers
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The 4th International conference on eParticipation (ePart) 2012
3 – 5 September 2012, Kristiansand, Norway
ePart2012 aims to bring together researchers and practitioners from a wide range of academic and applied backgrounds to provide a unique opportunity to better understand political engagement in a virtual environment and to discuss specific advances in eParticipation from different disciplinary perspectives.
The conference is aimed at those who wish to update themselves on research advances in eParticipation, understand how other groups are applying these advanced tools and techniques and exchange ideas with leading international experts.
ePart2012 is organized by experts in the field and is supported by a multidisciplinary programme committee.
For more details on the call for papers, visit the relevant website.
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ICITEA 2012: International conference on Information Technology, E-government and applications
20-21 September 2012, Abu Dhabi, UAE
International Conference on Information Technology, E-Government and applications ( ICITEA 2012) is designed to provide a common platform to the experts and delegates to share their experiences, research ideas and discuss various related issues and challenges.
For submission information and deadlines, please visit the website.
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e-LC 2012 : E-Leadership 2012 Conference on Sustainable E-Government and E-BUSINESS iNNOVATIONS
4-5 October 2012, Pretoria, South Africa
The conference is aimed at assessing how e-leadership influences Digital Strategy (e-government and e-business strategies); management in a digital era (E-Management) and how technology enables e-transformation (E-Transformation) and the sustainability of digital innovations from the perspective of ICT4D (E-Sustainability).
For more information and submission deadlines, please read here.
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Call for tenders: Study on 'eGovernment and the reduction of administrative burden' (SMART 2012-0061)
This study has two main objectives: (1) to raise awareness among the stakeholders on the best practices and the costs and benefits of implementing the 'once only' principle while designing eGovernment services; (2) to help Member States on how to implement this 'once only' principle and on how to make electronic procedures the dominant channel for delivering eGovernment services.
Please consult the website to download the tender and receive more information.
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