Raw Data Now!

The Internet offers a vast amount of documents to users. “Now, I want you to put your data on the web,“ says Time Berners-Lee. Most decisions are based on the analysis of data. Data might be boring to look at, but new applications can link data and display it in a meaningful way.

Tim Berners-Lee on the next web

Link

• The presentation on www.ted.com

Open Gov the Movie

Insights into the US-Open-Government Initiative. How the Open Government Initiative will change the US-Government – US-Citizen relation. Interviews with Beth Noveck (White House Head of Open Gov), Tim O’Reilly (O’Reilly Media), Jeffrey Levy (EPA).

Several Thoughts on Open Government

Hope to see a similar development in Europe, especially in Austria.

Interview with Beth Noveck
US Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Open Government:

On- plus Offline Elements in Democracy

Recently, Vienna launched an extensively advertised e-participation and discussion platform called Wien will’s wissen (Vienna wants to know) for the referendum in February. By now most of the citizens have already received their ballot papers by mail, but they can also participate in online discussions.

Vienna’s government wonders about citizen’s opinions with an online platform going along with the referendum (Volksbegehren). It is to be seen as an additional information and discussion service for the exchange of ideas between citizens and experts. Online contributions and comments can be made on the topics of the referendum. (Citizens will be asked five questions about prospective decisions of the Viennese government.) Plus, contrary statements of two experts – amongst them bloggers and media experts – referring to one of these questions are published

By registering on the platform with an username and e-mail address everyone is offered the opportunity to submit questions and statements or to comment on the postings of other users. Before going online, all comments are reviewed by editors in order to ensure that people stick to the netiquette.

Implementation of Facebook

The platform is joining the trend of implementating social networks by including the possibility to use an existing Facebook account for comments. Users can use their accounts for uploading videos or pictures related to the five topics. In doing so, people should be persuaded to voice their concerns without having to go through an additional registration process. The selection of the topics of the referendum was based on the orientation on factual issues as opposed to ideological ones.

EDem10 – Extended Call for Papers

EDem10 will take place at Danube-University Krems, Austria, on 6th and 7th of May 2010. EDem is the leading E-Democracy conference in Europe and the keynote speakers and will ensure a remarkable event. On primary aim is to bring together researchers and practitioners. Extended Call for Papers and further information:

Extended Call for Papers

You can submit papers at the conference website until 1st of March 2010. EDem10 unites many different disciplines and promotes interdisciplinary approaches to E-Democracy.  On primary aim is to bring together researchers and practitioners. We would like to invite individuals from academic, applied and practitioner backgrounds as well as public administration offices, public bodies, NGO/NPOs, education institutions and independent organisations to submit their research and project papers.

Registration

Registration is now open. Please visit the conference website and benefit from early registration until 28th of February.

Programme

We are still working on the programme, but confirmed keynote speakers and workshops promise an exceptional event. Please visit this Blog and the Conference Website for regular updates.

Confirmed Keynote Speakers

• Stevan Harnad - American Scientist Open Access Forum; Universite du Quebec a Montreal, CAN; University of Southampton, UK
• Ismael Peña-López - Open University of Catalonia, School of Law and Political Science, Barcelona, Spain
• Jochen Scholl - The Information School, University of Washington, USA
• Micah L. Sifry - Personal Democracy Forum, TechPresident, New York, USA
• Andy Williamson - Hansard Society, London, UK

Further Information

• EDem10 – Conference Website

Wenn Unternehmerinnen netzwerken

Die Nutzung sozialer Netzwerke durch Unternehmerinnen ist des öfteren Schwerpunkt wissenschaftlicher Beschäftigung, in der es neben den Charakteristiken der von Frauen geführten Unternehmen um genderspezifisches Verhalten in Netzwerken geht. Ein Überblick über die bisherige Forschungslage.*

Verallgemeinern lässt sich typisch weibliches Netzwerken und auch Führungsverhalten sicherlich nicht. Dennoch ergeben sich hinsichtlich der Nutzung geschlechterspezifische Verhaltensweisen oder Schwierigkeiten. Von Relevanz ist beispielsweise auch die Frage, welche informellen Netzwerke Frauen wie nutzen.

Formale vs. informelle Netzwerke

Netzwerke sind im Unterschied zu Organisationen mit einem völlig anderen Strukturprinzip verknüpft und im Gegensatz zu Kooperationen nicht zeitlich befristet. Sie bauen auf Reziprozität und im Idealfall auf dem Gleichgewicht von Einflussmöglichkeiten auf. Während formale Netzwerke aber durch eine organisationale Struktur vorgegeben sind, sind informelle Beziehungen nicht auf Inhalte der Arbeit beschränkt und können sowohl der privaten Bindung als auch dem funktionalen Weiterkommen im Beruf dienlich sein. Die Trennung oder Verschränkung dieser beiden Netzwerkarten ist ein aktuelles Thema. Strategien von Individuuen, diese zu trennen oder zu vereinen, sind an den verschiedenen Zugängen zu Privat- und Arbeitsleben im Internet abzulesen (beispielsweise durch die Handhabung mehrerer Accounts bei verschiedenen Diensten).