Help About us PEP-NET Blog Rules RSS/Feeds
Detail page
Hille Hinsberg: Live Chat

On Monday 19th April at 16.00 CET we hosted a live chat with Hille Hinsberg. Hille is a Communication Officer at the Estonian Cabinet Office; is responsible for osale.ee, the Estonian e-consultation portal; is actively involved in establishing communication channels between citizens and government institutions and promoting good practice in engaging citizens; and advises government agencies on eParticipation. She has cross-sector experience, having worked as spokesperson for the Non-Estonians’ Integration Foundation and managed EU-funded projects.
You can see the full text of the live chat below:

 Live Chat with Hille Hinsberg(04/19/2010) 
15:47
John Heaven: 
Another ten minutes or so till we start -- we're just setting up!
Monday April 19, 2010 15:47 John Heaven
15:55
Twitter
johnheaven: 
Don’t forget you can contribute to our Live Chat with Hille Hinsberg by using the #pepnet hashtag.
Monday April 19, 2010 15:55 johnheaven
16:00
John Heaven: 
Welcome all to the second PEP-NET Live Chat. I'm John and am moderating the chat.

Please understand that I may have to leave out some questions that we don't have time for or that are off-topic.
Monday April 19, 2010 16:00 John Heaven
16:01
John Heaven: 
Good aftenoon Hille, and thanks on behalf of PEP-NET for taking the time to chat to us today.

Estonia has a reputation for being a leader in eParticipation, so we're very lucky to get the chance to chat with you about eParticipation in Central and Eastern Europe.
Monday April 19, 2010 16:01 John Heaven
16:01
Guest: 
Hi John, and everyone! happy to join this discussion
Monday April 19, 2010 16:01 Guest
16:02
John Heaven: 
It's still quite early -- we started very punctually! -- so maybe we'll have to wait for some questions. Is anybody there?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:02 John Heaven
16:03
John Heaven: 
Okay, we've got a couple of questions coming in.
Monday April 19, 2010 16:03 John Heaven
16:04
[Comment From Bengt FeilBengt Feil: ] 
Estonia is well known for its efforts in eVoting. Do you think this kind of electronic participation could be a model for other CEE countries?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:04 Bengt Feil
16:05
John Heaven: 
By the way, Hille is logged in as "Guest" -- we're trying to get her real name to appear at the moment!
Monday April 19, 2010 16:05 John Heaven
16:06
[Comment From HillehHilleh: ] 
Well. let's see what happens with the name now
Monday April 19, 2010 16:06 Hilleh
16:07
John Heaven: 
Okay, we've got a few questions. I'll start off by letting Hille take her pick ...
Monday April 19, 2010 16:07 John Heaven
16:07
[Comment From DorotheeDorothee: ] 
What kind of eParticipation projects are most common in Estonia?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:07 Dorothee
16:08
[Comment From HillehHilleh: ] 
to Bengt: eVoting has certainly proven succesful in Estonia, with 9,5% of eligible voters last time, at European Parlaiament elections [subsequent correction: 6.5% of eligible voters voted electronically in the European Parliament elections; 9.5% voted in Autumn 2009 Local Elections]
Monday April 19, 2010 16:08 Hilleh
16:08
Hilleh: 
but I'd say that we have become avid users of 2.0. media - facebook and twitter
Monday April 19, 2010 16:08 Hilleh
16:09
John Heaven: 
Why do you think Estonia is such a leader in eParticipation and eGovernment in general?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:09 John Heaven
16:10
Hilleh: 
so people are quite actively participating via social media channels, discussing topics that are of interest politically or just very hot at the moment
Monday April 19, 2010 16:10 Hilleh
16:10
[Comment From somedsomed: ] 
Hi Hille, how come that eVoting is subject to quite a lot of criticism in Western Europe but seems to be acceptable in our country?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:10 somed
16:10
Hilleh: 
leader... well, perhaps in eGovernment mostly, as we have good infrastructure - broadband etc
Monday April 19, 2010 16:10 Hilleh
16:11
[Comment From Anthony ZacharzewskiAnthony Zacharzewski: ] 
Is there evidence that social media discussions are carried on mainly among wealthier, younger or better-educated people, or is participation spread across the population?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:11 Anthony Zacharzewski
16:12
Hilleh: 
and a lot of public services have been developed just due to fact that after regaining independence, we did not have services "on paper" - we started to produce everything from scratch - so the electronic form came easily
Monday April 19, 2010 16:12 Hilleh
16:14
Hilleh: 
to Anthony: possibly the social media discussions are favoured by these types of people that you describe, but on the whole, we do not have significant digital gap - the usage of internet is 75% of all population and is quite evenly spread
Monday April 19, 2010 16:14 Hilleh
16:15
John Heaven: 
I know that in the UK people talk of the "final third" of people who don't use the internet, so it sounds like Estonia is more advanced in that regard -- they only have a "final quarter"!
Monday April 19, 2010 16:15 John Heaven
16:16
[Comment From Anthony ZacharzewskiAnthony Zacharzewski: ] 
Is online activity still closely linked to localities (towns and cities where people live), or does it take the form of discussions on thematic issues such as health, foreign affairs or the economy.
Monday April 19, 2010 16:16 Anthony Zacharzewski
16:16
Hilleh: 
about eVoting - there seems to be trust in the electronic way of doing it. My personal opinion is, that after Soviet era, when you could not trust the "ordinary" system for voting, the electronic, easy and secure method is preferred
Monday April 19, 2010 16:16 Hilleh
16:17
[Comment From DorotheeDorothee: ] 
Are there other factors than "web 2.0 mentality" and infrastructure, encouraging eParticipation?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:17 Dorothee
16:18
Hilleh: 
Anthony, as localities are quite small in Estonia, then face-to-face method is still most common:) - there is not much need for online, when you can just phone your authority up and tell him/her directly what your concerns are
Monday April 19, 2010 16:18 Hilleh
16:20
Hilleh: 
Dorothee, I think that people have started to discover participation - taking part in civic initiatives such as Let's Do It - the country clean-up campaign that staretd in Estonia and has by now reached almost 500, 000 volunteers all over world
Monday April 19, 2010 16:20 Hilleh
16:21
[Comment From somedsomed: ] 
One upon a while I saw a presentation about an eDemocracy project calledn Today I Decide. Can you tell us somthing about that? Is it still in operation?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:21 somed
16:21
Hilleh: 
this kind of grass root level community activism is well established - to the great joy of participation fans and experts!
Monday April 19, 2010 16:21 Hilleh
16:22
Hilleh: 
the TiD (or TOM, as some may know it), is currently part of the government-run, central participation portal osale.ee
Monday April 19, 2010 16:22 Hilleh
16:23
Hilleh: 
this combines citizen deliberation and public consultations
Monday April 19, 2010 16:23 Hilleh
16:23
Hilleh: 
so anyone can make their own proposals or ideas to teh government, or comment upon state-initiated policies
Monday April 19, 2010 16:23 Hilleh
16:24
Hilleh: 
this combined portal has now been operating for 3 years
Monday April 19, 2010 16:24 Hilleh
16:24
John Heaven: 
Are these, or any other projects, particularly applicable to C&E Europe? Which types of project are most popular do you think?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:24 John Heaven
16:25
Hilleh: 
definitely the Let's Do It is the most succesful - and applicable anywhere
Monday April 19, 2010 16:25 Hilleh
16:26
[Comment From DorotheeDorothee: ] 
What kind of eParticipation projects are most common and popular in Estonia?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:26 Dorothee
16:26
Hilleh: 
It relies on people's ability to self-organise
Monday April 19, 2010 16:26 Hilleh
16:26
[Comment From somedsomed: ] 
thanks, how about the "particpation rates"? Are people taking that opportunity ?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:26 somed
16:27
Hilleh: 
We really do not have that many of the eParticipation projects. Beside already mentioned osale.ee, we have separate portal for petitioning, just started recently with quite good participation rates
Monday April 19, 2010 16:27 Hilleh
16:28
John Heaven: 
Okay, a couple more questions. Firstly, we've got one specifically about eVoting:
Monday April 19, 2010 16:28 John Heaven
16:28
[Comment From jochenjochen: ] 
Do you think that foreign countries or commercial stakeholders could manipulate the eParticipation? I think that eVoting is a very vulnerable way and in the most cases there is a great "black box" software and nobody knows for sure who is really voting and what happens after the user has given his vote...
Monday April 19, 2010 16:28 jochen
16:28
Hilleh: 
And, the osale.ee mainly serves for information purposes - to get to know about new policies, and to interact with civil servants on specific issues
Monday April 19, 2010 16:28 Hilleh
16:29
[Comment From DorotheeDorothee: ] 
Is there an english version of osale.ee available?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:29 Dorothee
16:29
Hilleh: 
Dorothee, yes, please test the tidplus.net
Monday April 19, 2010 16:29 Hilleh
16:30
[Comment From DorotheeDorothee: ] 
thank you'!
Monday April 19, 2010 16:30 Dorothee
16:30
Hilleh: 
and description of osale.ee is at epractice.eu/cases/osale
Monday April 19, 2010 16:30 Hilleh
16:31
John Heaven: 
(I think that link is in the background information by the way, in the library on www.internet-discourse.eu)
Monday April 19, 2010 16:31 John Heaven
16:31
[Comment From Anthony ZacharzewskiAnthony Zacharzewski: ] 
What sort of traffic does osale.eu get
Monday April 19, 2010 16:31 Anthony Zacharzewski
16:31
Hilleh: 
Jochen - well, you also have to trust people who open the boxes and read the votes:) - the black box is just in a different format
Monday April 19, 2010 16:31 Hilleh
16:32
John Heaven: 
For the benefit of our readers -- Estonia was the first place to allow eVoting in a parliamentary election, in 2007.
Monday April 19, 2010 16:32 John Heaven
16:32
Hilleh: 
osale.ee has over 3,000 registered users, average clicks on a public consultation of about 5,000 readers, maximum of 20,000 and above
Monday April 19, 2010 16:32 Hilleh
16:33
Hilleh: 
about 175 ideas(proposals) per year submitted by citizens to the government on their own initiative
Monday April 19, 2010 16:33 Hilleh
16:34
John Heaven: 
Okay, two question. I'll let you take them at your own pace!
Monday April 19, 2010 16:34 John Heaven
16:34
[Comment From DorotheeDorothee: ] 
Is there a correlation between the status as EU member and the development of Estonian eParticipation activity?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:34 Dorothee
16:34
Hilleh: 
on eVoting, please see http://www.vvk.ee/index.php?id=11178 for stats and background info
Monday April 19, 2010 16:34 Hilleh
16:34
[Comment From Simon DelakordaSimon Delakorda: ] 
Hi, Hille. How strongly is a success of e-participation in Estonian case related to a political consensus in country which understands information society as development priority on one hand and by a strong political support of political elites for top down e-participation on the other?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:34 Simon Delakorda
16:35
Hilleh: 
Not sure, Dorothee - just perhaps the money for developing eParticipation tools flows in more easily:)
Monday April 19, 2010 16:35 Hilleh
16:37
Hilleh: 
Simon, good question! - which means I do not have as good an answer:)) As I said at the beginning, we have more success in e-services, there is also secure connection for document exchange between public insitutions, there is eVoting
Monday April 19, 2010 16:37 Hilleh
16:38
John Heaven: 
Two people asking the same question about osale.ee:
Monday April 19, 2010 16:38 John Heaven
16:38
[Comment From Simon DelakordaSimon Delakorda: ] 
A question regarding the osale.ee project: "What is the % of the proposals submitted on-line by the citizens which have been adopted and incorporated into the existing legislation?"
Monday April 19, 2010 16:38 Simon Delakorda
16:38
[Comment From somedsomed: ] 
how many of tzhem have you put in practice?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:38 somed
16:38
Hilleh: 
.but we are somewhat lagging behind in user take-up for public e-services, and user-friendly focus of these services
Monday April 19, 2010 16:38 Hilleh
16:40
Hilleh: 
to Simon and somed: it is pretty hard to telll you the %, as the main idea is deliberation, interacting with civil servants - not direct democracy of pushing forward your own , ready-made piece of legislation.
Monday April 19, 2010 16:40 Hilleh
16:41
John Heaven: 
Okay, a comment from Jochen, then a couple of questions about infrastructure and the digital divide:
Monday April 19, 2010 16:41 John Heaven
16:41
[Comment From jochenjochen: ] 
Offline voting can be controlled be counting again. Electronic voting is just trusting the machines and the software and all the people who do the programming, reading the memory etc. - it's different.
Monday April 19, 2010 16:41 jochen
16:41
John Heaven: 
Hang on... we've still got questions about osale.ee
Monday April 19, 2010 16:41 John Heaven
16:41
[Comment From Renate MitterhuberRenate Mitterhuber: ] 
Hi Hille, the number of participants on osale.ee is impressing. What are the favourite topics people ask and want to be informed? Are they more individual or the kind of "big politics"?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:41 Renate Mitterhuber
16:42
Hilleh: 
there is a good case though: back in 2001, when TiD (TOM) was started, there was an idea to start a foundation for financing civil society projects from state budget. This idea was implemented 8 years later...
Monday April 19, 2010 16:42 Hilleh
16:44
Hilleh: 
Hi Renate! odd enough, one of the most popular topics has been traffic regulations:) and by the way - after Slovenia started their similar portal, based on TiD model, they got the same thing!
Monday April 19, 2010 16:44 Hilleh
16:45
[Comment From DorotheeDorothee: ] 
Estonia is a pioneer for eParticipation and eGovernment. What can you recommend other European member states? How can they/we encourage eParticipation activities?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:45 Dorothee
16:45
Hilleh: 
but the ideas/proposals range from curbing the wild boar population to tax exemptions
Monday April 19, 2010 16:45 Hilleh
16:48
Hilleh: 
I'd recommend experimenting and taking risks. I know it's hard to do for a government, as you can be accused for wasting tax-payers money etc . But eVoting is certainly one example where the risk has been justified - we are boasting high voter turnout, and lots of young people casting their vote, maybe for the first time, via internet. Surely it is worth the while!
Monday April 19, 2010 16:48 Hilleh
16:49
John Heaven: 
Let's have a couple more questions about the digital divide:
Monday April 19, 2010 16:49 John Heaven
16:49
[Comment From Bengt FeilBengt Feil: ] 
Access to the internet has been pointed out as one of the most important requirements for successful eParticipation. Does Estonia differ from other CEE countries in this sense. And if: How was access brought to the level it is now?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:49 Bengt Feil
16:49
Hilleh: 
So my advice is to play with technology, and you may get good results in democracy
Monday April 19, 2010 16:49 Hilleh
16:51
John Heaven: 
By the way -- according to my Economist Pocket World in Figures 2010, there are 37.1 landline phones per 100 population but 148.4 mobiles.
Monday April 19, 2010 16:51 John Heaven
16:51
John Heaven: 
52.2 computers per 100 population.
Monday April 19, 2010 16:51 John Heaven
16:52
Hilleh: 
Bengtm the usage is good 75% as I pointed above - and it started with banking services, then tax declarations, then lots of free-of-charge user training for facilitators (e.g teachers) and then just massive user training for hundreds of thousands of people, among them elderly and unemployed
Monday April 19, 2010 16:52 Hilleh
16:54
John Heaven: 
Did the government deliver this training, or was it delivered by the private or third-sector (i.e. NGOs)?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:54 John Heaven
16:54
Hilleh: 
third sector + internet service providers, telecom companies
Monday April 19, 2010 16:54 Hilleh
16:55
John Heaven: 
That sounds like an interesting model.
Monday April 19, 2010 16:55 John Heaven
16:55
[Comment From Bengt FeilBengt Feil: ] 
All in all Estonia is quite special in its advanced state. Could the CEE region and also Western Europe learn from your Country? If so: What would be the one big lesson?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:55 Bengt Feil
16:55
Hilleh: 
initially, it was financed by the UN, and other international organizations, in the 90s
Monday April 19, 2010 16:55 Hilleh
16:57
John Heaven: 
Time is running out, so if there is one last question maybe there's time for that?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:57 John Heaven
16:57
[Comment From DorotheeDorothee: ] 
I guess, today the acceptance of eParticipation/eGovernment among politicians in Estonia is high. Was there a development till today concerning acceptance?
Monday April 19, 2010 16:57 Dorothee
16:58
Hilleh: 
Bengt, I think we were fortunate in having the fresh beginning, with no old paper-formats to be killed, and we had string political will towards egovernment at the beginning, and we had lots of motivation and ambition - by telecom business, by the state, and by 3rd sector
Monday April 19, 2010 16:58 Hilleh
16:59
Hilleh: 
correction: strong political will, of course!
Monday April 19, 2010 16:59 Hilleh
16:59
Hilleh: 
actually the eGov is not so high in the political agenda any more
Monday April 19, 2010 16:59 Hilleh
17:00
Hilleh: 
I guess we need new motivation to keep on going, to be more user-focused
Monday April 19, 2010 17:00 Hilleh
17:01
John Heaven: 
Okay, I think we've reached the end of our time now
Monday April 19, 2010 17:01 John Heaven
17:01
Hilleh: 
and there is lots of motivation currently, to deal with transparency, and to develop better e-services
Monday April 19, 2010 17:01 Hilleh
17:01
John Heaven: 
A big "thank you" to Hille for live-chatting with us. It was really interesting to hear about eParticipation in Estonia and we've got a lot more material to discuss as part of the discourse.
Monday April 19, 2010 17:01 John Heaven
17:02
[Comment From Anthony ZacharzewskiAnthony Zacharzewski: ] 
Thanks Hille. Very inspiring!
Monday April 19, 2010 17:02 Anthony Zacharzewski
17:02
[Comment From DorotheeDorothee: ] 
thanks for the live chat!
Monday April 19, 2010 17:02 Dorothee
17:02
Hilleh: 
Thanks you for engaging questions!
Monday April 19, 2010 17:02 Hilleh
17:02
John Heaven: 
It was really interesting to hear about Estonia's success in eParticipation!
Monday April 19, 2010 17:02 John Heaven
17:03
[Comment From somedsomed: ] 
Thanks, Hille for the interesting chat!
Monday April 19, 2010 17:03 somed
17:03
John Heaven: 
Thanks also to everyone for taking part and for asking so many questions.

You can still start your own discussions on www.internet-discourse.eu, and the Twitter hashtag #pepnet is always available!

Don't forget our other live chat with Simon Delakorda on Wednesday.
Monday April 19, 2010 17:03 John Heaven
17:03
[Comment From Anthony ZacharzewskiAnthony Zacharzewski: ] 
John - will this be archived anywhere so I can reference it in a Tweet?
Monday April 19, 2010 17:03 Anthony Zacharzewski
17:04
John Heaven: 
Anthony -- yes, by all means. It will be in the same place as it is now. You can refer to this webpage and people will then see the box with the chat history.
Monday April 19, 2010 17:04 John Heaven
17:04
[Comment From Bengt FeilBengt Feil: ] 
Thanks for the input Hille!
Monday April 19, 2010 17:04 Bengt Feil
17:04
[Comment From Anthony ZacharzewskiAnthony Zacharzewski: ] 
Cheers, John. Thanks for moderating.
Monday April 19, 2010 17:04 Anthony Zacharzewski
17:04
[Comment From Simon DelakordaSimon Delakorda: ] 
Thank you Hille. Bye!
Monday April 19, 2010 17:04 Simon Delakorda
17:04
Hilleh: 
My pleasure! Bye!
Monday April 19, 2010 17:04 Hilleh
17:05
John Heaven: 
Well it seems that the Live Chat was a success again, and thanks again to all of you for taking part. Over and out!
Monday April 19, 2010 17:05 John Heaven
17:05
 

 
 
 


For background information on Estonia, see "Background info: live chat with Hille Hinsberg" in the Library.



Back to the overview
Username
Password
Register now!
Forgot your Password?
List of authors
Advanced Search