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Simon Delakorda: Live Chat

Our successful series of Live Chats continued on Wednesday 21st April. Simon Delakorda, from the Institute for eParticipation took questions about eParticipation in Central and Eastern Europe.

Simon is a full-time eParticipation practitioner and researcher. You can find out more about him via the InEPa website or read about his work on the PEP-NET blog, where he posts regularly.

You can read the full text of the Live Chat below:

 Live Chat with Simon Delakorda(04/21/2010) 
10:26
John Heaven: 
We're just setting up -- we will be starting in a few minutes!
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:26 John Heaven
10:30
John Heaven: 
Welcome to our Live Chat with Simon Delakorda, managing Director of InEPa, the Slovenian-based Institute of Electronic Participation.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:30 John Heaven
10:30
John Heaven: 
A little bit of housekeeping -- I have to approve questions individually, so don't be surprised if your questions don't appear straight away.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:30 John Heaven
10:30
Simon Delakorda: 
Hello all! I am glad to be here today.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:30 Simon Delakorda
10:31
John Heaven: 
Hello Simon -- we're very grateful to you for taking questions in the third Live Chat as part of the PEP-NET Online Discourse on eParticipation in Central and Eastern Europe!
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:31 John Heaven
10:31
John Heaven: 
Perhaps you would start by introducing yourself, and telling us a little about InEPa? What made you found InEPa?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:31 John Heaven
10:32
Simon Delakorda: 
I am actively involved in e-participation / e-democracy area since 2001.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:32 Simon Delakorda
10:33
Simon Delakorda: 
I am actively involved in e-participation / e-democracy area since 2001. My academic background is in political science and I work as a full time e-democracy professional within non-governmental sector.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:33 Simon Delakorda
10:35
John Heaven: 
Was there a gap in the "market" for something like InEPa?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:35 John Heaven
10:35
Simon Delakorda: 
I founded the Institute for Electronic Participation in 2007 as result my previous experiences in the filed an the need with the civil society to use new technologies for strengthening democracy.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:35 Simon Delakorda
10:36
Simon Delakorda: 
INePA is not market oriented NGO. Our non-profit project are oriented into NGO sector.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:36 Simon Delakorda
10:37
[Comment From Bengt FeilBengt Feil: ] 
The discussion in the forums and live chat have shown that there seem to be big differences between the countries in the CEE region. Would you despite this fact say that there are some similarities too (in comparision with Western Europe)? If not: Would you say that any policy by the European Organisations looking at the CEE region as a whole are missing the point?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:37 Bengt Feil
10:38
Simon Delakorda: 
There is a gap between institutions and citizens which INePA is adressing.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:38 Simon Delakorda
10:38
[Comment From MiraMira: ] 
Hi Simon, what is INePA actually doing? What kind of projects do you conduct?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:38 Mira
10:40
Simon Delakorda: 
@Bengt Feil Yes the CEE region is very different inside. There similarities regarding the political experience and infrastructure. I would say a general EU policy would be o.k. but countries should be tackled individualy.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:40 Simon Delakorda
10:41
Simon Delakorda: 
@Mira Hello Mira. Thank for your question. There are 3 areas of INePA activities.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:41 Simon Delakorda
10:43
Simon Delakorda: 
1. Providing technical solutions for e-participation (like on-line consultations) and administration / moderation.
2. Political science reflection on e-participation (articles, evaluation).
3. Wachtdoging - influencing government policies and promoting e-participation in public.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:43 Simon Delakorda
10:43
[Comment From CsabaCsaba: ] 
You have made several consultations during the Slovenian EU Presidency - did you get support from the government? Who financed these activities?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:43 Csaba
10:45
Simon Delakorda: 
Hello Csaba! Yes the NGOs e-participation activites have been partially co-financed by the government in order to create a sort of civil dialogues during the Slovenia EU presidency.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:45 Simon Delakorda
10:46
[Comment From BojanaBojana: ] 
How do you promote e-democracy in the public?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:46 Bojana
10:47
Simon Delakorda: 
@ Bojana Hi! By public letters to media, e-mail announcements, by participating at public events and by promoting e-participation good cases.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:47 Simon Delakorda
10:48
[Comment From MiraMira: ] 
what is your experience: how do the the citizens react?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:48 Mira
10:49
Simon Delakorda: 
@ Mira Citizens reaction is usually positive and like idea of beeing asked for opinion.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:49 Simon Delakorda
10:50
[Comment From AgnieszkaAgnieszka: ] 
Do you think that there are some pre-conditions for a "good-working" e-participation in the CEE countries? In Poland for example the field of e-participation is very expandable.. and everybody blames it on the low "normal" political participation
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:50 Agnieszka
10:51
John Heaven: 
A similar question from Bojana:
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:51 John Heaven
10:51
[Comment From BojanaBojana: ] 
What are, by your opinion, the biggest obstacles to a participating culture in Slovenia?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:51 Bojana
10:51
[Comment From Chuck HirtChuck Hirt: ] 
Good morning Simon, What in your opinion are the biggest obstacles that citizens face in using eparticipation in Slovenia?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:51 Chuck Hirt
10:53
Simon Delakorda: 
Hi Agnieszka! Yes, e-participation (in its structured way) is something that has to be adressed professionaly with adequate financial, expertise and human resources. For example - moderation / facilitation of the on-line process.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:53 Simon Delakorda
10:54
John Heaven: 
On the subject of funding, perhaps I can bring in Bengt's question here:
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:54 John Heaven
10:54
[Comment From Bengt FeilBengt Feil: ] 
Would you trust governments in the different CEE countries to draft for example funding schemes for eParticipation to be paid for by the EC? This could be a way to address the individual circumstances in each country while allowing the EC to concentrate on the big picture.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:54 Bengt Feil
10:54
Simon Delakorda: 
@Bojana I think the general distrust and low public image of main institutions of the representative democracy (e.g. political parties).
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:54 Simon Delakorda
10:56
John Heaven: 
By the way, for our readers: "EC" means European Commission these days -- not European Community!
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:56 John Heaven
10:56
Simon Delakorda: 
@ Chuck Hi! From the citizens perspective the major obstacle is understanding the decision-making process and citizens rights to be involved.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:56 Simon Delakorda
10:58
Simon Delakorda: 
@Bengt Feil Yes I would trust it if the process would be transparent and consultations with the civil society and experts regarding the scheme would be made.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:58 Simon Delakorda
10:58
John Heaven: 
Another couple of questions on finance/resources while we are on the subject:
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:58 John Heaven
10:58
[Comment From CsabaCsaba: ] 
How do you see the Western-European "spread" of eParticipation? Do you share the imbalance of the Momentum study? Like WE gets more funding - what is the challange for EU policiy in this area?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:58 Csaba
10:58
[Comment From Morten MeyerhoffMorten Meyerhoff: ] 
In additon to your reply to Simon on the availability of resources: What has been key factors in ensuring participation and constructive input from the target audience?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 10:58 Morten Meyerhoff
11:00
John Heaven: 
While Simon is reading and responding to the question: if you want to subscribe to the PEP-NET newsletter, or are interested in PEP-NET membership, you can fill in this form: http://tinyurl.com/y22mxs8 at the end of the chat.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:00 John Heaven
11:00
Simon Delakorda: 
@Csaba Certainly there a big imbalance of eParticipation founding share in the EU. This is also indicating the capacity of the CEE region to atract those founding. I thing NGOs in the region (like CEE CN) have to push forward in this regard.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:00 Simon Delakorda
11:01
John Heaven: 
We've got three questions now, which are perhaps related! Here goes ...
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:01 John Heaven
11:01
[Comment From Dan JellinekDan Jellinek: ] 
Hello Simon.Are there any dangers that e-participation might actually skew or unbalance the democratic process rather than improve it, for example by only allowing the loudest or the richest voices to be heard? How do you guard against this?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:01 Dan Jellinek
11:01
[Comment From BojanaBojana: ] 
Ok, you say the institutions. What about the public, the people... are they interested in the participation? In my opinion, the people are not used to form opinions and are not interested in politics. How do you see the people shifting form being silent, to forming opinions and really participating in politics?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:01 Bojana
11:01
[Comment From Chuck HirtChuck Hirt: ] 
What possibilities to you see for the local level? From perspecitve of citizens and perspective of local authorities?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:01 Chuck Hirt
11:02
John Heaven: 
There's a lot to read there -- so if you've got any comments on what has been discussed so far I could publish them if you are quick enough!
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:02 John Heaven
11:03
Simon Delakorda: 
@Morten Meyerhoff I would say:
1. Clear objective
2. Multichannel approach
3. Sustainability
4. Clear evidence of contenct provided by the citizens into adopted decision.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:03 Simon Delakorda
11:04
Simon Delakorda: 
@Dan Jellinek Hello Dan! Moderation / facilitation of the process by organized NGOs / civil society.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:04 Simon Delakorda
11:06
[Comment From GuestGuest: ] 
Tx Simon, but in practice initiative in eg Denmark have show that citizens on the one hand prioritise more traditional channels such as: letters to the local newspaper editor; city hall meetings etc.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:06 Guest
11:06
John Heaven: 
If any other readers have comments, I can publish those. (I will hold questions until Simon is ready for more.)
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:06 John Heaven
11:06
Simon Delakorda: 
@Bojana Yes I agree. For an average citizens e-participation is not something like shopping. They have to be internet literate, know the issue, have capacity to formulate the opinion etc. This can be very time demanding. So active citizenship is ussualy limited to profesional activists.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:06 Simon Delakorda
11:06
[Comment From Morten MeyerhoffMorten Meyerhoff: ] 
while on the other the majority of citizens simply chose not to participate
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:06 Morten Meyerhoff
11:08
[Comment From BojanaBojana: ] 
@ Simon - regarding Dan's question - moderation can not get people, who are not online to get online.... I strongly advise you all to see e-democracy as a help to today's political system... what do you think, Simon?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:08 Bojana
11:08
Simon Delakorda: 
@Chuck Hirt In early days there was a lot of optimis regarding boosting local participation. What have come out is that, that a lot of things on loval level is decided using traditional non-internet ways.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:08 Simon Delakorda
11:09
John Heaven: 
I think we're ready for more questions now. We've got twenty minutes left, by the way. Firstly a question from Agnieszka:
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:09 John Heaven
11:09
[Comment From AgnieszkaAgnieszka: ] 
Are the political parties in Slovenia interested in e-participation? In Poland, I think the political parties see it more like a threat
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:09 Agnieszka
11:09
[Comment From BojanaBojana: ] 
Who are professional activists in your book?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:09 Bojana
11:10
Simon Delakorda: 
@Guest Yes I agree. Internet is only one way to be involved into decission making and somethimes even not the best option! I strongly advocade multichannel approach.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:10 Simon Delakorda
11:12
Simon Delakorda: 
@Bojana We try to adress this issue by enabling people to write their opinions on paper and then retype in the on-line forum. Yes e-democracy at this stage is a add on to allredy established practices.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:12 Simon Delakorda
11:13
[Comment From BojanaBojana: ] 
Really? You retype their opinions and publish it online? Are the people aware of that?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:13 Bojana
11:14
John Heaven: 
Hille Hinsberg mentioned that the Estonian consultation portal Osale.ee was adopted in Slovenia. Do you know whether this has been a success?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:14 John Heaven
11:14
Simon Delakorda: 
@Agnieszka Some political parties in Slovenia are sceptical towards e-voting but they are generaly for increasing the participation within the model of representative democracy
@Bojana e.g. full time NGOs actvities and other persons envolved
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:14 Simon Delakorda
11:15
Simon Delakorda: 
@Bojan yes they are, we have a special formulat for them to signed with their approval. They can choose to have published annonimusly.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:15 Simon Delakorda
11:15
Simon Delakorda: 
sorry @Bojana
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:15 Simon Delakorda
11:17
Simon Delakorda: 
I am sorry for all my mistyping. It is hard to follow so many questions :-)
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:17 Simon Delakorda
11:18
John Heaven: 
One more specific question from Bojana, then perhaps we could get on to some of the topics that have been covered in the discourse so far:
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:18 John Heaven
11:18
[Comment From BojanaBojana: ] 
Where does InEPa get the funds from for its activities/projects?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:18 Bojana
11:20
[Comment From Chuck HirtChuck Hirt: ] 
You are doing really well keeping up with this... What do you think are the two or three most important things that are needed in Slovenian and perhaps the CEE region to move forward with eparticipation?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:20 Chuck Hirt
11:20
Simon Delakorda: 
@John The application was introduced in October last year. What is interesting that the government is actually responding to citizens inputs and proposals. The numbers of participation citizens are still low, as the both government officials and citiznes are learing how to communicate in this way.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:20 Simon Delakorda
11:22
Simon Delakorda: 
@Bojan Mainly the EU funding. European Commission 7.FP eParticipation iniative and the European Parliament .
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:22 Simon Delakorda
11:22
John Heaven: 
To readers: a reminder of some of the things we've discussed in the discourse so far: historical legacy, citizenship, civil society, trust in government, social capital, digital divide, infrastructure.

Perhaps inspiration for the final few questions.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:22 John Heaven
11:24
Simon Delakorda: 
@ Chuck
1. Strong and more connected NGOs sector. CEE CN is doing same very possitive steps in this direction
2. Sustainable eParticipation founding for the region and capacity of the NGOs to atract it.
3. Creating an expert eParticipation gruop for the region as a kinf of think thank.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:24 Simon Delakorda
11:25
John Heaven: 
I think we've got time for one more question after the question from Bojana that I'm about to publish...
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:25 John Heaven
11:25
[Comment From BojanaBojana: ] 
How much are people interested in participating when EU questions are concerned? We know the participation is low even on a local are...
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:25 Bojana
11:26
John Heaven: 
So one more question after that.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:26 John Heaven
11:27
Simon Delakorda: 
@Bojana. Yes this is an issue in Slovenia. We only had a little more than 20% voter turnout at the EP election. But any way we still have some success with the on-line forum discussing european issues with the MEPs from Slovenia.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:27 Simon Delakorda
11:28
John Heaven: 
Okay, we've got another question from Bojana (thanks for all the questions!). Perhaps Simon could answer that, along with anything else you may like to add?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:28 John Heaven
11:28
[Comment From BojanaBojana: ] 
What is your next project at InEPa?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:28 Bojana
11:29
John Heaven: 
To readers who don't already receive the PEP-NET newsletter or are interested in finding out about membership, you can enter your details here: http://tinyurl.com/y22mxs8
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:29 John Heaven
11:30
Simon Delakorda: 
@ Bojana next project is creating a national on-line portal for gathering on-line signatures for the 1 million EU citizens iniative. The beta version is already on-line.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:30 Simon Delakorda
11:31
Simon Delakorda: 
We hope to connect this grass roots project with similar iniatives in the region and the EU
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:31 Simon Delakorda
11:31
John Heaven: 
Many thanks again to Simon for taking part in our third and final Live Chat. It was really interesting to hear your perspective and learn from your expertise!

Anything else you'd like to add?
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:31 John Heaven
11:32
John Heaven: 
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to attend and ask questions.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:32 John Heaven
11:32
Simon Delakorda: 
Thanks to the PEP-NET and CEE CN for iniating this on-line consultation and the opportunity to chat at this occasion.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:32 Simon Delakorda
11:33
Simon Delakorda: 
Thank you John for facilitation and to everyone for their very interesting questions.
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:33 Simon Delakorda
11:33
John Heaven: 
Again, many thanks to you for taking part. You've added a lot of useful information that will help to keep the discourse live!
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:33 John Heaven
11:33
John Heaven: 
By the way, anyone can read this chat again by coming back to this page. I will summarise the discussion and post it on the online discourse forum shortly. And keep on discussing eParticipation on Central and Eastern Europe on the forum. We want that report to the Commission to be full of insights, examples and expertise!
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:33 John Heaven
11:34
John Heaven: 
Okay, time to disconnect the microphones and put the chairs away. Coffee in the foyer!
Wednesday April 21, 2010 11:34 John Heaven
11:35
 

 
 
 

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