The focus of this workshop is to explore the role of the Internet in civic participation and democratic conversations with a focus on experience in the new democracies of Eastern Europe.

The focus of this workshop is to explore the role of the Internet in civic participation and democratic conversations with a focus on experience in the new democracies of Eastern Europe. This event brings together a small group of academics, activists, bloggers and policy-makers with a view to identifying new developments in the use of online technologies that challenge existing models of e-participation as well as highlighting areas where policy and practice in Eastern Europe could be informed by – and inform – research and experience from other parts of the world.

The goal is both to explore the current state of eparticipation and to help set an agenda for future research.

Participant biographies

Agenda

Time

Session

09:00

Coffee

09:15

Introduction and Welcome by John Palfrey and William Dutton

09:30

Stephen Coleman and Stephen Ward: E-participation: State of Play

Moderator: John Palfrey

10:45

Coffee Break

11:15

Andrij Ihnatov: Case Study 1 – The Ukrainian Revolution and the Net

Discussant: Stefan Iwaskewycz; Moderator: Vicki Nash

12:30

Lunch

13:30

Silver Meikar: Case Study 2 – E-stonia

Discussant: Helen Margetts; Moderator: Zephyr Teachout

14:45

Coffee Break

15:15

Moving Forward – Policy, Research, Activism and Tools

Group discussion: What policies should be implemented? What research needs to be done? Where should activism be focused? What tools need to be developed?

Moderator: John Palfrey

16:45

Concluding Remarks by Jonathan Zittrain

This event is co-organised with the Berkman Center for the Internet & Society. We are grateful to eBay, the Omidyar Network and Cisco Systems for their kind support of this event.

Berkman Center for Internet & Society