From:
Steven Clift
Date:
Sep 04 19:09 UTC
Short link
Have you ever wondered what the heck "e-democracy.org" has to do with your
local community Issues Forum?
A few years ago, the UK Local E-Democracy National Project funded pilots in
Newham and Brighton and perhaps miraculously with no further funding, the
forums remain open and have spread to five neighbourhoods in Oxford and
Bristol with more likely next year. Because this is a citizen-based model
run by volunteers and some in-kind support from council staff in Oxford and
Bristol, keeping the network operating in "basic" mode is not too costly.
Basic isn't good enough. What might you, might we, do better with Issues
Forums and local e-democracy in your community? Are there good ways to
connect your efforts across the UK, leverage resources, promote community
empowerment and social inclusion with greater outreach, find central funding
sources, etc.? Who and how might we coordinate and over time expand UK
activities with either dedicated volunteers or UK staff in the near and
long-term?
These are some of the questions we will discuss in an input session at the
Oxford Town Hall on Thursday, October 2. I'll be coming through the UK from
a conference in Austria (I am based in Minnesota) and look forward to
meeting a number of you.
Join us!
Details and information on how to RSVP is on our wiki at:
http://pages.e-democracy.org/Oxford_meeting
Sincerely,
Steven Clift
E-Democracy.Org
P.S. We are in the process of forming an E-Democracy.Org UK Advisory
Committee. If you can't make it to Oxford, but want to help improve our
collective local e-democracy effort or make sure your local forum has
influence within E-Democracy.Org, mention the committee to me in a note:
<email obscured> or http://e-democracy.org/contact