International Civic Engagement

e-Democracy '07 - November 8 in London

From Democracies Online Newswire:

e-Democracy '07
8 November 2007
The New Connaught Rooms - London

Welcome to the UK's leading annual e-democracy conference

Back for our third year after two hugely successful previous events, eDemocracy '07 is set once more to be the UK's largest ever dedicated e-democracy conference and exhibition. Our speaker line-up is stronger than ever, building on our previous high-level programmes that have captured the media's attention and helped set the national e-democracy policy agenda.

Our line-up this year boasts the leading dot.com entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox; MPs from all the main parties; senior representatives of local government; and further speakers are being lined up including international guests.

Topics to be covered range from those that have been setting the headlines, such as 10 Downing Street's foray into e-petitions; to how local councillors are using the web; the future for e-democracy and virtual worlds; and much more.

This year too we are proud to announce that the well-known 'Working2Gether' policy conference is merging with our event, forming a stream that will look at the role that private sector innovation and small businesses can play in helping our democracy to modernise. Use this website to find out more about our programme, and we hope you can join us this
year for what promises to be our most dynamic and exciting event to date.

The draft agenda:

Conference Programme

Conference Chair
Dan Jellinek, Editor, E-Government Bulletin and Founder, Headstar

09.45 - 10.30
Keynote
Chair: Dan Jellinek
Keynote: 2007 - The Year in E-Democracy
Stephen Coleman, Professor of Political Communication and Director of Research, University of Leeds (tbc)

10.30 - 11.15
The people's voice or a waste of time? The value of online petitions
Chair: Ross Ferguson, Hansard Society
- Jimmy Leach, Head of Digital Communications, 10 Downing Street (tbc)
- Ann Macintosh, Professor of Digital Governance, University of Leeds

11.15 - 11.45
Coffee break and exhibition

11.45 - 12.45
International Plenary: The future of local e-democracy, worldwide
Chair: Dan Jellinek, Editor, E-Government Bulletin
- Matthew Ellis, Chair, International Centre of Excellence for Local E-Democracy (ICELE)
- Speaker from the City of Barcelona (tbc)
- Andy Williamson, Deputy Chair, New Zealand Government's Digital Strategy Advisory Group

12.45 - 13.45
Lunch and exhibition

13.45 - 14.35
Parallel Workshop Sessions:

Workshop A: Working2Gether Stream: Is Whitehall capable of engaging the technology innovators?
Chair: James Plummer, Managing Director, Prospect
- Simon Berry, Chief Executive, ruralnet uk and Group Leader, Open Innovation Exchange Bid
- Mark Thompson, Lecturer in Information Systems, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge (tbc)

Workshop B: Local e-democracy: councillors and the web
Chair: Dan Jellinek, E-Government Bulletin
- Mary Reid, Lib Dem Councillor, Kingston upon Thames and Board Member, ICELE
- Labour Councillor (tbc)
- Conservative Councillor tbc
- Scott Wright, Local Governance Research Unit, De Montfort University

Workshop C: New paths to political engagement: Video, games, viral campaigns
Chair: Ross Ferguson, Hansard Society
- Shane McCracken, Director, Gallomanor Communications
- Dominic Tinley, Editor in Chief, Parliament website
- Carol Hayward, Bristol City Council Viewfinder Project

14.35 - 15.30
Parallel Workshop Sessions:

Workshop D: Working2Gether Stream: Are local public bodies capable of engaging the technology innovators?
Chair: tbc
- Paul Hodgkin, Founder and Chief Executive, Patient Opinion
- Further panellists tbc

Workshop E: E-democracy 2.0: Social networking and virtual worlds
Chair: James Crabtree, Prime Minister's Strategy Unit
- David Burden, Managing Director, Daden Ltd
- Geoff Mulgan, Director, The Young Foundation
- Graham Hayday, Clarke Mulder Purdie

Workshop F: Electronic voting: an unnecessary risk?
Chair: tbc
- Becky Hogge, Executive Director, Open Rights Group
- Speaker from the Electoral Commission (tbc)

15.30 - 16.00
Coffee break and exhibition

16.00 - 16.45
Question Time
Chair: Richard Allan, Cisco
Panellists: Martha Lane Fox, Lastminute.com and Channel Four
Theresa May MP, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Ed Davey MP, Chief of Staff and Chair of Campaigns and Communications, The Liberal Democrats
Labour Party MP tbc

16.45 - 16.50
Closing remarks

Washington Monthly Releases 2007 College Guide

The Washington Monthly has released its third annual college guide, which its editors describe as: 

a guide not just to what colleges can do for you, but what colleges are doing for the country. For the third year in a row, we’ve sifted through reams of publicly available data to come up with what we think is a fair assessment of which colleges are living up to their public interest mission, and which aren’t.

We use three criteria that we believe best measure the impact schools have on the country. The first is social mobility: does the school do a good job recruiting and graduating poorer students? The second is research: is the school supporting the scientific and humanistic study that is key to our national strength, by producing PhDs and winning research grants? And the third is service: how effectively does the school foster an ethic of giving back to the country, either through military or civilian service?

Park University Announces 2007 Democracy Day High School Essay Contest

Park University President Dr. Beverley Byers-Pevitts has declared Tuesday, November 6, "Democracy Day" as a major civic literacy effort.   The theme of this year's Democracy Day is the U.S. Constitution, supporting federal legislation proclaiming September 17 as Constitution Day.

At Park University we espouse the principles of healthy democracies world-wide.  Within our own nation, we decry the general lack of working knowledge of the United States Constitution, as the United States is the oldest surviving constitutional democracy on the planet. 

To celebrate the Constitution, Park University is sponsoring its 4th annual high school essay contest and has selected the topic of "Propose and Defend a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution."

We are pleased to be joined once again by our partner and co-sponsor, Presidents Park in Williamsburg, Virginia.  The contest is open to high school seniors.

The grand prize winner of the contest will receive a $2,000 Park University scholarship or a $1,000 scholarship to the college or university of their choice.  Five first place winners will receive $250 each.  The winners' essays will be posted on the Park University and Presidents Park <http://www.presidentspark.org> web sites.

Essays will be judged by a distinguished panel of scholars and public officials.

Park University will offer 2,000 free printed copies of The U.S. Constitution and Fascinating Facts About It (edited by Terry L. Jordan) to all participating schools for distribution to their seniors.  [These will be available on a first-come, first served basis.  If your school would like to receive some copies, please contact me immediately and let me know your required quantity.]

Essays must be word processed, may not exceed 250 words, must be free of spelling and grammatical errors, adhere to standards of academic integrity, and must be submitted via e-mail to democracyday@park.edu or mailed to: Erik Bergrud, Special Assistant to the President, Park University, 8700 NW River Park Dr., Campus Box 100, Parkville, MO 64152.

All high school essays must be submitted by the student's teacher or principal, along with a statement affirming the student's senior status at the high school, and permission to publish the essay if it is selected as a winner.  The submission due date is October 5, 2007 at 5:00 p.m. Winners will be announced on Democracy Day: November 6, 2007.

For more information, please contact Erik Bergrud at erik.bergrud@park.edu or visit our Democracy Day web site for additional information - http://www.park.edu/democracyday.

New Report Compares Education Systems in G-8 Countries

From the American Council on Education:

A recent study comparing the education system in the United States with systems in other Group of Eight countries reveals that the United States has the highest number of foreign students enrolled in colleges and universities, although foreign students make up a higher percentage of enrollment in other countries.

The study, conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), provides data for early childhood through higher education in the G-8 countries, which include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United Kingdom, in addition to the United States.

The study found that in 2004, G-8 countries hosted about two-thirds of the 2.7 million students attending college or university outside their country of citizenship. The majority (22 percent) were enrolled in the United States, followed by the United Kingdom (11 percent), Germany (10 percent), and France (9 percent).

However, because of the large total enrollment at U.S. colleges and universities, the United States had among the smallest proportions of foreign student enrollment (3 percent). Foreign students made up 16 percent of the total student body at institutions in the United Kingdom and 11 percent in each Germany, France and Canada.

Other findings of the report include:

• 23 percent of the U.S. population aged 20-29 is enrolled in an education program, compared to 27 percent in the United Kingdom and Germany and 19 and 21 in Italy and France, respectively.
• 39 percent of American adults aged 25-64 had completed some form of higher education, compared to a high of 55 percent in the Russian Federation and a low of 11 percent in Italy.
• 17 percent of first university degrees in the United States were awarded in science, mathematics, and engineering-related fields, the lowest percentage of all the G-8 countries. The percentages in the other countries ranged from 20 percent in Canada to 30 percent in Germany.
• The United States spent 2.9 percent of its GDP on higher education—higher than any other G-8 country. The United States spends an average of $24,100 per student at the higher education level.

For more information and to download a copy of the report, see the NCES web site.

Class of 2011 Heads Back To Campus Wielding More Connections, Concern and Consumer Clout

From Government Technology's Digital Communities:

The curriculum may not have changed radically since their older siblings graduated, but for the current crop of matriculating college students heading back to school this Fall, campus life has taken on a significantly new face. In findings released last week, Alloy Media + Marketing's 7th annual Alloy College Explorer, conducted by market research firm Harris Interactive, illuminates the contrast of today's collegiate perspective from that of four years ago.

The largest college class in history (students ages 18-30) has evolved in three key areas: communication modality, purchase behavior, and concern over world issues. First and most operative distinction, technology has taken students out of the dorm room and morphed communication into mobile rapid fire exchanges fraught with 'pokes' and alerts. Four short years ago, being "wired" referred to an over-caffeinated all-nighter, and friends met up on the quad without the option of today's "online" student union. "Friending" your professor may not seem the proper student-teacher etiquette to the old brigade but for today's class, it's the most efficient way to get the grade.

Call for Papers - Twelfth Annual Conference of the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM)

Call for Papers - Twelfth Annual Conference of the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM)

Hosted by:

The School of Management, Faculty of Business Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Date: 26-28 March 2008

Venue: Queensland University of Technology, Gardens Point Campus, Brisbane, Australia

The closing date for all abstract submissions is October 15, 2007.  Full details are provided at the conference web site - http://www.irspm2008.bus.qut.edu.au/papers/

Knight Foundation's News Challenge - New Round of Funding

It's time to enter this year's Knight News Challenge, which awards big money for innovative ideas using digital experiments to transform community news.

The contest is run by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Last year's winners won awards ranging from $15K to $5 million.

Winning projects included:

* Open-source software that will let citizens find public information about their neighborhoods.

* Young journalists covering the 2008 presidential election on cell phones, for cell phones.

* Online games to inform and engage players about key issues confronting New York City.

* Digital newscasts for Philadelphia's immigrant community distributed through a new citywide wireless platform.

Anyone worldwide can apply at:  http://www.newschallenge.org

Call for Entries - Digital Media and Learning Competition

Call for Entries:
DIGITAL MEDIA AND LEARNING COMPETITION
www.dmlcompetition.net

HASTAC and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation are mobilizing
the field of Digital Media and Learning through a $2 million open call competition designed to support innovation and networking.

Application Deadline: October 15, 2007 (8 pm EDT, 5 pm PDT)

To learn more about the Competition, visit http://www.dmlcompetition.net

Job Candidates Getting Tripped up by Facebook

Yesterday, I posted my response to an interesting Newsweek/MSNBC article on Facebook.

MSNBC published another Facebook-themed article today, one dealing with the implications of what one posts online for her/his future career opportunities.  Here are some key points:

According to a March survey by Ponemon Institute, a privacy think tank, 35 percent of hiring managers use Google to do online background checks on job candidates, and 23 percent look people up on social networking sites. About one-third of those Web searches lead to rejections, according to the survey.

[snip]

Risqué pictures are not the only way a job applicant can be tripped up. Pictures of illegal behavior like drug use, or heavy alcohol use, could disqualify a candidate. Some also suggest poor writing and bad grammar on Facebook profiles and in blog entries can raise a red flag about communication skills. Derogatory comments or complaints or radical political positions also can draw the scrutiny of a prospective employer.

[snip]

A study by Adecco, a work force consulting firm, showed that 66 percent of Generation Y respondents, those in their late teens and 20s, were not aware the information they put online can be factored into hiring decisions. Fifty-six percent said they think the practice is unfair.

Wisconsin Announces Cell Phone and Internet Access for 350,000 Wisconsin Citizens

From Government Technology:

Yesterday, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle announced $7.5 million in sales tax exemptions and tax credits for businesses to expand broadband access -- providing cell phone and high-speed Internet service for 350,000 Wisconsin citizens. The tax credits will help nine businesses invest more than $80 million to expand broadband access -- benefiting 261 communities in 63 counties across the state. Doyle announced the tax credits as part of the broad effort to grow the economy in Northern Wisconsin.

"To grow our entire state economy, we must work from region to region, and develop efforts tailored to local communities," Doyle said.  "For businesses, entrepreneurs and families to be successful, they need access to cell phone and high speed Internet access."

The Internet Equipment Tax Credit and Exemption Program was designed to encourage the extension of high-speed Internet service to parts of Wisconsin currently unserved or served by only one provider.  Nine businesses claiming sales-tax exemptions for the purchase of equipment used in the broadband market will receive an equivalent amount of Wisconsin income taxes in each of two succeeding years.

The nine businesses will invest more than $80 million to install equipment providing broadband service.   The projects will reach 261 communities in 63 counties.