FCW Insider: E-democracy in the news
While the Obama appoints a director of citizen participant, the European Commission tests the use of electronic petitions.
The European Commission is making an interesting foray into e-democracy.
In the coming week, the commission will launch EuroPetition, a service that will enable local regions to coordinate the development and submission of electronic petitions to the European Parliament, according to Headstar.com, a U.K.-based publisher.
"These petitions could engage up to around five million citizens, and will be on [European Union] legislative issues to be decided," Headstar reports. "Discussion materials and the petitions themselves will be translated into local languages, and ‘web 2.0’ tools such as Facebook applications will be developed to help people promote online petition activity."
The commission plans to test the service for two years. More information (but not too much more) is available here.
Meanwhile, as reported by various news outlets, tech circles are buzzing about the news that the Obama administration has appointed Google exec Katie Jacobs Stanton to serve as director of citizen participation.
It's probably safe to assume that Stanton, among other tasks, will oversee the interactive features of WhiteHouse.gov, where Obama has promised to make policies, legislation and other documents available for review and comment.
Administration officials have said nothing, so there is little to report. But techPresident.com provides a good overview of Stanton's track record and the job ahead.
One final observation: So far, no word about the new appointee on WhiteHouse.gov, aka Transparency Central...