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Technical Assistance to the Parliament of Guinea-Bissau
At the request of the UNDP Office in Guinea-Bissau, the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament undertook an assessment of the current uses of information and communication technologies in the National People's Assembly of Guinea-Bissau from 22 February to 5 March 2010. The technical assistance mission focused on ICT infrastructure and human resources needs of the Parliament.
The assessment is part of a larger initiative of UNDP in preparation for an ICT Strategic Plan for the Parliament to be implemented in the next five years.

Technical Assistance to the National Assembly of Vietnam
From 8 to 12 March 2010 the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament facilitated and supported a mission to the National Assembly of Vietnam of one parliamentary ICT Project Management Expert from the Parliament of Finland. Requested by the UNDP Office in Vietnam, the mission aimed to contribute to the effective integration of ICT into the National Assembly's newly-established Institute for Legislative Studies (ILS). The Expert conducted a five-day capacity building workshop, addressed to the ICT staff of the ILS, focusing on project development, requirements and user support management.

15 Mar 2010

News and Articles - 2010

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Haiti Team at Work Supporting Parliament’s Response to the Earthquake

In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, staff of SUNY/ARD’s USAID-funded Project to Support the Haitian Parliament (PAPH) have been working around the clock to assist the Parliament in its response to the crisis.
Read more...

16 Mar 2010

More than 100' british MPs using Twitter

More than 100 Members of Parliament are using Twitter to communicate with voters, a survey suggests. Tweetminster, which monitors politicians' use of Twitter said more now used it than wrote their own blogs. It found that, of 111 MPs tweeting, 65 were Labor, 23 were Liberal Democrats and 16 were Conservatives, according to an article published on BBC News. Conservatives were "more effective at distributing their message from the top", but "less so" at grassroots level.
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15 Mar 2010

News and articles 2009

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NL: The eDepot of National Archives in use The Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations for the first time hands over a digitally created document to be archived in the eDepot. Normally, documents are archived only after a lapse of 20 years. This document however, dates back only from 2007. Its symbolic transfer is therefore considered as a milestone in the archival world. Read more...	26 Nov 2009
News coverage World e-Parliament Conference 2009 On the following news sites the World e-Parliament is being covered: Development Gateway Speaker of the US House of Representatives News Room: 'Let Us Come Together to Foster Transparency and Openness' Also on PR Newswire, Reuters Reuters: The World e-Parliament Conference 2009 Also on US Politics Today Sunlinght Foundation: Pelosi Addresses e-Parliament Conference Today Korea: 임인규 국회사무차장, 제3차 세계전자의회 회의 참석 RAI UNO excerpt posted on Youtube	03 Nov 2009
Global Survey of ICT in Parliaments 2009 The Global Centre for ICT in Parliament conducted the second Global Survey of ICT in Parliaments. Data collected in the survey will be compiled in the World e-Parliament Report 2010, which will track emerging trends and practices on how ICT is being used by parliaments.	22 Oct 2009
ICTs for Democracy report commissioned by Swedish international development agency - Focus on Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda This report examines the potential of information an communications technologies (ICTs) for advancing democracy and empowerment, with a special focus on Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Read more...	19 Oct 2009
nosdeputes.fr: “Mr Hacker goes to Parliament” The new website www.nosdeputes.fr (“ourdeputies”) is intended as a mediation platform between citizens and MPs. Its purpose is first to summarise lawmakers’ various legislative and governmental control activities, and second to encourage user-citizens to participate and express their views on parliamentary debates “by sharing their expertise whenever they feel it relevant”. Read more...	10 Oct 2009
Case Studies from Switzerland: E-Voting This case study examines how these systems have worked in the test cantons of Geneva and Zurich. The evidence and analysis in this case study suggest that e-voting might serve as a powerful tool to augment the participation rate, the quality of voting, and aid in the implementation of political rights. This study also evaluates the risks of e-voting, noting that the concerns around integrity often associated with electronic voting have for the most part not materialized in the Swiss case. Read more...	09 Oct 2009
Web 2.0 in the Process of eParticipation: the Case of Organizing for America and the Obama Administration The presidential campaign of Barack Obama during the 2008 elections sparked new discussion about the public engagement issue in the political processes. The campaign used Web 2.0 tools intensively to reach the general public, seek support and collect feedback from voters. In this paper, the major website of this project, "Organizing for America" (OFA), is analysed from the perspective of eParticipation, which is a concept that includes all the processes of public involvement via information and communication technologies. Read more...	07 Oct 2009
The World eDemocracy Forum announces finalists of the 2009 e-Democracy Awards For the fifth consecutive year, the World e-Democracy Forum, organized in Issy-les-Moulineaux, will be rewarding those who have made a commitment to affecting meaningful political change through use of the Internet and new technologies. Trophies will be awarded at a ceremony held during in the French National Assembly on Thursday, October 22nd, in partnership with the American web portal PoliticsOnline, the Politech Institute of Europe and Blog Territorial. Read more...	05 Sep 2009
International Day of Democracy In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly acknowledged the resilience and universality of the principles of democracy by declaring 15 September the International Day of Democracy. The International Day of Democracy provides an opportunity to review the state of democracy in the world. Democracy is as much a process as a goal and only with the full participation of and support by the international community, the national governing bodies, civil society and individuals, can the ideal of democracy be made into a reality to be enjoyed by everyone, everywhere. Read more...	28 Aug 2009
Secretaries-General Forum of Asia-Pacific Parliaments (SGFAPP) The first ever Secretaries-General Forum of Asia-Pacific Parliaments was held in Seoul from 8 to 9 July 2009. The Forum, hosted by the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, was attended by 42 delegations of parliamentary assemblies from 32 countries. Under the slogan "Beginning of a new Asia-Pacific Era” the Forum provided a platform for exchange of information and practices on the topic of e-Parliament, as well as for participants to appreciate the technologies used in the digital chamber of the Korean legislature and at the Library of the National Asssembly.	17 Jul 2009
Vacancy annoucement at the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament Post title: Programme Expert for Capacity Development and Technical Assistance , L-5 Deadline for applications: 04 Jul 2009 Duty Station: Rome Read the announcement	04 Jul 2009
New UNCTAD study identifies ways to attain cyberlaw harmonization in Latin America A new UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) study on cyberlaws in Latin America provides a basis for advancing plans for a harmonized legal framework to support the development of Internet-based commerce in countries of the Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración (ALADI). Read more...	20 Jun 2009
Slovakia to implement e-Parliament Slovakia has introduced 'Electronic Parliament', which will provide the facility to submit all bills electronically and reduce use of paper in the National Council. Read more...	18 Jun 2009
European Elections: 15% of Estonians voters have voted by Internet Estonia was the only EU country to allow Internet voting for the European Parliament elections, last June 7. Over than 58 000 voters used e-voting, which is 15% of all the people who voted. Read more...	07 Jun 2009
UK: Visioning the Future Parliament Parliament 2020 - 'Visioning the future parliament' is a set of visioning exercises that aim to identify how new and emergent technologies can be used to transform the processes of parliament and its relationship with the public. To do this, the project will undertake a number of discussion sessions through face-to-face focus groups and online consultations with a range of stakeholders - these include MPs, parliamentary officials and the public. Read more...	06 Jun 2009
Draft Law on electronic digital signature passed the first hearings at Belarusian parliament The new draft law foresees creation of the state management system for public key. This management system would consist of the network of registration centers headed by the National Bank. Terms like 'authenticity of electronic document ", "integrity of electronic document" and others will be defined as legal notions. Read more...	05 Jun 2009
A magazine for e-Democracy The aim is to communicate a better understanding in the field of democratic and technological development. Read more... Download here	01 Jun 2009
Wikis for Draft Legislation The Centre for Democracy & Technology (CDT) has started a project to encourage the public’s participation via an interactive, online experiment at drafting legislation. Within this framework, the CDT has created the e-Privacy Act Amendment wiki that allows anyone to read any part of the bill, change the language, provide feedback or simply open a discussion on any provision of the bill. CDT will edit and moderate this open process and, if appropriate, will incorporate suggestions in the final bill before submission to Congress.	28 May 2009
Toolkit for Cybercrime Legislation and Guide for developing countries The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has launched the ITU Toolkit for Cybercrime Legislation and the Guide for developing countries. The toolkit aims to provide countries with sample legislative language and reference material that can assist in the establishment of harmonized cybercrime laws and procedural rules, whilst the Guide aims to help developing countries better understand the national and international implications of growing cyber-threat, and assist countries in establishing a sound legal foundation.	27 May 2009
CSTD 12th Session Draft Resolutions Following the 12th session of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) that took place in Geneva from the 25 to 29 May 2009, the CSTD recommends to the Economic and Social Council the adoption of the draft resolutions on “Assessment of the progress made in the implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society” and on “Science and Technology for Development”. The resolutions encourage stakeholders to continue their efforts to implement the Summit vision of a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented information society and urge governments to mainstream science and technology promotion and investment into their national development plans.	25 May 2009
Draft Guidelines for Child online Protection On 18 May the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) launched the Draft Guidelines for Child online Protection during the WSIS Forum in Geneva. Parliamentarians are strongly encouraged to provide comments from 18 May 2009 to 30 June 2009 at cop@itu.int. ITU also expects to receive comments on the Draft Guidelines for Policy Maker.The final guidelines will be presented at the ITU Telecom in October 2009.	18 May 2009
CH: Parliamentarians begin group on digital sustainability Six members of the Swiss parliament (Nationalrat) formed a group called 'Digital Sustainability' which aims to increase the use of open source software by Swiss public bodies. Read more...	02 May 2009
Visit by the Senate of the Republic of Uruguay A delegation of the Senate of the Republic of Uruguay was in Italy from 20 to 24 April. They visited various places and institutions: the University of Bologna, the European University Institute in Florence, the Italian Senate and the Chamber of Deputies and, finally, the Global Center for ICT in Parliament in Rome. Read more...	20 Apr 2009
Guidelines for Parliamentary Websites New Guidelines for Parliamentary Websites launched at the 120th IPU Assembly held in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). Download : English \| French \| Spanish	16 Apr 2009
Lawmakers lag in publishing schedules online US: Only four senators and six House members post their daily schedules on their official Web sites, but 22 senators and 58 representatives use Twitter to update constituents on their activities, according to the OpenCongress Web site. Read more...	15 Apr 2009
Vacancy annoucement at the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament Post title: Programme Expert for Web-based Information and Content Management Deadline for applications: 08 May 2009 Duty station: Rome Read the announcement	08 Apr 2009
Indian elections go high-tech Bangalore, the technology capital of India, will be using technology to improve the transparency of its elections in the state. The Election Commission is for the first time using GPS -enabled mobile handsets to monitor and track the most sensitive polling stations in the state. Read more...	07 Apr 2009
European Parliament recommendation to the Council on strengthening security and fundamental freedoms on the Internet On the 26 March 2009 the European Parliament adopted a recommendation to the Council on security and fundamental freedoms on the Internet with 481 votes in favour, 25 against and 21 abstentions. This is the first recommendation from Members of the European Parliament concerning the fight against cybercrime and preserving the rights of Internet users. The text urges Member States to update legislation to protect Internet users, especially their digital identity and privacy, ensuring that security, freedom of expression, protection of privacy and openness on the Internet are delivered simultaneously. Read more...	26 Mar 2009
Global Centre concludes 1st Technical Assistance Mission to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Cambodia From 23 to 27 March 2009 a mission team fielded by the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament carried out an ICT needs assessment at the Senate and the National Assembly of the Kingdom of Cambodia, with the aim to revise the strategic objectives for ICT in Parliament in both chambers. The mission team met with the heads of several departments and carried out interviews with key staff members. In the coming weeks a second mission will be prepared during which the ICT strategy will be discussed as well as concrete project proposals.	23 Mar 2009
National Assembly of the Kingdom of Cambodia launches French website The National Assembly of the Kingdom of Cambodia launched the French version of its website. Currently the English version is in development. Many of the improvements made on the website are based on the Draft Guidelines for Parliamentary Websites that were presented at the World e-Parliament Conference 2008 in Brussels. View the website	04 Mar 2009
Hansard Society publishes new report: "MPs Online: Connecting with Constituents" A new Hansard Society report, sponsored by Microsoft, MPs Online: Connecting with Constituents, reveals that MPs are using the internet primarily to inform their constituents rather than engage with them. Read more...	26 Feb 2009
Romania: Protests over parliament website blocking non-Microsoft users Romanian open source users want the parliament's website to work with all browsers and on all operating systems. The Romanian Senate's website only allows visitors who use Microsoft's proprietary web browser. Some users of other browsers are redirected to a page that explains they need to install the proprietary browser in order to visit the parliament website. Read more...	26 Feb 2009
Vacancy annoucement Programme Operations Expert, L-3 Deadline for applications: 26 mar 2009 Date of issuance: 24 feb 2009 Organizational Unit: Department of Economic and Social Affairs Duty Station: Nairobi Vacancy Announcement Number: 09-PBA-DESA-420458-S-NAIROBI Read the announcement	24 Feb 2009
Web 2.0 vs. digital libraries This paper presents a case study of a collection within the Texas A&M Repository that was improved by adopting the principles of cooperation embodied by the term Web 2.0. Read more...	22 Feb 2009
Public Media 2.0: Dynamic, Engaged Publics This white paper lays out an expanded vision for “public media 2.0” that places engaged publics at its core, showcasing innovative experiments from its “first two minutes,” and revealing related trends, stakeholders, and policies. Public media 2.0 may look and function differently, but it will share the same goals as the projects that preceded it: educating, informing, and mobilizing its users. Read more...	15 Feb 2009
Hungary: Calls for tender for developing the Information Society The Hungarian Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced new calls for tender whose primary aim is to increase Internet awareness and use through various services and projects. The financial supports, available in three tenders, amount to €5 million. Read more...	11 Feb 2009
New Website on-line The Global Centre for ICT in Parliament is pleased to present the new and improved website that has been designed to allow an easier flow of information regarding information and communication technologies and parliaments as well as the activities of the Global Centre. The new portal brings new features for users such as the video channel, the working papers section, a new organization of the "news and articles" and "conferences and events" sections. The online resources have been enriched and are presented in a more user-friendly, searchable and interactive manner through the development of a digital library with videos, legislation and studies and reports. Feel free to explore our new website and should you have any comment or suggestion, feel free to contact us at info@ictparliament.org.	10 Feb 2009
Calls for paper: World Library and Information Congress: 75th IFLA General Conference and Assembly Libraries create futures: Building on cultural heritage - 3-27 August 2009, Milan, Italy	10 Feb 2009
Backstage on YouTube In January, YouTube.com opened two new web channels that help citizens find and view videos posted by members of US Congress. Read more...	10 Feb 2009
Social Networking Sites Raise Security and Policy Questions The Baltimore Sun reported that the Maryland General Assembly has blocked access to Facebook and MySpace from its legislative networks as a precautionary measure against the growing threat of viruses and malware that spread through social networking sites. Read more...	09 Feb 2009
Macedonian assembly promotes new website 9 February, Skopj - The system for electronic preparation and conduct of entire procedure in process of passing laws - e-Parliament has been launched Monday [ 9 February] in the Macedonian Parliament. MPs with the new electronic system will be able to sign certain act whether they are on a business trip or are in the country, linking with the citizens. Rea more...	09 Feb 2009
European Parliament resolution On the 14 January 2009, the European Parliament (EP) adopted a Resolution on Public Access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents. This Resolution implements Regulation (EC) n. 1049/2001 which defined the principles, conditions and limits regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents. The EP Resolution highlights that the Parliament should be at the forefront of publicity, transparency and openness and therefore it must ensure that more and easily accessible information is made available. To watch the debates regarding this Resolution, please click here .	19 Jan 2009
Enhancing Parliament’s Ability to Communicate with Members of the Public The Hansard Society released a briefing paper summarising its research and recommendations to enhance the House of the Lord's communication with the public, and assessing where progress still needs to be made. The briefing paper can be downloaded here.	12 Jan 2009
Sierra Leone: Parliament goes online The Parliament of Sierra Leone, tapping new developments in information technology and communication, is now in cyberspace. Its directory, proceedings and rules can now be viewed online via www.sl-parliament.org. Read more	06 Jan 2009

News and articles 2008

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Second version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines available The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has recently published the second version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). WCAG 2.0 will serve as a unifying international standard for Web accessibility, by supporting access to the Web for people with disabilities, as well as increasing usability across a variety of mobile devices. Read more	11 Dec 2008
US Congress: Recommendations for Improving the Democratic Dialogue After nearly 10 years of research, outreach, and study of the communications between citizens and Congress, CMF (Congressional Management Foundation) released the culminating report, Communicating with Congress: Recommendations for Improving the Democratic Dialogue , with recommendations for all stakeholders and suggested improvements to the structure and processes for managing congressional communications.	02 Dec 2008
APKN launched at the World e-Parliament Conference 2008 At the recently held World e-Parliament Conference 2008 H.E. Dr. Ahmed Fathi Sorour, Speaker of the People's Assembly of Egypt, officially launched the African Parliamentary Knowledge Network (APKN). In June 2008, at the International Conference "Africa Parliamentary Knowledge Network – Building together Open and Learning Parliaments in Africa", co-organized under the aegis of the Pan-African Parliament by the People’s Assembly of Egypt and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), representatives of 36 African parliaments and assemblies gathered in Cairo to establish the APKN. The People's Assembly of Egypt will be the host of APKN's first secretariat. APKN Charter	27 Nov 2008
Visit by the Iraqi Council of Representatives A delegation of the Iraqi Council of Representatives visited the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament and the Italian Parliament - Senate of the Republic and Chamber of Deputies - from 16 to 19 November 2008.	16 Nov 2008
e-Participatory Budgeting: e-Democracy from theory to success? This paper concerns the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as a strategy for reinforcing democratic processes - broadly defined as “electronic democracy” practices - and focuses on the use of ICTs in participatory democracy initiatives. Read more	09 Nov 2008
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) elects a new President The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) today elected a new President, Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia, to replace the outgoing President, Mr. Pier Ferdinando Casini of Italy. Read more	15 Oct 2008
Articles on Open Source The Dutch Lower House has begun a small-scale Open Source desktop trial. Read more... Members of the Parliament of France have easily adapted to Open Source desktop. Read more... European Parliament is testing the Open Source desktop. Read more... To learn more about the features of the Open Source desktop (Ubuntu) see this link	11 Oct 2008
Visit by the President of the Basque Parliament On 6 October, Hon. Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, President of the Basque Parliament, visited the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament in Rome to discuss future opportunities for cooperation in the e-democracy domain, particularly in light of the work undertaken by the Working Group on e-Democracy of CALRE coordinated by the Basque Parliament.	06 Oct 2008
The Chamber of Deputies of Chile launches Radio Cámara Online On 30 September the Chamber of Deputies of Chile launched “Radio Cámara Online”, with the intent to communicate with and inform citizens on the creation, analysis, discussion and adoption of laws. Specifically this online radio service has two key objectives: to deliver information to the public on legislative matters addressed in the Chamber of Deputies of Chile in an accessible and user friendly format, and to provide and distribute legislative audio material to those in involved in broadcasting through the Audio Information Agency.	30 Sep 2008
European Parliament supports alternative and community media The European Parliament, meeting in Brussels on 27 September 2008 for its plenary session, adopted a report by Karin Resetarits (Die Liberalen, Austria) which calls on the European Union to encourage alternative media in Europe in order to promote pluralism and cultural diversity. Read more	29 Sep 2008
Hansard 2.0: Designing e-Democracy into the new Australian Parliament Hansard The Australian Department of Parliamentary Services has issued a "Request for Tender for Provision of a replacement Hansard Production System". Read more	29 Sep 2008
Launch of Europarltv, the webtv of the European Parliament On 17 September 2008, the European Parliament launched on the Internet its own webTV channel: Europarltv. Anyone in the world with Internet access is able to watch a regularly changing set of programmes based around the life of the Parliament. Parliament's webtv can be accessed at the following address: www.europarltv.europa.eu	17 Sep 2008
Call for proposals: ACP – information and communication technologies @CP-ICT Programme The European Commission is financing a €20 million "ACP-Information and Communication Technologies @CP-ICT Programme" from its 9th European Development Fund. The Contracting Authority is the ACP Secretariat; and a major component of the Programme is a €9.5 million call for proposals. The objective of @CP-ICT is to help ACP governments and institutions to design, implement, monitor and evaluate their ICT national, regional and continental policies towards sustainable development, by providing high-quality, globally-benchmarked but locally-relevant policy advice, training and related capacity. Read more	16 Sep 2008
Parliament of Australia launches ParlInfo Search ParlInfo Search enables everyone to search and obtain Australian Parliamentary information resources including Hansards, Bills, Senate Journals, Votes and Proceedings, Notice Papers, Committee reports, Parliamentary Handbook, newspaper clippings, media, publications and much more. Introductionary video (high bandwidth)... Read more	15 Sep 2008
15 September 2008: First International Day of Democracy In 2007 the United Nations General Assembly decided to observe 15 September as the International Day of Democracy and invited all member states and organizations to commemorate the day in an appropriate manner that contributes to raising public awareness. Read more	15 Sep 2008
ITU partners with global coalition to combat cyber threats The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) concluded on the 4th September 2008 an agreement with the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber-Terrorism (IMPACT) to operationalize the ITU Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA). IMPACT’S state-of-the-art global headquarters in Cyberjaya, Kuala Lumpur will be the home of ITU’s Global Cybersecurity Agenda and the collaboration will aim at building synergy to provide: a) real-time analysis, aggregation and dissemination of global cyber threat information; b) early warning system and emergency response to global cyber threats; and c) training and skills development on the technical, legal and policy aspects of cybersecurity. Read more	04 Sep 2008
Yale Information Society Project paper The Yale Information Society Project releases a paper on Open Documents and Democracy: A Political Basis for Open Document Standards.	26 Aug 2008
Factors that improve online experience This report outlines key findings from surveys that explored factors that drive online experience as expressed by the three different subject groups – nonprofit organizations and cities, web designers and firms, and the general public. Read more	30 Jul 2008
UNESCO and Software UNESCO has accumulated significant experience in facilitating the development of some key software tools, including digital libraries. The objective is to empower the users by giving them access to some key technology for development and knowledge. Read more	29 Jul 2008
National Congress of Chile on Facebook The Library of the Chilean National Congress created a Facebook profile that intends to be a platform to disseminate information on laws, congressional activities and to articulate a legislative social network. So far, over 4.000 users have already registered as members. Read more	29 Jul 2008
Global electronic standard the way of the future Under the auspices of the International Council on Archives a multinational team led by archival institutions in Australia and New Zealand, has published a global standard for recordkeeping software.The National Archives of Australia has worked with the national archives of 11 nations to develop an agreed set of standards for software products that are used to make and keep records.	25 Jul 2008
New Zealand Parliament begins ICT review The New Zealand Parliament's ICT service is finally being reformed -- a year after a tough report criticized the quality of the service. Read more...	23 Jul 2008
Monitoring electronic technologies in electoral processes The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) released a guide for political parties and civic organizations addressing challenges and opportunities posed by the use of electronic technologies in elections. Read more...	23 Jul 2008
Uganda pilots scientist MP 'shadowing scheme' Starting in September, five scientists will spend a week at the Ugandan parliament where they will shadow a corresponding member of parliament (MP) and meet with the parliamentary researcher who deals with legislators' science queries. Read more...	23 Jul 2008
Italy: new Internet-based service for mobile devices 14 July 2008 - the Senate of Italy released a new Internet-based information service accessible from mobile phones, handhelds, smartphones, etc. The URL to access the site is mobile.senato.it .	14 Jul 2008
U.S. House of Representatives: Speaker Pelosi on Proposed Franking Changes Speaker Pelosi sent the following letter to Leader Boehner in response to his letter regarding proposed franking changes allowing Members of Congress to post web videos outside of the house.gov domain. Read more...	11 Jul 2008
Open Source desktop gaining ground in parliaments of Europe The Dutch Lower House has begun a small-scale Open Source desktop trial. Read more... Members of the Parliament of France have easily adapted to Open Source desktop. Read more... European Parliament is testing the Open Source desktop. Read more... To learn more about the features of the Open Source desktop (Ubuntu) see this link	30 Jun 2008
MPs report: A Surveillance Society? A report of the Home Affairs Committee shows concerns that Britain might be in danger of becoming a Big Brother type of state and calls on the UK ministers to take the necessary measures to provide safeguards and minimize the amount of the citizen's information collected and stored in databases. Read more...	24 Jun 2008
MeAC - First eAccessibility Country Profiles available The EC-funded MeAC project ("Measuring Progress of eAccessibility in Europe") has published a first series of eAccessibility Country Profiles. They provide an overview of relevant policies and levels of eAccessibility actually achieved in nine EU Member States, as well as the United States. Read more...	24 Jun 2008
New Zealand: e-Voting pilots for 2014-20 The draft longterm strategy for e-voting, put forward by the Chief Electoral Office, favours trials of phone and Internet voting in three elections starting in 2014, before a decision is made on whether tooffer that as an option to all voters. Read more...	24 Jun 2008
UK Government Advises Civil Servants How to Participate Online Clear, simple guidance for civil servants on how they should interract with the social web and how the Civil Service Code applies to online participation. Read more...	23 Jun 2008
Are members BlackBerry addicts? Does the Capitol Hill’s BlackBerry addiction — seven out of 10 members and staffers have one — put too much power into the hands of small groups of well-connected constituents? Read more...	18 Jun 2008
Communicating with Congress: How the Internet Has Changed Citizen Engagement To understand how citizens are communicating with their Members of Congress and what motivates them to do so, CMF partnered with Zogby International to conduct a nationwide survey of citizens to address their methods, reasons, and expectations with regard to their communications with Capitol Hill. The resulting report, Communicating with Congress: How the Internet Has Changed Citizen Engagement, discusses the results of this research with over 10,000 citizens. Read more...	12 Jun 2008
Call for Papers - JURIX 2008 10-13 December 2008 - The 21st International Conference on Legal Knowledge and Information Systems will be held in Florence, and will be organised by the Institute of Legal Information Theory and Techniques (ITTIG-CNR) in conjunction with the European University Institute (EUI). Authors are invited to submit papers by September 1st, 2008. Read more...	11 Jun 2008
Hungary: Official Journal on the Internet In order to promote the availability of legal texts and regulations for everyone, the present law states that the electronic versions shall be considered as an information source complementing the authentic paper-based solutions. Read more...	10 Jun 2008
eCode of Law to bring citizens up to date on legislation The Czech Parliament is presently examining a draft Bill of Law which would introduce an electronic Code of Law – an on-line resource providing public access to all current national laws, in their unabridged version and complete with amendments. Read more...	10 Jun 2008
Pakistan: PILDAT lauds National Assembly Speaker on NA Website Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) has welcomed the fact that the National Assembly website now carries the Orders of the Day (Daily Agenda of the Sittings), details of the Legislative Business and the Questions-Answers of the Question Hour. Read more...	10 Jun 2008
EU Competition Commissioner backs open standards in eGovernment The EU Competition Commissioner, Neelie Kroes, publicly supported the use of open source software in eGovernment, in a public speech at a seminar hosted by OpenForum Europe in Brussels on 10 June 2008. Rea more...	10 Jun 2008
Featured article: the State of Blogging May 2008 - Engaging citizens in government is reshaping the way government works. The interactive tools offered by Web 2.0, the new incarnation of the Internet, make it easy for government executives to engage their constituents, and a growing number of lawmakers are making blogs part of their strategies for connecting with citizens. Read more...	26 May 2008
Parliaments in the Digital Age. Exploring Latin America Within the framework of incipient electronic governance, this article aims at exploring the ways in which Latin American parliamentary actors use new technologies, especially the Internet. Read more...	21 May 2008
e-Democratic Experimentation in Europe: The Case of e-Voting This paper argues that a focus on small-scale forms of political experimentation, such as eVoting, can overcome certain methodological difficulties related to undertaking cross-national comparative analyses of larger-scale eDemocratic experimentation. Read more...	21 May 2008
NCSL delegation visits the National People's Assembly of Algeria In April 2008 as part of an workshop between the National Congress of State Legislators (NCSL) and the National People's Assembly of Algeria (APN), legislative staff and IT professionals met to share experiences on how to use technology to communicate better with the public and the media. Read more...	01 May 2008
Compendium of ICT Applications on Electronic Government available now Compendium of ICT Applications on Electronic Government Volume 1, published by DPADM/DESA, is now available as print version. The publication focuses on mobile applications on health and learning. Read the Compendium...	30 Apr 2008
Welsh Assembly launches new eDemocracy services 25 April 2008 - The National Assembly for Wales in the UK has recently launched a new range of eDemocracy services aimed at encouraging greater dialogue between the Assembly and Welsh citizens. Read more...	25 Apr 2008
Visit by the Senate of the Kingdom of Cambodia to the Global Centre 23 April 2008 - Within the framework of a visit to the Senate of Italy, a delegation from the Senate of the Kingdom of Cambodia, led by the Secretary-General, visited the Global Centre to learn more about the Centre's activities and to explore possible opportunities for future cooperation.	23 Apr 2008
Italy contributes 3, 5 million Euros to the Africa i-Parliament Action Plan The Italian Development Cooperation made an additional contribution of 3,5 million Euros to support the "Africa i-Parliaments Action Plan", the Africa-wide initiative implemented by UN-DESA to empower African Parliaments through Information and Communication Technologies.	22 Apr 2008
European Commission to boost online debate on Europe 14 April 2008 - In a Communication entitled ‘Debate Europe – building on the experience of Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate', the European Commission has put forward a set of future actions to foster the debate on the future of the European Union among citizens, at both national and EU levels. Read more...	14 Apr 2008
SEECP calls for enhanced regional cooperation in the ICT domain with the Global Centre's support 14 April 2008 - In its final declaration the Seventh Conference of the Presidents of South East European Cooperation Process Parliaments (SEECP) has highlighted the World e-Parliament Report 2008 and expressed its willingness to cooperate at regional level with the Regional Secretariat for Parliamentary Cooperation in South East Europe (RSPC SEE) and the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament. Read more....	14 Apr 2008
Germany: New eDemocracy site 14 April 2008 - Boosting citizen participation in politics is the aim of a new eDemocracy site launched by the German state of Sachsen-Anhalt. Read more...	14 Apr 2008
Europarlement testing Ubuntu, OpenOffice and Firefox 10 April 2008 - The European Parliament's IT department is testing the use of GNU/Linux distribution Ubuntu, OpenOffice, Firefox and other Open Source applications. Read more...	10 Apr 2008
SADC Parliamentary Forum ICT Strategy validation workshop On 8-10 April 2008, the SADC Parliamentary Forum organized in Johannesburg, South Africa, the workshop: Enhancing The Capacity Of Parliament To Utilise ICTs Effectively In Parliamentary Processes: Understanding Pillars Of An E-Parliament. Aide Memoire >>>	08 Apr 2008
eParticipation and eDemocracy Network The eParticipation and eDemocracy Network hosted by the ePractice.eu Communities is now open to everybody interested in discussing and sharing experiences in issues such as eEngagement, eDeliberation, eInvolvement, eLegislation and eVoting, as well as eDecision, eRule and ePolicy-making. The online group will also link to and help coordinate the various EC supported studies and projects directly relevant to eParticipation and eDemocracy. Read More...	03 Apr 2008
Report of the House of Commons Procedure Committee April 2008 - The report on the introduction of parliamentary e-Petitioning paints a positive picture for the future of e-Petitions but raises cautions about their introduction alongside the traditional written petition. Read more...	02 Apr 2008
UK Parliament: Two centuries of Parliament proceedings to go on-line 17 March 2008 - The UK Parliament is planning to make all the official Hansard Parliament reports, from 1804 to 2004, available on-line by the end of the year. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology will be used to turn some 3 million printed pages of the Hansard record of Parliamentary proceedings into digitised text. Read more...	17 Mar 2008
White House Interactive Former Internet Director at the White House talks about how Internet changed his job and makes three recommendations for the next American president with regard to the Internet. Watch video...	12 Mar 2008
Chamber of Deputies of Brazil Agreement on ICT On the 12th March 2008, the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil made a formal agreement with various public institutions on technical cooperation and data integration with the aim of exchanging and sharing information and solutions in the area of ICT. Read More...	12 Mar 2008
World e-Parliament Report 2008 The World e-Parliament Report 2008 represents a first effort to establish a baseline of how parliaments are using, or planning to use ICT to help them fulfill their responsibilities and to connect to their constituencies. The Report also provides an opportunity for sharing lessons learned and good practices from different regions of the world. The World e-Parliament Report 2008 is a joint product of UNDESA, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament. Read more....	25 Feb 2008
Report of the World e-Parliament Conference 2007 now available The World e-Parliament Conference 2007 and related meetings, held in Geneva on 9 -12 October, provided an opportunity to debate the challenges and benefits provided by ICT and analyzed successful approaches, identified good practices and lessons learned. The report of the World e-Parliament Conference 2007 is now available. Download>>> View presentations made at the events>>>	23 Feb 2008
Dutch Senate supports Open Source and Standards Action Plan Last December, the Dutch Senate embraced the action plan “The Netherlands Open in Connection”, which aims to embed Open Source and open standard software in all layers of government. Read more...	12 Feb 2008
Electronic voting in Finland 8 February 2008 - In the 2008 municipal elections the Ministry of Justice of Finland will for the first time arrange electronic elections in three municipalities. Approx. 34,000 persons will be able to vote electronically at polling stations either on election day or in advance. Read more...	08 Feb 2008
eConsultation on ePetition in UK 20 January 2008 - A Procedure Committee’s eConsultation on e-petitions has been asked by the House of Commons to propose an e-petitions system. Read more...	29 Jan 2008

News and articles 2007

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Argentina: Institutional Strengthening Programme

The Senate of Argentina is carrying out activities to strengthen and modernize their parliamentary and administrative areas through the Institutional Strengthening Programme.
Read more....

18 Dec 2007

Latvia plans e-voting for 2009 elections

Following the Baltic states Estonia and Lithuania, Latvia said on Monday it planned to allow voters to cast ballots by Internet in elections in 2009.
Read more...

11 Dec 2007

Visit of a delegation of the National Assembly of Vietnam to the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament

Rome, 3 - 5 December 2007 - A delegation of the National Assembly of Vietnam headed by Mr Le Quang Vu, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Office, visited the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament from 3 to 5 December in the framework of a study tour with focus on e-parliament.

03 Dec 2007

How E-Government is Changing Society and Strengthening Democracy

Released by the General Services Administration (GSA) contains more than 40 pages of examples, from government transparency to electronic voting in Brazil to presidential candidates using YouTube and other social media.
Read more...

23 Nov 2007

Portugal: eLegislators

Portugal is to test the use of secure electronic document transmission in the drafting, adoption and publication of laws.
Read more...

19 Nov 2007

The Legal Significance Of Electronic Signatures In The EU

All European countries have implemented the EU’s Electronic Signature Directive 1999/93/EC to a greater or lesser extent, with or without restrictions, by investing electronic signatures with clear functions that are for the most part laid down in the definition of the electronic signatures in various member states’ laws.
Read more...

19 Nov 2007

Quick News November 2007

Conference - Avance Tecnologico y e-Democracia en Mexico
21 Nov 2007 - Mexico City
Electronic Democracy : Achievements and Challenges
21-25 November 2007 - Vadstena (Sweden)

15 Nov 2007

Call for Papers

The organizers of The 6th International Conference on Politics and Information Systems (Pista 2008) invite interested participants to submit a paper/abstract in preparation for the conference. The event will take place in Orlando, Florida, USA, on June 29th to July 2nd, 2008. The deadline for submiting papers is November 14th, 2007.

14 Nov 2007

e-Petition, a good example of participative democracy

Participative Democracy is one the main topics in the French Presidential campaign. The French website NetPolitique published an interesting interview of Ann Macintosh, who has created the e-Petition system for the Scottish Parliament and the German Bundestag.
Read more...

29 Oct 2007

Quick news October 2007

Connect Africa Summit
29-30 October, Kigali, Rwanda
New Zealand’s Guide to Online Participation
UNESCO publishes a whitepaper on Open Source Digital Archival and Preservation System
Portugal: Parliament unanimous in favours of open standards
9 October 2007 - The Portuguese Parliament last week unanimously decided to make all its documents available in open electronic formats.
International Expertise Of The Belarusian Draft Law
02 October 2007 - Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus publicized the Draft law on information, informatization and information protection.

29 Oct 2007

Global Survey on ICT in legislatures 2007

Between July and November 2007, the Global Centre conducted a worldwide survey on the use of ICT by legislatures. A questionnaire was sent to 263 chambers of unicameral and bicameral parliaments in 188 countries and to two regional parliaments. In total 105 assemblies responded to the survey: 48 unicameral, 56 bicameral and one regional.

16 Oct 2007

Changing politics through digital networks

5-6 October 2007 - The role of ICTs in the formation of new social and political actors and actions. The symposiom is organized by the Department of Political Science and Sociology (DISPO), University of Florence in collaboration with the Social Informatics Research Unit (SIRU) based in the Department of Sociology, University of York.
Read more...

05 Oct 2007

ITU and Microsoft launch online platform to track ICT development

Un partners with Microsoft to bring technology benefits to millions in Africa.

29 Sep 2007

European Parliament resolution on a European digital library

The European Parliament (EP) adopted on 27 September 2007 a resolution that endorses the 2005 European Commission's Communication i2010: Digital Libraries supporting the digital libraries initiative that aims at making European information resources easier and more interesting to use in an online environment.
Read more...

27 Sep 2007

President of IPU, Hon. Casini at the Dialogue Forum On Internet Rights

27 September 2007 - President of IPU, Hon. Casini, underlines the importance of the parliamentary dimension at the meeting on Dialogue Forum On Internet Rights organized at the Campidoglio in Rome, Italy .
Read more...

27 Sep 2007

Study Tour For Parliamentary Officials sponsored by the Global Centre

10 - 19 September 2007
Parliamentary officials from the Chamber of Deputies of Brasil, the Senate of Cambodia, the National Assembly of Nigeria, the Senate of Rwanda, the Parliament of Sri Lanka and the Parliament of Uganda undertook a study tour from 10 to 19 September 2007. The Study Tour consisted of a one-week, intensive Summer School on Legislative XML and study visits to the Chamber of Deputies of Italy and the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament in Rome.

10 Sep 2007

E-petitions could be debated in the Commons

The government of the UK has accepted the key recommendations of a report in which the Commons Procedure Select Committee examined the implications of introducing e-petitioning and expected to propose a "worked up and practicable system to the House in due course."
Read more...

24 Aug 2007

Voting Technologies

Bridges, a magazine of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering for a general audience, has published this special issue on voting technologies. While it is intended primarily for a U.S. audience, the materials may be of interest to those in other nations.
Read more...

04 Aug 2007

Latvia Government plans eLegislation system

The Latvian government will create a legislative information system to improve coordination of the law-making process and ensure greater public participation.
Read more...

30 Jul 2007

Ask your Representative and get the answer, through YouTube

Named ‘MailTube’, the initiative allows the public to record their questions with a webcam, video camera or camera phone, upload it to YouTube or Google Video and then e-mail the link to the MPs website.
Read more...

26 Jul 2007

Open Rights Group (ORG)

This organization, a non-profit advocacy group campaigning for the digital civil rights of British citizens holds regular events, run campaigns, provide information to the press and lobby Parliament and has recently released an e-Voting report on the English and Scottish 2007 elections.
Read more...

26 Jul 2007

Quick news - July 2007

18 Jul 2007

Italian Parliament Migrating to Linux

13 July 2007 - The IT department of the Italian parliament presented plans on Wednesday to begin migrating some 3,500 desktop PCs, including those of its 630 MPs, away from Windows to SuSE Linux starting this September.
Read more...

13 Jul 2007

The Blogging Revolution: Government in the Age of Web 2.0

This publication examines the phenomenon of blogging in the context of the larger revolutionary forces at play in the development of the second-generation Internet, where interactivity among users is key. The author observes that blogging is growing as a tool for promoting engagement of citizens and public servants.
Read more...

02 Jul 2007

Bungeni joins the PloneGov project

Sample Image PloneGov and Bungeni decide to join efforts to share experience and their developments.With a focus on Parliamentary and Legislative processes, Bungeni brings valuable expertise to PloneGov: the initiative covers now all aspects of e-Governments, from local governments to Parliaments.
Read more...

26 Jun 2007

ARMA scholarship program

ARMA International Education Foundation announces the establishment of a scholarship program to encourage the development of the international records and information management community.
Read more...

11 Jun 2007

Quick news May 2007

E-petitions: Great Britain shows the way

The Secretary General of the Inter-parliamentary Union, Anders B. Johnsson, addresses the tenth session fo the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development.

26 May 2007

The latest edition of the NALIT Newsletter is now available

Sample Image The current issue of the NALIT (National Association of Legislative Information Technology) newsletter contains articles on a wide range of topics such as voting systems, providing legislative IT in temporary locations, changing an amendment generation process and planning for Microsoft Vista and Office 2007.
Read the Newsletter...

08 May 2007

Ireland: new awards to recognize best on-line election campaign

The award-winning website IrishElection.com has teamed up with Awards.ie to salute the best efforts of Ireland’s politicians, parties, lobby groups and campaigners with the Online Irish Politics Awards, as the country prepares for the upcoming General Election.
Read more....

08 May 2007

African Assemblies take first steps towards a common open source parliamentary information system

Development of African standards for the management of digital parliamentary and legislative documents was welcomed at the International Conference on African Legal Resources subtitled challenges and opportunities of legislative informatics, held in Abuja between 21 and 22 March. A final declaration was adopted by delegations from sixteen African assemblies and the Pan-African Parliament which also hailed the development of the open source parliamentary information system known as Bungeni and endorsed Akoma Ntoso.

21 Mar 2007

Estonia holds world's first internet election