<nettime> Open Source Democracy - a Dutch initiative

["Lessard, George" <GLessard@gov.nu.ca>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: E-Government Bulletin - April 2000
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2000 17:00:41 +0100
From: "Dan Jellinek" <dan@headstar.com>

OPEN SOURCE DEMOCRACY

A Dutch-led research consortium has put in a bid for European funding to
develop non-proprietary, open-source software for large-scale democratic
debate, potentially supporting discussion by more than a million
participants at a time. 

The ISSUE consortium, led by the Dutch new media company Spirit, has
entered the proposal under the European Commission's 5th Framework for
research and technological development, which includes a specific
programme for a user-friendly information society. 

The proposal includes plans for industry-led technical research and
development combined with research by social psychologists and political
scientists; test beds in Rotterdam, Belfast (supporting the peace
process), Nuremberg and Vienna, with a working prototype planed by year
two of the project; and all research to be 'open source' and Linux-based
(although some business prospects are also expected). 

A spokesman told E-Government Bulletin: "We feel that there is mileage to
be had from getting people sharing ideas, experiences and software to
counter the inevitable attempts by proprietary software developers to
control this market. ISSUE will have an impact on professional lobbyists,
on pressure groups (one is never certain if they have the public backing
they claim to have), and on the discussion about referenda." See: 
www.issue.spirit.nl

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