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New ways that

parliaments, governments, and

civil society are

increasing civic participation

A collection of case studies produced by the

Hey-

Letsdothis!

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ransparencyand accountability.

Tey are hallmarkprinciples oany democraticsystem, and moreoten than not it

is parliamentarians, as representatives o thepeople, who work to ensure governments act inline with these principles.

Te OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, since its

inception in 1991, has made transparency arallying cry. Weve ormed committees andadopted declarations to make the Organizationmore open to the public, and weve takensteps to act in the same vein in our nationalparliaments.

In more than 20 years o this work, thetechnological growth in just the past ew - romthe sky-rocketing rise o social networks to newweb platorms - has made it easier than ever orgovernments and parliaments to interact moredirectly with citizens. Civil society has alsoplayed a critical role in bringing about greatertransparency through new projects like someeatured here.

We hope these stories spark an idea you ndworth trying at home, because the more weengage our citizens, the more transparently wework, the stronger our democracies will be.

Te communications team at the InternationalSecretariat is ready to asist your participation inthis important project in anyway they can.

Spencer OliverSecretary General

February 2013

When we rst launchedsOcialSCapE, we knew we weredoing something important -giving emerging and establisheddemocracies alike a set o case

studies that could inspire theirown changes in how they increse participationin the political process. But we had no idea thepopularity it would have online.

Te interactive map o case studies at oscepa.organd the digital version o our report online lastall became the most downloaded document onour site.

As we continue to build on the rst six monthso this project, we hope youll share a storyrom your country. Reporting stories o civicengagement across such a diverse region asours depends on eedback rom all 57 OSCEcountries.

From an interactive public contracts databasein Slovakia to ace-to-ace meetings betweenbloggers and political leaders in Cyprus, thislatest version o our report eatures some

excellent examples we hope will inspire ideasor you at home. Weve added some cases oemergency response, as in urkey, where witterhelped people nd temporary housing in thewake o an earthquake, and weve included twonew cases rom microstates Andorra and SanMarino. Enjoy and keep the eedback coming.

Neil SimonDirector o Communications

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able o Contents

www.oscepa.org

Point, click,vote.

E-voting on therise in Estoniap. 5

Building andBloggingTe Swedishparliaments newweb site built in ullpublic viewp. 29

CrowdsourcedConstitutionTe frstFacebook-built national

consitution p. 23

Opting In

Community-based decisionsrom ongoingcommunitysurveys. Surveysays... p. 10

Parliamentary

QuestionsKyrgyzstansAsk the Memberweb site ostersinteraction p. 9

EgyptsFunnymanStirring politicalchange withsatire. p. 36

witter tothe RescueUsing microblogsin emergencyresponse p. 45

Politics andPersonalityParliament:your riend onFacebookp. 22

Stopping ACASocial mediaspurs actionsto save Internetreedom p. 19

Open DumaExplainingparliamentary actionsonline p. 32

Country IndexAndorra 40Armenia 35Azerbaijan 26Belgium 19 & 43Bosnia & Herzegovina 47Bulgaria 48Canada 13 & 37Cyprus 41

Denmark 30Estonia 20France 16Georgia 31Germany 39

Greece 33Iceland 23Ireland 14Italy 7Kazakhstan 24Kyrgyzstan 9Latvia 5Liechtenstein 25

Luxembourg 27Montenegro 21Netherlands 28Norway 34Portugal 22

RussianFederation 15 & 32

San Marino 46Serbia 6 & 8Slovakia 42Slovenia 44Spain 11Sweden 29

the fmr YugoslavRepublic ofMacedonia 4

Turkey 45Ukraine 12

UnitedKingdom 17

United States 10 & 38

Partners for Co-operation

Egypt 36Tunisia 18

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ormer Yugoslav Republic o Macedonia

Making a MarkPolitical parties/Civil Society: Fair elections

Ahead o the June 2011 parliamentary elections, all eyes were on Skopjeto see how the young democracy o the ormer Yugoslav Republic oMacedonia would progress 20 years ater independence.

With ethnic tensions in the past leading to violence during electioncampaigns and previous reports o electoral raud, local organizationscame together behind an eort to encourage voters and party activists tocreate a air proces s.

Using the slogan What Mark Will We Leave? Fair Elections 2011, orga-nizers, including Citizens Association MOS, Metamorphosis Foundation,Macedonian Womens Lobby, and the Institute or Parliamentary De-

mocracy, worked with international unders and the National DemocraticInstitute (NDI) on the 20-day campaign. Tey began with a widely coverednews event eaturing candidates rom the leading political parties signing acode o conduct.

Tis had been done in past elections, but in 2011 the ollow up was dier-ent. More than hal o the countrys citizens are now online, so or therst time, the partners took their campaign there.

Tis is where a new generation is having their say. Getting them onboard with this kind o engagement is critical to good governance, saidRobert Scott Heaslet, program director or NDI in Skopje. op electionocials credited NDI with having the rare ability to gather all politicalparty leaders at one table, uniying and magniying the message in sup-port o air elections.

In 20 days, more than 8,000 people visited the air election campaignwebsites in Macedonian and Albanian languages: 3,200 peopleinteracted with the sites by leaving their mark,and 1,700 peoplesupported the acebook page (www.b.me/erizbori). Te online organiz-ing was urther supported oine mainly through public events.

Between 12 May and 4 June, two Campaign Caravans, eaturing the

campaigns ngerprint logo, criss-crossed the country promoting airelections through local events. In more than 40 events thousands opeople placed their neon ngerprints on large maps pledging not tocheat in the upcoming election.

Te project created an atmosphere ull o condence in the electionprocess, said Boris Kondarko, president o the State Election Com-mission. By participating in the program, he said, election ocialssent a clear sign to the people that we advocate or democraticbehavior and tolerance among the candidates.

Top: Voters make the markat a mobile campaign map,pledging to be fair in theupcoming elections. Middle:

A Skopje voter signs hisname on the voters listbefore receiving a ballot onelection day. Bottom: Oneof more than 4,900 peoplewho signed the fair electionpledge.

www.oscepa.org

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Latvia

Liepins LettersParliament: E-newsletters connect with constituents

Valdis Liepins (top) is oneof the only members of theLatvian Parliament (Saeima)who distributes a newsletter

via e-mail. The chamber of theunicameral parliament (middle).Liepins at work with colleagues(bottom).

Te constituents o Latvian parliamentarian Valdis Liepins need notgo ar to nd their representative in the national legislature. Aterall, Liepins represents Riga, the capital city.

But with people increasingly busy and government bureaucracyoten dicult to navigate, Liepins has created an electronic newslet-ter to give his readers a taste o what lie is like in parliament andprovide more transparency to legislative debates.

Ater being elected in 2011, Liepins launched the e-newsletter withabout 240 subscribers, mostly supporters and other constituents

interested in his updates rom the Saiema.A lot o people have little, i any, idea o what an MP does, Liepinssaid. So, I wish to let them know how at least one MP spends histime in parliamentary work and that, i one takes ones responsibili-ties seriously, its a tough job.

Te newsletter is about two pages. Liepins writes policy updates,discusses the national budget, details the status o debates on acitizenship law, and explains his involvement in oreign aairs. Inone issue, he shares his views regarding elections he observed in

Armenia as part o the Organization or Security and Co-operationin Europe Parliamentary Assembly.

Unaraid o showing his personality in the newsletters, Liepinsallows constituents to get to know him as more than just a lawmaker.Im excited about the Armenian nature... I suggest you enjoy it, hewrote in one issue.

In another e-letter he posted a summarized government budget,increasing government accessibility and transparency.

He doesnt aggressively promote the weekly bulletin, but each issueis posted to his web site, and plenty o people have ound it including a radio station in Australia. Te Perth radio station usesthe newsletter as an inormation source or its weekly Latvianlanguage broadcast.

In six months about 100 new subscribers have been added. Tenewsletter is also being used as an example o good parliamentarypractice in a university course.

Liepins eorts to make the parliament more accessible have also

paid o with constituents. I get quite a lot o positive commentswhen I meet people on my mailing list, Liepins said.

www.oscepa.org

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Serbia

@MyEuropeLocal government: Engaging citizens through witter

Belgrade director ofEuropeant integration DankoRunic (left) launches the @MyEurope Twitter campaign ata news conference with Vladi-mir Pavlovic, coordinator of theCentre for European Integrationat Belgrade Open School.

Gordana Comic hasmore than 4,400 followers

on Twitter @gordanacomand another 4,500 friendson facebook.

An avid tweeter, Comichas been known to post morethan 10 times a day, sharing amix of news articles, politicalopinions and everyday obser-vations.

In April and May 2012, amid Serbias rst local, parliamentaryand presidential election campaigns where the leading candidatesavored European integration, the City o Belgrade launched its owncampaign to engage citizens about the uture o Serbias Europeanintegration.

For 20 days, the Belgrade Agency or European Integration andCooperation with Civil Society led thousands o people in adiscussion @MyEurope (@Moja Evropa in Serbian) on witter topromote European values and inorm citizens o Belgrade about theEuropean integration process.

Citizens perceived integration as a technical thing happening aro, said Danko Runic, the citys director o European integration.Tey should be part o it.

Te agency was among the rst in Serbia to use witter, but onlyhad around 500 ollowers. o reach more citizens, they partneredwith Nebojsa Radovic, a social media expert with nearly 8,000witter ollowers, and earned national media coverage through anews conerence launching the campaign.

We wanted this to be a lively discussion, but two ways, said Runic.He said they chose witter or the campaign because a lot o Serbianopinion makers use it. We wanted to engage all these people in themuch needed debate about the EU integration process.

More than 3,000 tweets joined the MyEurope conversation.

Te city also partnered with the Belgrade Open School, a civilsociety organization active in the eld o education and EU relatedissues, which supplied two people to moderate the tweets (nocursing or hate speech allowed). Te Open School came up with the

idea to take the tweets and showcase them on an electronic displayat Republic Square, a popular spot in Belgrades city center.

As people would wait to meet up a riend, theyd send a tweet orread one. For example, one day the moderator asked, What shouldeducation look like in Europe?

Where childrens books do not stand on the highest shelves, oneuser replied.

Te online campaign to discuss Serbias European uture was literallyhappening in the public square.

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Italy

Casinis weetParliament: Communicating via witter images

In social media i there are no pictures, it didnt happen. Picturesmake events real and credible, and - as in this case rom Rome - theybring people to places they otherwise could not be.

Te occasion was a highly anticipated meeting on 15 March 2012between Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and leaders o theparties backing his government (Partito Democratico, Popolo dellaLibert, and Unione di Centro). Pier Ferdinando Casini, leader othe Union o the Centre party, posted a picture o the participants onwitter with the comment were all here! no deection! Given thesame meeting had been scheduled and then postponed amid politi-

cal misunderstandings a ew days beore, Casinis tweet implied thistime we made it.

Considering the publics high expectation or a breakthroughagreement, particularly regarding loosening labour regulations andenacting judicial and television reorms, Italian media ocused intensecoverage on the summit. But only Casinis photo rom his iPadshowed the meeting actually taking place.

As the rst to tweet such a picture rom a high-level political meetingin Rome, Casini caused quite a stir among Italians online and laterthe wider Italian public ater major media coverage o the tweet.

He provided transparency to an otherwise condential meeting andshowed Italian politicians could address voters and citizens in newways. Tanks to his tweet, Casini crossed the 50,000-ollowerthreshold and by May more than 57,000 ollowed him on witter.

I became a twitter anatic, Casini told reporters. I wanted to take apicture o [Angelino] Alano and [Pierluigi] Bersani, but then Montiaccepted the idea so we had the picture taken all together. It intendedto show that a playul break is also needed at some point, but at thesame time it was a way to communicate via images that the majority

has not disappeared.

Casinis action had an immediate impact. A ew days later whenleaders o Italys main labor union, CGIL, and the employersederation met, the union tweeted a photo showing the sidesnegotiating labour market reorms.

Casini had blazed a new trail in Italian political communications,embracing the immediacy o social media, like witter, that has madephoto sharing instantaneous and brought transparency to all levels ogovernment.

Pier Ferdinando Casini

(right) in his famous twitpic.

Guglielmo Picchi hasmore than 13,000 follow-ers on Twitter.

He tweets more than10 times per day, of-ten commenting on his

partys activities and propos-ing new ideas for action,especially in Tuscany and

Florence.

He speaks out on interna-tional affairs and harshlyvented his disappointmenton the occasion of the PDLsetback in the May 2012 lo-cal elections. He seems im-patient for his party to start anew political era that is moreconnected to the citizens.

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Serbia

A Natural CauseCivil society: Protecting Zvezdara Forest, Belgrade

In 1946, youth volunteers many just out o the army orconcentration camps planted trees on Zvezdara Forest, one o thehighest places in Belgrade. Te hillside planting helped to stabilizethe land prone to landslides and protected residents rom airpollution.

But recently there has been an eort to slice into the orest tocreate a private development. In June 2009, to protest the potentialconstruction, neighbours o Zvezdara Hill began organizing the

Association or the Protection o Zvezdara Forest.

Tey sent letters to the president o Serbia, ministries, the city, butwithout results. Tey needed to show their strength in numbers, sothey went online.

Launching a website, a blog and a Facebook page that attractedmore than 1,000 riends, the organization made the web central totheir public engagement eorts. Supporters constantly wrote onother web sites and blogs to mention the environmental protectioneort they were leading in Belgrade.

Social networks, websites and internet orums are powerul tools o

associations such as ours in order to alert the public to this issue andbreak the media blockade, said organizers Dejan Simonovic andVladimir Martinovic.

When organizers gathered 3,000 signatures, measured 900 treesand held several demonstrations at relevant public oces, the battlebegin to reap results.

Supporters produced Youube videos o tree plantings as a way totell the movements story when others in the mainstream mediawould not. (http://www.youtube.com/ZvezdaraForest)

Members stayed active in internet orums dedicated toenvironmental and urban planning issues and then held publicevents to strengthen support or the orest and give people a realconnection to the cause.

In this way we animated part o the public, Simonovic andMartinovic said.

Tey cleaned the orest, hosted a childrens estival and otheractivities to awaken public awareness. Belgrade Mayor Dragan Djilasended up sending a letter o support to the association, and on the

request o the Serbian Institute or Nature Protection, studied thearea and issued an ocial report. Te association is now waiting orthe Belgrade Assembly to vote or the protection o the 84 hectareso Zvezdara Forest.

www.oscepa.org

Top: A campaign poster featur-ing mascot Zvezdarko. Middle:An online photo gallery of im-ages like these reminds sup-

porters what they are protect-ing. Bottom: Volunteers cleanthe forest.

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Kyrgyzstan

Parliamentary QuestionsParliament: Ask the Members website

As the lone multi-party parliamentary democracy unctioning inCentral Asia, Kyrgyzstan was in somewhat uncharted waters whensix months ater violent clashes and a change o power, the peopleelected a new parliament in October 2010.

A new election and a new political environment still needed new in-stitutions to strengthen democratic eorts. By the end o 2011 therewas an increasing eort seen through programs like the OSCEsParliament and Political Dialogue Project to build trusted connec-tions between elected ocials and the people they represent.

Enter the web site tereze.kg a site launched by the Civic Initiativeor Internet Policy, where Kyrgyzstanis can ask questions directly totheir elected representatives. Its Ask a Member eature has become apopular tool or interactions between parliament and civil society.

So ar, more than 1,000 questions have been asked and answered.About hal o the countrys 120 MPs have registered on the site sothey can login in and reply to constituent questions.

It gives us an opportunity to communicate with each other andshare dierent views, said Erkingul Imankojoeva, a parliamentar-

ian who has answered some environmental and ood saety questionsonline.

Its working because we see so many people who have internet, theyare reading, they are asking questions and they are seeing answersthat interest them, said Meder alkanchiev, project coordinator atthe Coalition or Democracy and Civil Society. Te coalition sent let-ters to every parliamentarian, inviting them to register to use the site.

Groups also used their social networks, public events and mass mediato promote the new site and encourage people to ask MPs questions

about their parliamentary work or daily activities.

Promoting open and transparent dialogue between parliament andordinary Kyrgyz citizens is a crucial aspect in Kyrgyzstans develop-ment as a country with a democratic political system, said RossBrown, head o the politico-military unit o the OSCE Centre inBishkek. Te internet is a powerul tool that can acilitate suchinteraction.

Sending letters to a parliamentarian in Bishkek used to take twoweeks, now the communication is aster and its two-way. People are

expecting changes, said alkanchiev. We are trying to discuss everyissue through the website to give them our experience and our sug-gestions.

Tereze.kg makes it easy forcitizens to interact with Kyr-gyzstans new parliament.

Find a member,click on the member,ask your question.

A democratic dialogue thatused to take two weeks isnow down to two clicks.

www.oscepa.org

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United States o America

Survey Says...Regional government: Metros (Portland, Ore.) OptIn Panel

Metro, the regional government in Portland, Ore., is pioneering anew method o outreach thats making it easier than ever to talk to,and hear rom, constituents.

In 2011, Metro launched OptIn, an online opinion panel thatperiodically gauges the regions residents on issues ranging romparks to garbage management. In less than two years, more than16,000 Oregonians have joined the panel.

Te program makes it easier or members o the public to eelconnected to their government. Its also cost eective. Stakeholder

meetings on an important topic can cost $35 per person. Each com-pleted OptIn survey costs less than $4.50.

We asked how can we engage you? said Metro communicationsdirector Jim Middaugh. We heard rom a bunch o people: Do itonline.

Te survey process is simple. Tose who have opted in to the panelreceive an email when a new survey is available. Tey can thencomplete the questionnaire online. Not every panel memberparticipates in every survey, but response rates have approached 50

per cent in many o the questionnaires.Unique rom ordinary surveys, the OptIn approach allowingcitizens to join a panel and then consistently asking them theiropinions gives the public greater ownership o the policymak-ing process and shows Metro takes this eedback seriously. (Surveyresults and demographic data are published online.)

Te panel has grown to the point that analysts can now extractscientically valid data rom most o the surveys. One recent surveydrew 4,000 responses, including more than 300 rom members o

Portlands minority community.Tats by ar more than we would have gotten had we done ascientic survey, said Rebecca Ball, an associate at DHM Research,which manages OptIn. We have enough comments rom thesegroups to look at them in a way that is meaningul.

From deciding whether the Oregon Zoo should eature hippos orrhinos to the location o the urban growth boundary, OptInmembers have shaped the Metro Councils decisions and aectedthe lives o 1.5 million people in the Portland metro area.

www.oscepa.org

Metros OptIn online panelgives citizens a regularopportunity to have their say inregional park planning,transit, and other issues aimedat strengthening the livablecommunities of NorthwestOregon and Southwest Wash-ington.

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Spain

A First ryGovernment: Citizen input or drating legislation

When the Spanish Government started writing a new law in March2012 to require greater government transparency and access topublic inormation, it only seemed natural that the drating processwould be as open as possible.

So, or the rst time in Spains legislative history, the governmentcreated an interactive website where people can ll out an onlineorm with their opinion about the original drat law.

Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Senz de Santamara,who led thegovernments transparency eort, called it an innovative procedure

that converted the drating process into a transparent act itsel.More than 78,000 people participated in the legislative process byvisiting the site, and nearly 7,000 submitted opinions about the Acton ransparency, Access to Public Inormation and Code o GoodGovernance.

As a direct result, Senz de Santamara announced 15 amendmentsto the drat in May. But, citing a practice consistent with otherSpanish Government ministries, the government did not publish allthe public eedback it had received, resulting in criticism rom open

government advocates.Te drat law includes plans or a new website where citizens canask the government questions and get replies online. But ratherthan wait or the law to take eect, the NGOs Access Ino Europeand Fundacion Ciudadana Civio set up such a site in March. Tewebsite tuderechoasaber.es (literally, your right to know) allowspeople to submit questions to anybody in the Spanish Government,including those who would be excluded rom transparencyrequirements proposed in the drat law. Te site automaticallyredirects queries to the body o the Spanish government selected by

the user. Users submitted more than 400 questions to the site in itsrst three months.

Te drating process on the transparency law highlights the tight-rope governments and parliaments must walk when trying to havedialogue in the open. Te criticism Spain received or not publiciz-ing every piece o public eedback should serve as a reminder tothose considering similar processes to err on the side o openness.

Regardless o the details in the nal law which is already seenas a step orward or transparency Spains solicitation and use o

public opinions in the drating shows a new dedication to citizenengagement in a country that had been one o only our countries inEurope without a transparencylaw beore.

www.oscepa.org

Spains Deputy Prime Minis-ter Soraya Senz de San-tamara explains how somecitizen input resulted inchanges to a drafttransparency law. But criticscomplained the governmentshould have been moreopen about the feedback itreceived during drafting.

Enrique Cascallana ofthe Spanish parliamenthas 1,547 followers ontwitter.

He tweets 15 times perweek, using his localpolitical experience

to share his point of viewabout current events in theMadrid region. He shows hisdisagreement with regionalausterity policies and ques-tions the effectiveness ofthe Spanish governmentat times. He has also usedtweets to call for greaterintegration and solidarity inEurope.

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Ukraine

An Uphill BattleCivil society: Saving historic hillside buildings in Kyiv

When a billionaire developer began destruction o property alongthe historic Andriyivsky Descent, one o Kyivs top tourist locations,in the spring o 2012, journalist-activist Iegor Soboliev knew he hadto do more than write a story.

Soboliev, a ormer V journalist, runs an investigative news bureaucalled Svidomo, and had been covering developer Rinat Akhmetovsplans to redesign the 720-metre cobblestone incline lined with 19thcentury buildings into a modern business complex.

As the developer moved orward with the plans, including

destroying a 19th century plant (rebuilt in the 1970s), Sobolievposted to Facebook that people who oppose the destruction o thehistoric sites should meet outside the developers oces. Tey metand planned a rally or the next day.

Hundreds o people showed up on 11 April. I was surprised,Soboliev said. But when riot police broke up the rally, there wereminor injuries and Soboliev knew he had a ght on his hands.

Soboliev, whose news bureau is dedicated to not just describingproblems, but helping solve them, organized an event called Lets

Deend Andrivyivsky on Facebook.Online committees ormed to make announcements and postersand plan how to secure the saety o a uture rally. Soboliev met withlocal police about logistics. Tis time there would be no clash.

Within two weeks 12,827 people were invited to the event viaFacebook. More than 1,800 said they would come, and more than athousand did on 21 April to send a message to the developer.

Tey think that they could buy everything and everywhere and dowhatever they want. Our understanding was we should be ghtingin peaceul ways to stop them, Soboliev said.

Te march occurred peaceully, ending up at Kyivs city hall. Tedeveloper reversed course, telling media they had abandoned plansor a new business complex on Andriyivsky in March 2012 but thatgross errors led to their demolition o some property already. Tecompany agreed to make repairs.

As a journalist, Soboliev knew the government/business process, hesaid, but this was his rst major organizing eort with social media.

Most o us, we didnt know each other beore this story. Now wehave new connections. We have a success that unites us.

www.oscepa.org

www.svidomo.org, the web siterun by investigative journalistIegor Soboliev (pictured aboveduring an April rally and scufewith Kyiv police), is dedicatedto doing more than informingits readers about public prob-lems. Svidomo works to solvethe problems, too, melding civicjournalism with civic participa-tion. And its working. Hundreds

rallied in April 2012 and helpedprotect buildings on the historic

Andriyivsky Descent.

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Canada

Question PeriodGovernment: Prime Minister Harpers Youube interview

In March 2010, starting his th year as prime minister andcoming o the hosting o the Winter Olympic Games, StephenHarper sat down with the people o Canada or the rst ever

Youube interview o a prime minister.

Youube interviews give citizens the chance to submit online videoquestions to their top elected ocials. Ten, viewers vote or theiravorite questions. Te most popular questions are selected or usein the actual interview in which someone rom Youube sits downwith the ocial to moderate the questions.

In Harpers case, viewers ended up casting 169,800 votes on 1,794questions rom 5,129 people.

Tis is very participatory. Tis is democracy at work, said PatrickPichette, Googles CFO, who moderated the questions to PrimeMinister Harper in March 2010. Te month prior Youubesinterview with President Barack Obama generated more than onemillion views.

More than 283,000 people viewed the Harper interview, which wasrecorded in English and French, Canadas ocial languages.

Highlighting the power o Youube to connect citizens regardlesstheir location with their national leaders, the rst question camerom White Horse, Yukon, a city 5,400 kilometres rom Ottawa.

Over the course o 40 minutes Harper heard questions rom citizenson topics ranging rom drug use and oreign aid to child care andthe budget.

While the Youube interview does not replace the healthy reporter-politician exchange, the event still made Harper answer severaldicult questions, none o which he was inormed o beorehand.

Te Youube interview model has also been successully used inpolitical debates where videos o citizens asking questions arereplayed beore candidates. Such interviews are simple to produce,and while Harpers interview was technically conducted andmoderated by Google/Youube sta, anyone could pick questions,but having a third party select them adds credibility to the dialogue.

o better connect with citizens, elected ocials could also do regularvideo responses to video questions submitted online, in essence

creating a rolling dialogue with the people.

www.oscepa.org

Prime Minister Stephen

Harpers YouTube Interviewreceived more than 283,000

views.

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Ireland

Lights, Camera, Economic ActionParliament/Government/Civil Society: Creating jobs

With unemployment in Ireland near 15 per cent, the countryspublic broadcaster, RE, in 2011 decided to produce a programmeocused on job creation. Te show, Local Heroes, would be a six-part series proling one citys eort to redevelop its local economy.

RE selected as the shows centerpiece historic Drogheda, where onein three people were out o work. Tis story o success can beattributed to how the local community took control o its owneconomic regeneration.

Drogheda, buoyed by the publicity and positive morale rom

starring in a national V show, had several partners to push themorward, including Senator Feargal Quinn, a ormer businessmannow serving in the Irish parliament.

Te rst show highlighted how Droghedas citizens created in vedays a Local Heroes headquarters where volunteers united to plan auture o sustainable employment and restore town vibrancy.

Great things can happen when a community comes together andthis project was about just that, Quinn said. Te community oDrogheda was not going to wait or others to improve things or

their town, they were going to engage with each other and deliverwhat was needed in their town.

Drogheda on the Boyne River was ripe or tourism but had notmarketed itsel to attract visitors in large numbers. Trough the helpo branding consultants, within a ew months the citys Local Heroesheld three estivals showcasing the quality o lie in Drogheda orlocals and visitors alike, created a guide or oreign direct investmentand a showcase video.

Our project seeks to make Drogheda and our people more resilient,

said project manager Julie Anne Lawler. I we as a community canbe open to change, ready to roll with it and dynamic enough to seethe opportunity it brings, we will be less vulnerable into the uture.

Well ater the V series ended, the Local Heroesprogrammecontinues helping jobseekers, mentoring start-up business people,and increasing awareness about the need or people to buy local.

Local Heroesis directly responsible or ree wi- across the ownCentre, launching Droghedajobs.ie with over 120 job listings, and aShop Local, Benet Local campaign.

Local Heroesdemonstrates that, even with no nance, the energyo a community can achieve real results in a short period, Lawlersaid.

www.oscepa.org

Senator Feargal Quinn andcitizens of Drogheda gather to

open the Local Heroesheadquarters (above), and thencelebrate with a Sparks on theBoyne festival (below), a LocalHeroesproject that brought5,000 people to town.

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Russian Federation

Medvedevs MillionsGovernment: Mixing personality and politics on witter

Hello to everybody! I am on witter and this is my rst post!tweeted Russias then-President Dmitry Medvedev on 23 June 2010while on a visit to Silicon Valley.

Within minutes the presidents ocial twitter eed, @KremlinRus-sia, attracted more than 1,000 ollowers.

Since then, now Prime Minister Medvedev has opened an accountin his own name (@MedvedevRussia) that has more than 1.2 mil-lion ollowers as well as an English version (@MedvedevRussiaE)with another 300,000.

When he crossed the one million mark, he posted the old photoo himsel rom witters headquarters, saying, Heres how it allbegan Tanks or communicating with me.

Journalists in Moscow now say Medvedev is a must ollow. Histweets cover everything rom national and international politicsto sports and daily lie. Amid a minor media sensation about thewhereabouts o his cat, he even tweeted that Doroei was sae athome.

Twitters140-character limit forces a casual approach that Medvedevembraced to show the world a new, tech-savvy style o Russianpolitical leadership. Tis has allowed his personal voice to resonatewith citizens in an age when many governments still use ocial-speak.

Its not uncommon to see him in the same week or day opineabout a drat law in the Duma one second and then congratulatea ootball team the next. Te picture quality isnt that good, butthe score sure is. What a start! he typed on the rst day o theEuro2012 ootball championship.

Medvedev also tweets links to the ocial Kremlin webpage, hisvideo blog and occasional personal photos.

His steady activity on witter has also made people notice when hesinactive. Medvedev aced some criticism during anti-governmentprotests in Russia in December 2011, when his remarks on witterailed to acknowledge the signicance o the demonstrations.

In short, Medvedev is attempting to be more personable with theRussian people. His ollowers range rom pensioners and students

to business executives. But hes also got quite the ollowing outsideo Russia, including Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy, Herman VanRompuy, and Forbes Russia among others.

www.oscepa.org

Then-President DmitryMedvedev sends his rst tweet(above) at Twitters worldheadquarters on 23 June2010. As prime minister he hascontinued tweeting, includingsending frequent photos, like

this one (left)where heexclaimedWhat a start!after Russiasrst victory inthe Euro2012footballchampionship.

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France

Mobilizing or HousingCivil Society: Bringing housing back into the political debate

In January 2012, as Frances presidential hopeuls were stillworking on gathering endorsements to make their bids ocial, aormer ootball player stirred the electoral campaign. In a letterpublished in the newspaper Libration, Eric Cantona announcedthat he too was seeking signatures.

In a matter o hours, all major media outlets were reporting thestory and wondering, would the amous ootballer run or president?

Te ollowing day, a representative rom the Fondation Abb Pierre,one o the leading French NGOs on housing issues, revealed that

Cantonas media stunt was actually an eort to build support or adierent petition altogether one ocused on air housing.

Te General Mobilisation or Housing campaign, launched inco-operation with Emmas and the Secours Catholique, two othercharitable oundations, sought to bring housing problems to theoreront o the national political campaign. French citizens wereencouraged to sign the petition on a dedicated website(www.mobilisationlogement2012.com/) and to raise awareness onthe issue through social media.

A web video series on housing that garnered more than 3,000 viewsand the Fondation Abb Pierres annual report on poor housingconditions helped make the case or government action. And thewebsite made it easy or users to spread that knowledge throughtheir networks on platorms such as Facebook and witter.

In a matter o days, more than 100,000 people had signed thepetition.

We needed a high prole gure like Eric Cantona to bringattention to our campaign, said Patrick Doutreligne, spokesperson

or Fondation Abb Pierre. Te sudden show o public supportshows that housing and homelessness is a nationwide problem thatmerits more attention in the presidential campaign.

A month later, our presidential candidates, including FrancoisHollande, signed the oundations social contract on housing,which asks or more aordable housing, greater housing marketregulation, more social justice, and the sustainable development ourban areas.

Within six months 150,000 people had signed on, and ollowing

the presidential election, the new French government lengthened bytwo months its prohibition on wintertime evictions and announcedplans to cap rent in major urban areas.

www.oscepa.org

Francois Hollande was one offour presidential candidates tosign the General Mobilizationfor housing petition.

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United Kingdom

140-character ConstituentsGovernment: weeting oreign policy at home

When William Hague became the British Foreign Secretary in2010, he immediately sought to place oreign policy in the contexto a networked world. He emphasized the need to bring oreignpolicy decisions into the hands o the British people, involving themdirectly in international dialogue.

As an elected Member o Parliament, I relish how social media hasnarrowed the gap between governments and individual citizens,Hague told an internatinoal audience at the London Conerence onCyberspace in 2011. It allows the exchange o ideas between peoplewho otherwise never would meet.

o close the democracy gap, Hague turned to witter, blogs andYouube to create a dialogue between the public and the Foreignand Commonwealth Oce.

His #askFS campaign has led to more than 90,000 people nowollowing him on witter and hundreds o them directly engagingin oreign policy discussions. In one recent live tweeting session,the secretary responded to 24 questions rom the public not justsotballs either.

One pointed question regarding the invasion o Libya directly asked,Wasnt the real purpose o the invasion o Libya to gain control othe oil, by installing an unelected puppet government?

Hagues reponse: No. purpose was to prevent Qadha massacringinnocent people & to support a better uture or #Libya #askFS.

Other questions sent to #askFS have ranged rom protecting womenin Aghanistan to distributing aid in Libya to the United Kingdomsposition towards Syria under Bashar al-Assad.

With two-thirds o British government staers using witter oraster access to news, Hague has joined in to quickly and accuratelyspread inormation and messages that get to the heart o global is-sues.

On the day o an international Friends o Syria meeting, Hague helda live question period on witter that generated more than 50 ques-tions on the situation in Syria.

Tis orm o direct communication allows or an open exchangeo ideas and calls upon the oreign secretary to be rank and accu-

rate about the state o aairs abroad and their eect on the Britishpeople at home.

www.oscepa.org

United Kingdom ForeignSecretary William Hagueanswers questions onAfghanistan and Pakistanduring his seventh live TwitterQ&A, 29 June 2011.

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unisia

Feeding the RevolutionCivil Society: Te blog that encouraged a democratic uprising

When in December 2010 Mohamed Bouazizi set himsel on re andtriggered a series o street protests across unisia, the independentcollective blogNawaatserved as the main source o inormation orunisians and oreigners alike.

For several years Nawaat(the core in English) was a meeting placeor unisians to express themselves ree rom the censorship o theBen Ali regime. With many sites like Youube and Flickr censored,unisians had increasingly gathered on Facebook. So Nawaatmadean end-run around the ocial censorship, gathering content (400videos) rom Facebook, tagging it, timestamping it and making it

accessible to other media organizations, like Al Jazeera.

Since 2004, this practice led Nawaatto reach 87,000 visitors a dayand become a leading source or content on press reedom, humanrights, and politics in unisia. In contrast with the government-controlled media, which downplayed public discontent, Nawaatposted numerous articles covering the uprising.

Co-ounder Sami Ben Gharbia said the network helped create asupport and solidarity movement within the Arab web-sphere thatwas crucial to inorming the world about events inside unisia.

Tis ostered the spirit o change and the shockwave that wewitnessed in the region ater the unisian revolution, he said.

Nawaatthen used its network o Internet activists to help mobilizeprotesters through social media, providing analysis on the rootcauses o the revolution, including restrictions on personalreedoms, the imprisonment o opposition members, and economicstagnation.

During and ater the revolution, bloggers also oered advice onhow to circumvent censors. Tese solutions are only temporary,

said one blog entry. But we will continue to nd new methods tobypass censorship until our constitutional rights are respected.

Nawaatcontinues to publish on human rights and social issuesand train activists about Internet technology. Timemagazine calledNawaatinstrumental in the unisian Revolution, and the sitereceived the Reporters Without Borders 2011 Netizen Prize or itspioneering work or Internet reedom.

In receiving the award, co-ounder Riadh Guerali said, Tis awardis not only a tribute to Nawaat but to all our ellow journalists whooten risk their lives to keep working in countries where reedom oexpression is suppressed.

www.oscepa.org

Tunisian bloggers and Nawaatco-founders work on the siteto help strengthen democraticinstitutions and press freedomin Tunisia.

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European Union

Stopping ACACivil society: Saving Internet reedom through social media

In early 2012, as member states o the European Union were seton ratiying the Anti-Countereiting rade Agreement (ACA),opponents o the treaty used social networks to protest across Europe.

Incensed by what was widely seen as sweeping new controls onInternet reedom that would criminalize the sharing o music andother content, protestors said the proposed law would only result increating new black markets or copyright-protected content.

Hundreds o thousands protested rom Belgium to Bulgaria and allacross the EU.

It appears the entertainment industry still does not recognize whatkind o beast it awoke, echDirt.com wrote as European streetslled with Stop ACA protest signs.

In the works since 2007, ACA aimed to establish a global legalramework or targetingcountereit goods, generic medicines andcopyright inringement on the Internet. But opponents argued thatthe treaty would limit reedom o speech online.

On 11 February 2012, tens o thousands o people took part in

coordinated protests across Europe. Using social media like witterand Facebook, protesters ramed their message, gained visibility, anddemonstrated widespread discontent with the proposed regulation.

Tree months later, on 9 June, a second ACA Action Day broughsome 200,000 people together in 120 cities across 24 Europeancountries. By then 2.8 million people had signed an internationalpetition against ACA.

Although 22 o the 27 EU states had already approved ACA, thewidespread protests yielded tangible results as the governments

o Germany and Latvia joined Poland, the Czech Republic,and Slovakia in reconsidering their position on the treaty.Dwindling governmental support was echoed in the EuropeanParliament which rejected ACA on 3 July marking the rsttime the Parliement exercised its Lisbon reaty power to reject aninternational trade agreement.

o protest similar legislation in the United States, Wikipediaand other sites went dark or the day, making their inormationinaccessible. Forty per cent o voters on a Mashable.com pollcredited this protest with turning the tide in America. Te

movement demonstrated the power o new media and old advocacytechniques to aect legislation. When Brussels voted against thetreaty, politicians rom varying parties said the calls and mails romordinary, concerned citizens had made all the dierence.

www.oscepa.org

Pins on a map (above) showthe hundreds of protests acrossEurope held to oppose ACTAin February 2012, like thisgathering in Brussels.

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Estonia

Point, Click, VoteGovernment: Internet voting

In 2005, Estonia became the rst country in the world to havenationwide Internet voting with binding results. In six years, thisvoting method has been used twice in local elections, twice inparliamentary elections and once in European Parliament elections.

Voting over the Internet is a supplementary voting method that iscarried out during a seven-day period. Online voting thus does notreplace traditional voting but supports it.

And the numbers show Estonians 93 per cent o whom pay theirtaxes online -- have rapidly embraced Internet voting as well. In

2005 almost 10,000 citizens voted online; in 2011 online votersnumbered 140,000.

In order to vote, citizens need an Estonian ID-card or a mobile-ID (or remote authentication and digitally signing the vote), acomputer connected to the Internet, and a voting application,which is downloadable rom the elections website.

During the voting period, you can vote as many times as you want,but only the last vote cast counts. You can also go to the pollingstation where your traditional vote counts and any Internet vote is

cancelled. Tese measures are set to promote reedom and secrecy othe vote.

Internet Voting has had a signicant impact on advance votingin Estonia said Priit Vinkel, advisor o the Estonian NationalElectoral Committee. Almost hal o the advance votes were givenelectronically and a quarter o all votes in the 2011 parliamentaryelections were digital.

Scientic surveys have shown that making voting more accessiblethrough online methods may increase participation by three per cent

over traditional in-person voting systems.Tere is no doubt that Internet voting is crucial or voters residingabroad during election time, especially in local elections where otherabroad voting methods are missing, Vinkel said.

Estonian voter data also shows that the Internet voting is not just oryoung people either. Forty percent o online voters were over 45 inthe 2011 parliamentary elections, and the oldest Internet voter was102 years old.

Internet voting will next be used in the 2013 local elections, asEstonia, a leader in e-government services, continues to press theenvelope on ways citizens can participate in their governmentthrough new technology.

www.oscepa.org

Estonian President ToomasIlves (above) goes online to

cast his vote for a local elec-tion while traveling abroad. Anexample of the national ID cardcitizens can use to vote online.

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Montenegro

Partners or ImprovementLocal government/civil society: Improving transparency

In government, as in business, what gets measured gets done. InMontenegro, the Center or Democratic ransition (CD) andlocal municipalities demonstrated that leaders can easily improvetransparency as long as they know the steps they need to take.

In July 2011, CD launched POEZ (Projekat Odgovorne,ransparentne i Ekasne Zajednice, or the Project on Accountable,ransparent and Ecient Communities) to establish principles ogood governance and publicize local government perormance.

At the projects launch, over hal o the countrys municipalities

lacked transparency according to 44 specic indicators measuringsuch actors as the availability o government documents online andthe accessibility o government meetings and elected ocials.

Te site (www.potez.cdtmn.org) proved to be a simple starting pointor local governments seeking ways to unction more openly. In thethree months ollowing the reports release, most o the countrysmunicipalities contacted CD to discuss ways to improve.

Maria atovi, mayor o Kotor municipality, credited POEZ andits co-operative approach and useul suggestions with increasing her

citys transparency rating 26 per cent. Teir success opened newpossibilities or inorming citizens and interest groups about theactivities o municipality, she said.

Ater announcing the preliminary transparency results, CD calledon municipalities to improve their scores and oered any assistancethroughout the process. Several cities responded by publishingmeeting agendas, budgets, and public procurement documentsonline. Others created xed times or constituents to meet withtheir elected leaders and began sending press releases to the mediaater city council meetings.

Tese eorts increased the transparency levels or Montenegroscities rom an average transparency rating o 5 to 6.3 on a 10-pointscale.

Such progress over only a three-month period has shown thatchange does not have to be hard and that the POEZ research didnot request municipalities to do anything which was unreasonabledue to short unds or human capacities, said Ivana Draki, projectcoordinator or CD, which is supported by the Open SocietyInstitute - Budapest and the NGO GONG in Croatia.

By making more local inormation available quickly and easily, thecities ushered in new, more interactive, communication betweenelected ocials and the people.

www.oscepa.org

Maria Catovic, mayor of Kotormunicipality, credited thePOTEZ project for helping hercity improve its transparencymore than any other city inMontenegro during the threemonths after POTEZ publishedinitial ndings.

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Portugal

Politics and PersonalityParliament: Your riend on Facebook

Former Lisbon Mayor Joo Soares social media breakthroughmoment occurred in Washington, D.C. during the 2008 elections.As president o the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, he was leadingthe 2008 election observation mission to the United States andound himsel impressed with the huge impact o sites like Facebookon voter participation.

I was really inspired by the Obama campaign and thought this issomething I should do, said Soares, a member o the Portugueseparliament. He had blogged beore, but in 2008 he expanded his useo Facebook as a platorm to showcase his political and personal lie.

Despite younger MPs increasingly using witter, Facebook remainsthe most infuential Internet site, according to parliamentary sta.

Soares and Nilza de Sena, both delegates to the OSCE ParliamentaryAssembly, use personal prole pages on Facebook rather thanan pages. Tis has allowed them to become riends with theirconstituents Soares says he basically accepts all riend requestsand both have over 5,000 riends.

De Senas posts tend to be more policy-oriented, including links

to op-eds she has authored and pictures o hersel in parliament,visiting schools, or at charity events. Tis has allowed herconstituents to see the inner workings o a parliamentarianseveryday activities. Her posts on improving amily policies inPortugal have generated 70 likes and 20 comments.

Soares oers a variety o content ranging rom pictures o his sonsjudo tournament and beach vacation photo albums to comments onparliamentary sessions and political satire with the ormer mayorstrademark wit. In February, 350 people liked his joke about theelimination o some national holidays. Government PSD/CDS

prepares shortening o Easter: Jesus Christ dies, is crucied andresurrected on the same day, he quipped, stirring 60 mostly positivecomments on his Facebook wall.

Tis orm o internet activity directly connects parliamentarianswith their constituents, bringing a new more personal level otransparency to the political process, and opening a new avenue ordialogue with constituents.

Tere is an overwhelming amount o ormal inormation on publicgures on Wikipedia, blogs, and news sites, but Soares and DeSena have managed to use Facebook to show a more casual, humanside to politics reminding their voters that politicians are regularpeople too.

www.oscepa.org

Top: Isabel Santos, thevice-chair of the OSCE PA

Committee on DemocracyHuman Rights andHumanitarian Questions, hasmore than 4,860 friends onFacebook. She has used herpage to highlight local artistsfrom Porto and link to articlesshe has written. She allowsfriends to post anything on herwall, ranging from the personalto the political, and has postedmore than 80 pictures to her

page.

Bottom: Lus lvaro CamposFerreira, pictured on a TVtalk show, uses his publicFacebook page to showsupport for measures adoptedby the Portuguese government.Through pictures, video andstatements from his addressesin parliament, he has gainedmore than 5,500 followers.

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Iceland

A Crowdsourced ConstitutionParliament: Te rst ever Facebook Constitution

When Iceland was severely hit by the global economic crisis, thenational currency plummeted and stocks were decimated.

Icelanders elt betrayed by a reckless banking sector and blamedwhat they perceived as governmental inaction. Widespread protestscalled or reorm, and, in June 2010, the Icelandic parliament passeda bill ordering the re-writing o the constitution to restore aith inthe political system.

Icelands constitution, rst written upon gaining independence romDenmark in 1944, would need to refect the values o a modern

Iceland and or the rst time the public would play a key role in itsdesign.

Drating began in November 2010 with a national orum o 950randomly-selected citizens gathering to discuss ideas or a newconstitution or the nation o 350,000. In April 2011, voters elected25 members rom civil society to a constitutional council, theStjrnlagar, which was established to drat the document.

Tanks to the advent o social media, the Stjrnlagar was ableto set up Facebook, witter, Youube, and Flickr accounts to keep

the public inormed and involved. Te meetings streamed liveon the Facebook page and received more than 5,500 likes andencouraged urther debate.

Tere is not a particular policy about transparent government, butits the overall spirit in everything were doing, explained Birgitta

Jnsdttir, a Member o Parliament, about the process.

By making the work o the constitutional council easily accessiblethrough social websites, Icelandic citizens were able to participate inthe discussions, suggest new ideas and directly critique the actions

o the Stjrnlagar. Troughout the process, citizens submittedmore than 4,000 comments urthering the spirit o openness andtransparency that was credited or much o the success o thedrating process.

Te public sees the constitution come into being beore theireyes, said Torvaldur Gylason, a University o Iceland economicsproessor and member o the constitutional council. Tis is verydierent rom old times when constitution makers sometimes oundit better to meet in a remote spot, out o sight and out o touch.

On 29 July 2011, the Stjrnlagar presented its work to theIcelandic parliament. And while the new constitution is stillawaiting ratication, the process signalled Icelands eagerness orcitizen empowerment.

www.oscepa.org

23

Icelands citizens - of every

generation - joined togetherto write a new constitution inJuly 2011. Above, scenes fromthe opening meeting and news

conference in Reykjavik.

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Kazakhstan

Be the MediaCivil Society: Bloggers work to inorm the public

In the wake o one o the most violent days in Kazakhstans history,a group o bloggers sought to enter the sealed-o city o Zhanaozento report on how (reportedly) at least 16 people died and over100 were injured ater police quelled a public protest against oilcompanies there.

Te violence had broken out on December 16, 2011 KazakhstansIndependence Day. A long-standing labor dispute between oilworkers and companies in the southwestern city had boiled over,and workers used the national holiday to stage a rally. Police usedorce and live ammunition to disperese the demonstrators.

Tere were mixed reports as to how the events occurred and thepictures painted by human rights groups and the governmentdier widely . In a country with limited press reedom, oppositionpoliticians and journalists sought to seek out the ull truth, andthats where the Liberty Activists, a group o bloggers, came in.

We went to Zhanaozen because mainstream media werent coveringthe Zhanaozen events objectively, said Dina Baidildayeva whoorganized the group with support rom opposition party Alga. Butwith the Zhanaozen in a state o emergency with soldiers guarding

access to the city, Liberty Activists requests to enter the town andinterview witnesses was denied.

o get the story, our o the bloggers snuck in early one morningwhen security was lax.

You could see burned buildings, scared to death people,Baidildayeva said. A lot o them didnt really want to talk to usbut those relatives o oil workers who were tortured in prison thenagreed to interviews in order to help release their husbands, sons, orbrothers.

Te Liberty Activists posted the content online and shared it withRadio Free Europe/Radio Liberty ensuring their interviews a largeraudience. One o the most popular videos, viewed over 50,000times on Youube, shows a mother o an oil worker speaking o herson who is now in prison or his role in the demonstration.

Te government organized blog tours o the town, but LibertyActivists reported the dispatches were written to protect thegovernment message on the incident. Te work o the Liberty

Activists showcased how ordinary citizens, whether they just havea pen and pad or a video camera and an internet connection, canthemselves be the media they wish to see in their communities.

www.oscepa.org

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Above: a mother talks abouther injured son to a LibertyActivist journalist in Zhanaozen

in a video seen by more than50,000 people. Below: Webvideos show what state-runmedia did not, as authoritiesused deadly force to break up ademonstration.

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Liechtenstein

Say it, Sign itGovernment/Civil Society: Making accessible web videos

On 20 June, the Principality o Liechtenstein became one o the rstcountries ever to translate governmental websites into sign language.

Te government had been actively using online videos to commu-nicate policies and be generally more accessible to citizens, but untilproject Sign Language the dea community had not benetedrom the videos.

With this pioneering project, we are able to jointly create impor-tant areas o opportunity and accessibility or dea people, saidPrime Minister Klaus schtscher. At the same time, we also pro-

vide a greater awareness o sign language as a recognized minoritylanguage.

Te project brought together government ocials with volunteersrom the principalitys dea community, who themselves selectedwhich pages should be translated on the government sites www.liechtenstein.li and www.regierung.li.

Te Culture Club or Dea People and Handlaut, an association orsign language interpretation, did all the translations which ensuredthe projects acceptance by the community.

It is because o these projects, that we no longer eel marginalized,said Bernadette Arpagaus, a project participant.

So ar, more than 75 pages were translated into 144 videos eaturingsign language.

For us in Liechtenstein, it is especially important that people withdisabilities should not need to adjust to society, but we shouldorganize the daily lie so that they are in the thick o it, said Markus

Amann o the governments inormation and communications o-

ce.In a year and a hal, www.liechtenstein.li and www.regierung.li havereceived more than 1.3 million combined page views rom morethan 300,000 visitors. Te sign language project has brought thesmall state international attention as well, with other organizationsand governments viewing it as a model or inclusiveness in otherprojects.

Motivated by the positive response in the local community, thegovernment o Liechtenstein is determined to pursue the translation

work urther. Plans are underway to expand the use o sign languageduring news conerences and major government events.

www.oscepa.org

A woman offers a signlanguage welcome to thePrincipality of Liechtenstein aspart of an effort to make thegovernments web site moreuser friendly for all citizens

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Azerbaijan

Free Tought UniversityCivil society: eaching democracy online and of

In Azerbaijan, a country where there is limited access to mass media,independent V or newspapers, social media has become the mostimportant tool used to spread messages o social activism to youth.

OL! Azerbaijan, a non-political social youth movement aimed tooster independent thinking and personal responsibility, began FreeTought University in 2009, inspired by a need to educate andencourage democratic values in Azerbaijan.

Years ago we came to realize that in order to attract youth that areopen to being involved, whatever we do has to be done in a very

creative way, Vugar Salamli, co-ounder and executive director oOL! Azerbaijan, told the International Foundation or ElectoralSystems.

Te project oers lectures on human rights, reedom o expressionand democracy topics you wont nd in mainstream Azerbaijaniuniversities.

For the last three years, we have organized more than 200 lectures,Salamli said. We are actually lming all our lectures and postingthem on our website so people who did not or are not able to

participate in our lectures can access them online.In a video published on the organizations Facebook page,

Azerbaijani youth hype the FU project, a rst o its kindendeavour in the South Caucasus.

I eel very comortable here. I have riends here. I have myavourite proessors here, my colleagues are here, one woman saysin the video.

Azerbaijani youth ace serious deciencies o timely inormation,

the project website says, citing restrictions placed on innovativeproessors and student activities.

Salamli and his colleagues say they are motivated by the vision o abetter, more civically engaged Azerbaijan.

When I was 20 years old back in the late 90s, we did not have goodexamples o youth activism in Azerbaijan, so we started to ollowactivism in Serbia, Ukraine, Georgia and other countries. We hadto build everything rom scratch, he told IFES, but now peoplein Azerbaijan have success stories they can implement or improve

upon. Te best thing we can do or society is to give them successstories and good examples to replicate.

www.oscepa.org

By recording and storingvideos online, studentsat Azerbaijans FreeThought University areable to hear lectures atany time on a host of

topics related to democraticgovernance -- even if they cantattend the university in person.

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Luxembourg

Civic Participation through E-petitionsParliament: A simple step to bring citizens close to theirgovernment

When the Chamber o Deputies o Luxembourg looked into wayso encouraging civic participation, one simple step made it easier orcitizens to submit petitions: creating an email address.

Since 1999, when the right to petition public authorities wasenshrined in the Grand-Duchys constitution, the parliament hasconsidered more than 300 public petitions. However, until 2012,documents could only be submitted in person or by regular mail.But since January, petitions can be sent via email to petition@chd.lu.

Tis March, a grandmother rom the small town o Consdor be-came the rst person to email a petition in Luxembourg. ClaudinePenen wanted to alert MPs to the negative eects o pesticides andchemical products used in agriculture. On 27 June, she was invitedto express her views beore the parliamentary Petitions Committee.

I am just a simple grandmother, she explained, but I urgeyou to take measures against the use o pesticides, ertilizers,and other harmul chemical products. Penen also asked parlia-mentarians to encourage organic arming as a way o protect-ing the environment.

Te petition, which has just about 130 signatures (a tenth o thepopulation o Consdor), led deputies to hold meetings with the ag-riculture minister and the minister in charge o sustainable develop-ment to discuss the use o pesticides in Luxembourg and determinewhether to ban the use o certain chemical products. Te PetitionsCommittee, which generally works by consensus, also agreed to ndways to better support organic arming.

Citizens o Luxembourg are now one click away rom raising issuesin parliament, said Camille Gira, the president o the Petitions

Committee. Making it easier to submit petitions is only the rststep to encourage greater transparency and accountability in govern-ment.

In the uture, the Chamber o Deputies intends to urther increasecivic participation by expanding the use o the Internet. Under anew public petition system, the parliaments website will allow theelectronic collection o signatures. Petitions that receive more than4,500 signatures would receive a televised public debate including amember o the Luxembourgian government.

Creating an e-mail address was a starting point, explained Gira.By establishing a new public petition system, the Chamber oDeputies will do more towards engaging its constituents and oster-ing civic dialogue.

www.oscepa.org

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The Parliament of Luxembourg(above) has moved away from

the business of receiving paperpetitions (left) and created anonline process for people toelectronically gather signaturesand submit their petitions toparliament.

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Te Netherlands

Opening the FloodgatesGovernment: Making public data publicly available

I knowledge is power, the Dutch government over the last year hastaken an extraordinary step to make its people more powerul. Aspart o a global open government movement, the Netherlands hasmade sure its agencies make their data open and accessible.

Te governments open data practice provides to any individual,organization or company any and all inormation that is notspecically protected by law.

o make the data most accessible either ree or at a low cost Interior and Kingdom Relations Minister Piet Hein Donner in 2011

launched data.overheid.nl as the one-stop shop or government data.In the past, varying terms o usage and inadequate orms osupplying data proved to be obstacles to access inormation. Tenew portal has largely removed those barriers, Donner said inannouncing the new site.

Te power o open data rests in what citizens create with it. Opendata practices end up not just strengthening democracy, but givingentrepreneurs a tool to establish new services and products.

Government data are the basis or all kinds o creative solutions,said Donner. People sometimes orget just how much data thegovernment has that can be useul to a potential business owner oranyone in daily lie. I consult Buienradar.nl regularly beore I ridemy bike, Donner said o the weather website that depends on datarom the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.

From basic weather orecasts to quirky apps like thetoilet nder (wcvinder.nl), you never know whatcitizens will create when given access to public data.I people know what inormation the government

has, they are better equipped to interact with theirgovernment to improve a community as well.

In Eindhoven, residents can now report local issues rom theirphones using the BuitenBeter app. See something that needs xing?Use the app to take a picture, categorize the issue, map the location,and send the complaint to the city where workers can resolve it.

I challenge you to make more o these smart and innovativeapplications with open government data, Donner said.

Te challenge is a call to any citizen to create something useul ortheir neighbors, but it only works i the government rst makes thedata easy to access.

www.oscepa.org

1. See trash.2. Photograph trash.3. Report trash to city.4. See trash disappear.

Directly linking citizensand governments through

information can do wonders forpublic service.

Yup. Theres an app for

that too.

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Sweden

Building and BloggingParliament: Digital development in ull public view

Openness and transparency orm the basis o communication inmost parliaments. But how open can we actually be? And whathappens when we expose our work to the public?

Tis is something the Riksdag learned when the parliament decidedto implement digital development in ull public view. Tis was thedigital equivalent o building a new house and letting the publicwalk in as you are hammering to tell you what they want changed.

Im incredibly proud that we havent just talked about being anopen parliament, weve also worked on a daily basis on putting this

maxim into practice, says Hanna Bergander project manager at theSwedish Parliament.

Te Riksdag published a beta version o a new website in February2011, and simultaneously blogged about building the new site. Teold site remained visible the whole time.

We published posts about the background, the process and aboutwhat was to come. Users could submit opinions and comments bothvia the beta version and the blog, Bergander said. We answeredevery comment and question, and throughout the process we

explained why we were developing certain unctions and the ideasbehind the new content.

Most o the responses on the development blog were positive andpolite and mainly came rom people interested in web development.

Looks good and modern, excellent! wrote one. Yes, ocus onopen data! said another.

When the new Riksdag website ocially launched in April 2012,the parliament reported a massive increase in new comments rom

target groups such as the government workers, teachers, and MPs.Te criticism was sometimes harsh, Bergander said. Some userswanted the old site back and said it was hard to nd relevantdocuments. Developers prioritised the concerns, blogged about whatthey were xing, and ater about six weeks dealt with most o theserious complaints. Ater xing the search engine, broken links andwebcasting problems, the public outcry abated and the number ocritical comments decreased.

Launching such an extensive website as this, gradually, in an

open and transparent process, was essential in order to achieve thesuccessul result we now have, Bergander said. Although it wassometimes painul to receive the criticism we received, we werenever criticised or the actual process.

www.oscepa.org

Internet World Sweden namedthe Swedish Parliamentswebsite (above) the best publicauthority site in Sweden --before it was even completed.

The new Riksdag website isamong the most ambitious wehave seen in the public sector,the magazine said in praisingthe lengthy and open beta-

testing period.

www.riksdagen.se

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Denmark

Seeing DoubleParliament/Civil Society: Moving televised debates online

Photos posted to the DebattenFacebook page give the audi-ence a behind the scenes lookat the public affairs show and achance to join politicians in thedebate itself.

Airing since 2010, Debatten, produced by Denmarks Radio (DR),actively uses Facebook to involve viewers in political debates. A loto shows use Facebook or marketing or to solicit a question romthe public here or there, but Debatten uses Facebook almost as aparallel public aairs programme.

une into DR each week and youll see big name politicians andopinion leaders debating the most salient topics in ront o a livestudio audience. But go online at the same time and youll see evenmore. Te shows Facebook page eatures two panellists specicallychosen to represent either side o the V debate holding their own

online discussion with viewers.

Te intensive use o the Facebook page has surprised programmeeditor Bo Hasseriis. It has been interesting to see how many visitthe Facebook page, and thus involve themselves in the issues that wepresent, he said.

A roster o participants on Debatten reads like a Whos Who oDanish politics, with the show hosting such notable gures asPrime Minister Helle Torning-Schmidt, Former Prime MinisterLarsLkke Rasmussen, current Foreign Minister Villy Svndahl,

Conservative leader Lars Baroed, and leader o the Danish PeoplesParty Pia Kjrsgaard.

Debates surrounding gay marriage have inspired the mostparticipation, oten leading to 250-300 comments on DebattensFacebook page in the course o the one-hour programme. A showdebating cuts to social benets also attracted a heated commentaryon Facebook, with over 400 comments in 45 minutes.

It was abundantly clear that there was a clear polarization oattitudes to these public cutbacks, said Hasseriis, who likens the

discussion on Facebook to a parallel universe where sometimes thedebate moves entirely away rom the television programmes topic.

Denmarks Radio has also used Facebook to foat potential topicsor the live V programme and gauge public interest beore movingahead.

Hasseriis admits the Facebook page has infuenced the show toa much greater extent than he could have envisioned. We use itextremely actively, he said. When Debatten rst went on the air,Facebook was not even a part o the set up, nowDebatten has over

24.000 likes, and its continued growth on Facebook is a sign thatcitizens are interested in new venues or public aairs discussions.

www.oscepa.org

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In rural Georgia where Internet access is spotty but cell phones areprevalent, the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) and Sa-erworld have teamed up to ensure voices rom the regions are heardin government.

Teyve created Elva, Georgian or lightning or express message,an online platorm that uses text messages received rom citizens andredistributes inormation onto digital maps, reports and graphs oruse by appropriate public entities.

Originally designed or communities to report security threats, Elvahas expanded to incorporate such issues as thet, irrigation, and com-

munity activities and is being tested or use in election monitoring.

More than 8,000 texts have been sent since 2010, the vast majorityo which relate to security concerns.

Te project has been successul in ostering cooperation betweencitizens and their local authorities, and acilitating joint responses tolocal and regional issues, said the programs director Jonne Catshoek,a CRRC consultant.

So how does it work? CRRC gives citizens and local authorities inremote communities a weekly survey with codes to use to reportany incidents occurring there. Incidents can range rom agriculturalincidents like livestock thets or robberies to cultural events like wed-dings or other celebrations.

Once citizens send an SMS, the data is recorded on a web server.Based on type o incident indicated by a corresponding number the reports are mapped out where other members o the communityand local authorities can see them on myelva.com.

Te data is also collected or a quarterly early warning report, whichincludes a geographical break down o security incidents and emer-

gency reports and urther helps government ocials track andrespond to trends in the regions.

In January 2012, when an elderly person with a mental disorder wentmissing rom Atotsi village, the early warning networks emergencyunction helped recover the missing person.

CRRC and Saerworld are promoting the use oElvaand lessonslearned rom the project with other NGOs in the region. Teplatorm has been eld-tested or two years and is completely opensource, so that it can easily be used by any NGO around the world,

said Catshoek. Te platorm is already being piloted by an NGOin Libya, and we are also expecting to launch it in Armenia later thisyear.

More than 8,000 texts fromordinary citizens through theElva project get plotted ona map (above) and color-coded so it is easy to for thegovernment to spot trends inanything from a bumpy roadto a burglary.

www.oscepa.org

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Georgia

exting or SaetyCivil Society: Connecting to government through SMS

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Russian Federation

Open DumaCivil Society/Parliament: Explaining parliamentary action

o promote public engagement in political decision-making, inJanuary 2012 Russian social activist Alyona Popova ounded theOpenDuma project a website, eaturing a video-blog and chat topromote understanding o happenings in the Russian Parliament.

In the public mind, the State Duma is a closed ortress, a pyramid,Popova said. We want it to be transparent and responsive topopular needs. Her site posts legislative bills at early stages o theprocess or people to oer their amendments, some o which can beannounced at the Duma.

Most voters are unaware o what their elected parliamentarians areactually doing or them, Popova said. Even i some parliamentarydebates and voting are streamed directly on Russian V, it can stillbe dicult or the average viewer to understand.

On OpenDuma, once the Duma votes on a law, experts whoare either deputies themselves or subject specialists explain andinterpret the legislation.

Te primary goal o the project is to help people understand howthe parities we voted or work or us in the Duma, simply to help

them understand how they vote, Popova said.In its rst six months the project has been considered an exemplarycase o civil society initiative in Russia or its use o Internettechnology to help open up the legislative process.

Te site reports 2,000 to 3,000 daily visits and up to 90,000 visitsduring key or controversial legislative votes, such as acts on directgubernatorial elections, simpliying political party registration,increasing nes or violations during public demonstrations, andratiying Russias entry into the WO.

A week beore a legislative project is to be debated in the Duma, itsdrat is put up on the website where all the website users are able tocomment on it and submit amendments. Currently, the organizerso the project are working with interested parliamentarians to getthem to voice and bring up the most widely supported amendmentsduring the actual debate.

Te project also provides a platorm or the parliamentarians tobecome better known in an inormal setting and to co-operate moreclosely with their electorate.

Te OpenDuma project aims to bring a lively debate to the StateDuma, making sure that laws passed are created together with itscitizens.

www.oscepa.org

Inside and over the RussianState Duma. To increase publicunderstanding of the legislativeprocess in Russia, some Mem-bers of the Duma, have sharedtheir expertise and experienceonline at Open Duma.

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www.oscepa.org

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Greece

Amended by the PeopleParliament/government: Increasing citizens legislative voice

When the Greek government launched the OpenGov project in2009, it wanted to make sure that the concept o open governmentwould not only encourage greater transparency and accountability,but also inspire greater civic engagement.

OpenGov.gr went live that October eaturing an interactive blogwhere citizens themselves could weigh in on pending legislation.

Almost every drat resolution or governmental policy initiative wasmade available prior to its submission to parliament, and Greekcitizens proved very interested in playing such a direct role in theirpolitical process.

By December 2011, OpenGov.gr had 4.6 million visitors and239 discussions generating more than 76,600 comments onpolicies ranging rom tax reorm to immigration. In addition,the government has opened accounts on Facebook and witter,attracting more than 6,300 ollowers.

Hot issues drive large and meaningulparticipation, said Giorgos Karamanolis,the technical coordinator who helped launchOpenGov and the Greek governments multi-

blog environment. Tere are many caseswhere the online deliberation process helpedimprove the nal document.

In addition, the government has openedaccounts in Facebook and witter, attractingmore than 6,300 ollowers.

In one case a drat resolution aiming to makethe government vehicles respect eco-riendlycriteria would have mistakenly only aected

cars rom one single manuacturer. When acitizen caught the error, the resolution wasredrated to aect all auto manuacturerssupplying the governmental feet.

Participation is open to anyone, be theyindividuals or organizations. Observations,suggestions and criticisms are made article-by-article to promote a detailed review andremain visible or all users. All the comments

submitted are then gathered and assessedby competent authorities beore beingincorporated in nal regulations.

Greece also launched Labs.OpenGovas a platform to encourage citizen-driven innovation for public services.

The site invited corporate and non-corporate users to submit proposals fornew ways to use government data.

The idea is to provide an open platform for people to submit ideasto improve the government, explains Karamanolis

Ideas have ranged from an online map (above) clarifying variousshing regulations off the coast of Greece to an online medicalinformation system to simplify the sharing of information betweendoctors and patients.

After public comments, the scientic community chooses the best

proposals to present in workshop and discuss ways to implement.So far about 850 proposals have been submitted, 30 of which havebeen selected to be formally presented to government ministers.

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Norway

Tey Rose or PeaceCivil society/government: Mourning through social media

he July 2012 terrorist attack on Norways Utoya Island, targetingthe Labour Partys youth summer camp, marked the most violentincident in Norway since the second World War. Seventy-sevenpeople died; their average age just 21 years old.

Te incident was also the rst such national tragedy to occur inScandinavia in the age o social media. Many peopled learned othe attacks through their social networks, and they turned to socialmedia again in their time o grie and mourning.

In the hours ollowing the massacre, erje Bratland, a man with no

background in community organizing, decided Norwegians shouldgather in solidarity. With his idea, a walk in Oslo with lit torcheso peace, he launched a Facebook group: orchlight - Norway isunited against terrorism. Soon more than 26,000 people had joinedit.

We will show the deceased their last respects and the injured thatwe care about each other. At the same time, we show the worldtogether that we are a united people who show no ear o terrorism,Bratland said.

As it became clear that thousands o people would converge in Oslo,Bratland and partners in government and political parties spreadthe word to bring roses instead o torches and the event became vastdisplay o fowers throughout the capital city, an image that wouldbe repeated in sympathy at sites throughout the world in days toollow.

An estimated 150,000 people, including Norways top politicalleaders and parliamentarians, participated in support o the victimsand their amilies.

Tis unied gathering signaled to Norwegians, and the rest o theworld, the strength and resilience o their country, their values andtheir opposition to violence as a means o political expression.

Although social media can be used as an outlet or hate, evidentrom the spreading o anti-Islamic sentiments attributed to thegunman Anders Behring Breivik on right-wing undamentalistwebsites, social media also can be a positive mobilizing orce, inthis case bringing out thousands o people on short notice to standwith one voice denouncing terrorism and promoting peace anddemocracy.

www.oscepa.org

Norwegian Prime MinisterJens Stoltenberg speaks at a

memorial ceremony in Oslothat was organzied online andbrought more than 150,000people together in support ofthe victims killed in the July2012 massacre on UtoyaIsland..

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Armenia

Citizen ObserversCivil society: Improving election inormation

In the spring o 2012, Armenia took a major step orwardembracing the internet as a tool or political and social change. Asinternational election observers descended on Yerevan or Maysparliamentary elections, Armenians launched outreach initiativesonline, inorming citizens about electoral rules and empoweringthem to report alleged problems on election monitoring websites.

Te non-governmental organization Journalists or the Futuredeveloped the site Irazek.am, which also linked to a similar site,iDitord.org, to give people inormation and a voice in the conducto their own elections.

Irazek.am is an interactive community platorm aimed at bringingabout positive change through the ree fow o electoral inormationand helping voters make an inormed decision on election day, saidSuren Deheryan, president o Journalists or the Future.

Te website, supported by the OSCE and the U.S. Embassy,provides inormation on candidates, legislation, the role o citizensin elections, and locations o polling stations. Irazek.am also hadan interactive message board or observers, which received 171messages leading up to and throughout Election Day. Te website

linked to iDitord.org, an interactive election monitoring andreporting site, that also enables every citizen to be an observer.

In Armenia, ap