Proposal for Program of Activities

(14 August 1995)

At its meeting of 8 August 1995, the executive council offered for discussion a proposal defining six areas of major concern for the Center, each to have its own specific work group.

1. Research:

The original proposal for constitution of the Center offered the following themes for research.

• · Research on the impact (degree of correlation) of newly evolving information technologies (IT) on decision-making in public affairs; characterization of the attributes of new IT regarding their enabling/disabling effect on different decision models across time.

• · Inventory of current points of least resistance to the introduction of new information technologies in support of the development of practices of participatory democracy: Decision-makers (political and technical) open to participatory democracy and associated practices; Entities where there already exists, for public consultation, information in digital form; Legal domains where forms of participatory democracy are already institutionalized (for example, in environmental impact reviews); Thematic areas where the need for information has already been identified, or where there seems to be public demand.

• · Development of conceptual models of representation, organization, and access to information that would facilitate mechanisms of participatory democracy; Production of prototypes and functional systems for applying these models.

• · Study and experimentation on reform of mechanisms and processes for decision-making in public institutions or other organizations of public interest, with the intention of optimizing the use of new information technologies to benefit both participatory democracy and rights to privacy.

• · Study of the dynamics of development and intervention by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) throughout Europe, in aspects related to participatory democracy.

[Please note that both CITIDEP Research Goals and Plan were already updated]

2. Education and Training:

Considering the importance of new information technologies, the growing necessity for means of consultation and of public participation in democratic institutions, and the desire and the lack of knowledge of the public about these areas, training in new information technologies and participatory democracy should be emphasized as a relevant activity, able to touch and respond to the felt needs of different sectors of the population.

Thus the center will promote education and training activities, taking into account:

- Diverse audiences

• · Teachers at various levels of education, and other professionals in the area of human development

• · Universities (through conferences, and proposals for curriculum reform that could lead to the creation of new undergraduate courses of study in this area)

• · Professionals in various fields

• · Professional associations that promote training

• · Businesses

- Operations: the Center will function as interlocutor with diverse entities in the following ways:

• · Through the establishment of agreements with public authorities, institutions of higher education, and other organizations, for provision and funding of trainers;

• · Proposing curriculum and training models that would be contracted for, and implemented, within interested entities;

• · Offering training and courses to interested parties within the Center's own facilities.

In order to realize these objectives, the associated work group will immediately proceed with the following activities:

- Compilation of existing legislation concerning training;

- Establishing of contacts with other entities interested in training;

- Survey of persons connected to the Center as to whether they are available and qualified to offer training, with the end of creating a team of trainers within the Center. As part of this, the Center ought to develop its own means of evaluating members;

- Survey of facilities and equipment that could be used by the Center for its training activities.

As a first activity in this initiative, the Center should establish its own internal course on participatory democracy and new information technologies.

3. Information and Documentation:

The Center should be dedicated to disseminating information on its activities both to the public and its own members, as a means of creating a dynamic of innovation and development in the area of new information technologies and participatory democracy, through adequate dissemination of its activities in the media. Thus, this work group should promote the following:

• · the publication of a journal of opinion for external distribution, that would publish articles by members of the Center, and be also open to collaboration by other investigators at the national and international levels. This journal of opinion would function as an instrument of promotion and of information dissemination regarding the activities of the Center and other related organizations;

• · the publication of an Internal Bulletin, for circulation among members;

• · The formation of a Press Office, responsible for issuing press releases that publicize Center activities and also other national and international news and events of significance in the area of IT and PD;

• · The creation of a Documentation Center open for public consultation, concerning questions related to IT and PD, particularly material on "hot" issues of the day that might have the potential of influencing public opinion. The Documentation Center ought to function in articulation with other existing data bases and archives, through agreements established with the entities who house or control them;

• · The production of multi-media materials by the Center, such as videos and CD-ROMs;

• · The establishment of an agreement with a publishing house (or the creation of the Center's own publishing house) for the publication of studies and other short works by members;

• · The translation of all the materials and publications of the Center into the following languages: Portuguese, English, French and Spanish;

• · Study of possible sites for locating the headquarters of the Center.

4. Broad Domains for Public Participation:

The following areas are relevant for the activities of the Center in this area:

• · Heritage

• · Urban Planning

• · Environment

• · Health

• · Civil and Social Rights

• · Regionalization

• · Maastricht Treaty

Examples of activities for development:

- Completion of an assessment of broad questions related to these themes;

- Organizing of dossiers of typical cases that could serve as a base for student work, to be included in courses of study at the secondary and higher education levels.

- Fostering public debates that would touch on matters of pressing public concern;

- Fostering of research projects at the masters and doctoral levels in these areas.

5. Legislation and Institutional Reform:

The following objectives suggest themselves for this work group:

- Cooperate with a "opinion movement" towards developping legislation establishing institutional reforms responsive to the interactions between new IT and Participatory Democracy;

- The elaboration of legislative proposals and institutional reform for presentation to agents of political power.

6. External Relations and Inter-Institutional Cooperation:

It is important that a work group exists, in support of all the others, that would:

• · Foster the creation of nuclei of the Center in all the countries of the European Union;

• · Compile a register of funding possibilities, at the national and European levels, for financing of the Center's activities;

• · Assess and recognize other organizations with comparative or complementary objectives to those of the Center;

• · Study possibilities for collaborative agreements with other organizations, with the view of sharing of information, infrastructure, and other resources.

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