Aspiring to the Global Possibilities

Jonathan Ortmans, President of Public Forum Institute, led participants through a process of identifying what is possible for the e-Democracy field for the future, specifically: “What could we do together? What should we be aspiring to achieve?”


3 minutes, 27 seconds

Participants at each table (see photos below, click to enlarge) discussed for 3 minutes what they felt was the most important issue for the future of e-democracy and then reported that to the entire group. Listen to the audio of the reports:

6 minutes, 2 seconds

The entire group then voted on these 9 items, using the Public Forum Institute’s eForum audience response system with the wireless, handheld units that I described in an earlier blog post.

The top vote getter was #6: Greater initiative, energy and engagement by citizens.

e-Government Strategy: The UK Approach

Presenters on how the United Kingdom is taking forward the e-Government and the e-Participation strategy included:

Julian Bowrey, Department for Communities and Local Government and Head of Division for Sustainable Communities, UK


12 minutes, 6 seconds

Julia Glidden, Managing Director of 21c Consultancy Ltd., UK


9 minutes, 21 seconds

Julian moderated the Q and A portion

9 minutes, 14 seconds

e-Participation Success Stories

This presentation shared best practices and innovative e-Government strategies that have been put into practice around the world.

Daniel van Lehrberg, President of Politech Institute, Brussels


12 minutes, 48 seconds

Yigal Arens, Director, USC/Columbia Digital Government Research Center, USA


7 minutes, 57 seconds

Robert Deller, Research Associate, Politech Institute


8 minutes, 41 seconds

Research Findings, Discussion

In Baltimore, Lawrence Pratchett (left) and Don Norris repeated their Budapest presentations on their comparative studies into local e-democracy at the municipal level in Europe and North America.

See these blog posts for their audio: Pratchett’s remarks; Norris’ remarks.

After their presentations, Dylan moderated the Q and A:

8 minutes, 29 seconds

Opening of the Baltimore Conference

Opening of the Conference

Dylan Jeffrey, Department for Communities and Local Government, United Kingdom and Symposium Director; Chair: Andrew Pinder, CBE, President of International Centre of Excellence in Local e-Democracy



7 minutes, 38 seconds (both combined)

Opening Keynote Addresses and Welcome

Mary D. Kane, Secretary of State for Maryland, USA


3 minutes, 57 seconds

Jonathan Ortmans, President of Public Forum Institute, USA


11 minutes, 37 seconds

Richard Kerby, United Nations Department for Economic and Social
Affairs Senior Inter-Regional Advisor on e-Government


8 minutes, 15 seconds

Arthur Johnson, Provost, University of Maryland, Baltimore County


5 minutes, 7 seconds

Leslie Reynolds, Executive Director of the National Association of Secretaries of State


7 minutes, 8 seconds

Feedback from Budapest

At 9:30 on Thursday, reflections on last week’s Budapest Symposium were provided by:

Cllr. Mary Reid, Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, UK

10 minutes, 18 seconds

Cllr. Matthew Ellis, Deputy leader of Lichfield Borough Council and member of Staffordshire County Council, UK

11 minutes, 24 seconds

Aug. 6th update: I’ve added this audio clip of Mary’s closing comments.

1 minute, 56 seconds

The Public Forum Institute in Baltimore

The Public Forum Institute was a partner for the Symposium and in Baltimore, they took over all the tech tasks for all the presentations.

L to R: Jonathan Ortmans and Mark Marich, Mark and Jeff Jendel, and Jonathan. Click photos to enlarge.

They also deployed their eForum audience response system which, as described on their website,

“… transforms audience members into fully engaged participants, enabling them to make a valuable contribution throughout the course of our forums. Forum participants are given wireless, handheld units to anonymously respond to questions posed throughout the day by speakers, moderators, panelists, or each other. Results are immediately tabulated and displayed on monitors or screens for all to see – providing instant citizen feedback for policymakers and timely statistics for reporters covering the forum. Keypads help the Forum turn a dry, one-way flow of information into a dynamic back-and-forth between hundreds or even thousands of motivated participants.”

Next week I’ll have audio of the session in which Jonathon moderated using the eForum technology.