In
an effort to reconstruct the concept of democracy in the digital era, 24 young
people from various European countries came together in a 2-day interactive co-laboratory
which took place on the 14th -15th September. Through the
Structured Democratic Dialogue Process, participants were given the opportunity
to re-imagine the characteristics that an ideal system of governance should
have, one that would make full use of innovative emerging technologies.
During
the co-laboratory that was facilitated by the head of the non-governmental organisation
«Future Worlds Center», Dr. Yiannis Laouris, and Dr. Afonso Ferreira, currently
seconded as expert to the European Commission, DG INFSO, working at the Future
& Emerging Technologies unit, participants invested over 500 man-hours to
think, discuss, analyse, and ultimately vote in order to determine which are
the most fundamental features that when implemented, could bring about the most
grounding change for an ideal system of governance.
The
co-laboratory made continuous use of the latest technology, as ideas were electronically
recorded, compiled and processed so as to finally produce a map with all the
data collected. The map that was gradually produced shows the manner in which if
certain of the characteristics suggested were to be implemented, certain others
could be immediately facilitated, as the key characteristics branch out and
lead us to derivatives.
While
ideas developed around the key question of "what are the features of an
ideal future system of governance that fully utilises innovative emerging
technologies?”, participants concluded that the most influential of all the
characteristics were firstly the End of
Political Parties as Institutions, the use of Technology for Time Management of Active Participation, the Re-definition of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, and finally the Continuous
Passive and Active Participation of citizens in the Political Process via an
Online Platform.
By
the end of the process, participants had collectively developed a vision and a
shared commitment on how to propose and promote their suggested ideas with the
vision to achieve reform, each starting in their own ideal socio-politico-economic
systems of governance.
The results of the co-laboratory will be widely disseminated on-line with the support of the Cyprus Community Media Center, using video clips and modern digital technologies. The aim is to circulate these amongst other youth initiatives across the world and inspire further innovative suggestions for reform.
The
co-laboratory took place back-to-back with the Cyprus EU Youth Conference,
which built on the priority of the Cypriot Presidency to address the topic of
Youth Participation in democratic life in Europe, as one of the main priorities
of the trio PL-DK-CY adopted by the Ministers' meeting at the Council of
Education, Youth, Culture and Sport.
The
co-laboratory was the result of a joint initiative between the Future Worlds
Center and the Digital Futures Task Force. It was implemented under the patronage
of the Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism, Sport, Media and
Youth, Mrs Androulla Vassiliou, and was under the auspices of the Cyprus Ministry
of Education and Culture, the Mayor of Nicosia, Mr. Constantinos Yiorkadjis,
and the Youth for Exchange and Understanding.
For
more information visit:http://www.futureworlds.eu/wiki/SDDP_Reinventing_Democracy_in_the_Digital_Era
