(Via Planet Eduforge)

The ever-alert Robin Good appears to have scooped everyone on the launch of the European Citizen’s Initiative. Democracy is supposed to be participatory, but broadcast media replaced citizen participation with TV commercials. Perhaps the availability of many to many media and initiatives like ECI will tip the balance back toward citizens?

In the age of ubiquitous participatory culture - from the explosion in user generated media to the very way we do business, art, collaboration and even education - the world of politics often feels left behind. Democracy has become indirect, stale and something far removed from the daily lives of everyday people. But this is changing.

Participatory democracy is high on the agenda of the European Citizens Initiative (or ECI) who are launching their campaign today in the European Parliament in Brussels. The aim of this ambitious campaign is to empower citizens to propose concrete policy and legal changes to the European Commission, by exercising the right of initiative. With hundreds of organizations behind them, and volunteers in their thousands, the ECI are determined to show that collective action can have a direct impact on the way we live our lives as active producers, rather than passive consumers of democracy.

(Via Planet Eduforge)
The ever-alert Robin Good appears to have scooped everyone on the launch of the European Citizen’s Initiative. Democracy is supposed to be participatory, but broadcast media replaced citizen participation with TV commercials. Perhaps the availability of many to many media and initiatives like ECI will tip the balance back toward citizens?

In the age [...]