Introduction

Dear readers,

Welcome to the third newsletter of the Demos@Work project! Thank you for your interest in our work.

Our vision is to facilitate European-wide discussion between elected representatives and civil society via the use of ICT on the harmful effects of smoking, an emerging policy issues that has a potential impact on all countries within the European Union.

The focus of Demos@Work is mainly on citizens and politicians. We are creating, with the support of the EU, an online collaborative platform (www.demosatwork.org) that aims to facilitate dialogue between regional/national-level elected representatives, the European parliament and citizens on health issues. It will use and test forms and methods of civic engagement. This will be achieved by configuring and putting into trial a secure, mobile environment through which elected representatives are able not only to engage with citizens on policy issues, but also to communicate and collaborate with their peers.

Your active involvement, feedback and experiences are valuable. Therefore, we would like to invite you to actively take part by sending us your views and information on relevant activities and events as well as by participating in the story telling section on our site. We are also very much interested in hearing about similar initiatives.

The Demos@work newsletter features brief updates on our activities and on other related initiatives in the fields of e-democracy, e-government, citizen participation and legislative technologies, including useful links, resources and events.

Thank you,
The demos@work team

top >>

Project news

Reconnecting citizens with politics and policy making – what is happening now and what should be done in future

A jointed workshop between the European eParticipation study and the Demos@Work project took place in the framework of the 7th Eastern European eGovernment Days the 22nd April 2009 at Prague.The workshop had the ePractice label.

During the workshop initial results from these two initiatives were presented giving participants an opportunity to learn at first hand what the research is demonstrating and how future work should be designed.

Audience included eParticipation Research Project Members, Representatives of industry and academia, National Government and Local Administration officers interested in cutting-edge advancements in the research of electronic participation.

Topics covered, include:

• Electronic participation systems at local, national, regional or international level
• Processes for engaging both MPs and MEPs
• Approaches for enhancing the participation of civil society in the decision process
• Legislation-oriented eParticipation systems, involving NGOs and representative bodies
• Argument visualisation and semantic annotation techniques

Demos@work exhibited in the framework of the first European eParticipation Day

Demos@work was exhibited in the framework of the first European eParticipation Day organised by the European Commission and held on 4 March 2009in Brussels, Belgium. It aimed to highlight how Information and Communication Technologies are transforming the political landscape and to enhance and boost eParticipation - the use of ICTs to give ordinary people more of a say in the decisions that affect them. Participants were also able to visit an exhibition of 21 eParticipation projects that have been funded under programmes run by DG Information Society and Media to learn more about their activities and achievements.
More than 340 people registered for the event from 33 countries. Participants came from the European Parliament, the European Commission, national parliaments, regional and local authorities, universities, NGOs (including youth organisations) and the private sector.

For more information on the event click here

top >>

Forthcoming

The demos@work project will be presented in the 1st eParticipation conference at Linz, Austria the 31st August - 4th September 2009

The conference specifically provides a ground for researchers of distinct disciplines to come together and discuss advances of eParticipation research from distinct disciplinary angles.

For more information click here

top >>

Interesting initiatives

Tobacco Free Europe campaign launched at the EU Parliament

The Tobacco Free Europe campaign was officially launched on 7 May 2009 at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The overall aim of the campaign is to promote tobacco control as a key health priority during the forthcoming European elections, as well as to build alliances with politicians and policy makers. ‘The Tobacco Free Europe Pledge’ was open for signature by all Members of the European Parliament at this occasion.

For more information click here

Smokefree legislation across Europe : interactive map online

In March 2009, the Smokefree Partnership launched an interactive map on Smokefree legislation across Europe. The new interactive map shows that all EU Member States currently have some form of regulation aimed at limiting exposure to second-hand smoke. However, the scope of these regulations differs widely within the EU. Furthermore, in more than half of the Member States, citizens and workers are still not fully protected from exposure to tobacco smoke in indoor workplaces and public places. The map provides an overview of the current state of compliance with Article 8 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in the EU countries

For more information click here

top >>

Publications

2009 Flash Eurobarometer on smoking

"According to the latest Flash Eurobarometer, published today 20 March 2009, an overwhelming majority of EU citizens support smoke-free public places, such as offices (84%), restaurants (79%), bars, pubs and clubs (65%).
These results confirm the overwhelming support that smoke-free policies have in the EU.

Even if there seems to be a clear trend towards the reduction of exposure to tobacco smoke at the work place in Europe, a fifth of European workers are still exposed to tobacco smoke on a daily basis.

The Flash Eurobarometer also shows that more than half (55%) of EU citizens perceive that adding a colour picture to a text-only health warnings on the tobacco packs would strengthen the message."

To view the report click here

top >>

Events

20th IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion
11-15 July 2010, Geneva, Switzerland

The aim of the conference is to reach beyond the public health and health promotion sector and to provide a great opportunity to facilitate and advance the work for health promotion.

For more information click here

Communicate, Collaborate, Celebrate
5-6 October 2009,Cardiff UK

Communicate, Collaborate, Celebrate is a two day tobacco control conference that recognizes the importance of working in partnership across diverse agencies, of spreading the tobacco control message and of celebrating successes in reducing prevalence rates

For more information click here

top >>