Maby Sven:
I have been looking into some funding the last couple of days and i believe that we should plan, or conceptualize, the idea of establishing a working closely knit working relationship. Maybe working first towards a convention of some sort. If you seek EU cultural funding for conventions that have more than 3 participant countries the funding is around 50.000 euro. Seeing that our goal is increasing the participation of citizens, this fits well with some of the opportunities for funding. If we from such a convention could develop a concept of working toward a greater goal as whole with 6 participating countries for a period of longer than two years the funding is 500.000 euro. This alone stands as a strong argument for building a momentum at this point; both in terms of choosing to work with a common platform and getting media attention. In connection to the ability to handle complexity of the WeDecide platform I will let Erdem speak for that, but only add, that any platform which is simple can be built, over time, to accommodate for complexity.
I think we would be able to build a strong case for such funding, seeing that our initiative has both an informational aspect (magazine) and a citizen participation aspect (e2d + wedecide). Seeing that Erdem has great connections to some of the larger media channels and companies, and *.topia has some interesting connections to leading danish politicians and different interest groups, we would be able to quickly mobilize an interesting convention in Denmark about the future of democracy online.
Niels Kjær Olsen:
I have previously worked as a the lead project manager for large scale events such as Worlds Greatest Catwalk (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7jxqHcUmgE&feature=related) and Copenhagen Fashion Week (08-11) (eg.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUjuA0W6zNU) and furthermore as a production assistant at many films such as The Last Airbender (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-egQ79OrYCs).
I would be happy to apply my skills, utilize my event network in terms of using it to arrange a convention - if we can decide on a plan of having some sort of e-democracy convention in Copenhagen maybe early next year.
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Niels Kjær Olsen:
I think, if we three could start working together on making a pilot and a program for the convention over the next weeks, then the funding part of it is secondary. I have some insight into it, and certainly know people who know more about it. I would have no problem taking care of the the logistics and funding part, if you are prepared to do some of the footwork in the beginning.
I suggest the following plan:
- I will collect the exact information and hence the demands for the funding.
- We need to create more attention and get 'an influential backer in the EU' - the best way to do this is to use the magazine to get in touch with danish politicians about democracy and see who is most crazy about the idea and then use them to indirectly back the project by quoting an interview with them in the project application and having them speak at the conference.
- Convince a university they have an interest in backing such a conference (Copenhagen Business School - eg. Rony Medaglia as an entry point).
- We start creating a 1 page document that describe the goal of the convention and why it is needed - what is exactly we want to discuss (the point should be to look at the experience gained from running the pilot of these three countries on the same platform).
- Find three parties located in the EU that are willing to, for a trial period, use the WeDecide platform (*.topia could be one, maybe in cooperation with DDIK.DK)
- Make list of suggested speakers from around the EU and problems that need to be addressed at the convention
With 50.000 Euro we could do some decent convention. And with the EU backing people suddenly become more "willing" to give you more money.
magatopia:
If we are to get started with raising some money for such a convention next year we need the following:
- A signed document with a short introduction of the party, its member base etc, and a commitment to an international congress in copenhagen 2013 or 2014
- Each dedicated party should make a 'one page' document describing their approach, what they expect to get from a conference like this:
- what kind of 'content ' (in the form of speaker or other) they would bring to the conference
- who they would like to see external speakers (like politicians, scientists or other).
From this *.topia can start creating a project description for the convention and start working towards both funding and getting some important organizations and interesting people involved and behind the project.
All interested parties should start emailing these to
niels@magasinettopie.dk or
info@magasinettopia.dk