TOPIC STREAM 01: Open Democracy and Citizen Movements

The Open Democracy and Citizen Movements stream explores the recent moves towards a more open and participatory democracy and society. Online tools allow people to speak, be heard, find each other and take collective action in new ways. The stream will showcase and debate the topic starting with the formal means of the new democracy as for instance, the crowdsourced Icelandic constitutional reform, participatory budgeting and European citizens’ initiatives. The theme carries on to to the informal, non-mandated citizen movements that are shaping our societies from the bottom up.


Featured Speakers:

  • Carsten Berg, Deputy Chairman, Democracy International
  • Tanja Aitamurto, visiting researcher, Stanford University
  • Finnur Magnusson, worked as the CTO for two large scale crowdsourcing events in Iceland as well as the Icelandic Constitution Council
  • Tiago Peixoto, Open Government Specialist, the World Bank

Finalised Programming

The main day for the Open Democracy and Citizen Movements stream is Thursday 20th, but we have some session throughout the week. Please check back to this page for the latest updates on the sessions as things may still move around a bit.


Session 1 Manybills.us + Commons for Europe + Law Is Code

Wednesday 19th September, 11:30-13:00 @ INSPIRE Meeting Room

11:30 - 12:00 - Open Government, Transparency and Visualization: Lessons Learned in Visualizing US Congressional Legislation - Yannick Assogba, Research Developer at IBM Research

12:00 - 12:30 - Commons for Europe: Orchestrating Collaboration with Coders and Citizens - Ivonne Jansen-Dings and Miriam Reitenbach from Waag Society

12:30 - 13:00 - Law Is Code : parliament amendments as commits - Tangui Morlier, Cofounder of Regards Citoyens

>> VIDEO DOCUMENTATION


Session 2 Icelandic Constitution Process + Open Democracy in Practice

Thursday 20th September, 11:30-13:00 @ INSPIRE Auditorium

11:30 - 12:00 - The Icelandic constitution process under the hood - Finnur Magnusson

12:20 - 13:00 - Panel: Open Democracy in Practice - Crowdsourcing & Open Data

Panel leader: Tanja Aitamurto, visiting researcher, Liberation Technology Program, Stanford University @tanjaaita, www.tanjaaitamurto.com

Panel members:

  • Bilal Randeree, Journalist
  • Carsten Berg, Deputy Chairman, Democracy International
  • Finnur Magnusson, former CTO of the Icelandic constitution council, Iceland, @gommit
  • Joonas Pekkanen, Founder, Open Ministry, @joonaspekkanen

>> VIDEO DOCUMENTATION


Session 3 Making Transnational Digital Democracy Work + How to Link ‘We’ And ‘the State’

Thursday 20th September, 14:00-15:30 @ INSPIRE Auditorium

14:00 - 14:45 - Entering new territory – making transnational digital democracy work - Carsten Berg, General Coordinator of the ECI Campaign; Democracy International

14:45 - 15:30 - Partner state: prototyping open process with citizen movements and politicians - Henri Vogt, University of Turku and Outi Kuittinen, Demos Helsinki

>> VIDEO DOCUMENTATION


Session 4 Workshop – Partner state: prototyping open process with citizen movements and politicians

Thursday 20th September, 16:00-17:30 @ INSPIRE Foyer

Henri Vogt, University of Turku and Outi Kuittinen, Demos Helsinki

>> VIDEO DOCUMENTATION: PART 1 (INTRODUCTION) + PART2 (RESULTS) + PART3 (RESULTS)


Session 5 #occupyopen + Nordic Openness + Basque open government + Towards a New Democracy

Friday 21st September, 14:00-15:30 @ INSPIRE Foyer

14:00 - 14:25 #occupyopen: an action-manifesto for a narrative of open and progressive development, Andrea Rota, co-founder, Xelera and director, Liquid Culture.

14:25 - 14:50 Openness in Nordic Political Culture, Carl Marklund, Södertörn University, Sweden

14:50 - 15:05 Open Government agencies and civil society, the right allies for an inside job, Nagore de los Ríos, Director of Open Government, Basque Government, Spain

15:05 - 15:30 Towards a New Democracy, Mr. Derek Bates, Reflective Productions LLP

>> VIDEO DOCUMENTATION


Session 6 Participatory Budgeting – Involving Citizens in Decision-Making of Public Spending

Friday 21st September, 16:00-16:45 @ MEET 8th floor Auditorium

16:00 - 16:45 Participatory budgeting - involving citizens in decision-making of public spending, Mr. Tiago Peixoto, the World Bank

>> VIDEO DOCUMENTATION


Participant Testimonials:

“I find it interesting to see a new wave of democratic renewal taking place accross established democracies and not only the emerging democracies. Citizens are getting more interested in politics and taking collective action. In this stream, I want to explore both the formal and informal ways that this is currently taking shape.” Joonas Pekkanen, OKfestival Guest Programme Planner, Open Ministry. >> http://avoinministerio.fi / http://openministry.info

Guest Programme Planners:

  • Joonas Pekkanen, joonas (at) pekkanen.org, Avoin ministeriö, Open Ministry
  • Teemu Ropponen, teemu.ropponen (at) om.fi, Ministry of Justice
  • Roope Mokka, roope.mokka (at) demos.fi, Demos Helsinki
  • Raimo Muurinen, raimo.muurinen (at) gmail.com, Otavan opisto, Avanto insight
  • Lucy Chambers, lucy.chambers (at) okfn.org, OKFN OpenSpending