February 3, 2009
Spain
Sponsored by eBD, the event featured the Director of IT Development from Spain's Ministry of Industry, David Cierco, who represented government 2.0; the MP and political blogger, Jorge Moragas (politics 2.0); the prominent socio-economic blogger and entrepreneur, Marc Vidal (citizen 2.0), and the Vice-President of the ESADE Alumni Public Management Club, Óscar Cortés.
All speakers coincided on the need to promote social networks across the board and particularly in public administration so that citizens are given the chance to express opinions and leaders the chance to make their opinions known. On this note, the citizen 2.0 Marc Vidal commented that "politicians are slowly beginning to accept that democracy 2.0 is less participative and more deliberative," but he insisted that "social networks set up by politicians and the government haven't proved a hit yet."
David Cierco pointed out that social networks are proof that the concept of a citizen is now one who calls for a leading role in day-to-day activities and that the government must take heed of these demands. He stressed that "any social, political or economic activity lacking the set-up of a virtual community could be a recipe for disaster." Leading on from this, Cierco suggested that the authorities should take on a pivotal role in this new-found reality by adopting these technological advances, as citizens must be kept happy. What's more, in moments of economic change, social barriers prove dangerous and it should be the authorities in charge of tackling them.
The People's Party MP, Jorge Moragas, described social networks as "new windows which open the opportunity to give a human touch to officialdom." He continued, "I've been pushing for social networks to be prioritised in my party as no forward-looking person can ignore their reality."
The materialisation of 2.0
David Cierco underlined that "social networks are already up-and-running within public administration and this is reflected in the Plan Avanza." He explained that this plan was a Socialist Party election promise and prior to its Senate approval and launch, a commission was formed and made up by representatives from across society (autonomous governments, city halls, regional councils, NGOs, companies, etc.) This plan, therefore, is the first step but Cierco did admit that "there are very few public spaces on the Internet and the authorities have their work cut out in starting up virtual communities."
The 2.0 citizen Marc Vidal's opinion is that "social platforms are disconcerting for the authorities because they are beyond their control." He also pointed out that "examples of the government listening to citizens are few and far between." One model to follow, though, is a Slovenian autonomous community where 60% of municipal budgets are jointly decided upon through social networks.
Jorge Moragas highlighted his party's belief that social networks are the future, so much so that the last party congress was broadcast in real time on the Net and online users were able to input ideas, a third of which were included in the conference conclusions. He also reminded the audience that "the People's Party has been redesigning its website for some time and it will go live in February."
About ESADE ALUMNI
ESADE is a modern, outward-looking academic institution, which contributes to the development of competent, critically minded individuals from its two educational areas: the ESADE Business School and the ESADE Law School. Founded in 1958, ESADE has campuses in Barcelona, Madrid and Buenos Aires and collaborates with over 100 universities and business schools worldwide. With a clear international focus and a unique global perspective, ESADE has been named the number one international business school world-wide by The Wall Street Journal in 2006 and 2007. Today, ESADE Alumni has an active network of over 35.000 alumni holding senior-level positions in companies on all five continents.
For more information, visit: http://www.esade.edu.
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