nowEurope

Yesterday, I was a speaker at the Digital Cities conference hosted by the city government of Schwechat, a town located just outside of Vienna next to the airport. The topic was “Is the digital city prepared for the impact of new technologies?” (That was my rough translation from the German.) I was asked to give a talk entitled Social networks: how social is a blog?

On the train back from Vienna I got to thinking about conferences. I’ve attended many. Over the years I’ve developed a good strategy for getting the most out of any conference. I follow three rules …

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Reverting to the publication of the comparative survey study about e-Government in Central Europe, let’s keep in mind that the Austrian Computer Society (OCG) will organise the third Eastern European eGov Days in Budapest on March 17-18 2005, in conjunction with the fourth Austrian eGov Days in Vienna (14-16 March 2005). The Eastern European eGov Days are jointly managed by the Budapest University of Economic Sciences and Public Administration.

The 2005 eGov days will address a number of topics including the opportunities and potentials existing for SMEs in doing business with government.

For more information:
Forum for European e-Public services

In August the Economist Intelligence Unit published a comparative survey study focused on introducing e-government in the Central Europe. The white paper style publication covers the new member states from Central Europe, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.

Seven weighted criteria were examined for each of the countries ranked, collectively comprising 35 separate qualitative and quantitative indicators – Connectivity and technology infrastructure, Business and legal environment, Education and skills base, Government policy and vision, E-democracy, Online services for citizens and for businesses. The survey methodology was based on in-depth interviews with programme managers and direct participants in the local development.

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