About the ProjectWeGovWG_2f5dfd18-8d56-11e1-9160-84ad31ac8a04European CommissionThis project has been funded with support from the European Commission under the SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME THEME ICT 2009.7.3 ICT for Governance and Policy Modelling .Policy makers to move away from the limitations inherent in the current practice of using bespoke and dedicated platforms and instead make full use of the high levels of participation and rich discussions that already take place in existing social networking communities._2f5dfef8-8d56-11e1-9160-84ad31ac8a04To engage citizens in two-way dialogs as part of governance and policymaking processes._2f5dffa2-8d56-11e1-9160-84ad31ac8a04Social Networking CommunitiesA key feature of our approach is to allow policy makers to move away from the limitations inherent in the current practice of using bespoke and dedicated platforms (e.g. specific opinion soliciting websites hosted by government) and instead make full use of the high levels of participation and rich discussions that already take place in existing social networking communities. In this way, WeGov will develop the tools and techniques for closing the loop between policy makers and the citizens.Citizen Engagement ToolsetTo develop a toolset that allows full advantage to be taken of a wide range of existing and well established social networking sites to engage citizens in two-way dialogs as part of governance and policymaking processes._2f5e0024-8d56-11e1-9160-84ad31ac8a04CitizensPolicymakersFacebookTwitterBeboWordPressSocial networking technology provides major new opportunities for policy makers (eGovernment) to engage with the community (eSociety).We will develop a toolset that allows full advantage to be taken of a wide range of existing and well established social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, WordPress etc.) to engage citizens in two-way dialogs as part of governance and policymaking processes. Opinions and DiscussionsDetect, track and mine opinions and discussions on policy oriented topics._2f5e009c-8d56-11e1-9160-84ad31ac8a041The tools will make it possible to detect, track and mine opinions and discussions on policy oriented topics.Seeding and StimulationSeed and stimulate discussion through injection of policy discussion points into relevant communities in a secure and managed way._2f5e0128-8d56-11e1-9160-84ad31ac8a042The tools will allow discussions to be seeded and stimulated through injection of policy discussion points into relevant communities in a secure and managed way. Records, Trust and PrivacyProvide auditable records of provenance, guard against misuse, and ensure trust and privacy._2f5e01b4-8d56-11e1-9160-84ad31ac8a043The tools will allow the origins, bias and evolution of opinions to be tracked to provide auditable records of provenance, guard against misuse, and ensure trust and privacy for all involved.2012-04-23http://wegov-project.eu/OwenAmburOwen.Ambur@verizon.net