Exploring technology & politics at the Personal Democracy Forum, Barcelona

The Personal Democracy Forum Europe is taking place in Barcelona on October 4^th and 5^th. We’re co-sponsoring the event so a few of us will be heading down to mingle with the best and the brightest minds in the “internet + politics” space.

Why are we involved? In short, the Internet is revolutionising the interaction between citizens, civil society, business and politicians. As the world’s largest conference on how technology is changing politics, the Personal Democracy Forum conference is the best place to meet, discuss and understand these changes. The programme is already jam packed and includes everything from Europe’s Digital Agenda to mapping the political influence of Twitter.

Who is going? Leaders in the political/digital field: campaigners, NGO’ers, journalists, bloggers, politicians, technologists and many more with first-hand experience of how democracy is being transformed online.  Not least Alec Ross, senior advisor to Hillary Clinton, Randi Zuckerberg of Facebook fame, Marietje Schaake MEP, Constantijn van Oranje-Nassau, Prince of the Netherlands and Cabinet Member of Neelie Kroes, and Dominic Campbell, Founder of Future Gov.

But we are not just there to socialise and soak up the Spanish sun; no we are also going to be hosting a session on the European Citizens’ Initiative. Andrew Rasiej, one of the founders of Personal Democracy Forum, was talking last week in our podcast about the potential for the internet to help direct the usage of government resources. And already the Initiative has seen innovative use of online media to reach out across Europe and get support for legislative proposals. As such it is a perfect case in point from which to examine the true impact of our digital age.

If you can’t make it to Barcelona in person then don’t worry you can follow everything on the PdF Twitter feed (or indeed ours) or from the Personal Democracy Forum website.

Rosalyn