Baltic and Mediterranean – Shared Future in Action, A Euro-Mediterranean Gathering under the Mid-Night Sun

The international conference “Baltic and Mediterranean – Shared Future in Action, A Euro-Mediterranean Gathering under the Mid-Night Sun” - organised by the TAPRI Mediterranean Studies Project and Finnish Anna Lindh Foundation network (ALF) in Tampere Peace Research Institute, University of Tampere; European Institute of Mediterranean (IEMed, Barcelona); the MEDA Institute of Tampere Polytechnic University of Applied Sciences and the Baltic Institute of Finland - was held in Tampere on 2-3 June 2008.

The conference gathered together some seventy experts and civil servants from almost twenty different countries around the Baltic and the Mediterranean Sea regions. The conference was a follow-up to a similar conference, organised by the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), Generalitat de Catalunya, the Gävle region of Sweden and the Tampere Peace Research Institute, University of Tampere, in Barcelona in 2002 within a similar comparative framework. The conference themes were scientific and educational cooperation, social, political and cultural issues, and economic cooperation.

Materials:

Conference report (pdf)

Esa Kokkonen’s presentation ”Baltic – Mediterranean Cooperation: A Baltic Sea Region Perspective” (pdf, ppt)

eCitizen 2.0 - The Second Preparation Seminar

Challenge of eCitizen - Promoting eGovernment Actions in European Cities", a project financed by the EU’s INTERREG IIIC North programme, ended in December 2007. Concrete results of eCitizen and the strong will of the project partners to continue the well-established cooperation have encouraged to start planning a new phase in interregional collaboration on eGovernment actions.

To support the preparation of the follow-up project for eCitizen, eCitizen 2.0, a preparation seminar was organised in Helsinki on 7-8 May. The main goal of the seminar was to discuss the objectives and activities of the new project and to strengthen the partnership of eCitizen 2.0.

Besides presentations on social media and Interreg IVC financing programme, the seminar included a lot of discussion to ensure that potential partners could contribute to the preparation. Some 35 participants took part in the seminar, the results of which will be utilised in further planning of the project.

The seminar was co-organised by the Baltic Institute of Finland and the Union of the Baltic Cities, Commission on Information Society.

Materials from the seminar:

Seminar programme (pdf, 0,04 MB)
Participant list (pdf, 0,04 MB)

Presentations:

Presentation of the general framework for eCitizen 2.0  / Ms Katja Kaunismaa, BIF (pdf, 0,24 MB) 
Interreg IVC - Programme frames for eCitizen 2.0 / Ms Katja Kaunismaa, BIF (pdf, 0,06 MB)Social Media and Web 2.0 – Challenges for the public sector / Professor Jarmo Viteli, University of Tampere (pdf, 0,35 MB)
Interaction hierarchy of citizens and authorities – Case St. Petersburg / Mr Andrei Svistunov, Saint-Petersburg Information and Analytical Center (pdf, 0,02 MB )

Background material on social media:

Social Networking and the Politics of Tomorrow / Dr Julia Glidden, 21c (pdf, 0,32 MB)

Katri Lietsala & Esa Sirkkunen, Social media. Introduction to the tools and processes of participatory economy. Tampere 2008. (PDF, 199 p.) (Publication of the University of Tampere, presented by Professor Viteli in the seminar)
http://tampub.uta.fi/haekokoversio.php?id=230

Further information:
Ms Katja Kaunismaa
Tel. +358 3 565 65343
Mobile +358 50 516 0536
e-mail: firstname.lastname@tampere.fi