In the framework of the European Open Declaration on Public Services 2.0, several proposals are being posted on http://mixedink.com/Eups20/Manifesto
In this post, cross-posted from http://eups20.wordpress.com, I illustrate a specific challenge to the deployment of public services 2.0: the need for digital and media literacy.

My version of the declaration (author “osimod”, title “second version”) has a specific priority on skills and education, which is missing in others. In my opinion, public services 2.0 can happen only with educated citizens and civil servants. Why?

Back at the end of June this year, I was invited over to PDF 2009 as one of the Google Fellows to experience the buzz and brains of the Personal Democracy Forum for the first time in person. And it didn’t disappoint.

The European Union is a proto-democratic polity, focused on the city of Brussels, dispersed over 27 member states and 500 million citizens, based on a story of overcoming centuries of violence and held together by complex administrative procedures and a small number of Europeanised elites willing to invest time and effort in bridging the gaps that are still obvious.