pol-di.net e.V. is a digital think tank in the European
information society. As a European non-profit organization, pol-di.net
has been running Germany’s leading independent information
and communication platform about internet and politics since 1998
under the address www.politik-digital.de.
In close cooperation with actors from the fields of politics, economy
and science, pol-di.net develops solutions for current challenges
of the information society and actively supports these actors. poldi-net
e.V. offers journalistic content and internet chats with well-known
politicians, as well as scientific expertise with studies and research
about politics, communication and the Internet.
To accompany the process of European integration, in 2001 pol-di.net
also initiated and funded the foundation of the platform www.europa-digital.de,
which has since become independent. politik-digital.de is Berlin-based.
In coordination with the German founders, sister organizations were
founded in France (www.politique-digitale.fr),
Switzerland (www.politik-digital.ch)
and the Netherlands (www.politiek-digitaal.nl).
Awards
politik-digital.de was awarded the "Grimme Online Award Medienkompetenz"
("Grimme Online Award For Media Expertise") in 2001. Also,
politik-digital.de was awarded the "Alternativer Medienpreis
2003" ("Alternative Media Award 2003"). In 2001 and
2003, Politics Online featured politik-digital.de as one of the
"25 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics".
Additionally, the Weblog "Metablocker" was nominated in
the category "Best Journalistic German Blog" in Deutsche
Welle’s "Best of the Blogs Awards" in 2004.
The Editors at politik-digital.de
Core of pol-di.net’s journalistic content is the website
www.politik-digital.de, where articles and dossiers about "internet
and politics" are published. The content is produced by a network
of about 100 volunteers, who are headed by a regular editor-in-chief.
The website was relaunched in 2007, with a more up-to-date, blog-like
desing and an easier navigation. All this is complemented by a weekly
newsletter with about 8.000 subscribers.
politik-digital.de Weblogs
politik-digital.de ran two weblogs: "Metablocker"
and "Mierscheid
Weblog". Metablocker offered up-to-date short news about
e-democracy and e-government. This blog is now part of the main
Website, politik-digital.de. Mierscheid Weblog was the weblog of
virtual member of the Bundestag (German parliament) Jakob Maria
Mierscheid, who comments on day-to-day Bundestag events.
Chats
For tagesschau.de, politik-digital.de regularly conducts internet
chats. Among the roughly 450 chat guests have been Johannes Rau,
Wolfgang Thierse, Angela Merkel, Renate Künast, Gregor Gysi,
Guido Westerwelle and many other well-known and influential German
personalities. (For an overview, see the complete
list.) State and federal ministries, stern.de, Bundeszentrale
für politische Bildung, arte-tv (bi-lingual chats), BOL, Initiative
D21 and others have also been chat partners.
Research
Scientific studies have been conducted in cooperation with or on
behalf of Bertelsman-Stiftung, Accenture consulting, Bundeszentrale
für politische Bildung, University Gießen’s Zentrum
für Medien und Interaktivität, Hessischer Rundfunk, the
Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and Initiative
D21, among others. The most recent projects are:
- A study for the Right Livelihood Award Foundation (Alternative
Nobel Price) about non-governmental organisations in times of
Web 2.0 (Non-Governmental Organisations And The Use Of The Internet
In Times Of Web 2.0 / Nichtregierungsorganisationen und die Nutzung
des Internets im Zeitalter von Web 2.0)
- A study for the Bertelsmann Stiftung about the Internet´s
part in political reform processes (The Internet´s Role
In Optimizing Political Reform Processes / Die Rolle des Internets
bei der Optimierung politischer Reformprozesse)
- A study together with the British Council Berlin about eParticipation-projects
in Great Britain and Germany (e-participation in Great Britain
and Germany: A status report)
Benchmarks
Since 1998, politik-digital.de has conducted benchmarkings of innovative
websites such as a comparision of e-government activities of German
cities ("eTown", on behalf of Initiative D21), a comparison
of the German Bundestag candidates’ websites ("eCandidates"
in cooperation with emnid@emind), a comparision of international
marketing strategies of German universites ("Glob@lma Mater,
on behalf of DAAD) or a comparision of the websites of German state
parliaments.
German Federal Elections 2002
For the German federal elections 2002, pol-di.net provided both
concept and the journalistic content for the project www.wahlthemen.de
for Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung bpb (The Federal
Agency for Civic Education) and University Gießen’s
Zentrum für Medien und Interaktivität (Center for Media
and Interactivity). The project was awarded the "Europrix 2002"
in the category "Citizens, Democracy and eGovernment: Empowerment
and Improvement", which was initiated by the European Commission.
German Federal Elections 2005
During the election campaign 2005 with www.ich-gehe-nicht-hin.de
("i won’t go there"), politik-digital.de offered
a website for people who were considering not to participate in
the election. It aimed at initiating a debate about the pros and
cons of voting in an innovative, provocative way. Media coverage
ranging from "taz" to "tagesthemen" and more
than 13.000 posts in eight weeks clearly showed the demand for this
kind of citizen debate.
UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
In the context of WSIS, politik-digital.de and Deutsche Gesellschaft
für die Vereinten Nationen (German Society for the United Nations)
developed an German-language awareness website where experts and
journalists have a say about the summit’s topics (www.gipfelthemen.de).
The project has since been continued till beginning of 2008 on behalf
InWent and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation
and Development.
Citizen-Politician Communication
In May 2006, politik-digital.de launched www.sie-schreiben-dir.de
("they write you"). This platform aims at fostering communication
between representatives and citizens in their respective constituencies.
Users find their representative by entering their ZIP code and leave
their email address if they want to be contacted by their representative.
When there is a certain number of interested users, the representative
is asked by email to inform "his" citizens about his regional
policies.
Offline Events
In addition, politik-digital regularly runs offline events about
online journalism and e-democracy. Besides the two event series
"spin off" and "poldi meets the press", politik-digital.de
has repeatedly organized events in cooperation with British Council
Berlin. In autumn 2006 politik-digital.de ran a series of events
with Initiative ProDialog. In August 2007 politik-digital.de and
Tom Steinberg from British MySociety.org brought about 30 eParticipation-practitioners
to Berlin to meet and discuss eDemocracy. This conference, labeled
BerlinInAugust 07, is successed by BerlinInJuly 08. Main topics
of this follow-up will be eDeliberation and eConsultation.
Football World Cup 2006
With an interative world map on www.fussball-konflikte.de
("football conflicts"), users were entertainingly educated
about conflicts between nations which were facing each other in
World Cup matches. By clicking a country, all the countries to be
faced during the upcoming World Cup round highlighted. With a second
click, the website visitor would pick a "match" –
and get informed about the off-the-football-ground conflicts between
these two nations.
Contact details
Stefan Gehrke
Managing Director pol-di.net e.V. / politik-digital.de
Oranienburger Strasse 17
10178 Berlin
Germany
phone +49.30.97004879
mobile +49.177.8989333
eMail: sgehrke@politik-digital.de
Further information:
The European project of pol-di.net
The pol-di network