European Parliament Citzalia to go in real life in 2011
Your next EU voting tool?
There has been quite some noise in the euroblogosphere about the latest European Parliament project, Citzalia. It defines itself as “a role playing game and social networking forum wrapped in a virtual 3D world that captures the essence of the European Parliament” and basically allows you to create a cartoonish 3D avatar and virtually discuss EU stuff (or should that be “discuss virtually EU stuff”…or “discuss EU virtual stuff”?).
But the BJ has a scoop: the online virtual world of Citzalia will switch into the real world in 2011.
Inspired by Coca Cola Summer Camps in Israel (see video below), the team behind Citzalia have been able to convince the EP to add a whole new dimension to the project. Though not all details have been settled, a confidential document shown to the BJ by unnamed sources sets out how registered citizens and MEPs will receive a bracelet with integrated RFID that is linked to their Citzalia profile. MEPs, legal proposals and subsequent amendments will all be equipped with identification tools, that will allow on the one hand citizens to “Like” MEPs and on the other, MEPs to like amendments tabled to legislative measures. The secret goal is to abolish EU elections and voting mechanisms in the EP Committees and Plenary, everything being automated through Citzalia. It seems the only hurdle left is the fact that some MEPs consider there should be a “Dislike” and “Don’t care” option too for legal measures, but were scared off when told the system would then require those voting options to be offered to citizens appraising them.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
- European Commission’s Communication Revolution: New Scoop! | The Brussels Jungle - [...] European Parliament Citzalia to go in real life in 2011 [...]
Leave a Reply
The Brussels Jungle
This is a satirical newspaper: everything we say is absolutely not true, should not be trusted and not relied on. If you think this is news, you must be mad or utterly bored.
Twitter
Facebook
Excellent, although I am more concerned on when the beta test is being launched as I have heard no more about it since I registered over a month ago.
There has been some kind of call from the Citzalia team: “The lucky ones who have been chosen will be notified. Beta testing will start in the last week of February.” in http://blog.citzalia.eu/2011/02/citzalia-is-coming-to-life/
Now let’s see what comes out of that project, either realtime Democracy or “Farmville for Dummies”…