I attended a promising forum in Guro District, Seoul, Korea, from 7-9 February. It was designed to help the launch of a new network of about 200 mayors interested in issues of the information society, particularly around concerns with global digital divides and the role of the Internet in regional development, e-government and e-democracy. I spoke to the forum, giving a keynote entitled ‘e-Democracy: Reconfiguring Participation in Governance and Public Policy’. http://people.oii.ox.ac.uk/dutton/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/edem-Guro-WHD-FEB07.doc The conference Web site is at: http://www.eforum-guro.com/

It was promising in its focus on bringing together local elected politicians to network about strategies for using information and communication technologies to support regional development and governance. So many innovations around the use of ICTs emerge at the local level, that I think this network could play a truly useful role.