News and Background Information on the Conference

Radio Web Europe: A Multimedia Podcasting and RSS Experience in Europe

Gonzalo Santamaria is an economist and expert in European project management and evaluation processes. He holds a master’s degree in Economics and Business Management from the Universidad Complutense of Madrid and is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. programme for Economic Analysis. After finishing his studies, he started to work for the Industrial Liaison Office of the Università di Bologna, where he managed EU-supported projects related to promoting university-industry links, technology transfer and the relations with Latin America. After this experience, he returned to Spain as a Project Manager for a European affairs and training consulting company. For the past few years he has been an external assessment expert for the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency of the DG-EAC European Commission. In 2002, he co-founded a press and PR agency and, since 2004, he has also run his own European project management consultancy, with offices in Madrid, Brussels and Milan. Nowadays he is the co-ordinator of the Radio Web Europe project in Spain.

Answering a call for proposals of Plan D for “Democracy, Dialogue and Debate”, a partnership of eight non-profit civil organisations from seven EU Member States initiated the Radio Web Europe venture. The project aims at involving young people and promoting their participation in the debate on the future of Europe. Within the network of Austria, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom, Radio Web Europe was developed as a multimedia platform using the latest podcasting and RSS tools. Linking civil society with policymakers at different levels, the project, which started in December 2006, will finish by the end of this year.

In order to foster a complete and successful involvement of both young Europeans and the participating organisations, the implementation process of Radio Web Europe was accompanied by thematic focus groups and workshops. Both measures served to encourage the youth’s participation in the process and support further debates in accordance with the European Commission’s Plan D. With the target group being socially involved 18- to 35-year-olds, the role of young people in this venture is clearly that of “European citizenship” representatives. By using the Radio Web Europe website and its multimedia contents, they can make themselves heard via interviews, statements, analyses and surveys, as well as in live chats. Participants are not only able to view and download audio/video contents, but also to upload their own multimedia contributions.

Radio Web Europe will close with a final transnational conference, which will be held on November 30th in Rome, Italy. As part of the project’s finalisation, all parties involved will share their experiences, exchange opinions on the topic and create new ideas about the further involvement of young people in shaping Europe’s future.

Radio Web Europe (www.radiowebeurope.eu)

Gonzalo Santamaria, co-ordinator of Radio Web Europe in Spain, will speak about the topic in the session Web27: Podcasting as a Tool for Learning on Thursday, November 29 from 16:15 – 17:30.

November 21, 2007

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