Studio Session 1 Reflection

I found the concept of E-Estonia to be very clever, and very well presented in Europe. In an increasingly digital society, Estonia is using the Internet to advance their economy, but not through the traditional method of international trade: E-Estonia garners citizenship around the globe so that these new citizens move their business registrations, and therefore tax revenues, to Estonia. I think that a country like Estonia is the perfect "guinea pig" for this experiment into online governance. A developed nation with a small population, Estonia has the resources to launch such an iniatitve, and have it make an impact on the way the country is run. Virtually every aspect of the government is available online, from paying city parking, to paying taxes, to education, and voting. It has been fairly successful and effective in its intention of "de-centralizing" governement, but at the same time it is effective and environmentally friendly. The concept of E-Estonia is spreading throughout Europe: there will be a summit with other European countries such as Denmark and Switzerland to discuss the benefits and drawbacks.