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October 20, 2003
Getting to the Semifinals
Most of the groups were able to wrap up their lists of semifinalists yesterday afternoon, though a lot of people are still working on their summaries of each candidate. In just about 45 minutes we'll begin a series of plenary sessions in which each group will have 20 minutes to present their semifinalists, followed by a chance for public comments either for or against a particular site, followed by a vote. We'll each be able to vote on a maximum of five candidates. If a project from our own country is under consideration, we will not be allowed to present it, take part in the debate, or vote, to avoid an unfair advantage to those of us in attendance (versus the judges who submitted sites from their country but did not come to Dubai). If we're lucky, we'll have a list of five finalists for each of the eight categories. I'd hesitate to call them winners, since this process is inevitably subjective at many levels. Rather, they'll be presented as compelling examples of what's going on in a particular e-field around the world.
Once the votes for the five sites in each category are complete, there will be a second process of selecting sites that are geographically representive. In other words, we'll have a showcase of creative content from various categories from six regions of the world. There will undoubtedly be overlap between the two groups, but it will help give us a broad sampling of digital content, presented in terms of what's noteworthy in each category, and what's noteworthy in different geographic regions. Unfortunately, much of the decisionmaking for the latter will be done after I have to return to DC for our E-Government for All pre-conference event at the National Press Club on Wednesday, but I'll be able to submit my votes electronically so I'll be counted in the final tally... -ac
Posted by acarvin at October 20, 2003 1:59 AM
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