Friday 2 October 2015

Activists Want Web Portal to Connect Estonians Home and Away | News | ERR


A group of activists wish to create a new web platform to connect all Estonians whatever their country of residence.

"One hundred years after gaining independence, Estonians are more scattered around the world than ever before," the creative team said in a joint statement, adding that smaller communities in Estonia and abroad tend to lack communication and cooperation with each other.

The group now plans to launch a kind of social media platform that would help to overcome the distance between people, bring communities closer together and "make Estonia global".

The idea came from Martin Ehala, a professor of Estonia at the University of Tartu.

The team behind him hopes that the new portal will become a center for public discussion, where people can publish and comment on opinion articles. They also aim to create a database that would help people cooperate with others in all fields of life.

"Global Estonian portal will offer opportunities for cooperation and joint activities, giving activists a chance to form and organize new relations. If we tie it to Hooandja [an Estonian crowdfunding platform], a user's participation in projects will be reflected on his or her account, thus adding trust credit," the organizers explained.

The platform, called Minu Inimesed ("My People"), should have the beta version ready by August 2016. The public launch is scheduled for April 12, 2017. The creators hope to have 100,000 users by February 2020.

My People is one of the many gift initiatives for the republic's 100th birthday.

Source: Activists want web portal to connect Estonians home and away | News | ERR