The establishment of a digital chamber

Mrs Doris Katai Katebe Mwinga (Zambia) thought that many Members of Parliament remained attached to paper and wanted to know how it had been possible to convert the Korean Members to a “paperless Parliament”.
In addition, how had the Members of Parliament in practice used the visual supports at their disposal (slide shows etc) in the course of debates?
Mrs Claressa Surtees (Australia) wanted to know more about the preparatory stages in advance of this great technological leap forward. In addition, as far as broadcasting debates on the Internet was concerned, had there been any assessment of the success of this exercise (number of consultations, downloading etc)?
Mr Mihai Stanescu (Romania) wondered about the methods of maintaining security of the system. In Romania the information network of the Chamber had been attacked by hackers on several occasions. In addition, how did one ensure that Members of Parliament remained on their seats — this being necessary to register their presence during a vote?
Mr Won-Jong Sang said that the Korean Members of Parliament were not opposed to this change, in particular because his predecessor as Secretary General of the Chamber, at the start of the project, had formerly been a member of staff of Samsung and was a former Minister for Information and Technology. An ad hoc Committee had been established, made up of Members of Parliament, which had taken pains to overcome reluctance and obtain the support of Members of Parliament.
In the course of debates, Members of Parliament could not stay on their seat if they wanted to put a question and had to go to the Tribune: it was then that they could make use of additional visual supports to reinforce their contributions.
Turning to the question put by Mrs Claressa Surtees, he said that the decision to digitise the Hemicycle had been put in effect in two months, taking into account sitting times (with, in addition, two months for preparation). The system had become operational in September 2005.
As far as broadcasting on the Internet was concerned, he said that sittings were recorded and automatically broadcast on the Web. A consumer survey had been run for users, although unfortunately the results had not yet become known.
As far as security of the information network was concerned, very efficient software firewalls had been installed and, in case of breakdown, a substitute system automatically came into play.
For the older Members of Parliament, necessarily the most reluctant to embrace this technological change, work had been done in the course of the preparatory phase on means of overcoming their problems. The system which had been established was very user-friendly and in particular made strong use of a touchscreen. In addition, assistants were permanently at the disposal of Members of Parliament to give help where it was needed.