„Smatram da je najvažnije istaći da je DIJALOG web platforma koja je osmišljena s ciljem koji je definisan u samom nazivu – da inicira dijalog sa svim akterima u Bosni i Hercegovini, sa građanima, međunarodnom zajednicom i svim ostalim zainteresiranim stranama. Želimo da potaknemo ljude da razmišljaju o tome šta danas znači živjeti, raditi i sudjelovati u društvu u Bosni i Hercegovini. Stoga smo kreirali priliku, glas koji stoji iznad, odnosno izvan politike, izvan svih problema u zemlji, a istovremeno i priliku za građane da daju svoj komentar na ove teme. Cilj nam je ponuditi transparentne informacije, različite poglede na politiku; želimo da prikupimo mišljenja o tome kako pomoći da zemlja krene naprijed. Ovdje je riječ o web platformi za građane Bosne i Hercegovine i za sve one kojima je cilj pomoći zemlji da napreduje.

Odlučili smo se za ovaj korak jer smo uvidjeli da 20 godina nakon potpisivanja Dejtonskog sporazuma i dalje postoji potreba za dijalogom, za mogućnošću da ljudi iskažu svoje stavove o tome kako ova zemlja može postati fukcionalna, kako ova zemlja može krenuti naprijed na način da svi vjeruju da je to zajedničniki poduhvat, nešto što je vrijedno i podjednako važno za sve. Stoga smo željeli kreirati web platformu koja posmatra probleme na svjež, nov način.

Naš cilj je da građanima ove zemlje ponudimo nešto što ima stvarnu vrijednost u odnosu na pitanja za koja smatramo da su ključna za budućnost zemlje. U okviru DIJALOGA želimo razgovarati o politici, o ekonomiji, o vezi sa NATO-m i Evropskom Unijom, želimo da diskutujemo o obrazovanju, želimo da govorimo o svim temama koje su ključne za budućnost ove zemlje. To je suština DIJALOGA. DIJALOG jeste upravo to - dijalog. Njime su obuhvaćene sve ove teme i pozivamo ljude da razmjenjuju s nama svoja mišljenja. Želimo da razgovaramo sa ljudima koji imaju nove ideje. Mi nećemo biti ničiji glas. Nastojat ćemo da se ovdje čuje glas onih koji nude konstruktivna, inovativna rješenja.

Mi nismo ni platforma za vijesti. Naš cilj je da izdvajamo i prikupljamo informacije koje su relevantne za oblasti koje pokriva ova platforma. Prilikom prikupljanja materijala želimo da ljudi znaju da je riječ o kvalitetnom materijalu, a ne o izvještavanju bez prethodnog temeljnog provjeravanja činjenica. Stoga će sav sadržaj koji bude postavljen na platformi biti materijal koji je prethodno izdvojen i o kojem se podrobno promišljalo kako bi se ponudile samo relevantne vijesti i informacije. Pokušat ćemo zatim potaći ljude da komentarišu ove informacije, da ponude svoje analize i rješenja.

Kao što znate, web platforme i web stranice imaju ogroman potencijal, ali često su statične i na njima su prikazane informacije na suhoparan, nezanimljiv način. Mnogi ljudi i dalje ne žele čitati ništa na web stranicama. Smatrali smo da je važno da ponudimo infografike. Želimo vizualno prikazati informacije i političke sadržaje jer smatramo da se razumijevanje ne postiže samo putem izgovorene ili pisane riječi, već i putem slika. Slike su moćan alat i način na koji struktuiramo informacije putem slika nudi nove i drugačije perspektive.

Nas zanimaju isključivo nova rješenja i konstruktivno promišljanje. Za nas ova platforma predstavlja mjesto gdje će biti prikupljena mišljenja i komentari na najvišoj razini. To ne znači da se morate savršeno izražavati, niti da morate pripadati eliti. To je posljednje što želimo. Želimo okupiti ljude koji nude ozbiljna i konstruktivna rješenja. Naš portal je otvoren u tom smislu. Zanima nas kredibilitet, transparentnost, otvorenost znanja i informacija i produkcija ideja, te smatram da je najvažnije istaći da smo uložili napor da kreiramo web platformu koja neće ponuditi samo informacije i analize nego alat pomoću kojeg građani ove zemlje mogu sarađivati u gradnji demokratskog društva na jedan novi i optimističan način.

Ovo zvuči kao idealistična vizija i nećemo oklijevati da istaknemo kako smo pokrenuli ovu web platformu jer smatramo da ima razloga za optimizam, da je zemlja napredovala u proteklih 20 godina, da je preostalo mnogo izazova, ali i da ima izgleda za svjetliju budućnost, a DIJALOG može biti okvir za to.“

“I think the most important thing to say is that DIALOGUE is a web platform that is designed to do just what the name says – to initiate a dialogue, a dialogue with all the actors in Bosnia, citizens, international community and interested parties. We want to engage people in thinking about what it means to live, work and participate in life in Bosnia and Herzegovina today. So part of what we have created here is an opportunity, a voice that stands above or apart from politics, apart from all the issues in the country, while at the same time providing an opportunity for people to comment on all those things. We are interested in providing transparent information, perspectives on policy; we want to see a wide range of views on how to help the country move forward. This is a web platform for the people, the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for everyone who is interested in helping to move the country forward.

We decided to do this because we saw that 20 years after the Dayton peace agreement there was still a need for a dialogue, for an opportunity for people to express their views on how to move the country forward in a functional way, how to move the country forward in a way that everyone believes it to be a shared enterprise, something that has shared value and importance. So therefore we wanted to create a site that looked at things in a fresh, new way.

We are very interested in making sure that what we provide to people has real value in terms of the key questions that we think that surround the future of the country. We want to talk about politics on DIALOGUE, we want to talk about the economy, we want to talk about issues like the relationship with NATO and the EU, we want to talk about issues like education, we want to talk about things that we think are central to the future of the country. And so that is what the DIALOGUE is about. DIALOGUE is a dialogue. These are the areas we want to cover, and we are inviting people to interview with us. We are interested in talking to people who really have fresh ideas. We are not going to be the voice of anybody. We will always try to make sure that the people who are offering constructive, innovative solutions have a voice here.

We are not a news platform either. We are curating and aggregating information which we think are relevant to the issues that we’ve decided to cover. The most important thing about that is that when we aggregate material we want people to know that it’s good material, that it isn’t just anybody reporting on the news without carefully checking the facts. So everything we put up is going to be something which we have already curated and thought about quite a bit to make sure that it is a quality piece of news and information. We would then try repeatedly to engage people to comment on this information, to offer analysis, to offer perspectives.

As you know, web platforms, websites have enormous potential but they are often not very living things, they go up, they are very static, they often put up information in very dry, noninteresting ways, many people still do not like reading things on the web. One of the things we thought that was very important to do was to provide something which we refer to as infographics. We want to present information and policy in ways that they are visibly engaging, because we believe that people’s understanding, the knowledge of understanding is not simply best understood by spoken words or written words but by images. Images are very powerful and the way in which we structure these images gives a perspective that is new and different.

We are only and chiefly interested in fresh perspectives and constructive thinking. For us this platform is a place where we think that the highest level of thinking and commentary needs to take place. That doesn’t mean that you need to speak perfectly, that doesn’t mean that you have to be part of some part of the elite. That is the last thing we want it to be. We want people who are serious and constructive in what they want to offer. So our portal is open in that sense. We are interested in credibility, in transparency, in openness of knowledge and information and the production of ideas. And I think that the most important thing that I can say is that we have worked to make this a site that will not only provide information and analysis but eventually a site that will provide the tools for people to actually engage in the process of building a fully democratic society in which the people and the citizens of the country can work together in a new and optimistic way.

That sounds, on many levels, like a vision that sometimes seems idealistic and we will not hesitate to say that we embarked on this because we thought that there is reason for optimism, that the country is not where is was 20 years ago that there remain many, many challenges but that the prospects for a brighter future exists and that DIALOGUE can be a framework for that.”