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Showing papers in "JeDEM: eJournal of eDemocracy and Open Government in 2010"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the presence of a considerable variance in terms of political interests, educational level and technological skills makes it very difficult to design workable and effective systems to support participation.
Abstract: One of the main factors contributing to the limited impact of eParticipation projects is the presence of a high level of social complexity that has been identified by Macintosh as one of the five challenges in the implementation of eParticipation practices. How to make sense of social complexity is still an open issue as well as the way governments can take benefit from the wealth of information that is already available on their constituencies’ collective behaviour. In this paper, we contend that the presence of a considerable variance in terms of political interests, educational level and technological skills makes it very difficult to design workable and effective systems to support participation. A modular strategy is then recommended requiring policy designers to make a step towards citizens rather than expecting the citizenry to move their content production activity onto the “official” spaces created for ad hoc participation.

53 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the origins of participatory democracy, discuss how modern concepts of democracy link to citizen participation, and describe the ways that newly-created spaces on the internet referred to as "polispheres" are being used by political activists and candidates to facilitate wider collaboration and citizen participation.
Abstract: What roles do communication systems, information technologies and the internet play in fostering citizen participation and influencing the electoral and administrative decisions of government? The internet is simultaneously a world-wide broadcasting network, a mechanism for information dissemination, and a medium for collaboration and interaction between individuals and their computers without regard for geographic boundaries or time zones. This article describes the origins of participatory democracy, discusses how modern concepts of democracy link to citizen participation, and describes the ways that newly-created spaces on the internet referred to as “polispheres” are being used by political activists and candidates to facilitate wider collaboration and citizen participation. The following questions are addressed: What role does the internet play in fostering and aiding citizen participation in government? Does increased involvement lead to greater trust and confidence in government? What role did the internet play in apparently reversing downward trends in citizen apathy and drawing 8 million new voters to the United States 2008 presidential election? The article suggests that information technology facilitates broader citizen participation and identifies the challenges facing governments in adopting internet-based ICT strategies.

49 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the challenges surrounding the development and mainstreaming of actions in the area of e-participation in the EU are analyzed, and the latest policy initiatives which affect further developments in Member States and the EU.
Abstract: This article looks at the challenges surrounding the development and mainstreaming of actions in the area of eParticipation in the EU. It analyses the experience of recent years, especially the ones from the eParticipation Preparatory Action, and looks at the latest policy initiatives which affect further developments in Member States and the EU.

19 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a functional navigator for guiding users in configuring a platform as well as process support components is proposed to achieve a transparent circular flow of information and opinion between citizens and policy-makers in a collaborative environment which supports formal and informal political actors to work in partnership.
Abstract: The lack of user acceptance of e-participation initiatives has been attributed to several factors, among them lack of motivation, poor transparency of process and lack of traceability of contributions. These deficits cannot be overcome by compliance with usability and accessibility guidelines. To increase user participation it is suggested to align such initiatives with the requirements of civil society groups who are more successful in mobilising public engagement and less with government requests. To enable and empower such groups to set up and maintain e-participation initiatives, a functional navigator for guiding users in configuring a platform as well as process support components are required. The latter focus on the transitions between different phases. The paper outlines how such an approach can be implemented to achieve a transparent circular flow of information and opinion between citizens and policy-makers in a collaborative environment which supports formal and informal political actors to work in partnership.

14 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a new democratic theory and a Web 2.0 based e-democracy platform are introduced to enable large-scale participation, deliberation and collaboration of both governmental and non-governmental actors in an ICT supported policy process.
Abstract: This paper is a summary of a PhD thesis proposal. It will explore how the Web 2.0 platform could be applied to enable and facilitate the large-scale participation, deliberation and collaboration of both governmental and non-governmental actors in an ICT supported policy process. The paper will introduce a new democratic theory and a Web 2.0 based e-democracy platform, and demonstrate how different actors would use the platform to develop and justify policy issues.

14 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compare two different models of online consultation: the Commission consultations hosted on Your Voice in Europe, and the European Citizens' Consultation 2009, and identify some key features that fit the European context, in order to assess the possibilities of sustainability of such political experiments.
Abstract: Since the early 2000's, the European Institutions have set up several eParticipation projects. These projects are embedded in different political strategies and are managed by different actors within the institutions. This leads to a wide variety of projects and prevents the European Union developing a single and concerted strategy in terms of online participation. This paper intends to compare two different models of online consultation: the Commission consultations hosted on Your Voice in Europe, and the European Citizens' Consultation 2009. The paper tackles three main subjects: the institutional strategies which frame these sites; the actors that they mobilize; their main and collateral effects. The goal of this synthesis is to identify some key features that fit the European context, in order to assess the possibilities of sustainability of such political experiments. Acknowledgement: The data concerning the European Citizens' Consultation (ECC) have been collected in the course of a collective research project involving scientists from different European universities, with which I have been able to collaborate. I wish to thank here Raphael Kies (Universite du Luxembourg) and Stephanie Wojcik (Universite Paris-Est Creteil), who were responsible for the analysis of the role of online forums in the ECC arrangement, for having made this data collection possible. n the context of European institutions, eParticipation projects have not been developed in the framework of a single concerted strategy. From the late 1990's onwards, the Commission, the Parliament and the Council have developed their own online participation mechanisms (Dalakiouridou, Tambouris & Tarabanis, 2009). Even within the European Commission, eParticipation projects are managed by various Directorates-Generale (DGs). The first online participatory procedures developed by the Commission were indeed introduced in the early 2000's, in the wake of the publication of the White Paper on European Governance. The use of information and communication technologies was seen as a way to promote better involvement of civil society in the decision-making process. From 2004 onwards, the Commission's DG Communication took up the question. In order to face up to the "democratic deficit" which affected the institutional legitimacy, channels of two-way online communication were set up, in order to allow citizens to make their voices heard on the European stage. At the same time, public policy related to the development of a "knowledge society" took a significant turn. Whereas this policy, since the beginning of the 1980's, had been primarily focussed on economic and technological issues, the i2010 eGovernment Action Plan (2006) was directed at the development of new technologies which favour citizen participation, identified as a major issue in an inclusive and democratic "knowledge society".

11 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a configurable architecture for e-participatory budget formation support is presented, which is based on the idea of configurable ICT for ICT-based budget formation.
Abstract: Participatory budgets are emerging as a paradigm for participation. However, there are many variants of such experiences suggesting a look of general methodology. Moreover there is a little use of ICT in this application context. We present a configurable architecture for e-participatory budget formation support.

11 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the results of a study on "E-Participation - Electronic Participation of Citizens and Economy at E-Government" which was ordered by the German Ministry of the Interior in 2007.
Abstract: This contribution presents the results of a study on “E-Participation – Electronic Participation of Citizens and Economy at E-Government” which was ordered by the German Ministry of the Interior in 2007. The authors of this article also co-authored the study. In the study, state of the art and chances of electronic participation in Germany are described and recommendations for action as well as proposals for projects and measures for the national program “E-Government 2.0” are given. This article describes the understanding of “e-participation” and the methodology of the study including results of surveys conducted in Germany . Then, the results of a strengths-and-weaknesses analysis are presented comparing the German with the international state of the art of eParticipation. Finally, some recommendations on the basis of this comparison are made.

9 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider participatory culture and its specific political, cultural, societal, and educational characteristics as a prerequisite for e-participation and argue that social media literacy is indispensable for eparticipation to be sustainable.
Abstract: Normal 0 21 false false false DE-AT X-NONE X-NONE The understanding of participation as a political matter has changed back and forth over the years. The latest twist back to appreciative attributions towards participation is fuelled by the development of the Internet, and especially the Social Web. Citizen participation is unanimously seen as an essential precondition for Deliberative-Collaborative eDemocracy (Petrik, 2010) enabled by Web 2.0. This paper considers participatory culture and its specific political, cultural, societal, and educational characteristics as a prerequisite for e-participation and argues that social media literacy is indispensable for e-participation to be sustainable. Young people’s affinity spaces (Jenkins, et.al., 2006) can only lay down the foundations for social media literacy, but their further development depends on education. Political Education would be well advised to adapt innovative pedagogical approaches to the acquirement of new media literacy. This paper introduces an exemplary educational tool – predominately but not exclusively for political/civic education – namely the website PoliPedia.at. Teachers can use it to deliberately create a balanced space for collaboration between Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives. PoliPedia – as a participative online tool – has the potential to facilitate participation experience in political/civic education and supports social media education. Thereby the embedding of technology in pedagogical and societal conceptualizations is crucial.

9 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The special issue of JeDEM as discussed by the authors summarises existing evidence and introduces some authoritative viewpoints on a theme that is gaining relevance and furthering discussion among theorists and practitioners alike, and includes three invited papers and six refereed articles.
Abstract: What makes eParticipation sustainable? This special issue of JeDEM summarises existing evidence and introduces some authoritative viewpoints on a theme that is gaining relevance and furthering discussion among theorists and practitioners alike. This Issue comprises three invited papers and six refereed articles, the results of which will be briefly presented in this note.

6 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an attempt is made to show how institutions and technology are enmeshed in a structure of vested interests in the public sector in such a way that a fabricated trust is created smoothly.
Abstract: Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been implemented in a quite intensive way in both developed and developing countries. In the discourse of the New Public Management (NPM), the principal role of ICT is to improve the delivery of public services to citizens and the distrust of public administration. In responding to distrust and the challenges facing the simplistic technological determinism discourse of ICTs in general and ICT for development in particular, building on areas of trust associated with economic development seems to have been emphasized. On the other hand, despite the influence of institutions in the design and use of ICTs as a compelling enabler of change mentioned in the theory of social shaping and the ideas of citizens’ orientation, where technological artifacts are social constructions, it seems to be evident that these institutions can reinforce the same technological determinism and trust. In this paper an attempt is made to show that the use of a t echnolog y like e-voting in Brazil ha s not contributed to improve political participation and the delivery of public services, despite the attempt to promote and create trust in e-voting . With a more critical view of trust, an attempt is made to show how institutions and technology are enmeshed in a structure of vested interests in the public sector in such a way that a fabricated trust is created smoothly.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on using technology to make existing policy processes more transparent and more participative rather than creating separate e-participation initiatives, and advocate to open up the whole policy process and be prepared to flag up the difference citizen input made.
Abstract: We have seen a lot of very welcome progress in terms of making it easier for citizens to input their views into government policy-making processes. However, governments and citizens are now in a similar situation – after a burst of initial enthusiasm, they are not sure what to do next. Governments have struggled to get the mass participation they would like and where significant participation has occurred, have had difficulty integrating it effectively into existing decision-making processes. Citizens have been unsure what to make of this new apparent openness and where they have engaged, have found it hard to know what difference their input made. The solution is to focus on using technology to make existing policy processes more transparent and more participative rather than creating separate e-participation initiatives. The challenge for governments is to open up the whole of the policy process and be prepared to flag up very clearly and explicitly the difference citizen input made. The challenge for e-democracy advocates is to convince policymakers that their ideas can improve the existing policy process rather than simply generating more inputs into it.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: New electronic tools, in particular Social and Semantic Web tools, might have a sound potential to increase within civil society the interest in being involved in consultation processes, to improve the quality of argumentation within such processes, and to make more efficient the evaluation of their results.
Abstract: The paper outlines the theoretical concepts of (legislative) consultation and describes the practical requirements of electronic support for consultation processes. It suggests that new electronic tools, in particular Social and Semantic Web tools, might have a sound potential to increase within civil society the interest in being involved in consultation processes, to improve the quality of argumentation within such processes, and to make more efficient the evaluation of their results.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce a model of self-regulated mass online deliberation, and apply it to cross-border deliberation involving translation of contributions between participating languages, and then to a context of cross-community online deliberations for dispute resolution, e.g. between opposing ethnic or religious communities.
Abstract: In this paper we introduce our model of self-regulated mass online deliberation, and apply it to a context of cross-border deliberation involving translation of contributions between participating languages, and then to a context of cross-community online deliberation for dispute resolution, e.g. between opposing ethnic or religious communities. In such a cross-border or cross-community context, online deliberation should preferably progress as a sequence of segmented phases each followed by a combining phase. In a segmented phase, each community deliberates separately, and selects their best contributions for being presented to all other communities. Selection is made by using our proposed mechanism of mutual moderation and appraisal of contributions by participants themselves. In the subsequent combining phase, the selected contributions are translated (by volunteering or randomly selected participants among those who have specified appropriate language skills) and presented to target segments for further appraisal and commenting. Our arguments in support of the proposed mutual moderation and appraisal procedures remain mostly speculative, as the whole subject of mass online self-regulatory deliberation still remains largely unexplored, and there exist no practical realisation of it .

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: These tools and related aspects of the Comuno networking site are discussed and presented in the context of deliberation and opinion-forming in a Swiss bilingual city.
Abstract: This paper presents collaborative tools for public participation across multiple networking sites. The tools are part of the Comuno networking site for public governance and services, which is particularly targeted at the public sector (currently in alpha testing at http://comuno.org). The Broadcast tool allows cross-posting content from Comuno to a wide variety of other networking sites, such as Facebook or Twitter. The UserFeed and TopicFeed tools build RSS feeds from content published by a specific user or under a specific topic. The LifeStream tool gathers a user’s activities across multiple networking sites in the private account section at Comuno. These tools and related aspects of the Comuno networking site are discussed and presented in the context of deliberation and opinion-forming in a Swiss bilingual city.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine a five-year initiative by the UK's public service broadcaster, the BBC, to reinvigorate civic engagement at a time of declining public participation in politics and suggest that the project did not have the impact anticipated as it was borne out of a paternalistic broadcast legacy, out of step with the trend towards distributed and collaborative discourse online that reassesses the notion that the public is simply a resource to be managed.
Abstract: This paper examines a five-year initiative by the UK's public service broadcaster, the BBC, to reinvigorate civic engagement at a time of declining public participation in politics. The Action Network project, originally called iCan, ran from 2003 to 2008 and was one of the most high profile and ambitious attempts by a public service broadcaster to foster eParticipation through an online civic commons. This study analyzes Action Network within the context of conceptualizations of the Internet as a networked, distributed and participatory environment and the shift towards what scholars describe as a networked public sphere. It suggests that the project did not have the impact anticipated as it was borne out of a paternalistic broadcast legacy, out of step with the trend towards distributed and collaborative discourse online that reassesses the notion that the public is simply a resource to be managed. This paper argues that the BBC experience provides lessons in how the media, and specifically public service broadcasters, can contribute towards greater political participation and democratic dialogue through the Internet by adopting Web 2.0 approaches that enable citizens to engage on different levels and at different times, depending on contexts.

Journal ArticleDOI
Ben Li1
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present evidence from three global democratic organizations that "e-" is not a relevant modifier of decision-making concepts related to "democracy" and also find that indicators of good democratic decision making (participation, sustainability, and impact) say little about the ability of e-to achieve the same desirable goals aspired by democracy.
Abstract: This paper presents evidence from three global democratic organizations that “e-” is not a relevant modifier of decision-making concepts related to “democracy”. Defining “e-” as shorthand for decision-making skills and tools enabled by ICTs, including computer-mediated communication (CMC), it tests whether “e-” is an “incremental” innovation augmenting existing capabilities of democracy as a decision-making tool. It finds that “e-“ acts as a “radical” innovation to democratic decision-making tools by providing different capabilities than democracy. It also finds that indicators of good democratic decision-making (participation, sustainability, and impact) say little about the ability of “e-” to achieve the same desirable goals aspired by democracy.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The key to sustainable E-participation is to ensure that all E-Participation initiatives contribute to establishing an overall community of Wikipedia-like users who believe that their commitment and investment of time really makes a difference as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Estonia is recognised as a beacon of E-Government achievement and is making strides in using technology to include citizens in democratic processes. The key to sustainable E-Participation is to ensure that all E-Participation initiatives contribute to establishing an overall community of Wikipedia-like users who believe that their commitment and investment of time really makes a difference. Over time, citizens’ roles and contributions may vary a lot, but this essential public infrastructure and policy has to be provided systematically for E-Participation to become a reality - whatever new technology comes along, and however successful individual projects are. This is the real meaning of sustainable E-Participation.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: By integrating a Geographic Information System (GIS) into a web portal, the authors allow a multi-way dialog between Hong Kong's citizens and planning officials, which can explore resolutions to a classical economic paradox from social choice theory, and point to potential improvements in contemporary efforts to bring open and responsive government through information technology.
Abstract: By integrating a Geographic Information System (GIS) into a web portal, we allow a multi-way dialog between Hong Kong's citizens and planning officials. Alternative development plans for Lantau (Hong Kong's largest island) can be analyzed through interactive maps, which allow citizens to compare and comment on specific geo-referenced features. Lantau Island's extensive nature reserves, which offer protected nesting grounds for numerous bird species and other ecological and recreational services, are being weighed against extensive economic development. This experiment in open governance within China will also serve as a laboratory to study qualitative differences in citizen learning, between online dialog and face-to-face group deliberation. Our experiments will explore resolutions to a classical economic paradox from social choice theory, and point to potential improvements in contemporary efforts to bring open and responsive government through information technology.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a Protokoll fur Onlinewahlen vor, which is based on dem Schema of Ohkubo et al. is discussed. But the authors focus on the fact that the Schlussel des Auszahlers wird am ende der Wahl veroffentlicht and ermoglicht so die universelle Verifizierbarkeit der Stimmauszahlung.
Abstract: Wir stellen ein Protokoll fur Onlinewahlen vor, welches auf dem Schema von Ohkubo et al. [13] basiert. Besonders an diesem Protokoll ist, dass der Auszahler nicht vertrauenswurdig sein muss. Der geheime Schlussel des Auszahlers wird am Ende der Wahl veroffentlicht und ermoglicht so die universelle Verifizierbarkeit der Stimmauszahlung. Wir diskutieren die Sicherheit des Protokolls angesichts der allgemein anerkannten Sicherheitsanforderungen fur elektronische Wahlschemata.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper will propose a new system that combines the advantages of both paper ballots and Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting systems while avoiding the major flaws of these systems.
Abstract: The shortcomings of the voting systems used in the 2000 presidential election raised the awareness of the need to replace these systems. As a result, with the funds of Help America Vote Act (HAVA), many US states switched to Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting systems before the 2004 elections. Unfortunately these paperless voting machines were not as secure and efficient as state officials had hoped. Since their implementation, many studies have shown the threats of these systems and their flaws. While some data security experts tried to improve these voting systems, many discouraged their use and recommended more transparent methods. Although, several countries in Europe and around the world have successfully utilized E-voting, many US districts and states still don’t trust this technology and are returning to paper ballots. In this paper, we will propose a new system as a solution to the current problems. This approach combines the advantages of both paper ballots and Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting systems while avoiding the major flaws of these systems.