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Broadening eParticipation: Rethinking ICTs and Participation
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Abstract The emergence,of new,information,and,communication,technologies,(ICTs) has,resulted innumerous optimistic concepts like digital democracy, cyberdemocracy, the digital
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... Es por ello que estas iniciativas, en muchos casos, están condenadas al fracaso desde el mismo momento de su concepción. Los expertos van asumiendo que las mejores iniciativas en este ámbito son las que provienen de la sociedad civil, y ha habido llamamientos a abandonar el tradicional planteamiento "top-down" e incorporar las necesidades de la ciudadanía y la sociedad civil en el mismo diseño de los sistemas e iniciativas de eParticipación (Linhart et al. 2010;Maier et al. 2010;Fuchs 2006). Se hace necesario "poner la investigación sobre eParticipación al servicio de la Sociedad Civil" (Prieto-Martín 2006a). ...
... Resulta cuestionable que se pretendan plantear "nuevas arquitecturas de participación y desarrollar las nuevas tecnologías que les den soporte sin vincularlas con las estrategias, agendas y modos de trabajo de los actores que las utilizarían" (Berdou 2011), especialmente cuando se tiene en cuenta que en los ámbitos eminentemente socio-técnicos como el de la eParticipación es al fin el contexto de aplicación el que otorga la validez y la relevancia social a las propuestas académicas (Akkermans et al. 2011;Healy 2011). Multitud de elementos que resultan importantes para todos estos actores, así como sus propias visiones y propuestas de análisis (eg: Fernández-Savater 2011) han ocupado un lugar marginal en la investigación hasta fechas recientes (Escobar 2011;Cooper y Smith 2012;Levine y Nierras 2007;Fuchs et al. 2006). La producción científica ha estado así muy centrada en sí misma, lo que ha creado un 'vacío' en cuanto a conceptos y metodologías orientados hacia la práctica que otros actores y productores de conocimiento han debido ocupar (Arbter et al. 2007;Dobson 2009;Delany 2008;Faulkner 2011;KU WorkGroup 2012;Fawcett et al. 2012). ...
En este artículo llevamos a cabo, en primer lugar, una revisión crítica y contextualizada de la literatura producida en el campo académico de la Participación Electrónica en los últimos años, exponiendo sus principales propuestas y analizando sus fortalezas y debilidades. Posteriormente presentamos una serie de conceptos básicos que permitan entender los aspectos esenciales de la participación digital: qué es la (e)Participación, cuáles son sus características, dinámicas, justificación e implicaciones. // In this paper we perform, in the first place, a critical and contextualized review of the literature produced in the of Electronic Participation academic field during the recent years, portraying its main proposals and analyzing their strengths and weaknesses. We then present a series of basic concepts that allow understanding the essentials of digital participation: what is (e)Participation, which are its characteristics, dynamics, justification and implications.
... Therefore, e-Participation is a means to empower the political, sociotechnological, and cultural capabilities of individuals giving the possibility that individuals can involve themselves and organize themselves in the information society. (Christian Fuchs, 2006). ICT to support individuals come together to form communities, to progress shared agendas and to shape and empower such communities Consultation ICT in official initiatives by public or private agencies to allow stakeholders to contribute their opinion, either privately or publicly, on specific issues Campaigning ICT in protest, lobbying, petitioning, and other forms of collective action (except of election campaigns, see electioneering as participation area) ...
Electronic Democracy is appearing in political agendas across countries and boarders. This paper refers to electronic participation channels implemented to digitalize decision processes in an electronic democracy. Electronic participation includes the sub processes of information acquisition and formation of an opinion. The function of efficient electronic participation in electronic democracy is crucial and indispensable. Electronic Democracy provides citizens with the opportunity to engage efficiently in democratic processes. Current technology can be perceived as an evolution of traditional communication linkages between political representatives and citizens. These can provide an "extensive library" of information and a "meeting point" for political debate. A surplus of existing technologies provides the means to enhance the unidirectional and bidirectional communication paths between citizens and involved political entities. Such a technological deployment though must meet a number of requirements ranging from usability issues to electronic security. An in depth analysis and review of social and technical requirements of such channels is provided in this paper. Solutions are presented which meet previously identified needs and through their comparison the fulfilment of the requirements will be met. This papers objective is to identify the custom design for efficient and competent electronic participation channels in electronic democracy. This goal will be achieved through a comparison of the current technological tools used in e-participation, called e-methods. For each one of these e-methods a SWOT analysis will be provided, listing the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities andThreats, that this particular tool may have. Eventually a comparison is made after the establishment of criteriaregarding many aspects such as: security, privacy, accessibility, user's or developer's viewpoints. Proficiently deployed technological infrastructureswhich enhance the bidirectional communication pathways will lead to engaged and better informed citizens, and evidently to a stronger democracy. Findings of this paper should be considered by parties interested in deploying electronic democracy infrastructures andfellow researchers in the field.
Citizens’ electronic participation (civic e-participation) is of interest to both researchers and international organizations, and national and local government institutions. It is related to the influence of modern technologies on civil society and the changes in civil-state relations. Even though it is a relatively new area of scientific research, it is the subject of numerous theoretical reflections and empirical verification. The article aims to systematize knowledge about electronic civic participation as a subject of scientific research. It presents its definition, provides an overview of scientific theories and empirical research conducted in this area.
This chapter theorizes how the ‘conceptual spaces’ created by the emerging Web 2.0-based tourism scenarios might be leveraged for harnessing cultural entrepreneurship within an e-governance framework for the systematic construction of smart, inclusive, sustainable place branding (Go and Covers, 2012). The genealogy of place harbours diverse ideas, the most salient ones being that place represents a particular perspective, that is, a path to the sacred place, often recreating the pilgrim’s journey and its three components of preparation, separation and return on the one hand, and its built form symbolizing the rite of passage and spiritual transformation on the other.
The decline in citizen engagement in the public sphere has long been one of the main challenges of modern government. Issues of trust, openness, and transparency are being frequently and intensely discussed as the public manifests lack of confidence in public servants and governmental institutions. The advent and development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is gradually revolutionizing this situation. Open government is an innovative strategy for changing how government works, helping to increase government transparency and accountability at every level. By using network technology to connect the public to government and to one another informed by open data, governments ask for help with solving problems. The end result is more effective institutions and more robust democracy. The chapter has as an objective to discuss on a theoretical level the role of open government mechanisms in introducing a new relation between citizens and policy makers.
The field of e-Participation is expanding as many similar platforms have been created to elicit citizens’ opinions on political and social issues in modern democracies especially under political and economic crises. The development of the field has been supported by emerging web technologies such as social networking, data mining, sentiment analysis and collaborative systems. This paper presents a methodological framework to assess the main dimensions of an e-Participation system from the users’ perspective by measuring users’ satisfaction and highlighting its advantages and identifying its shortcomings in order to propose areas for improvement. The method refers to an e-Participation platform developed in the scope of the e-Participation project OurSpace. The evaluation framework of the project was realized through a questionnaire, suitably designed to be in line with the Whyte and Macintosh theory of three perspectives: social, technical and political. The assessment of the OurSpace platform was performed through the multi-criteria satisfaction analysis method. The method provided all satisfaction diagrams and indices so as to determine the users’ opinion about OurSpace e-Participation system and point out the needed actions towards improvement.
Access to information and communication technologies and distribution of skills, literacy and capabilities to use ICTs for political engagement of young people are frequently discussed. New developments of the Internet, that foster interactive forms of communication and knowledge production, have the potential to increase participation. The emergence of social software and a new perception of the participative potential of the Internet promise to enable decentralized actions, possibilities to share and exchange information open and free of charge, to collaborate, to foster political and societal participation. Thus incorporation of eParticipation in educational curricula of schools becomes more important to widen the chances of young people to get involved in political and societal activities. This paper outlines a socially and culturally biased perspective that highlights the concept of information cultures, on the integration of eParticipation in political education at school. A mutual shaping of technology perspective on eParticipation that considers cultural differences and divergent political systems as well as societal context can support the successful integration of eParticipation into political education as a fundamental concept of young people's political engagement.
The idea, the concept, and the term, that is cloud computing, has recently passed into common currency and the academic lexicon in an ambiguous manner, as cloud dust is being sprinkled on an excess of emerging products. Exorcising complexity and protecting against the caprice of the moment, this paper explores the notion behind the hype of cloud computing and evaluates its relevance to electronic government and electronic voting information systems. This paper explores increasing participation and sophistication of electronic government services, through implementing a cloud computing architecture. From an Information and Communication Security perspective, a structured analysis is adopted to identify vulnerabilities, involved in the digitalization of government transactions and the electoral process, exploring the notion of trust and transparency within this context. In turn, adopting a cloud computing approach for electronic government and electronic voting solutions is investigated, reviewing the architecture within the previously described context. Taking a step further, this paper proposes a high level electronic governance and electronic voting solution, supported by cloud computing architecture and cryptographic technologies, additionally identifying issues that require further research.
Purpose
– As the society has long ago left the “industrial age” and entered the “information age”, people, enterprises and above all decision makers are constantly trying to get the best out of the opportunities and the technologies offered, for facilitating their life and their work. One of the most active and promising domains nowadays, is eParticipation, which is actively promoted by all stakeholders, as there is a great need of reconnecting citizens with the decision makers and re‐engaging them into the democratic procedures, especially as during the last years this gap is expanding, with the most convincing proof being the huge figure of voter turnout during the latest European elections. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
– A review of the most active and well‐known eParticipation action pilot projects funded in the European Union is presented, alongside with a methodological framework that has been followed for mapping, assessing and evaluating those projects, using a beyond the state‐of‐the‐art classification method.
Findings
– Conclusions of the performed work are in a position to outline the current status quo of eParticipation in Europe, highlighting lessons learned and opportunities for future activities and research.
Originality/value
– This paper includes valuable information towards practitioners, decision makers and administration officials, based not only on the established knowledge and on the experiences gained, but also on the identified gaps of the domain, aiming to support them in understanding the status quo of the domain and in the design process of future research roadmaps for eGovernace and policy modelling.
This paper argues, that the incorporation of eParticipation into political education at schools will broaden the chances of
young people for political and societal engagement and strengthen civil society of a country or state. Frustration with traditional
party politics especially of the younger generation is increasing in contemporary society. Since the voting age in Austria
was lowered to 16, new ways of learning for political education by utilizing information and communication technologies (ICTs)
that have the potential to increase participation of young people are considered. However, Austrian young people are not yet
educated in developing and expressing political perspectives and therefore not prepared for actively taking part in politics.
Exemplified on the project Polipedia.at, a collaborative online textbook on political education, this paper aims to give recommendations
from a social science perspective for integration of ICTs into political education in order to enhance political participation
of youth.
Methoden der empirischen Sozialforschung. - 11., neu bearb. und erw. Aufl. - Berlin : Schmidt, 2006. - XVI, 357 S. [1. Aufl. 1969]
Mitte der 90er Jahre begann die Kommunikationswissenschaft in Deutschland, sich mit dem Phänomen „Multimedia“ zu beschäftigen. In diese Zeit fiel auch die Veröffentlichung des Beitrags „Wie interaktiv sind Medien?“ (Goertz, 1995). Der Aufsatz hatte das Ziel, einen Begriff der „Interaktivität“ zu skizzieren, nach dem verschiedene „Medienanwendungen“1 in ein Kontinuum eingeordnet werden. Außerdem sollten neben Medienanwendungen der Mensch-Computer-Interaktion auch Formen der Mensch-zu-Mensch-Kommunikation berücksichtigt werden.2
Noticing that american citizen merely participates to elections, the author wonders if new technologies would enhance their involvement in political affairs. C. Arterton analyses 13 different experiments taking place in the United States and proposes a moderate answer. Participation for him doesn't depend on the use of technology but on both the involvement of local politicians and the ambition of the different experiment's originators. Even if, for C. Arterton, technology doesn't bring an immediate answer to the lack of participation, the improvement observed is better than waiting for a technologic miracle that would change everything.
From the Publisher:
Digital Divide examines access and use of the Internet in 179 nations world-wide. A global divide is evident between industrialized and developing societies. A social divide is apparent between rich and poor within each nation. Within the online community, evidence for a democratic divide is emerging between those who do and do not use Internet resources to engage and participate in public life. Part I outlines the theoretical debate between cyber-optimists who see the Internet as the great leveler. Part II examines the virtual political system and the way that representative institutions have responded to new opportunities on the Internet. Part III analyzes how the public has responded to these opportunities in Europe and the United States and develops the civic engagement model to explain patterns of participation via the Internet.
This paper argues the urgent need to better understand the e-democracy pilots that have taken place so far and that are currently being developed. It addresses the issues of what should be characterized in e-democracy pilots so as to better identify types of citizen participation exercises and the appropriate technology to support them, as such it offers an analytical framework for electronic participation. Over the last decade there has been a gradual awareness of the need to consider the innovative application of ICTs for participation that enables a wider audience to contribute to democratic debate and where contributions themselves are broader and deeper. This awareness has resulted in a number of isolated e- democracy pilots and research studies. It is important to consolidate this work and characterizes the level of participation, the technology used, the stage in the policy-making process and various issues and constraints, including the potential benefits.
Review of Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty and the Internet Worldwide / by Pippa Norris. Cambridge University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-521-80751-4.
