Centre for Digital Citizenship

Success, Failure & Challenges of eParticipation

Ann Macintosh

Professor of Digital Governance

Centre for Digital CitizenshipInstitute of Communications Studies

The University of Leeds,Email: A.Macintosh@leeds.ac.uk

eParticipation perspectives

Evaluation &

Impact

Doing eParticipation

Understanding

eParticipation

Success, failure & challenges:Equity

Failures in current state:

• Lack of understanding how divides impact on representativeness of eParticipation

• Limited reliability and acceptability of eParticipation decisions

Challenges for success

• Acknowledging multi-cultural and multi-ethnic society

• Understanding factors of exclusion

• Role of mass media to reach excluded sections of society

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Success, failure & challenges:Institutions and Stakeholders

Failures in current state:

• Institutional & political resistance to eParticipation

• Lack of commitment from elected representatives

• Overlapping initiatives by public agencies

Challenges for success

• Create environment and culture to engage with eParticipation

• Online visibility and internal communication

• Understanding problem-solving and power-sharing

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Success, failure & challenges:Information systems

Failures in current state:

• Dependent choice of technology design and application for research

• Lack of formal representation of information

Challenges for success

• Change of emphasis to a holistic view of design and application

• eParticipation design environment

• Advancing knowledge technologies

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eParticipation Research Priorities

Inclusive eParticipation

Focus on growing multi-cultural and multi-ethnic shape of society

How eInclusion research can benefit eParticipation

Investigating relevance of technology devices

eParticipation Research Priorities

Representatives and eParticipation

Investigating relevance and added value of eParticipation to engage politicians

Understanding what politicians think about eParticipation

eParticipation Research Priorities

Social Networks and eParticipation

How formal consultations are taken up by public sphere

How effectively online consultations are inter-connected with other sites on same public-policy issue

eParticipation Research Priorities

Understanding the conversation & supporting deliberation

Capturing the meaning of public debate

Investigating multi-media information to support debate

Supporting moderation & facilitation

eParticipation Research Priorities

Cultural & normative differences

Does ‘political participation’ have common meanings across Europe & amongst different social actors?

How are key terms relating to eParticipation used & applied by various actors?

eParticipation Research Priorities

Quality and Impact of eParticipation

Focus on how eParticipation affects democracy

Integrating criteria and methods for assessing eParticipation

Investigating long term impacts

Conclusions

Current eParticipation is both a success and a failure!

Needs more inter-disciplinary researchNeeds consideration of a range of technologies (old and new)

Needs commitment from all stakeholders

Thank you