2.8. Multi-Perspective Approach to eParticipation

This approach to eParticipation reflects the composition of Aalborg University’s Centre for Digital Governance and the centre’s cross disciplinary approach to Electronic Government (see figure 1).

Figure 1:  Three perspectives of the cross-disciplinary approach to eParticipation

Three cross-disciplinary perspectives are outlined:

1. politics and organisation (reflecting both the democratic dimension of digital governance and its location in government organisations with particular characteristics and ways of working).
2. communication and interaction ( focusing on the roles of computer-mediated discourse, socio-technical interaction and technology-facilitated work in governance), and
3. technology and infrastructure (concentrating on emerging internet-based and mobile technologies enabling governance, and the physical and conceptual infrastructures that underpin these technologies).

eParticipation is discussed in terms of these three perspectives, with particular focus on scientific perspective (preliminary assumptions; theoretical concepts; theoretical models; research community; disciplines involved, method), eParticipation typologies, research issues and problems studied, and eParticipation challenges and barriers.

The politics and organisation perspective

From the perspective of politics and organisation it is assumed that the involvement of citizens in the process of political decision-making and implementation can improve democracy in terms of more responsive and effective democratic institutions. EParticipation? is to be seen as one tool among others. However, in highly developed welfare states there is a growing need to find new ways of closing the gap between citizens and political representatives to improve both democratic legitimacy and political effectiveness. EParticipation? could be a new and effective tool for collecting information and knowledge from citizen-experts, stakeholders and ordinary citizens as well. Key issues for the research on these subjects are different normative models of democracy (liberal, participatory, deliberative), theories of the effect of participation on politics, theories about media and the public, policy-theory and theories of organization and management. In relation to eParticipation we have worked with a distinction between the supply of e-tools (that may help create new political opportunity structures for citizens) and the demand for (or the use of) such e-tools among citizens. The disciplines involved are political science, political sociology and public management.

Here eParticipation is studied at the local level – in communities, in associations, in welfare-institutions and in local politics and administration. The topics studied include plans and strategies for the use of e-tools in administration and politics as well as various forms of political e-communication. These cover: 1) communication “from above” (Municipal websites and other official and unofficial websites where citizens, members and user-groups can get information about services and policies). 2) communication “within” organizations (digitalization of the administration and of internal communication). 3) communication “from below” (citizens involved in public deliberations via e-consultations, e-voting, e-surveys, e-citizen-panels and e-discussion forums). E-communication is studied in all phases of the political process: from agenda setting through political decision-making to implementation and evaluation of policies.

Problems addressed in these kinds of research include investigating the potential of eParticipation for improving democratic decision-making and implementation with regard to 1) a more open, transparent and inclusive public, 2) stronger involvement of citizens in public decision-making and implementation, 3) more responsive and effective policy-performance. The methods applied are survey-methods, qualitative interviews with actors on different levels and document readings. Part of the analytical approach is shown in table 1.

Table 1:            Analytical approach to eParticipation

To-day, political participation via the Internet plays only a marginal role in the political process. One reason is that eParticipation is neither prioritized by public authorities or by citizens, forming a negative circle. Political representatives should pay more attention to the potentials of the Net for two-way-communication. The political authorities should furthermore pay more attention to securing an effective access of all citizens to the Internet. The lack of access to the Net is still an important barrier for eParticipation. It should be seen as a duty of government to overcome this barrier; in the present situation, the market decides.

The communication and interaction perspective

From the perspective of interaction and communication focus is put on the use and meaning of participation technologies. This means that design and implementation of technologies are always studied in relation to a use context. Primary research topics are interaction and communication in both design processes and in designed products. The research is partly rooted in the Scandinavian tradition of systems design and the participatory design school, emphasising the design of systems which contribute to quality in use by developing techniques for users to participate in the design process. The underlying assumption is that democratic or participatory processes in the design of information systems will lead to improved quality in use. Other research traditions include interaction design for interactive systems from the tradition of human computer interaction. Democracy perspectives are found at both an individual level (focusing on the support of individuals in order to make them able to participate, or focusing on the designed product and its ability to let users interact and communicate), a community or organisational level (developing participatory techniques and processes in order for different stakeholders to participate in design processes) and a societal level (influencing and improving politics in the IT-area). Key-words and theories for this research are participation, design, democracy, learning, politics and power. In relation to eParticipation we have especially worked on the design and evaluation of e-services.

The research focuses on eParticipation at the local level. Primary research areas are public institutions (schools, hospitals, municipalities). The ‘use and meaning’ perspective implies that the focus is on users (rather than institutions or citizens) and on analysis of user interaction with existing technologies and user interaction in the design process of new technologies.

Problems addressed by the research include how to improve interaction and communication in design and use context of information technologies. This is pursued through development of participatory methods for interaction design, development of theories of interactive technologies, development of theories for technology use, development of methods for how to study quality in use, development of theories for use contexts. The technologies studied are primarily owned by public institutions, such as 1) websites/e-services (e.g. e-tax websites, e-service websites from the power industry) and 2) administrative information systems (primarily electronic health records). The approach is simultaneously critical and constructive: eParticipation technologies call for critical reflections on who is setting the stage for participation, who can participate, why, and what does this mean, especially from a democratic perspective. Our position is, however, constructive, which means, that the biggest challenge is to use critical perspectives to construct better processes and products from a democratic and life quality perspective.

The technology and infrastructure perspective

From a technology and infrastructure perspective, eParticipation is studied in terms of particular computer applications (such as voting systems, debate forums, eHearing systems) which are usually particular instantiations of already developed technologies (such as chat rooms, geographical information systems, web-logging, group work systems, and decision support systems). Such applications are always dependent on at least two types of infrastructure: physical infrastructure such as the internet or satellites hosting mobile communications, and conceptual infrastructure such as ontological schemes, software protocols, but also citizen registers and voting protocols. Infrastructure is an important area of study because eParticipation cannot normally extend beyond the boundaries of infrastructure: thus eVoting cannot take place in the absence of internet access, or in the absence of a generally agreed and accepted protocol for voting. Thus infrastructure development goes hand in hand with the development of new technologies and applications. The focus of the research is on the development and implementation of new eParticipation technologies and the infrastructures they are dependent on, but this can take many forms, including software development, method support, system development management and work and use studies. A particular problem in the management of eParticipation initiatives is the diffusion and acceptance of the new applications – many eParticipation tools lie unnoticed and unused on the web. Other development problems concern user involvement (where users are diverse and geographically widely dispersed), strategy and design of eParticipation systems and a range of more technological problems concerning for instance, security, multi-platform access and mobility.

A variety of technologies underpin typical eParticipation applications and some of these, and their uses are detailed in table 2.

Table 2:            eParticipation technologies and their uses

Research in technology and infrastructure in the eParticipation field involves two different types of research communities. The first types of communities are those that directly concerned with computing and the development of computing systems, such as information systems, software engineering computer science, and health informatics. The second type of research community with an interest in eParticipation are disciplines which target various governance activities which are heavily dependent on technology and technological infrastructures, for instance: land administration, public administration and environmental studies.

Discussion: a three perspective model of eParticipation

Based on the considerations voiced above we can outline an integrative three perspective model of eParticipation reflecting the different disciplinary contributions to this emerging field.

Figure 6.2: Three-perspective cross-disciplinary model of eParticipation

Participation is regarded here as a form of interaction between citizens and politicians (and other societal stakeholders and stakeholder groups) rooted in communication. This discourse takes place in a political context under (in developed western societies) established democratic frameworks. EParticipation? is participation mediated by computer systems, and facilitated by technological and conceptual infrastructures. Government organisations take a prime responsibility for sponsoring and developing eParticipation and eParticipation systems, though this also evolves spontaneously and independently.

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