Cynthia Farina, Dmitry Epstein, J. Heidt, Mary J. Newhart
{"title":"Designing an Online Civic Engagement Platform: Balancing \"More\" vs. \"Better\" Participation in Complex Public Policymaking","authors":"Cynthia Farina, Dmitry Epstein, J. Heidt, Mary J. Newhart","doi":"10.4018/ijep.2014010102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/ijep.2014010102","url":null,"abstract":"A new form of online citizen participation in government decisionmaking has arisen in the United States (U.S.) under the Obama Administration. \"Civic Participation 2.0\" attempts to use Web 2.0 information and communication technologies to enable wider civic participation in government policymaking, based on three pillars of open government: transparency, participation, and collaboration. Thus far, the Administration has modeled Civic Participation 2.0 almost exclusively on a universalist/populist Web 2.0 philosophy of participation. In this model, content is created by users, who are enabled to shape the discussion and assess the value of contributions with little information or guidance from government decisionmakers. The authors suggest that this model often produces \"participation\" unsatisfactory to both government and citizens. The authors propose instead a model of Civic Participation 2.0 rooted in the theory and practice of democratic deliberation. In this model, the goal of civic participation is to reveal the conclusions people reach when they are informed about the issues and have the opportunity and motivation seriously to discuss them. Accordingly, the task of civic participation design is to provide the factual and policy information and the kinds of participation mechanisms that support and encourage this sort of participatory output. Based on the authors' experience with Regulation Room, an experimental online platform for broadening effective civic participation in rulemaking (the process federal agencies use to make new regulations), the authors offer specific suggestions for how designers can strike the balance between ease of engagement and quality of engagement-and so bring new voices into public policymaking processes through participatory outputs that government decisionmakers will value.","PeriodicalId":51980,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of E-Politics","volume":"5 1","pages":"16-40"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.4018/ijep.2014010102","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70456334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Youth, ICT, and Democracy in Turkey: Interview with Sezai Hazir, Founder of Habitat Center for Development and Governance, Leading NGO in the Field of Local Democracy and Youth Participation in Turkey","authors":"Itir Akdogan","doi":"10.4018/jep.2012100106","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/jep.2012100106","url":null,"abstract":"Mr. Hazir: When we first founded Habitat Center for Development and Governance in 1996, our aim was to create a “communication bridge” between young people in Turkey and young people in the world. ICT were not as wide spread in Turkey; many didn’t understand what we intended to accomplish. Back then, there was no youth work as such. You cannot expect young people to demand their rights or to benefit from participatory mechanisms unless you raise awareness on these concepts. This is why we first focused our work on awareness raising and capacity building. Our association is at the same time part of a global youth network. Our access to global processes and information helped us learn about social responsibility projects of the international ICT companies. We started partnering with companies like Cisco and Microsoft to bridge their projects with our projects for increasing awareness and for helping build that communication bridge. The projects were focused on vocational training and youth employment. As the Youth, ICT, and Democracy in Turkey: Interview with Sezai Hazir, Founder of Habitat Center for Development and Governance, Leading NGO in the Field of Local Democracy and Youth Participation in Turkey","PeriodicalId":51980,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of E-Politics","volume":"3 1","pages":"71-77"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70489025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Integrating e-Business Models for Government Solutions: Citizen-Centric Service Oriented Methodologies and Processes","authors":"Itir Akdogan","doi":"10.4018/jep.2012100105","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/jep.2012100105","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51980,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of E-Politics","volume":"3 1","pages":"69-70"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70488907","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Engaging Young People in the spaces where they are: an interview with Graham West, MP Minister for Youth, NSW Government, Australia","authors":"D. Cecez-Kecmanovic, M. Kennan, G. West","doi":"10.4018/JEP.2010070105","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/JEP.2010070105","url":null,"abstract":"The New South Wales (NSW) Government in Australia has commenced an examination of the use of online social networking technologies to consult with young people and their communities. The primary area of interest has been the use of such technologies to enhance engagement with young people in NSW – mainly 9-18 years of age. This demographic is notoriously difficult to engage with in terms of government policies, social issues and civic matters. Young people do not generally react positively to messages being pushed at them, or offers to engage with government directly via well crafted web sites. Unless young people are already interested in politics and social matters, they tend to avoid such web sites. However, new Web 2.0 social networking technologies offer a different mode of engagement and new possibilities for social change. The massive upsurge in social networking sites has seen a new kind of social phenomenon emerge. This comprises a highly focused, self managed set of micro communities based around networks of \" friends \". It reflects and amplifies the youth culture – close connections, instant messages, and high levels of feedback, intimate conversations and group interaction. MySpace, BeBo, Facebook, Friendster, Twitter and others are examples of accessible, open and instantaneous social technologies being taken up by millions of young people across Australia and across the world. Young people use the technologies to stay in touch","PeriodicalId":51980,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of E-Politics","volume":"1 1","pages":"57-63"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70488837","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}