Exploring the use of new technologies in participation practices in legislation

The use of information technology in governance generally, and in legislative processes specifically, has emerged as a significant trend over the last decade. The design and mobilization of such technologies in diverse settings have shown significant progress over time; however, such technologies and related practices continue to reflect limitations and difficulties. This study seeks to address a number of existing limitations in the use of technology in e-legislation. Using an applied research design combined with rapid applications development, the project examines avenues for e-participation in the current investigation-legislative practices of the Blue Ribbon Committee of the Philippine Senate. The project's applications development phase uses Web 2.0 as a platform, and combines it with electronic document and natural language techniques, thus enabling a shift from dominantly information dissemination approaches to multi-directional exchanges supported by new techniques like the automatic categorization of comments. The study explores the potential and the limitations of new technologies, and highlights the need for new institutional policies and capacity building to ensure the success and sustainability of e-participation initiatives. The technologies created can be considered as possible future directions by lawmakers in countries that are seeking to move beyond e-legislation practices that focus primarily on uni-directional information dissemination, into more participatory approaches.