NUI Galway – UL Alliance First Annual ENGINEERING AND - ARAN ...

Engaging Citizens in the Policy-Making Process
Deirdre Lee 1 , Kate Kenny 2
1 Digital Enterprise Research Institute, NUI Galway
2 School of Political Science and Sociology, NUI Galway
deirdre.lee@deri.org, kate.kenny@nuigalway.ie
Abstract
The idea of a democracy implies a sharing of power
and decision-making between the people. However in
many of today’s representative democracies, the only
decision that a citizen has to make is which politician to
vote for every 3 or 4 years. For many reasons,
including reducing transaction costs, increasing social
inclusion or cohesion, and generating trust and social
capital, governments are realising the importance of
involving the public in the policy-making process [1].
Online Web 2.0 and social networking technologies are
being utilised to engage people, with varying degrees of
success. In this paper, I provide an overview of the
barriers to adoption of current eParticipation tools,
along with their potential in the context of a
sociological solution.
1. Introduction
eParticipation refers to the use of ICTs, in particular
the Internet and Web 2.0 technologies, in the
participation process, with the implication that
technology has the ability to change and transform
citizen involvement in deliberation and decision-making
processes [2].
2. Barriers to eParticipation
In a study carried out in [3], Governments report a
number of reasons for people not wanting to participate
in policy making. Over three-quarters of the respondents
(78%) attributed a lack of interest in policy issues or
politics as being an important factor. Just under half
(48%) indicated citizens’ low levels of trust in how
governments would use their input as a motivating
factor. Other barriers that the community have identified
include a large and diverse range of stakeholders,
varying levels of technical skill, a lack of integration of
eParticipation strategy into actual government
organisation structures, language difficulties, privacy
issues, etc. What is clear from many of these barriers is
that the lack of adoption of eParticipation tools is not
due to technological barriers, but with sociological or
political obstacles.
3. Use of Argument Visualisation
Engaging users in the discussion and formulation of
public policies, and then being able to create meaningful
summaries of their contributions is a major challenge
for eParticipation. Many opinions expressed on current
eParticipation websites are structured in an informal,
conversational format, and, as such, valid arguments,
opinions, and debates are lost in the sea of forums,
blogs, wikis and tweets. Utilising argument visualisation
techniques, lowers the digital divide, as mind-maps, or
lists of pros and cons, are all concepts that an average
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stakeholder would be familiar with from the real world.
The WAVE Platform 1
incorporates argument
visualisation, Web 2.0, and social networking
technologies to engage citizens in debate [4]. With over
7,000 users, the WAVE Platform has achieved moderate
success.
4. Lessons Learned
Panopoulou et al. [5] carried out an extensive
analysis of 40 eParticipation initiatives from 12
European countries, where they identified, among other
things, the main lessons learned from current initiatives.
Many of their findings concurred with the results from
the WAVE project, including the necessity for a
commitment by governments to support the
participatory process, a simple and intuitive interface, a
combination of both online and offline channels, and a
thorough communication and promotion plan.
5. Inform, Consult, Empower
Building on these lessons learned, the Puzzled by
Policy project 2
aims to combine successful pre-existing
eParticipation tools with new widget technologies to
bring policymaking to the people through their existing
social networking sites and mobile devices. However
the technical platform is only one aspect of the solution,
which will also include a thorough analysis of the
policy-domain, stakeholder needs, and potential for
policy-maker involvement.
Acknowledgments
The work presented in this paper has been funded in
part by Science Foundation Ireland under Grant No.
SFI/08/CE/I1380 (Lion-2) and the European Union
under Grant No. EP-08-01-002 (WAVE) and CIP-ICT-
PSP-2009-3bis/ 256261 (Puzzled by Policy)
8. References
[1] Smith, S, Main benefits of eParticipation developments in
the EU, European eParticipation, Study and supply of services
on the development of eParticipation in the EU, D1.3b, 2009
[2] Sæbø, O., Rose, J., & Skiftenes Flak, L. (2008). The shape
of eParticipation: Characterizing an emerging research area.
Government Information Quarterly, 25(3) 400-428.
[3] Focus on Citizens: Public Engagement for Better Policy
and Services, OECD Report, 2009
[4] Lee, D et al., The WAVE Platform: Utilising Argument
Visualisation, Social Networking and Web 2.0 Technologies
for eParticipation, ePart 2010
[5] Panopoulou et al., eParticipation Initiatives in Europe:
Learning from Practitioners, ePart 2010,
1 www.wave-project.eu
2 www.puzzledbypolicy.eu