Epstein et al.: The “analog” aspects of online public engagement in e-rulemaking

Dmitry Epstein , Mary Newhart , and Rebecca Vernon have published Not by technology alone: The “analog” aspects of online public engagement in policymaking , forthcoming in Government Information Quarterly .

Here is the abstract:

Between Twitter revolutions and Facebook elections, there is a growing belief that information and communication technologies are changing the way democracy is practiced. The discourse around e-government and online deliberation is frequently focused on technical solutions and based in the belief that if you build it correctly they will come. This paper departs from the literature on digital divide to examine barriers to online civic participation in policy deliberation. While most scholarship focuses on identifying and describing those barriers, this study offers an in-depth analysis of what it takes to address them using a particular case study. Based in the tradition of action research, this paper focuses on analysis of practices that evolved in Regulation Room—a research project of CeRI (Cornell eRulemaking Initiative) that works with federal government agencies in helping them engage public in complex policymaking processes. It draws a multidimensional picture of motivation, skill, and general political participation divides; or the “analog” aspects of the digital divide in online civic participation and policy deliberation.

Filed under: Applications, Case studies, Research findings, Technology developments, Technology tools Tagged: Barriers to citizens' participation in erulemaking, Barriers to citizens' participation in lawmaking, Barriers to eparticipation, CeRI, Citizens' legal deliberation about proposed laws, Citizens' legal deliberation about proposed regulations, Citizens' participation in erulemaking, Citizens' participation in lawmaking, Cornell eRulemaking Initiative, Deliberative democracy, Democratic deliberation, Dmitri Epstein, eparticipation, eparticipation systems, erulemaking, erulemaking systems, Government Information Quarterly, Legal communication, Legal deliberation, Legislative information systems, Mary Newhart, Online deliberation, Online legal deliberation, Online legal deliberation systems, Rebecca Vernon, Regulation Room, RegulationRoom, Regulatory communication systems, Regulatory information systems



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