Print Print

CMO 3EDS - eDemocracy Strategies and Tools in a Globalized World* "NOT ESTABLISHED"

Faculty
Rony Medaglia, Assistant Professor, PhD
Course Coordinator
Rony Medaglia, Assistant Professor, PhD
Prerequisite/progression of the course
This course can be followed by all students with a keen interest in understanding how new digital media are transforming the relationships between governments and citizens.
Course content, structure and teaching
There is a global trend in governments across the world to use new digital media to enable citizen democratic participation (eDemocracy/ eParticipation policies). New technological tools – such as web 2.0 applications, social networking services, mobile technologies, etc. – are changing the way citizens interact with governmental bodies at all levels: local, national, and supra-national. This course focuses on strategies and tools employed by governments to enable citizen democratic participation in decision-making using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
In its first part, the course will provide a critical overview of different and conflicting perspectives about the democratic role of ICT in the public sector, and of the main theoretical models and methods used to analyse e-participation. In the second part, maturity models of e-participation adoption will be presented and discussed, and students will be trained to use them to assess real-life examples of governmental online features.
The course will provide the students with the following academic competences:
· To have a critical overview of the main existing eDemocracy/ eParticipation policy strategies that goes beyond the formal governmental claims.
· To identify and be able to discuss key concepts, theories and methods of eParticipation analysis within a new and rapidly growing research area.
· To bridge theory with practice by building tools of analysis that draw on these concepts.
· To use these tools to assess real life examples of e-participation implementation in public websites.
The teaching will be in the pedagogical form of lectures, group discussions, individual process writing, brainstorming facilitated by the teacher, and online assessments of public websites. The course is organized in 10 sessions of three hours each.
The course's development of personal competences
The course will provide the students with the following personal and interpersonal competences:
· To combine and classify concepts, theories and methods of a field by relying on primary sources – i.e. the most recent research literature and policy strategies.
· To engage in group discussions based on a critical review of the individual reading requirements.
To participate in group work where the aim is to translate theoretical models into tools of empirical analysis.
Learning Objectives
At the end of the course, the student must be able to:
· Identify, compare and evaluate key eDemocracy/ eParticipation definitions and policy strategies.
· Explain, compare and reflect upon the main theoretical models and methods used to analyse eParticipation.
· Identify and compare maturity models of eParticipation.
· Synthesize and induce the maturity models of eParticipation with relation to real life experience of online tools.
· Bridge theory and practice by taking part in preparing and performing hands-on assessments of government websites.
Type of examination, exam aids and assessment
Oral examination based on synopsis
Recommended literature
Title
Andersen, K.N., & Medaglia, R. (2009). The Use of Facebook in National Election Campaigns: Politics as Usual? ePart 2009, Lecture Notes on Computer Science, vol. 5694, pp. 101-111.
Andersen, K. V., Henriksen, H. Z., Secher, C., & Medaglia, R. (2007). Costs of e-participation: the management challenges. Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, 1(1), 29-43.
Chadwick, A. (2003). ‘Bringing E-Democracy Back In. Why It Matters for Future Research on E-Governance’, Social Science Computer Review, vol. 21, no. 4, 443-455.
Chadwick, A. and May, C. (2003). ‘Interaction between States and Citizens in the Age of the Internet: “e-Government in the United States, Britain, and the European Union’, Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions, vol. 16, no. 2, 271-300.
Grönlund, Å. (2003). Emerging electronic infrastructures—Exploring democratic components. Social Science Computer Review, 21(1), 55−72.
Grönlund, Å. (2009). ICT Is Not Participation Is Not Democracy – eParticipation Development Models Revisited. ePart 2009, Lecture Notes on Computer Science, vol. 5694, pp. 12-23.
Jensen, J. L. (2003). Public spheres on the Internet: Anarchic or government-sponsored—A comparison. Scandinavian Political Studies, 26(4), 349−374.
Kakabadse, A., Kakabadse, N.K. and Kouzmin, A. (2003). ‘Reinventing the Democratic Governance Project through Information Technology? A Growing Agenda for Debate’, Public Administration Review, Vol. 63, No. 1, 44-60.
Macintosh, A. (2004). ‘Characterizing E-Participation in Policy-Making’, Proceedings of the 37th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.
Mahrer, H., & Krimmer, R. (2005). Towards the enhancement of e-democracy: identifying the notion of the 'middleman paradox'. Information Systems Journal, 15(1), 27-42.
Medaglia, R. (2007). Measuring the diffusion of eParticipation: A survey on Italian local government. Information Polity: The International Journal of Government & Democracy in the Information Age, 12(4), 265-280.
OECD (2003). Promises and problems of e-democracy: Challenges of citizen on-line engagement, OECD. Pp. 1-58; 59-91; 129-142; 143-162.
Oreilly, T. (2007). What Is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software. SSRN eLibrary.
Päivärinta, T., & Sæbø, Ø. (2006). Models of E-Democracy. Communications of AIS, 17, article 37.
Panopoulou, E., Tambouris, E., Tarabanis, K. (2009). 'eParticipation initiatives: How is Europe progressing?, European Journal of ePractice, Nº 7 · March 2009
Panopoulou, E., Tambouris, E., Zotou, M., & Tarabanis, K. (2009). Evaluating eParticipation Sophistication of Regional Authorities Websites: The Case of Greece and Spain. ePart 2009, Lecture Notes on Computer Science, vol. 5694, pp. 67-77.
Sæbø, Ø., Rose, J., & Nyvang, T. (2009). The Role of Social Networking Services in eParticipation. ePart 2009, Lecture Notes on Computer Science, vol. 5694, 46-55.
Smith, S., Dalakiouridou, E. (2009). 'Contextualising Public (e)Participation in the Governance of the European Union', European Journal of ePractice, Nº 7 · March 2009
Steyaert, J. (2000). Local governments online and the role of the resident—Government shop versus electronic community. Social Science Computer Review, 18(1), 3−16.
van der Graft, P. and Jorgen Svensson (2006). ‘Explaining eDemocracy development: A quantitative empirical study’, Information Polity, Vol. 11, No. 2, 123-134.
Vedel, T. (2006). The Idea of Electronic Democracy: Origins, Visions and Questions. Parliamentary Affairs, 59(2), 226-235.
Watson, Richard T. And Bryan Mundy (2001). “A Strategic Perspective for Electronic Democracy.” Communications of the ACM 44: 27-31.
Wright, S. (2006). Electrifying Democracy? 10 Years of Policy and Practice. Parliamentary Affairs, 59(2), 236-249.
 

Last updated by Electives Secretariat 22/06/2010