E-participation

e-participation (also written eParticipation and e-Participation) is the term referring to "ICT-supported participation in processes involved in government and governance". Processes may concern administration, service delivery, decision making and policy making. E-participation is hence closely related to e-government and e-governance participation. The need for the term has emerged as citizen benefits and values have often received less attention in e-government development than those of the service providers, and the need to distinguish the roles of citizen and customer has become clearer.

A more detailed definition sees e-participation as "the use of information and communication technologies to broaden and deepen political participation by enabling citizens to connect with one another and with their elected representatives" (Macintosh 2004). This definition includes all stakeholders in democratic decision-making processes and not only citizen related top-down government initiatives. So e-participation can be seen as part of e-democracy, whereas e-democracy means the use of ICT by governments in general used by elected officials, media, political parties and interest groups, civil society organizations, international governmental organizations, or citizens/voters within any of the political processes of states/regions, nations, and local and global communities (Clift 2003).

The complexity of e-participation processes results from the large number of different participation areas, involved stakeholders, levels of engagement, and stages in policy making, which characterize the research and applications (Fraser 2006, p. chapter 2).

The term emanated in the early 2000s and draws generally on three developments.

The term participation means taking part in joint activities for the purpose of reaching a common goal. This encompasses both trivial situations in which participation mainly has a technical meaning, ”doing things together”. For example, a football team needs 11 players, and dancing often requires two or more people acting in a coordinated manner. But participation, even in trivial situations, also has a goal-oriented aspect which means decision making and control are involved. Participation in political science and theory of management refers to direct public participation in political, economical or management decisions. The two are not completely separated but belong on a spectrum of complexity and context. When participation becomes complicated, decision making becomes necessary. Hence, any participatory process is potentially important for the rule system governing the activities. In terms of points 2 and 3 above, this means that when service processes become complex, the implementation of them will not be in all details based on political decisions but also on what is found to be practical. Such decisions are made in many places in a situated manner. Instead of taking in and accepting knowledge as is disseminated by the media and government, by participating, one becomes an active citizen and further contributes to a democratic society. When such practical doings become implemented in government (e)service systems, they will affect decision making, as many changes will later be hard to make simply because existing procedures are implemented in ICT systems and government agencies’ procedures. There are many theories dealing with institutionalization, for example structuration theory, Institutional theory, and Actor-Network Theory. These theories all, in different ways, deal with how "ways of doing things" become established or rejected, and how those that become established increasingly affect the ways we "normally" do things.

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