What E-Participation is

Professor Rachel K. Gibson, Institute for Social Change, University of Manchester, will talk on "What is ‘E-Participation’?", 4pm, 19 April 2011, at the Australian National University in Canberra.

Seminar - Professor Rachel K. Gibson - Tuesday 19 April at 4pm Professor Rachel K. Gibson, Institute for Social Change, University of Manchester

4pm on Tuesday 19 April in the LJ Hume Centre (First Floor Copland Building)

What is ‘E-Participation’?

This paper uses original survey data from the 2010 UK election to address the question of defining and measuring e-participation. Despite over a decades’ worth of research being conducted into the topic of e-participation, a clear and commonly accepted definition of the activity itself remains elusive. The talk will focus on ways in which e-participation has been studied both conceptually and empirically, drawing on the extensive literature that has examined offline participation. Is e-participation simply an extension of existing forms, differing only in mode? Or does it offer a new and qualitatively different form of political engagement. After developing a typology of e-participation we test it using confirmatory factor analysis. The results indicate that different forms of e-participation can be identified and that they have potentially different implications for mobilisation of citizens.