eDemocracy

Digital transformation changes the relationship between citizens and politics. The observation of this nexus is highly relevant for representative democracy. After the successful 2008 Obama campaign, a vast body of research that explores how and why politicians use social media has emerged. However, we still know very little about how social media are being adopted and used in-between elections, and still less yet about what this means for political representation. Therefore, this Special Issue brings together innovative research that focuses on how the use of social media is impacting upon the relationship between politicians and political parties, and citizens. First, we discuss some pros and cons of this transformation in the context of the relevant literature and, especially, in relation to Stephen Coleman’s concept of ‘direct representation”. Finally, we discuss the findings and merits of the contributions and what the issue adds to our understanding of the phenomenon, to the state of research.

Many advocates of deliberative democracy see in the Internet a new opportunity for the development of public spaces, public spheres, and places where deliberation can take place. An important element of the notion of the public sphere in general and of deliberation specifically, is the quality of the debate. In the past decade, many studies have been conducted to evaluate online discussions in light of the ideal notion of the public sphere. However, a wide gap exists between theoretical approaches and the actual operationalization of such theories for empirical research. In an attempt to bridge this gap we develop a method for examining the extent to which Internet forums meet the normative requirements of rational-critical debate, reciprocity, and reflexivity. The methodological approach consists of a textual analysis of the contributions made to an online forum. The coding scheme presented in this article is based on a case study (UK Online) and guided by the theoretical notions of deliberative democracy.

Talking politics online is not exclusively reserved for those spaces dedicated to politics, particularly the everyday political talk crucial to the public sphere. However, past net-based public sphere research has focused mostly on political spaces thereby neglecting an array of other genres. The aim of this article is to move beyond politically oriented communicative spaces by investigating political talk within the British reality TV discussion forum Wife Swap. The purpose is to see whether a forum dedicated to reality TV provides the communicative space, content, and style for politics that extends the public sphere. The central question is whether it fulfils the requirements of rationality and ‘decent’ deliberation. Moreover, the analysis moved beyond a formal notion by investigating how expressives influence the more traditional elements of deliberation. The findings revealed that Wife Swap participants engaged in political talk that was often deliberative. Moreover, it was a space where the use of expressives played a key role in enhancing such talk.

This paper lays the groundwork for a comprehensive typology in uncovering the factors influencing the degree of shift towards e-democracy. The paper proposes an interaction model of factors in the analysis of e-democracy by examining the public sector, the private sector and the individuals. This interaction model is then used to discuss pertinent socio-economic and political impacts of e-democracy in Estonia. The discussion hopes to shed light on the obstacles and difficulties of achieving e- democracy and paves the way for future analysis of e-democracy implants in other countries.

The developing 'global' network of computers, popularly referred to as the net, has sparked enthusiastic claims that this new medium holds the potential to revolutionise democracy. Central to this rhetoric is the concept of cyberspace. This virtual meeting place, created by computer networks, enables public interaction and information sharing. It is seen as providing the basis for the revitalisation of the public sphere and democracy. This article explores this prospect in relation to the political economy of the medium's ownership and control. I argue that the net's democratic potential is being limited by the rapid colonisation of cyberspace by capital. As a result, more than universal access to the net will be required to fulfil its democratic promise. Spaces for deliberative interaction in cyberspace also need to be protected and enhanced. Yet, democratisation beyond cyberspace may not automatically follow. Researchers and policy makers must pay greater attention to the systemic impediments involved. This, I conclude, is prerequisite to realising the democratic potential of the net.

"במאמר זה נערכת בחינה מקיפה של השימוש באינטרנט ככלי פוליטי
אישי בקרב חברי כנסת. תחילה מפורטות ומוסברות המגמות
החברתיות והפוליטיות המניעות פרלמנטרים ברחבי העולם
ובישראל להשתמש בפלטפורמות אינטרנט אישיות כמדיום
תקשורתי. תיאור המגמות מלווה בדוגמאות מוחשיות מאתרים
של חברי כנסת פעילים בכנסת השבע-עשרה וכן בסקירת
התמורות שחלו בשימוש בכלי אינטרנט אישיים בקרב חברי
הכנסת, וזאת בהתאם לשלבים התפתחותיים שזוהו. לסיום
נדונה האבחנה בין השימוש באינטרנט ככלי לתקשורת פוליטית
במסגרת קמפיין בחירות, לבין השימוש באינטרנט כפלטפורמה
ליצירת קשר עם הציבור במהלך כהונה"

Electronic voting or e-voting is defined as ‘an election system that allows a voter to record his or her secure and secret ballot electronically’ (TechTarget, 2011). This paper seeks to examine the advantages and disadvantages of e-voting using Estonia’s experience as a case study. It also aims to look at whether the advantages of e-voting outweighs its disadvantages. The paper ends with a discussion on the suitability of implementing e-voting systems, along with key considerations that need to be taken into account for its success.

"Τον Ιανουάριο του 2009, η εφαρμογή κοινωνικής δικτύωσης Facebook έφτασε στους 175 εκατομμύρια ενεργούς χρήστες, ενώ το Μάρτιο του 2012 η εταιρία ανακοίνωσε ότι οι χρήστες της ανέρχονται πλέον σε 900 εκατομμύρια περίπου. Ο αριθμός αυτός των χρηστών αντιστοιχεί στο τριπλάσιο περίπου του πληθυσμού των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών (300 εκατομμύρια περίπου) και στο πενταπλάσιο περίπου του πληθυσμού της Βραζιλίας (190 million). Την ίδια στιγμή, κάθε λεπτό που περνάει μεταφορτώνονται στο δίκτυο Youtube πάνω από 10 ώρες υλικού σε βίντεο, ενώ ο ιστότοπος για το διαμοιρασμό φωτογραφιών και εικόνων Flickr παρέχει πρόσβαση σε πάνω από 3 δισεκατομμύρια φωτογραφίες, καθιστώντας τη σύγκριση με την περίφημη συλλογή των 300.000 εκθεμάτων του μουσείου του Λούβρου στο Παρίσι απλά ανούσια (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).
Σύμφωνα με πρόσφατες έρευνες, 75% των χρηστών του Διαδικτύου χρησιμοποιούν τα «κοινωνικά μέσα» ή «μέσα κοινωνικής δικτύωσης», όπως αλλιώς ονομάζονται είτε διαβάζοντας τα νέα από κάποιο ιστότοπο (blog) ή γράφοντας κριτική σε κάποιο προϊόν που έχουν αγοράσει από το διαδίκτυο. Ενδιαφέρον είναι το γεγονός ότι οι χρήστες των μέσων κοινωνικής δικτύωσης δεν είναι μόνο μικρής ηλικίας, αλλά και άτομα ηλικίας 35-44 ετών κυρίως, τα οποία δημιουργούν λογαριασμούς και εγγράφονται σε ιστοσελίδες κοινωνικής δικτύωσης. Από τα παραπάνω γίνεται εμφανές ότι τα τελευταία χρόνια μπορούμε πλέον να μιλάμε για μία επανάσταση των κοινωνικών μέσων, η οποία επηρεάζει όχι μόνο την καθημερινή μας ζωή αλλά επιφέρει και άλλες κοινωνικές ή πολιτικές προεκτάσεις.
"

Η δραματική εισχώρηση της τεχνολογίας σε κάθε φάση της ζωής του ανθρώπου έχει επιφέρει μια τρομακτική αλλαγή στον τρόπο με τον οποίο αυτός εργάζεται, ενημερώνεται, επικοινωνεί και διασκεδάζει. Αυτή η εξέλιξη φαίνεται ότι μπορεί να επηρεάσει και τον τρόπο διακυβέρνησης, δίνοντας τη δυνατότητα στις κυβερνήσεις να χρησιμοποιήσουν τις νέες τεχνολογίες για να παρέχουν στους πολίτες ευκολότερη πρόσβαση στις πληροφορίες και τις υπηρεσίες, να βελτιώσουν την ποιότητα των παρεχόμενων υπηρεσιών και να προσφέρουν μεγαλύτερες ευκαιρίες για συμμετοχή των πολιτών στους δημοκρατικούς θεσμούς και διαδικασίες.

Il presente contributo, seguendo un percorso di riflessione pensato per la didattica, prende spunto da un articolo giornalistico basato su un azzardato parallelo tra Obama e Cicerone. In sé, esso non può essere affrontato se non nei termini di un caso di ‘ricezione dell’antico’. Allo stesso tempo esso permette tuttavia di avanzare riflessioni sulla permanenza dei modelli dell’antichità nelle democrazie contemporanee e, soprattutto, sul loro ‘ritorno’ nella teoria politica dell’ultimo trentennio. Gli elementi-chiave sono, naturalmente, la crisi della rappresentanza e l’affermarsi delle nuove tecnologie, da alcuni ritenute in grado di riavvicinare il cittadino alla politica … dal comitium a internet.

Ever since the advent of the Internet, political communication scholars have debated its potential to facilitate and support public deliberation as a means of revitalizing and extending the public sphere. Much of the debate has focused on the medium’s potential in offering communicative spaces that transcend the limitations of time, space and access (and the traditional mass media) whereby open communication, deliberation and exchange of information among the public can prosper. Following the initial enthusiasm over the possibilities of a more interactive and deliberative electorate, along with the cyber-pessimist response, a growing body of rich empirical research into online deliberation has arisen in its wake. In search of online deliberation, scholars have conducted a broad range of investigations, developing several prominent directions in the field. One popular line of research has been the study of informal political talk through the lens of public sphere ideals.The aim of this chapter is to detail and discuss this growing body of research and its significance. First, I begin by discussing what scholars mean by political talk and why it is thought to be essential for (a more deliberative) democracy. Following this, the major findings to date are set out focusing specifically on three of the most common features of political talk investigated by scholars in the field. I discuss scholarly disagreement and offer my thoughts and critical reflection on the topic. Finally, the chapter ends with several recommendations for future research into informal political talk in the Internet-based public sphere.

El modelo de representación parlamentaria de las democracias contemporáneas empieza a envejecer. La participación política de la sociedad, limitada en gran medida al sufragio, se antoja insuficiente y se extiende la percepción de que los cargos electos no cumplen su función de representar. En este contexto, el desarrollo de las tecnologías de la comunicación ofrece un nuevo campo de posibilidades de acción política desintermediada que, a su vez, pueden corregir las patologías del modelo actual: corrupción, acumulación y abuso de poder o el distanciamiento entre las instituciones y la gente.

En concreto, en la tarea de legislar y aprobar lo legislado, emergen iniciativas que promueven la elaboración abierta y colaborativa de los textos legales, así como la implementación de sistemas de votación directa de los mismos. En definitiva, una nueva ola de propuestas que persiguen que la sociedad se reapropie de una política institucional que cada vez resulta más lejana y más ajena.

Partiendo de las reflexiones desarrolladas a lo largo de las secciones anteriores, en este capítulo abordamos finalmente los procesos de diseño y construcción de sistemas de Software Cívico, que son los que en último término constituyen el objetivo central de esta investigación doctoral.
El capítulo se inicia con una revisión de la literatura académica más relacionada con la creación de sistemas de eParticipación. Hemos examinado, en particular, los avances más relevantes provenientes de las áreas del gobierno electrónico (Rodríguez Bolívar et al. 2010; Wimmer 2011), diseño centrado en el usuario, diseño participativo, informática comunitaria, HCI (Human Computer Interaction) y diseño de sistemas de deliberación, entre otros. A partir de los conceptos y propuestas extraídos de estas disciplinas proponemos un marco de referencia que aspira a orientar los procesos de diseño y construcción colaborativos de una plataforma de eParticipación municipal, aunque en general podría aplicarse a todo tipo de sistemas de Software Cívico.
Este marco de referencia está compuesto tanto por herramientas conceptuales como por una propuesta metodológica. Debido a la naturaleza socio-técnica de este tipo de sistemas (Coleman 2011), entendemos que su proceso de construcción debe tener un carácter eminentemente colaborativo, transdisciplinar y emergente (bottom-up), centrado en desarrollar al máximo las “oportunidades de acción” (“affordances”) que proporciona a sus usuarios (Norman 1999; Gibson 1977) y en los procesos de apropiación social de la plataforma (Mansell 2010). De esta forma, serán los usuarios finales del sistema quienes desempeñen en todo momento el papel protagonista y quienes promoverán la sostenibilidad del sistema. El marco de referencia propuesto proporciona, entre otras, indicaciones sobre cómo estructurar las tareas y fases de desarrollo del sistema, cuáles son las dimensiones más relevantes que deben tenerse en cuenta, cómo facilitar la participación de los usuarios y ciertas consideraciones de cara a la realización de pruebas piloto.

The aim of this study then is to move beyond politically oriented discussion forums by also examining the  communicative practices of participants within fan-based forums. The focus is on how participants talk politics in online informal discussion forums. By informal discussion forums, I am referring to those forums that are not bound to any formal predetermined agendas such as e-consultations or e-juries, but rather to forums who’s primary purpose is to simply provide a communicative space for talk, e.g. fan-based discussion forums, news media message boards, and Usenet newsgroups. By political talk, I am referring to everyday, informal, political conversation carried out freely between participants in these online spaces, which is often spontaneous and lacks any purpose outside the purpose of talk for talk sake, representing the practical communicative form of what Habermas (1984, p. 327) calls communicative action. It is through this type of everyday political talk whereby citizens achieve mutual understanding about the self and each other, and it represents the fundamental ingredient of the public sphere.

The purpose of this study first is a normative one; it is to examine the democratic quality of this fundamental ingredient, of the communicative practices of participants within online discussions forums in light of a set of normative conditions of the public sphere. It is also to move beyond a formal notion of deliberation (beyond rationality via argumentation) by providing a more accurate account of how the political emerges in online discussions (particularly within nonpolitically oriented forums), how people actually talk politics in those discussions, and finally, how alternative communicative forms such as humor, emotional comments, and acknowledgements interact and influence the more ‘traditional’ elements of deliberation (e.g. rational-critical debate and reciprocity). Consequently, I present the following three research questions, which are central to this study:

To what extent do the communicative practices of online political discussions satisfy the normative conditions of the process of deliberation of the public sphere?

What role, if any, do expressives (humor, emotional comments, and acknowledgements) play within online political discussions and in relation to the normative conditions of deliberation?

How does political talk emerge in nonpolitically oriented discussion forums?

Together, the answers to these questions present a more comprehensive account of online political talk. They seek not only to offer insight into the quality of such talk, but also to provide a better understanding of its expressive and affective nature. Moreover, they seek to improve our understanding of how political talk occurs outside the realm of politically oriented discussion forums, and how it emerges in such communicative spaces. Therefore, in order to answer these questions and provide this insight, I examine and compare political talk within three online discussion forums of the Guardian, Big Brother, and Wife Swap. A comparative study design with normative, descriptive, and explorative characteristics was utilized. A content analysis with both qualitative and quantitative features was employed as the primary instrument for examination. Additional textual and network analyses were carried out to provide more depth to the investigation.

Conceptions of digital technology are contingent on particular conceptions of democracy (and vice versa), in that our perceptions of the "actionable properties" of the former are always already necessarily affected by our preconceptions of the latter. I will theorise this dialectical relationship in terms of logics of digital democratic affordances, which I conceive to be discursively constructed and ultimately contingent. In particular I will analyse how the Study Commission "Internet and Digital Society" (SCIDS) commissioned by the German Bundestag in 2010, understands the affordances of digital technology for German democracy. Rather than to "neutrally" analyse how digital technology impacts German society, I argue that in their policy recommendations the SCIDS implicitly normalises its own normative liberal-representative conception of digital democratic affordances and therefore forestalls much of the democratic potential offered by digital technology.

The new wave of information communication technologies is transforming politics around the world. A growing international literature notwithstanding, however, scholarship on the relationship between politics and the internet in New Zealand remains scant. The purposes of this article are to review the published academic literature regarding the impact of the internet on politics in New Zealand and to sketch a future research agenda which will address the gaps in that scholarship. The focus throughout is on research conducted on or about the New Zealand case – whether by New Zealand scholars or others – and on formal institutional politics.

Microblogging applications are becoming a momentous element of the public sector social media agenda. The potential of Twitter to update the public with frequent, concise and real-time content has motivated many pubic authorities to create their accounts, thus generating an interesting topic for research. This paper seeks to make an empirical and methodological contribution to this new body of knowledge by presenting an overview study of general Twitter accounts maintained by UK local government authorities. Over 296,000 tweets were collected from the 187officially listed local government accounts. The analysis was conducted in two stages: an examination of the Twitter networks developed by the accounts was followed by a structural analysis of the tweets. The combination of online research and social media analytics techniques enabled us to reach important conclusions about the use of Twitter by those authorities. The findings indicate high level of maturity of Twitter in the UK local government and point to several directions for further increasing the impact and visibility of those accounts within a social media strategy.

This book illuminates the role of crowdsourcing in policy-making By drawing on several cases around the world. From crowdsourced constitution reform in Iceland and participatory budgeting in Canada, to open innovation for services and crowdsourced federal strategy process in the United States, the book analyzes the impact of crowdsourcing on citizen agency in the public sphere. It also serves as a handbook with practical advice for successful crowdsourcing in a variety of public domains.

The author, Tanja Aitamurto, is a visiting researcher at the Liberation
Technology Program at Stanford University. She examines
how collective intelligence, whether harvested by crowdsourcing,
co-creation or open innovation, impacts processes in journalism,
public policy-making and design. This book is based on a report
she delivered to the Parliament of Finland about crowdsourcing
for democratic processes.

As we start our journey through the twenty-first century, we will continue to be faced with two divergent trends, the rise of the Internet and the steady decline in the public sphere, and in political participation in general.  The hopes of many are that eventually the one trend will offset the other; that the rapid growth of the Internet will be tapped into in hopes of harnessing its potential to enhance and reinvigorate a fading and ailing public sphere.  The question now becomes can this potential be translated into an enhancement for democracy, a remedy for an ailing public sphere?

This thesis examines this potential more closely by using the deliberative model of democracy and its emphasis on a ‘well functioning’ public sphere as a lens for examination of Internet practices, particularly those practices taking place within online political forums.  More specifically, this thesis has constructed a set of normative conditions of the ideal public sphere developed from the works of Habermas and other deliberative democrats, which were used as an evaluation scheme whereby these Internet practices were assessed - those being the process of understanding, sincerity, equality, and freedom.

This thesis’ research question: to what extent do current online political forums correspond to the ideal notion of the public sphere advocated by Habermas and other deliberative democrats, was assessed at three levels.  First, an examination was carried out by comparing the results from recent research, with regards to deliberating within online forums, to the set of normative conditions.  Secondly, an examination of the methods used by these researchers was conducted, again using the set of normative conditions as the frame of analysis.  Finally, an exploratory case study was conducted to assess current discursive practices within online political forums with the focus being placed on the testing of new methodological approaches for such an analysis. 

This case study focuses on exploring new methodological approaches for analyzing the normative condition of the process of understanding, more specifically the normative elements of rational-critical debate, reciprocity, and reflexivity, which when we consider the current state of research is much needed. 

The highlights of this exploratory case study consist of, first a visual mapping of the message flow within the discussion thread.  Second, a ‘web of reciprocity’ approach was used to assessing discussion threads for their level of reciprocity as a whole.  Finally, taking from argumentation theory, a three progressive level of analysis of reflexivity, which assessed messages for their use of counter-arguments and counter-evidence as a means of detecting the level of reflexivity present within a single message and within the messages as a whole.

The aim of this chapter is to see whether online discussion forums dedicated to popular culture (reality TV) provide a communicative space, content and style for politics that extends the public sphere. Given their typically casual, chatty and frivolous nature, we might assume that political talk doesn’t emerge in such spaces, and if it does, it would fall well short of the type of talk crucial to the public sphere. To what extent does political talk emerge in such spaces? If so, do such forums fulfil the requirements of rationality and ‘decent’ deliberation? Given the nature of the forums, the analysis moves beyond a formal notion of deliberation by also taking into account the use of expressive speech acts: emotion, humour and acknowledgements. What role do ‘expressives’ play within online political talk and how do they impact the normative conditions of deliberation? Moreover, comparing these spaces with a space dedicated to high politics – the Guardian political discussion forum – allows us to see whether, as critics would expect, deliberative talk is taking place in the one and emotional and irrational talk in the other.

Accessibility is an issue for everyone to overcome. Government Institutions are responsible from providing services for everyone, therefore; for eGovernment portals or platforms, to keep the information & services accessible to all, is critical. As widely accepted, eGovernment model should be able to reach diverse citizen groups as governance actors, in order to improve the progress of eDemocracy initiatives. The real transformative process towards eDemocracy would be made by the regulations made according to the needs of all citizens. For eGovernment model, to ensure the networking & organisational abilities among people with disabilities, could be possible by people with disabilities making use of services. However, for the people with disabilities, Web accessibility has been a great obstacle as they are already facing problems of accessibility in transportation, architecture, education as well as in employment. Therefore, Web accessibility standards are significant in terms of equal opportunities; they should be an integral part of the overall development process and cannot be presented as a separate issue. Although there are millions of people have disabilities that affect their use of the Web; a review of current public service websites in Turkey signifies that public websites mostly do not recognize the needs of people with disabilities and do not adopt assistive technologies. Most public websites have accessibility barriers that make it difficult or even impossible for many people with disabilities to access the information over the Web. This is an essential fact that illustrates that eGovernment criteria are not yet fulfilled. This paper, by focusing on visually impaired and blind people; evaluates Turkish public websites’ usability by people with disabilities and illustrates the outcomes from the ideal of eDemocracy angle. First, Information Society, eGovernment, eDemocracy concepts, disability and Web accessibility criteria and standards and implications for visually impaired users are introduced. Following, Turkey’s eGovernment trajectory is presented and eGovernment Gateway of Turkey, as well as some public sector websites are reviewed.

Resumen

Este trabajo bebe de la investigación “Jóvenes, Internet y política”, realizada para el Centro Reina Sofía sobre Adolescencia y Juventud. En él se muestra un resumen de las principales conclusiones acerca de las transformaciones que se están produciendo en las prácticas políticas y en los modos de participación, como consecuencia del uso de Internet y del papel de los jóvenes en los nuevos tipos de organización.

Para su realización se ha partido de otros trabajos e informes relacionados con el interés de los jóvenes en la política, tanto institucional como extrainstitucional, junto con el análisis de movimientos y plataformas surgidos en los últimos años, de las herramientas informáticas y del uso que hacen de ellas, así como de experiencias concretas de jóvenes directamente implicados en estas organizaciones.

Se han contrastado estas nuevas formas de organización con los marcos jurídicos que regulan la política institucional, tomando como referencia una muestra de artículos constitucionales y sus correspondientes leyes de desarrollo. Palabras clave: Juventud, Internet, política, tecnopolítica, participación, democracia electrónica
Abstract

This paper is based on the research “Youth, Internet and Politics”, commissioned by the Centro Reina Sofía for Adolescense and Youth. The paper shows a summary of the main conclusions about changes in politic practices and ways of politic participation, as a consecuence of the irruption of the Internet and the rol of young people in thsese new kind of organizations.

The background of this paper consists on several studies about youth interest in politics, besides the analysis of social movements emerged in the last years, computer tools and how they use them in concrete experiences of young people directly commited in these organizations.

This new types of practices have been contrasted with the legal frames of the institutional politic participation by selecting several articles of the spanish Constitution and its development laws.

Net-based public sphere researchers have examined online deliberation in numerous ways. However, most studies have focused exclusively on political discussion forums. This article moves beyond such spaces by analyzing political talk from an online forum dedicated to reality television. The purpose is to examine the democratic quality of political talk that emerges in this space in light of a set of normative criteria of the public sphere. The analysis also moved beyond an elite model of deliberation by investigating the use of expressives (humor, emotional comments, and acknowledgments). The findings reveal that participants engaged in political talk that was often deliberative. It was a space where the use of expressives played a significant role in enhancing such talk.

As manifestações que tomaram as ruas de centenas de cidades brasileiras, em junho de 2013, foram convocadas nas redes da internet. O elemento mobilizador foi o aumento no preço dos transportes coletivos, que precipitou o rompimento de uma bolha de descontentamento caracterizada pela cobrança de melhores serviços públicos, pelo descrédito nas instituições democráticas e pela crise de representação política tradicional. Este artigo constitui um contributo para o conhecimento dos movimentos de protesto no Brasil, mas também é uma reflexão sobre as redefinições do papel dos intelectuais na sociedade em rede.

Creating public spaces that foster political talk amongst citizens is challenging business. Tell people that it’s a ‘political’ space and (however well designed) you will invariably find it is used by political junkies, and is largely ignored by those who don’t self-identify as ‘political’. Consequently, many commentators will observe said disengagement by the majority of citizens, and complain of political apathy. But what if we are looking for the wrong things, and in the wrong places? In our recent work, we have been arguing that a) we need to move beyond the now well studied formally ‘political’ spaces, and see what is going on in everyday lifestyle communities, and b) we need to re-conceive political talk as less narrow, less normative and rational, and
instead embrace the vernacular, expressive and porous characteristics of everyday public speech.
And of course, emotions are an important link to both of these issues. If we accept the public sphere is becoming more emotionalized, then we can begin to conceive the nature of political engagement itself, as well as the spaces in which we look for it. In this spirit, for about the last four years, we have been examining
political talk in non-political online forums: how it emerges, what happens when it does emerge, and what we can learn about issues of technology, community, political engagement and citizenship. We set our focus outside of political flash-points such as elections, protests or social movements, and instead root our analysis in the everyday. Our empirical focus has been on three popular, general interest UK-based forums: www.netmums.com, www.digitalspy.com and www.moneysavingexpert.com. These websites cover salient aspects of contemporary culture: consumption, media and family. But first and foremost they are spaces embedded in everyday life where people come to share personal experiences and dilemmas, discuss their interests, meet like-minded people, and have fun. At this point we would like to share with you a minor revelation that our study revealed. Across the three forums, over 50% of all discussions that were political at some point led to political action. Further details about the design of the study, what types of political actions we found, and who they were directed at can be found in our journal articles. In the remainder of this article, we want to reflect on some of the fundamental questions our study provoked: what is it about these spaces that seemed to foster political action, and secondly, why was one of the forums (DigitalSpy) the exception, with little political action emerging from everyday talk?

Bu çalışmanın amacı, ilgili yurttaşlara ve çevrimiçi hizmet sunumu ve yönetimi sürecindeki Türk kent yöneticilerine bir kaynak sağlamak; konu hakkındaki benzer çalışmalar arasındaki boşluğu gidermeye yardımcı olmak ve başka çalışmalara vesile olmaktır. Bu araştırma çalışması, Genel Ağ (Web) sitelerinin, belediyelerin yurttaşlarla olan ilişkilerine dair anahtar bir taşıdığı düşüncesi üzerine kuruludur. Aynı zamanda kurumun “arka ofisi”ni görünür kıldıkları için Genel Ağ (Web) siteleri elektronik belediye yönetiminin yüzleri olarak kabul edilmiştir. Bu çalışmada, beş ana ölçüt olarak “Güvenlik ve Kullanıcı Mahremiyeti”; “Kullanılabilirlik ve Erişilebilirlik”; “İçerik”, “Hizmet Sunumu” ve “Katılım”, 30 Büyükşehir Belediyesinin (BŞB) Genel Ağ (Web) siteleri için uygulanmıştır. Veri toplamak için 102 sorudan oluşan bir kontrol listesi kullanılmıştır. Bu kontrol listesi, e-yönetim sürecine uyumun başarı düzeyini göstermektedir. Çalışmanın sonuçları, Türkiye'de, web sitesi geliştirmede ilerleme kaydedilmesiyle birlikte ilerleme düzeyinin, özellikle katılımcı demokrasi konusunda geliştirilme ihtiyaç duyulduğu ortaya koymaktadır. ANAHTAR KELİMELER: Büyükşehir Belediyesi; E-yönetim; E-Belediye; Genel Ağ (Web) Sitesi ANALYZE OF THE METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITIES’ WEBSİTES IN TURKEY ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to provide a resource for interested citizens and Turkish city administrators in online service delivery and management process as well as helping to reduce the gap of similar studies and to lead the way to further studies. This research study is anchored on the assumption that websites are the key indicators of the relationship between municipalities and citizens. At the same time, municipality’s Web sites have been widely regarded as the faces of their e-administrations simply because they visualize their "back office” works. In this study, "Security and Privacy of Users"; "Usability and Accessibility"; "Content"; "Service Delivery" and "Participation" five main criteria applied upon 30 Turkish Metropolitan Municipality Websites. A checklist consisting of 102 questions was used to collect data. This checklist demonstrates the success level of adaptation of e-government process. The results of the study show that, in Turkiye, the websites are being developed; however this progress level is yet to be improved, particularly in terms of participatory democracy issue.