Sabrina Scherer

E-participation and enterprise architecture frameworks: an analysis

The success of innovative e-participation solutions depends heavily on the organizational planning and the incorporation of such initiatives into the different stages of the policy life-cycle. E-participation often demands to introduce new participation facilities into the traditional processes of policy formulation and decision making. Accommodating the various requirements from distinct perspectives calls for a holistic engineering approach for e-participation systems analysis and design. Enterprise Architectures (EA) have evolved in information systems research as an approach to give guidance in developing complex socio-technical systems. This paper analyzes the application of EA frameworks in the context of e-participation. Eparticipation domain and implementation models are investigated to identify crucial tasks and aspects in e-participation project development and implementation. Related to the tasks identified, two EA frameworks are analyzed: the Zachman Framework and TOGAF. We explain how EA frameworks can support the development and implementation of e-participation projects. Finally, the needs for a reference framework for e-participation are argued and a reference framework is presented.

Reference framework for E-participation projects

Accommodating the various requirements from distinct perspectives in e-participation calls for a holistic engineering approach for e-participation systems analysis and design. This paper presents research results towards a reference framework for e-participation projects. An analysis of procedural models for e-participation and enterprise architectures in the context of e-participation shows that a holistic approach is necessary. A sophisticated and holistic engineering approach for e-participation in the form of a reference framework is seen as a solution to support e-participation projects development and implementation. The reference framework consists of different concepts supporting each other: dimensions that build the scope of an e-participation project, a domain meta model, a procedural reference model, and a library with requirements, reference models and building blocks for e-participation.

Hands-On Guideline for E-Participation Initiatives

E-participation applications enable online participation of citizens and interested stakeholder groups in political debates and strategic decision-making. The tools, channels and devices through which online participation takes place require proper design to support citizens, politicians and other actors. To incorporate the needs of these actors into the functionalities of an eParticipation platform, this contribution proposes a hands-on guideline for e-participation initiatives. It has been generated from the experiences of two European projects: VoicE and VoiceS. The paper describes the six-step iterative process to successfully plan and realize e-participation initiatives.

Enabling eParticipation of the Youth in the Public Debate on Legislation in Austria: A Critical Reflection

Legislation formation is an area of democracy, in which participation of target groups (citizens, companies, interest groups, experts) plays a crucial role. With the emergence of the Internet and the growing maturity of more recent technologies a new potential emerged for supporting participation in the legislation process. The use of ICT does, however, not automatically enhance the participation in democratic processes and may even impose new [technically based] barriers. Therefore, software development of legislative eParticipation applications should carefully investigate and bear in mind the specific targeted users. It is not feasible to just provide the necessary ICT and the legislative documents in order to start a consultation, especially with young citizens. When introducing not only a new tool but even a new procedure, the whole process needs to be planned in detail and accompanied by an expert team. In this respect, the paper at hand describes the implementation of a pilot within the LEX-IS project that aimed to facilitate and enable participation of the youth in the public debate on legislation in Austria. The subject of online discussion via the platform was a ministerial draft bill and the formulation of a comment statement based on the previous discussions to be uploaded on the Austrian Parliaments platform. The paper introduces the evaluation methodology and the results of the pilot regarding the use of the argumentation support system, participation of the youth and potential impact on the Austrian legislature. Finally, concluding remarks are provided.

Trust in e-participation: literature review and emerging research needs

Trust plays a significant role along the life-cycle of (electronic) participation initiatives. Based on causal roles that trust may have according to Rousseau et al. [31, p. 396] - (1) trust as condition for participation, (2) trust during participation, and (3) trust as outcome of participation - it is imperative to analyse these influential roles in order to take measures that contribute to higher trust and to reduce distrust in, and as an outcome of participation. In this regard, a literature study is performed analysing research on trust in e-government, online commerce and e-participation. Literature research unveils that analyses of trust in e-participation and their results are diverse, and a number of aspects are not studied so far (in particular ICT as a means for communication and as a tool in e-participation). This paper therefore identifies research needs along a trust model for e-participation. The aspect of guidelines for developing trustworthy e-participation tools is particularly examined by outlining various research steps. Online participatory budgeting serves as example for analysing trust, as such initiatives integrate different aspects of e-participation in the support tools.

A regional model for E-Participation in the EU: evaluation and lessons learned from VoicE

Attracting and motivating citizens to participate actively in online discussions of European policies turns out not to be easy. In the VoicE project, a regional e-participation model has been developed to deal with this challenge. The results and lessons learned from the project VoicE are of particular importance for the follow-up project VoiceS. This way, VoicE and VoiceS incorporate ongoing evaluation through an iterative design cycle. In this paper, we present the scientific evaluation method and results whether the regional e-participation model of VoicE is an appropriate means to attract citizens for European policies and to motivate citizens to participate in discussions. The methodology is based on a layered model of e-participation evaluation. Subsequently, this paper examines to what degree the approach chosen in the project delivers suitable insights for establishing successful e-participation platforms on a European level and what lessons can be learned.

Method and Tools to Support Stakeholder Engagement in Policy Development: The OCOPOMO Project

Good governance and open government principles require more participative, open, transparent, accountable, and collaborative. However, in public policy development, the negligence of these principles loomed particularly large until recently. In consequence, citizens have taken action by forming protest activities or responding to current politics with election turnouts leading to drastic change in political directions. Lessons from such activities are that policy makers need urgently to respond to demands of citizens to engage more pro-actively with politics in policy decisions that heavily concern particular stakeholder groups and citizens. Both groups need reliable support and up-to-date information and efficient and effective interactions on emerging societal problems and public affairs. The authors introduce an innovative approach to collaborative policy development, integrating scenario development, and formal policy modelling via an ICT toolbox. To bridge the gap between narrative texts of stakeholder-generated scenarios and formal policy models generating model-based scenarios, introducing conceptual modelling, which supports the construction of conceptual models of the policy domain and which enables tracing inputs of stakeholders to inform the formal policy models. This way, policy makers and stakeholders are better supported to understand the policy context. The OCOPOMO Open Collaboration in Policy Modelling approach fully supports the implementation of good governance principles.

Conceptualising Trust in E-Participation Contexts

Citizen engagement in political discourse and in democratic decision-making via innovative online means (coined e-participation) has become subject of considerable research over the past decade. However, mass engagement of citizens in online consultation and decision-making contexts remains an unsatisfied expectation. In this paper, we investigate trust as a particular aspect that might influence whether a citizen will participate. Trust is perceived as a complex construct, which is subject of research in distinct research disciplines. To identify and implement measures for increasing trust as well as for minimising distrust in e-participation endeavours, relevant trust relationships have to be analysed to understand implications of using or not using e-participation offers. In this paper, the status of current research of trust in citizen participation supported by electronic means is investigated. The literature review unveils that various implications of trust in the context of e-participation are still not researched well. Existing studies investigate particular aspects of trust. Yet, no conceptualisation of a trust model is available that explains the full scope of trust in e participation contexts. Hence this paper puts forward such a trust model for e participation, which builds on the Integrative Model of Trust in Organisational Settings by Mayer, Davis and Schoorman (1995) and the Interdisciplinary Model of Trust Constructs by McKnight and Chervany (2001).

Reference Process Model for Participatory Budgeting in Germany

Participatory budgeting has become a popular application of e-participation in Germany. About one hundred local governments have executed participatory budgets in the last year. Citizen participation in public budget planning is not formally requested by law in Germany. Also, the legal procedures to settle the budget of a local governments are not defined in detail. In consequence, different procedures exist, which lead also to different implementations of procedures in participatory budgeting. In this contribution, process models for (participatory) budgeting are investigated and a reference process model for traditional budget planning and online participatory budgeting is developed. Reference process models support cities and municipalities to assess the added value and to estimate the human and financial resources to execute participatory budgeting. Hence, comprehensive reference process models are helpful instruments for local governments to decide whether to perform participatory budgeting or not. They are also contributing to successful e-participation endeavors by providing conceptual models (blueprints) for scoping the activities to engage with citizens from the beginning of planning till the evaluation of impact and outcomes.

Bridging narrative scenario texts and formal policy modeling through conceptual policy modeling

Engaging stakeholders in policy making and supporting policy development with advanced information and communication technologies including policy simulation is currently high on the agenda of research. In order to involve stakeholders in providing their input to policy modeling via online means, simple techniques need to be employed such as scenario technique. Scenarios enable stakeholders to express their views in narrative text. At the other end of policy development, a frequently used approach to policy modeling is agent-based simulation. So far, effective support to transform narrative text input to formal simulation statements is not widely available. In this paper, we present a novel approach to support the transformation of narrative texts via conceptual modeling into formal simulation models. The approach also stores provenance information which is conveyed via annotations of texts to the conceptual model and further on to the simulation model. This way, traceability of information is provided, which contributes to better understanding and transparency, and therewith enables stakeholders and policy modelers to return to the sources that informed the conceptual and simulation model. In this paper, we present the consistent conceptual description (CCD) as conceptual modeling approach to bridge the gap between narrative texts and formal policy models. The CCD meta-model with the underlying vocabulary for describing policy contexts is detailed. A case study introduces the application of the approach in the Open Collaboration for Policy Modeling project.