Aim

This research examines the impact of using ICTs to influence democratic processes in a regional community in New Zealand and the factors that influence the uptake of ICTs for this purpose by:

• Observing and documenting the processes used within a community for engagement, consultation and development between council and community and the extent to which this is facilitated and influenced by the use of ICTs;
• Identifying the normative conditions for engagement and electronic engagement that are required to establish a framework that could lead to a shift in the locus of power within the context of local (and potentially national) government; and
• Defining a typology to describe the role of ICTs in the context of local democracy, government and governance.

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Research Questions

The following questions will be addressed in order to examine impact of ICTs in facilitating and influencing the democratic processes in a regional community in New Zealand:

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Objectives

The following process was undertaken in order to answer these questions:

1. A literature review was undertaken to identify:

a. the usage and meaning of key terms with regard to ICTs, democracy and government and to provide a working typology and vocabulary for the study (SQ1.1).

b. research associated with the use of ICTs in the democratic, political and government process, community-based technology projects and participation in democratic processes in order to contextualise the research (SQ1.1, 1.6).

2. A survey instrument was developed to examine:

a. The terminology used by the participants in relation to ICTs and democracy/government (SQ1.1, 1.5).

b. How ICTs were used by citizens and community groups in relation to democratic, political or government practices and processes (SQ1.5.1).

c. The processes of democracy and democratic engagement occurring amongst the participants (SQ1.2).

d. The social and cultural perceptions of and motivations to ICTs in general and in the context of engagement in democratic and government practices and processes (SQ1.6).

e. The barriers to ICTs in general and in the context of engagement in democratic and government practices and processes (SQ1.6).

3. Interviews were then carried out to identify and describe:

a. How participation in the democratic process occurs in Waitakere City (SQ1.2, 1.6, RQ2).

b. The factors that influence the uptake of ICTs amongst the participants (SQ1.5, 1.6, RQ2).

c. The motivations for engagement employed by participants in regard to their interactions with democratic processes (SQ1.6, RQ2).

d. The barriers and enablers to the effective use of ICTs within the democratic processes (SQ1.7, RQ2).

4. Literature was compared with the locally observed practices and processes in order to identify and situate emergent themes with regard to ICTs and democracy/government within a body of knowledge, highlighting similarities and differences (SQ1.1, 1.6, RQ2).

5. The results of the research were then used to describe:

a. the role of ICTs in facilitating and influencing participation in the democratic process and to describe how a local eDemocracy process can emerge (SQ1.7, RQ2).

b. a generic model and recommendations to support the adoption of ICTs such that they can influence and affect citizen-participation in local democratic process (RQ2).

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Significance

Contribution to knowledge

This study is significant because it attempts to take a broad range of participants from a single geographical location and examine the processes that they use and the interactions that occur in relation to ICT in the context of participant-led democracy. The research will contribute to:

• Debate regarding the construction of an online civil society and to the existing theory and practice in Community Informatics by describing actual benefits, issues, enablers and barriers relating to the use of ICT in a civil society setting.
• The emerging academic fields of eDemocracy and Community Informatics.
• The development of national and local policy and practice in these fields by providing a descriptive analysis of a local community’s attempts to introduce ICT into the interactions that occur between government and citizens.
• The development of a scalable model that will describe the attributes and stages of an eDemocracy process. Such a model will in turn inform the development and sustainability of ICT-based community democracy initiatives in a range of settings at both policy and practice levels.
• The development of an emerging typology and vocabulary relating to electronic democracy, government and governance.

Expected outcomes

• The research is embedded in the emerging eDemocracy processes within Waitakere City, allowing it to inform and transform current projects in the City as both continue in parallel. Information, observation and analysis from the research will be reported back into the projects in Waitakere City’s as part of the research process.
• This study is expected to produce useful information on forming regional eDemocracy processes that can be used at a policy level by other local government entities and it is hoped that this study will act as a model for enhancing participation in the democratic process through ICT.
• The project will develop a generic meta-model for community ICT that can be used as a guide for developing community-level democratic strategies. As such it is anticipated that this research will play a key role in shifting the agenda of eGovernance from a focus on the economic efficiencies and service delivery mind-set of eGovernment toward a community, citizen and participatory driven model of eDemocracy. It is hoped that this meta-model will offer a base from which the reversal of participation in democracy and government can be arrested and hopefully reversed.
• It will be important that the researcher is able to define a working typology and vocabulary for this project in the context of the research setting. It is anticipated that this will lead to academic publications and also that it will be a valuable tool in influencing policy (interest has already been shown in this by the New Zealand Government). However, the value of such a document is limited to its distribution and it must be seen as a localised first attempt, which will form part of an ongoing discourse.

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