JCMC 8 (3) April 2003
Message Board
Collab-U  CMC Play  E-Commerce Symposium Net Law  InfoSpaces Usenet
  NetStudy VEs VOs O-Journ HigherEd Conversation Cyberspace Web Commerce
Vol. 6 No. 1  Vol. 6 No. 2  Vol. 6 No. 3  Vol. 6 No. 4  Vol. 7 No. 1
 Vol. 7 No. 2  Vol. 7 No. 3  Vol. 7 No. 4  Vol. 8 No. 1  Vol. 8 No. 2  Vol. 8 No. 3

Boundaries of Interactive Public Engagement:
Political Institutions and Citizens in New Political Platforms

Tanja Oblak
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia


Abstract

Political participation essentially describes opportunities of private citizens to affect the decision-making processes within different spheres of social life. From the citizens' perspective, the demand for greater political participation is usually related to the expectation of being able to influence the decisions taken by the government or the administrative systems more effectively (Fuchs, GuidoRossi, & Svensson, 1998, p. 324). Recently, this idea also became applifable to the new digital, interactive practices which have formed on the basis of the new computer or electronic networks. The realization of participatory potentials of new computer technologies is often presented and expected in the "images of electronic democracy" as a more direct democratic model (Barber, 1984; Budge, 1996; Grossman, 1995). In general, the more direct forms of democracy presuppose that a) computer technology is easy to use, accessible to all and interactive; b) that the usage of technology enriches a "good citizen" and that c) with the help of technology more active involvement in the decision-making process develops. This paper seeks to explain the main obstacles which discourage Internet users from more direct involvement in political life and to explore the possibilities for the revitalization of more interactive, more open political engagement. Computer-mediated communication is an excellent starting point for expanding and strengthening participation in political processes, but the solution is not in technology, as the reason for mostly negative answers to such dilemmas are not questions of "technological inadequacy". The problems and obstacles lie primarily in the politics that stimulate the use of technological potentials.


Introduction

Many authors agree that the development and expansion of the new form of 'electronic public sphere' or even the new form of 'electronic democracy' is mostly determined by the quality and effectiveness of new computer-mediated communication practices (Barber, 1984; Buchstein, 1997; Budge, 1996; Coleman, 1999; Grossman, 1995; Poster, 1997; Tsagarousianou, 1998; Wilhelm, 2001). Computer-mediated communication is seen as a promising tool, which enables the formation of communicative interaction on many different levels: interaction between citizens through formation of new interests groups, which do not necessarily exist offline; interaction between citizens and other actors of civil society who already have established distinctive interest groups, and civil associations; and, finally, interaction between citizens and institutionalized political actors, representatives and members of the governmental elite. These new possibilities for social integration and recent popularization of computer-mediated communication have raised many issues with respect to the changing role and new forms of political participation. As the recent literature in the theory of democracy reveals (Barber, 1997; Budge, 1996; Grossman, 1995), expanding participation practices to include new digital, more interactive facilities, formed on the basis of the new information services and computer networks, challenges existing understandings of the idea of political participation itself.

Participation is, from a general perspective, a social process that may provide a bridge between the individual (citizen) and politics. According to Brezovšek (1995, p. 202), participation is a process that combines four basic criteria: (1) individuals are included; (2) it is voluntary; (3) it refers to a specific activity, which is (4) directed towards influencing the government or authorities in general. Participation is thus a communication process in which individual citizens communicate their wishes to the representatives of political authorities (Brezovšek, 1995, p. 199). It entails both horizontal and vertical dimensions; the horizontal level is expressed in the achieved level of political information, political interest, willingness and motivation to participate; the vertical, on the other hand, refers to immediate partaking in governmental activities and influence on political representatives. Political participation, therefore, essentially describes opportunities of private citizens to affect the decision-making processes within different spheres of social life.

It was Ithiel de Sola Pool who as early as the 1970s perceived the most important advantage of new technologies to lie in the fact that they may escape the limitations of existing means of interaction between citizens and politics: "Better communication technologies that create more efficient, more extensive, and more intensive interaction between public figures and their constituents may reduce the sense of alienation by making the public figures better able both to respond to their constituents and to influence them" (de Sola Pool, 1998, p. 298). With the general popularization of the Internet, similar positive expectations have developed: "Interactive information technology has the potential to become the twenty-first century's electronic version of the meeting place on the hill near the Acropolis, where twenty-five hundred years ago Athenian citizens assembled to govern themselves" (Grossman, 1995, p. 49). Along with the implementation of new computer technologies within the existing political frameworks, it has been argued that new forms of political action are emerging (Barber, 1984; Grossman, 1995; Poster, 1997): "instead of a show of hands we have electronic polls, instead of a single meeting place, we have far-flung, interactive telecommunication networks that extend for thousands of miles, and in place of personal discussion and deliberation, we have call-ins, talk shows, faxes, online computer bulletin boards" (Grossman, 1995, p. 48). Judging from the rich practical experience with implementation of new communication technologies on the local and also on the national level (projects such as PEN in Santa Monica, Digital City in Amsterdam, IperBola in Bologna and Network Perikley in Athens), individual citizens are offered more effective and more accessible means to engage in participation on the horizontal as well as the vertical level.

The question, however, is to what extent have the characteristics, conditions and outcomes of participation been transformed or changed because of the introduction and explosive spread of new communication technologies? Compared to the classical forms of participation, the computer-mediated versions of political participation activity, which are enabled and realized with the help of new interactive computer networks, are more conditioned by the interactive, two-way communication flows that support a single participatory action. In this sense, the need for understanding political participation as primarily a communication process becomes even stronger. However, the problem arises when these new communication potentials of interactive computer technologies are neither fully explored nor used. Instead of contributing to the integration between civil actors, citizens and other groups within the sphere of political elite the 'new participation platforms' are limited and reduced to simple 'information places.' As a consequence, the processes of opinion exchange, public discussion or deliberation remains more random occurence than a common, expected and valued practice in this new political space.

This problem is important to explore in further detail because it has been argued that new communication technologies have inscribed new participatory potentials, which enable more direct, and thus less mediated relations between citizens and their governments. In general, the supporters of more direct forms of political participation presuppose that: a) technology is easy to use, accessible to all and interactive; b) that the usage of technology enriches a 'good citizen' and that c) with the help of technology more active involvement in decision-making process develops. My purpose in this paper is to examine such assumptions and expectations and to explore their strength and realization based on empirical findings collected within the Slovenian context.

In general, data on political participation online, perceptions of the democratic potential of the Internet among its users, and their critical attitude stowards the limited interactivity of governmental Web sites clearly reveal the current gap between positive expectations on the one hand and practical limitations of these potentials on the other. However, such findings are at the same time limited to a specific empirical case study. The aim of this study, resulting from two Web surveys on political impacts of the Internet (RIS, 2001; SMIS, 2002) and content analysis of governmental Web sites (SMIS, 2002), is not to generalize the findings to a population of Slovenian Internet users. With the help of empirical studies, gathered elsewhere (Carter, 1999; Davis, 1999; Hale, Musso, & Weare, 1999; Nixon & Johansson, 1999), our purpose is to examine critically the important obstacles to the 'participatory potential of new communication technologies' in the hope that some new thesis might emerge to guide further research.

First, I give attention to the approach that largely contributed to the popularization of new communication technologies as new 'participatory tools.' Here, the conceptualization of the direct vision of teledemocracy is briefly presented. Following the three main assumptions on how the new communication technologies might affect political participation, specific expectations are examined in relation to recent empirical practices. With respect to the normalization of cyberspace thesis (Resnick, 1998), which emphasizes the growing importance of Web representations as the main structures in cyberspace, and its changing communicative nature as a consequence (Oblak, 2002), the understanding of a new political platform as used here is closely related to the online presence of political institutions. The explosion of institutional images online became the most dominant pattern of the dispersion of political institutions on the Internet. The question is to what extent the Slovenian governmental institutions use Web representations as a bridge to their citizens. The present paper argues that there are still substantial traces of technological determinism in the way political institutions think of cyberspace. A more appropriate approach to these questions is, I suggest, not in the perception of what technology can do for us, but in finding out what determines the specific use of the technological potential of CMC.


Political Participation in Teledemocracy

There is no consensus about what kinds of effects communication technologies might have on the relationship between the state and its citizens. There are many answers to such dilemmas (see for example Oblak, 2001), but the question of differences or similarities between them far exceed the purpose of this text. Nevertheless, a brief look in the history of these several ideas suggests that one of the first scenarios that strongly emphasized and later also effectively popularized the participatory potential of new communication technologies began in the context of the so-called 'tele-democracy' project (Arterton, 1987; Baker, 1976; Becker, 1981; Toffler, 1980; Naisbitt 1982).

The period of "active promotion of the term teledemocracy" (Friedland, 1996, p. 187) goes back to the early 1980s in the USA1, when increased participatory potential was seen as inviting participatory democracy" (Barber, 1984) or "plebiscitary democracy" (Becker, 1981). When authors thought about the effects of new technologies, they usually only discussed the participatory potential. Practical experiments, such as Berks Community Television (BCTV), Hawaii Televote, MINERVA and OPEN/net, which emphasized the participatory potential of communication technologies at that period (Arterton, 1987), reinforced the impression that most of these examples were connected through their search for new procedures through which individuals could achieve greater impact on political decisions. Technology was seen as a quick, effective, accessible link that provided a direct connection with the government to anyone at any given moment. The participatory image of 'teledemocracy' is finally referred to another trend of that period, that is, to the vision that the reshaping of participatory processes is about to happen simultaneously with the uses of several tele-technologies.

The general imagery provided by these attempts is closely related to the expected possibilities supposedly enabled by information and communication technologies. "Interactive systems have a great potential for equalizing access to information, stimulating participatory debate across regions, and encouraging multichoice polling and voting informed by information, discussion, and debate. It suggests ways to overcome the problem of scale and to defeat technological complexity by putting technology to work for popular democratic ends" (Barber, 1984, p. 276). Central to this understanding is the transformation of communication flows:
The most focused and decisive discussions of all might take place in informed groups, but not, given the interactive electronic networks into which everyone would be linked, necessarily face-to-face groups. One could imagine (...) that discussion and comment would flow upwards, downwards, sideways and beyond the boundaries of the political unit in which voting would take place. Far from an isolated individual sitting in front of a screen and pressing a button to vote, interactive communication could take place in the office or in the street as well as in the home, and it could link groups as well as individuals (Budge, 1996, p. 186).
Most importantly, the idea of new communication change attempts to reform the role of citizens within political process:
Citizens not only will be able to select those who govern them, as they always have, but increasingly they also will be able to participate directly in making the laws and policies by which they are governed. Through the use of increasingly sophisticated two-way digital broadband telecommunication networks, members of the public are gaining a seat of their own at the table of political power (Grossman, 1995, p. 4).
The three most representative authors who continued to point out the participative potential of new communication technologies in these last few years were Barber (1984), who was motivated by the search for 'strong democracy;' Grossman (1995), who sought to reaffirm the legacy of older traditions with his 'electronic republic;' and Budge (1996), who tried to secure new conditions for a participatory democracy. Although their approaches to the impact of new technologies on democratic changes have been slightly different, they all may be characterized by their advocacy of 'direct' (Budge, 1996; see also Wilhelm, 2000) electronic democracy.

Grossman, formely the president of the Public Broadcasting System, is known as a more popular writer (Bimber, 1998; Davis, 1999). This perception is based on his rather uncritical conceptualization of the role of communication technologies in political processes. He argues, for instance: "In kitchens, living rooms, dens, bedrooms, and workplaces throughout the nation, citizens have begun to apply such electronic devices to political purposes, giving those who use them a degree of empowerment they never had before" (Grossman, 1995, p. 147). Grossman's main thesis concerning the shift to an 'electronic republic' is related to his idea about the 'third transformation' of democracy, portrayed as a return to the antique model of direct democracy. In other words, "in the electronic republic, public service telecommunications should become the centerpiece for responsible civic deliberation - the electronic public sphere - the equivalent of the ancient gathering place for the citizens of Athens on the hill called Pnyx" (Grossman, 1995, p. 215). Because of the rise of new communication technologies, according to Budge, it is now much more reasonable to counter many earlier criticisms of the participatory model. The arguments against these positions usually focused on their assumed plebiscitarian, immediate scheme of acting and also on the limits of their institutionalization. But with new communicative potential a new, more optimistic chapter in the development of a direct system of government is claimed to be emerging (Budge, 1996, p. 73).

Although each of the three authors presented here is inclined to favor a specific theoretical background, which results in different images of 'electronic democracy,' some of the characteristics overlap. Their common theoretical assumptions can be summarized with respect to the main subject of change and effects of communication technologies. There is a tendency in all three accounts to consider direct democracy as related to citizens rather than to political organizations. Also, when the authors address the role of communication technologies, they all suppose that interactive communication channels amplify the voice of the citizenry.


An Ideal Citizen: Informed and Interested in Political Involvement

The vision of electronic political participation as the forum for a more direct form of democracy assumes the existence of an ideal citizen, who seeks political information frequently, who is concerned about political issues and problems, and who is willing to express his or her opinions on a wide range of issues (see Grossman, 1995). Starting with the finding that "the ancient Greeks invested major resources and much time and effort to encourage what they called the public spirit in their republics" (1995, p. 239), Grossman argues for a cultivation of the 'good citizen.' In this respect he states that we need new ways of stimulating citizens for public participation. Communication technologies seem to be effective tools for citizens to select governors and participate in the formation of laws and policies. Interactive technology offers access to information, it seems, which is necessary for participation in decision-making. By enabling immediate insight into governmental work and into decisions made by other political institutions, an informed electoral body can be the result.

Davis' comment on such expectations is extremely negative. In his opinion, such an ideal citizen is more rare than commonplace. Most voters, much less most citizens, do not spend significant amounts of time collecting information about politics (Davis, 1999, p. 179). In addition, many authors argue that the Internet, which today is the most popular computer network, is mostly attractive to those media consumers who constitute the more politically active part of the population and who are already more interested in political issues. Hill and Hughes' (1996, p. 38) analysis of the differences between the Internet user and Internet activist, for instance, shows that Internet activists engage much more in information-seeking online and that they utilize a wider variety of other online sources then other Internet users. The mere existence of communication technologies, therefore, does not necessarily increase the level of political information between citizens.

Regardless of these skeptical comments, it is difficult to discount the idea that the Internet with its several functions and services is not an effective tool for providing citizens with civic and political information. The information process is not limited just to Web presentations of several politically relevant institutions. A number of political actors also use other Internet application, of which the most popular is e-mail. The majority of US Governmental offices that receive e-mail report that they send an automated reply via e-mail promising a fuller reply via postal mail (Carter, 1999, p. 113). On the other hand, most information on institutional Web pages is also presented in easily accessible formats. Browsing through the websites of political institutions and searching for information enables more inclusive, more active and creative selection and reception of information than through the classical mass media.

At this point it may be valuable to explore in more detail to what extent these different political practices are used and are common for Slovenian Internet users. This section relies on empirical findings culled from the project 'Research on Internet in Slovenia' (RIS). This is a long-term project organized by the Centre for Methodology and Informatics at the Faculty of Social Science in Ljubljana and, since 1996, supervised by Vasja Vehovar. For the purpose of this paper, the results from a Web survey, conducted from July to September 2001, are used (RIS, 2001). The survey attracted almost 15,000 responses.2 It was divided into two main parts: a general set of questions and 13 specific theme issues that were randomly accessible to respondents. Participants in the survey could choose between themes such as erotic, e-commerce, pharmacy, media, mobile phones, attitude towards Internet, politics, computer science, Web marketing, privacy and lifestyle. Almost all Internet users in Slovenia (450,000) were invited to participate in the survey. Due to the high response rate, the general results are quite representative of the population of users, but in some cases the data are merely informative and should not be generalized to the entire population of the Slovenian Internet users.

Judging from the data found among those Slovenian Internet users who selected a set of questions about the political impact of the Internet, it is possible to conclude that political participation online is extensive but in a limited sense (see Table 1). 3 Apart from visiting Web pages of political institutions (84% of respondents), searching official documents (80%), and participating in opinion polls (73%) all the other political actions are, on average, not very common. Comparing them with other forms of participation that are obviously at the higher end of the participation ladder - making contacts with politicians through e-mail (40% of respondents), signing petitions (40%), or participating in computer-mediated political discussions (37%) - it becomes clear that these are the actions that demand far more active engagement. Actually, all the dominant forms resemble the mediated forms of political activity that are usually extended through the classical mass media. In this sense, they are given 'from the outside' and thus implicate the more passive form of political conduct, while for the other practices this is not necessarily true. It has been argued elsewhere (Gauntlett, 2000; Resnick, 1996) that in some respects browsing Web sites corresponds to the experiences we have with more 'traditional' mass media.

Did you ever ... by using the Internet? No,
never 		Yes, once or more often Mean value n
Visit the Web page of any political institution (political party, Ministry, Parliament) 16% 84% 2.54 126
Search an official document (law or law proposal, political program) 20% 80% 2.48 126
Participate in online poll or survey on political issues 27% 73% 2.27 126
Write an e-mail message to the media (newspaper, radio, television) 54% 46% 1.76 126
Write and e-mail to a politician or political institution 60% 40% 1.63 126
Sign a petition or a letter of support 60% 40% 1.63 125
Participate in a discussion on a political issue 63% 37% 1.63 126

Table 1. Mean values and percentages for indicators of the variable "political activity through Internet."
Source: RIS (August, 2001) 4


But the idea of civic education entails much more effort than just searching for and receiving information. As Hale, Musso and Weare (1999, p. 105) note, civic education must inspire individuals with ideas of a commonwealth, a sense of the common good and civic responsibility. In order to achieve this, citizens should be involved in activities that require confrontation with difficult value choices and also with the consequences of these choices. It is certain that the Internet offers support during two-way mediated communication processes, but to provide deliberative and recursive communication between citizens and government is a much more difficult engagement than simple provision of information.

However, through computer-mediated communication, whether in the form of e-mail or discussion fora, the distance between the governing elite and the citizenry is shrinking. The emergence of the World Wide Web established a new picture of political actors within the net, representing their own political programs, proposals and concrete decisions, thus enabling better information and more direct access to their work. Additionally, the interactive nature of computer-mediated communication enables the creation of new discussion fora, where individuals can exchange their opinions and listen to the views of others. The Internet could therefore reduce the cost of communication between two political spheres, between the state, on the one hand, and civil society and citizens, on the other. Access to many decision-makers is more open and potentially more direct. Questioning the extent of users' willingness to act politically through the Internet in these new political platforms should take into account the diversity of several possible activities which new communication technologies enable. Moreover, what is important to explore is what meaning users attach to different processes in which they participate; how do they perceive the probable effects? This is especially important if we suppose that attitudes towards new, concrete possibilities in cyberspace can consequently also determine decisions about how often one should act, communicate or discuss using this new political platform.

Do you think that nowadays, with the existence of the Internet, it is easier to...
n=123

1
No, not at all easier

2

3

4

5
Yes, definitely easier

Mean value
come to know the opinions of others 4.1 4.9 12.2 35.0 43.9 4.10
find people with similar interests 4.9 9.8 14.6 35.0 35.8 3.87
express your own opinions 6.5 10.6 13.0 29.3 40.7 3.87
join in professional debates 8.1 8.1 19.5 36.6 27.6 3.67
receive information from public institutions 27.4 18.5 21.8 16.1 16.1 2.75
make contacts with politicians (MPs, government, majors) 29.8 28.2 21.0 12.9 8.1 2.41

Do you think that nowadays, with the existence of the Internet, it is easier to...
n=123

 1
No, not at all effective

2

3

4

5 Extremely effective

 Mean value
organise a group of like-minded 4.1 13.9 28.7 28.7 24.6 3.56
gather signed petitions 8.1 20.3 30.9 20.3 20.3 3.24
charity 4.1 21.1 36.6 23.6 14.6 3.24
propagate political aims 10.7 32.8 27.9 18.9 9.8 2.84
organise a mass protest 13.8 30.1 19.5 18.7 17.9 2.97

Table 2. Percentages and mean values for indicators of the variable "perception of democratic character of the Internet." Source: RIS (August 2001) 5


Internet users generally regard the democratic potential of the Internet with extreme optimism. They make particularly positive judgements about the possibilities of getting to know the opinions of others, of finding people with similar interests and of expressing their own opinions. The most complicated aspect for them is, surprisingly, coming in contact with politicians, receiving information from political institutions and organizing a protest. Political action in the form of protest is perhaps difficult to imagine online, at least from the perspective of an average Internet user. But the other two - making contacts with politicians and receiving information from political institutions - judging from several practical experiences (Coleman, Taylor, & van de Donk, 1999) - should not be so difficult to achieve, at least from the technological point of view. Nevertheless, Internet users perceive them to be less accessible and more difficult. Their own experiences with interactions with political actors within cyberspace apparently have achieved little success. As Richard argues, "without ensuring that administrations are adapted to this new environment of links and nodes, governments cannot expect to take an active role in a structure increasingly described as the model for a healthy civil society" (Richard, 1999, p. 85). The readiness to accept and respond to the rapid expansion of computer-mediated communication within the political sphere should be optimal in order to achieve and realize the potential of computer technologies.


Accessibility, Simplicity, and Interactivity of Technology

The second assumption about the participatory potential of new communication technology is strongly related to its main characteristics: simple to use, interactive, and generally easily accessed. According to Budge, the development of new electronic forms of communication brought favorable conditions for the principles of direct democracy to flower: "the phone-in, the televised debate, the casting of mass votes after debate, all opened up discussions to strata of the population which would never have got a look-in at Athens" (1996, p. 27). "Direct popular participation in debate and voting is rendered not just possible, but easy by the electronic media" (Budge, 1996, p. 28). Mass access enabled by these technologies and the means of direct response offered by their use could significantly expand the realm of participation, which is presently limited.

Assuming the interactivity and general accessibility of communication technologies, authors try to avoid one of the sharpest critiques usually addressed to the idea of immediacy - namely the existing physical, spatial and temporal, limitations of modern societies, which do not permit simultaneous presence or participation of all citizens in the process of decision-making. Budge for instance states:

Public policy can be discussed and voted upon by everyone linked in an interactive communications net....This destroys the killer argument habitually used to knock direct democracy on the head, that it is just not practical in modern mass societies to bring citizens together to discuss public policy. The existence of electronic communications means that physical proximity is no longer required. Mass discussion can be carried on interactively even when individuals are widely separated (Budge, 1996, p. 1).

Barber similarly claims that interactive systems embody immense potential for "equalizing access to information, stimulating participatory debate across regions, and encouraging polling and voting informed by information, discussion, and debate" (1984, p. 276).

It is clear that one of the most stimulating technological features of computer networks is their inherent logic of interactivity. However, as Hacker comments with reference to the White House e-mail project (Hacker, 1996), it soon becomes clear that many Internet practices are far from interactive. "Sending e-mail notes to President Clinton is not interactive. Nor is getting a form letter stating that the President is glad to hear from you. Receiving a personal note (or other forms of message) in which answers are given to questions and responses are made directly to assertions is interactive" (Hacker, 1996, p. 227).

The problem probably arises from the common equation of computer-mediated communication with interactivity. 6 In this sense it is often overlooked that computer-mediated communication combines a set of different communication practices expressed within several contexts of a public or private nature (Škerlep, 1998). But interactivity, on the other hand, implies active and inclusive two-way communication. Applied to new political platforms in cyberspace, this means that communicators should work together, asking questions and giving answers, formulating proposals and solutions and implementing policies and actions.

As many online experiences reveal, the interactive climate is uncommon, both within the sphere of civil society and also in the realm between citizens and the state. There are many parliamentary or political party Web sites which still, intentionally or not, fail to include the possibility of discussing political issues between citizens and representatives. This is a practice embodied at both national and local levels. An analysis of Californian municipal Web pages, for instance, showed that these sites are particularly thin from the standpoint of horizontal communications: only 2.6% provide chat rooms, and only 9.3% have electronic bulletin boards (Hale, Musso, & Weare, 1999, p. 111). The research experiences in other European countries and their emerging political spheres in cyberspace are not dissimilar. The recent research of Nixon and Johannson (1999, p. 142), for the purposes of comparison, has demonstrated that political parties in the Netherlands and Sweden rarely understand the Internet as a new information realm, which could supplement or replace the role and significance of more traditional mass media. Instead, political parties in these countries use the Internet mostly as a platform for internal communication flow - for activities within a specific political party. While so-called chat rooms provide a possibility for democratic interchange of ideas, the problem is the value that a particular party places on such content: "Chat rooms are often 'ordinary members' exchanging ideas between themselves, and not a bottom-up flow informing the policy members. The leadership/party officials do engage in discussion via the net, but this tends to be on special occasions that are time-limited and, generally, have the leader responding to carefully pre-selected points or questions" (Nixon & Johannson, 1999, p. 148). The hierarchical inner structure of dominance within a certain political party is therefore not changed in cyberspace, but is primarily reproduced. Instead of co-operation between the dispersed membership, control is becoming a key feature of the use of new technology within political parties. Additionally, the analysis of political party Web pages provided by Nixon and Johannson shows that the information offered is usually either too basic or too complex. Estimation of the degree of interactivity on specific political party pages was also quite low; participation in chat rooms for citizens was offered by just two parties out of twelve.7

A good indication of the extent to which communication technologies are seen as important is the presentation and dispersion of political institutions on the Internet; this is how "a state shows its technological development and its openness for cyberspace visitors" (Purcell, 1999, p. 16). Purcell's own analysis of the web pages of some Slovenian political institutions, important environmental and tourist agencies, and also of economic institutions reveals that the Web is used as a place for lobbying other international institutions; institutions offer only access to information and services to home users (Purcell, 1999, p. 56).

The Slovene Government, for example, has its own website, which is designed by the Public Relations and Media Office. On its introduction page, visitors are welcomed by the following text: "With this website the Government wishes to improve the information flow between the Government and the public, and to open its activities to the widest audience of Internet users. There are government press releases and other information given by ministers and government services on current government projects and events, issued daily." 8 The central decision-making institution perceives the Internet potential simply as an opportunity for improving information. It says nothing about improving communication flow with citizens. The Slovene Government online is focused on presenting its work, ideas, and different proposals to the interested public. The aim, therefore, is not to discuss issues or dilemmas, not even to pose new questions. The Internet is used merely as a one- to-many medium, created for Internet audiences who may be searching for new information. These comments can be reasonably confirmed with recent results of a content analysis of governmental Web pages. The data presented here display just a part of a large research project on governmental Web pages, which was conducted by CATI agency in cooperation with Profano company and Faculty of Social Sciences (January, 2002). The content analysis covered all 14 Web sites of Slovenian Ministries9 but due to the small number of analyzed pages, the data presented here are just descriptive. Nevertheless, it could be argued that the data reflect the image of dominant practices in this emerging political platform very well.

  Present Not present
Presentation of officials 14
100% 		0
0%
Contacts with governmental office and officials through telephone, letter or fax 13
93% 		1
7%
Information about the function of certain official 13
93% 		1
7%
Access to official documents 13
93% 		1
7%
Latest news 11
79% 		3
21%
Contacts with governmental office and officials through e-mail 10
71% 		4
29%
Links to other similar governmental offices 10
71% 		4
29%
Information for public 10
71% 		4
29%
Links to other similar offices within EU 8
57% 		6
43%
Access to the archive of governmental office 4
29% 		10
71%
Access to the governmental meeting records 3
21% 		11
79%
Direct contact with a specific governmental office 3
21% 		11
79%
Access to the governmental decisions 2
14% 		12
86%
Information about the office hours 1
7% 		13
93%

Table 3. Type of content and interactive potential on Ministries Web pages (January 2002). Source: Analysis of governmental Web pages (SMIS, January 2002)


As the data suggest, the Web pages represent a place for institutional self-presentation rather than for presentation of opinion, discussion and exchange with site visitors. The majority of ministries have pages on the Web in order to transmit something - information, news, or public messages - and only a minority are prepared to receive something. Even in the informational sense the pages are rather limited in value. Only a small number of Web pages enable access to governmental meeting records; even more limited is the access to governmental decisions. Judging from the practices and possibilities revealed thus far, it would be difficult to conclude that civil access to political representatives and decision-makers is increasing. The general advantage of computer-mediated communication compared to the other existing forms of political participation remains, in this sense, limited.

A more detailed examination into the nature of the interactive places on institutional Web pages shows that just three ministries have implemented more direct, two-way and interactive practices.10 Among them are three different forms of participation: a moderated discussion forum with detailed description of a selected topic on which opinions can be expressed; a simple, unstructured chat room; and opinion polls or surveys on different public issues where visitors can cast their votes.

The characteristics and nature of the political platform that is revealed through the Web pages of political institutions are further reflected in the 'minds of the users,' namely, in their attitudes and opinions. The initial data on the satisfaction of Internet users with the image of political institutions online were collected in the RIS project (2001) previously mentioned. In general, the data indicate quite critical assessments of the way political institutions use and implement the potential of the Internet. For instance, the data suggest that 68% of Internet users agree that ".... institutions very poorly realize the potential that the Internet is offering for making contacts with citizens;" a similar majority of Internet users (66%) argue that "... politicians do not give enough attention to the opinions and questions, received from their citizens through the Internet." Additionally, the same survey shows the limited potential power citizens perceive with this new political platform: 74% of users disagree with the statement "because of the Internet citizens have greater impact on political decisions."

This evident dissatisfaction of Internet users with the effectiveness of the political climate online supports the need for further research. In the survey on the attitudes of Internet users toward governmental Web sites (SMIS, 2002) attention was especially paid to those users who already had experiences with institutional Web pages.11 The purpose of the survey was to explore opinions about the main functions of institutional Web presentations and the perception of the political image online.

Judging from answers given, it can be concluded that the recent political platform has a relatively low reputation. Some 59% of the respondents think that "governmental Web sites do not enable an active civil participation in the democratic process of decision-making;" further, 46% of respondents doubt that governmental Web pages contribute to greater trust between citizens and government. Relatively more support was given to the idea that Web pages offer more direct access to public governmental information, although a third (34%) of the respondents disagreed with this position. But, in sum, the most critical assessment was given to the potential for public response and information feedback on institutional Web pages - 52% of respondents agreed that governmental Web pages do not perform this function successfully.

The answers given to a set of questions about the interactive nature of political Web pages should, therefore, not be very surprising. The great majority of respondents (65%) missed a place where they can express their opinions on public issues or problems. For this reason, it is logical that 58% of Web visitors disagreed with the statement that "the Web pages give enough room to discussions between citizens and governmental officials." As demonstrated, the absence of discussion places, in the eyes of Internet users, is reflected at many different levels. And, regarding the image of institutional political platforms, it reflects the situation as practiced. The expected interactive nature of potential action which could form within this new political place is quite removed from the actual experience.

Another specific characteristic of institutionalized Web presentations in the Slovenian political online platform is the evident diversity and lack of a common concept. "Instead of a common portrait, there is a great confusion" was one of the comments concerning the Web presentation of the Ministry Offices (Delo, 11 August, 2001). The quality of a particular online image depends mostly on the Minister's wishes and the personal initiatives of ministerial offices responsible for Web presentation. Such diversity, of which another main cause is the varying financial support for new Web presentations and their reconstruction within ministries, renders much more difficult the recognition of online political institutions, their work, staff and specific policies. Although the Slovenian cabinet now has a new Ministry for Information Society, it is obvious that after a year of work it has not developed a coherent public image online.


Conclusions

By way of introduction to the conclusions of this paper the central issues are repeated here. First, the current presentation of the main political institutions online suggests that the institutional actors have already made their place in cyberspace and, as such, they are opening themselves to potential visitors. According to the data, the average Internet user visits these Web pages very often, in order to search for information on political issues or to find the documents of public nature. In this sense, the existing political platform performs an important role - political institutions are transparently presented to citizens who now have easier, faster and above all more open access to useful political information. The recent political platform is, therefore, determined by its informational aspect.

Less encouraging is the second finding this paper presents: the climate of existing political platforms does not offer much more than 'visibility of information,' but Internet users still perceive the promising advantages of the Internet in a positive manner; namely, Internet users are perfectly aware that this is a space where opinion exchange can be efficient, where it is possible to get acquainted with the opinions of others, and where dialogue becomes the principal mechanism of exchange. However, as the analysis of concrete practices shows, this potential remain only that.

The question, which we tried to address throughout the whole text, was this: to what extent does the Internet - as a new communication medium - enrich, extend and possibly democratize the circumstances and conditions for political participation? In the theoretical sense, we started from those ideas that acknowledged the participatory potential of new communication technologies relatively early. However, the very recent visions of 'digital democracy' pose similar questions (Hague & Loader, 1999): how do we use communication technologies to have more informed citizens? To what extent can new technologies stimulate and improve political participation and citizen involvement in political decision-making?

As the data presented show, this kind of question generally misses the real problem: the solution is not in technology, as the reason for mostly negative answers to such dilemmas are not questions of 'technological inadequacy.' The problems and obstacles lie primarily in the politics that stimulate the use of technological potential. Slovenian Internet users are confident in the democratic potential of the Internet, but at the practical level, intensive users rarely participate actively online.

The political role of the Internet, at least within the Slovenian context, is reduced to the realization of two political functions: access to political information and access to public opinion polls. The institutional political Web pages offer access to information about their work, but these pages fail to include interactive possibilities whereby citizens can discuss political issues with representatives of political power. Web sites are mostly generated for institutional self-promotion and are less often intended to engage citizens with the representatives of politics.

The central findings presented here go hand in hand with an argument that is stated in more recent theories of computer-mediated communication (Gauntlett, 2000; Toulouse & Luke, 1998), emphasizing the effects of present day 'massification' of the Internet, which expanded immensely after the rapid development and spread of the Web. The logic of Web representation is in its core opposed to the logic of dialogic, two-way and interactive forms of computer-mediated communication, such as Usenet conferences, Internet Relay Chat or mailing lists. Searching for information, service providers or entertainment through the Web does not require the kind of active personal involvement which is associated with engagement in specialized discussion groups. In this sense, it is often argued (Resnick, 1998; Gauntlett, 2000) that the Internet population today more resembles the passive audience of the classical mass media than the expected ideal vision of an engaged, informed and active citizenry.

It would be only partially correct, however, to conclude that the main reasons for the unkept promises of citizen participatory are the result of limitations that originate from the 'conservative' presentations of political institutions. It would be more fruitful to explore the specifics of Web representations in comparison to those characteristic of classic media. One should not forget that new forms of Web representation which are emerging in cyberspace have an integral role in the constitution of the electronic public sphere (Oblak, 2002). Through their particular forms they provide enormous opportunity for interested users, citizens, individuals, and institutions to participate in this sphere; and as the data in this article demonstrate, visiting such Web pages and searching for official information on them is currently one of the most widespread forms of political activity on the Internet. But in order to fulfill the conditions that are necessary for a public sphere in which knowledge is shared and opinion is formed, Web sites should provide useful links to chat rooms, electronic conferences and other interactive fora. An intriguing dilemma in this sense becomes the question of the 'suitable' or 'encouraging' content that would stimulate greater citizen involvement in political life on the Web.

Another important factor in attempts to implement participatory and communication resources of the new computer technologies involves the external conditions and characteristics of the social context. Here, I refer to the general receptiveness to and readiness to participate in the processes of expressing opinions and initiatives, of making political decisions; the level of interest in political affairs of individual citizens; the readiness of citizens to invest personal resources like time and money; and technological and information literacy. The study of the implementation of parliamentary Websites in different countries, conducted by Taylor and Burt (1999), offers considerable insight into much more constructive circumstances, especially in relation to the support for active citizenship. 12 According to the criteria suggested by Taylor and Burt (1999, p. 148), several parliamentary Websites explain how the citizen might best contribute to the development and formation of public policy. The majority of these sites contain some information on the parliamentary timetable, and access to the records of parliamentary meetings is also available, sometimes even with the help of a key word search facility. On the basis of these findings one conclusion would be that "Web sites are often providing extensive facilities that can enable citizens to visit and exit at will, using the (virtual) parliament more completely that has ever been possible in the days when parliaments existed only at the physical level" (Taylor & Burt, 1999, p. 154). Various possibilities for a revitalization of the existing democratic processes therefore exist, but the question remains as to what extent these possibilities and facilities are being effectively achieved.


Footnotes

1. It overlaps with the period in which debate concerning the relation between communication technologies and democracy was dominated by two broader, and, in terms of later scholarly thought, quite influential ideas; conceptually, they can be divided into accounts of electronic democracy as a supplement to representative democracy and electronic democracy as a form of direct democracy.
2. With respect to the sample, 12,000 respondents participated in the Web survey (62% men and 38% women). Half of the sample (50%) was between 18 and 50 years old, 38% of respondents were more than 50, and 12% were younger than 18. More than a third (36%) were employed in the private sector, 24% were students, 16% worked in public services, and 10% were students; the rest were either self-employed or without occupation. More than a third of the respondents (37%) finished high school, 13% had higher education, and just 7% of respondents had an elementary school education. Six percent of the respondents had an M.A. or Ph.D , and 12% of the respondents had not finished their schooling yet. On average, the interview lasted from 10 to 20 minutes. Each participant first responded to a set of general questions about the use of the Internet, followed by the set of demographic items. In the next stage, the respondents randomly evaluated Web sites from a sample of 150 foreign and Slovene sites. After that a specific set of questions was targeted to a single respondent. The specific issue was randomly selected according to the answers given to the first set of general questions. Due to the complex and large questionnaire (more than 2,000 questions) it should be acknowledged that specific contents were randomly selected, so that the respondents could not answer a whole set of questions.
3. The data given here represent just a small percentage of the Internet users who participated in the Web survey - in August only 126 respondents (out of 4,015) selected to answer a set of questions about the impacts of the Internet on the political life. It is therefore not the aim to generalize the results presented here to the whole population of Slovenian Internet users. Rather, it is more appropriate to view them as a case study upon which a new hypothesis for further research could develop. However, it is reasonable to add at this point that very similar results have been already found in some other pilot research projects within the Slovenian context.
4. Table 1 displays percentages and mean values of indicators for political participation through the Internet. Here, we were asking about the individual's experiences with political activities on the Internet. Respondents (n=126) could choose between three different answers (never, once, more than once), so the minimum value for each item was 1 and the maximum 3.
5. The user's perception of the democratic potential of Internet was measured with two interrelated questions: a) Do you think that nowadays with the existence of Internet it is easier to...? and b) How effective do you think are the following activities if conducted through Internet?. The respondents could choose one answer on a scale ranging from 1 to 5, expressing either their agreement with the item or their disagreement.
6. For an interesting discussion on the multidimensionality of the concept of "interactivity" see Jensen (1999), where he discusses the differences between interaction as a concept in sociology, communication studies and informatics.
7. Analysis of Canadian political parties evaluated by Cross again does not reveal any more interesting findings. On the contrary, the data indicate that the interest of voters or other occasional visitors to political Web pages for public participation is extremely low (Cross, 1998).
8. The text is located at http://www.gov.si/vrs/ang/core-prva-ang.html.
9. In the first step the research was focused on institutional transparency on the working level and on their organizational structure; in the next step, official documents and the transmission of information about the governmental working process were analyzed. In the last step attention was given to the interactivity of Web pages. According to these research aims, a specific coding system was developed to analyze the content of the selected Websites.
10. The analysis showed that only three Ministries offered a mechanism on their Web pages for interactive activity between the governmental office and users. Although these possibilities are open to all visitors, which means that no prior registration is needed, it is still possible to argue that the access to them is difficult even for experienced Internet users.
11. This web survey was a part of the analysis of Governmental Web pages and it was conducted in January 2002 on a small number of 103 very heavy Internet users.
12. In analyzing selected Websites from many countries, researchers looked for specific features such as: a) the extent to which public participation in policy formation and feedback was being encouraged on the site; b) provision of timetables for current parliamentary debates and opportunities within them for citizen involvement; c) development of discussion fora on selected parliamentary topics; d) the ease with which public policy and legislative documents can be accessed from the site and e) the availability of any form of voting facility (see Taylor & Burt, 1999, p. 147-148).


References

Arterton, C. F. (1987). Teledemocracy: Can technology protect democracy? London: Sage.

Baker, D. (1976). The states experiments with "anticipatory democracy". The Futurist, 5 (5), 262-271.

Barber, B. (1984). Strong democracy: Participatory politics for a new age. Berkley: University of California Press.

Barber, B. (1997). The new telecommunications technology: Endless frontier or the end of democracy. Constellations, 4 (2), 208-226.

Becker, T. (1981). Teledemocracy: Bringing power back to people. The Futurist, 15 (6), 6-9.

Bimber, B. (1997). The Internet and political mobilization. Social Science Computer Review, 16 (4), 391- 401.

Brezovšek, M. (1995). Political participation. Teorija in Praksa, 17 (3-4), 199-211.

Buchstein, H. (1997). Bytes that bite: The Internet and deliberative democracy. Constellations, 4 (2), 248-263.

Budge, I. (1996). The new challenge of direct democracy. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Carter, M. (1999). Speaking up in the Internet age: Use and value of constituent e-mail and congressional websites. In S. Coleman, J. Taylor, & W. van de Donk (Eds.), Parliament in the age of the Internet (pp.102-117). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Coleman, S. (1999). Cutting out the middle man: From virtual representation to direct deliberation. In B. Hague & B. Loader (Eds.), Digital Democracy (pp. 195-210). London: Routledge.

Coleman, S., Taylor J., & de Donk, W. (Eds.). (1999). Parliament in the age of the Internet. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Davis, R., & Owen, D. (1998). New media and American politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Davis, R. (1999). The web of politics: The Internet's impact on the American political system. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

De Sola Pool, I. (1998). Politics in wired nations. New Brunswick: Transaction Publisher.

Friedland, A. L. (1996). Electronic democracy and the new citizenship. Media, Culture and Society, 18 (2), 185-212.

Fuchs, D., GuidoRossi, G., & Svensson, P. (1998). Support for democratic system. In H. Klingemann & D. Fuchs (Eds.), Citizens and the State (pp. 323-353). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gauntlett, D. (2000). Web.studies: Rewiring media studies for the digital age. London: Arnold.

Grossman, K. L. (1995). The electronic republic: Reshaping democracy in the information age. New York: Viking.

Hacker, L. K. (1996). Missing links in the evolution of electronic democratization. Media, Culture and Society, 18 (2), 213-132.

Hague, B., & Loader, B. (1999). Digital democracy: Discourse and decision making in the information age. London: Routledge.

Hale, M., Musso, J., & Weare, C. (1999). Developing digital democracy: Evidence from Californian municipal web pages. In B. Hague & B. Loader (Eds.), Digital democracy (pp. 96-115). London: Routledge.

Hill, A. K., & Hughes, J. E. (1998). Cyberpolitics: Citizen activism in the age of the Internet. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Jensen, F. J. (1999). 'Interactivity' - Tracking a new concept in media and communication studies. In P. Mayer (Ed.), Computer, media and communication (pp. 160-187). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lofgren, K., Andresen, K. V., & Sorensen, M. F. (1999). The Danish parliament going virtual. In S. Coleman et al. (Eds.), Parliament in the age of the Internet (pp. 131-140). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Mayer, A. P. (1999). Computer media and communication: A reader. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Naisbitt, J. (1982). Megatrends. New York: Warner Books.

Nixon, P., & Johansson, H. (1999). Transparency through technology: The Internet and political parties. In B. Hague & B. Loader (Eds.), Digital democracy (pp. 135-153). London: Routledge.

Oblak, T. (2001). Images of electronic democracy: Communication technologies and changes in communication and participation processes. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Oblak, T. (2002). Dialogue and representation: Communication in the electronic public sphere. Javnost/The Public, 9 (2), 7-22.

Poster, M. (1997). Cyberdemocracy: Internet and the public sphere. In D. Porter (Ed.), Internet culture (pp. 201-218). London: Routledge.

Purcell, D. (1999). The Slovenian state on the Internet. Ljubljana: Open Society Institute.

Research on the Internet in Slovenia (2001). Web survey. Retrieved August, 2001 from http://www.ris.org/splet/intro.htm.

Resnick, D. (1998). Politics on the Internet: The normalization of cyberspace. In C. Toulouse & W.Luke (Eds.), The Politics of Cyberspace (pp. 48-68). London: Routledge.

Richard, E. (1999). Tools of governance. In B. Hague & B. Loader (Eds.), Digital democracy (pp.73-86). London: Routledge.

Schneider, M. S. (1996). Creating a democratic public sphere through political discussion: A case study of abortion conversation on the Internet. Social Science Computer Review, 14 (4), 373-393.

Slevin, J. (2000). Internet and society. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Slovenian Ministry for Information Society. (2002). The content analysis of Slovenian governmental Web pages. Ljubljana: CATI.

Škerlep, A. (1998). The model of computer-mediated communication: Technological matrix and practical use within the social context. In V. Vehovar et al. (Eds.), Internet in Slovenia (Internet v Sloveniji) (pp.24-53). Izola: Desk.

Taylor, A., & Burt, E. (1999). Parliaments on the Web: Learning through innovation. In S. Coleman et. al (Eds.), Parliament in the age of the Internet (pp. 141-155). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Toffler, A. (1980). Future shock. Toronto: Bantam Books.

Toulouse, C., & Luke, T. (1998). The politics of cyberspace. London: Routledge.

Tsagarousianou, R., Tambini, D., & Bryan, C. (1998). Cyberdemocracy: Technology, cities and civic networks. London: Routledge.

Wilhelm, G. A. (2000). Democracy in the digital age: Challenges to political life in cyberspace. London: Routledge.


About the Author

Tanja Oblak, Ph.D. in Communication Sciences (2001), is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the Faculty of Social Sciences (University of Ljubljana) and research fellow at the Centre for Communication Research. She completed her B. A. in Sociology (1996), and M. A. in Communication Studies (1999). Her current interests include the quality and interactivity of political Web pages, effects of the Internet on mass media, and the deliberative potentials of on-line discussion fora.
Address: Faculty of Social Science, Kardeljeva ploscad 5, 1000 Ljubljana (Slovenia)

©Copyright 2003 Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication