SuccessfulOnline Participation

And how to (not) mess it up

Gefion Thuermer (MSc)University of Southampton, CDT Web Science

Lobbying the EU, Brussels, 11/12/2015

What am I talking about?Online Participation• What it is• Why it is great• Why it maybe isn‘t so easy• Why you should care• What you can do

Who am I and what am I doing here?• Cultural Sciences BA, Web Science MSc• PhD candidate at University of Southampton• Researching how political parties can use the web

to improve participation• Former Pirate Party Germany executive board

member

Who are you and what are you interested in?

What is online participation?

CC BY 2.0 - BotMultichillTCC-0CC-0

CC BY-SA 3.0Wikimedia Foundation

CC BY 3.0 – Jason Tropp CC BY-SA 3.0 – John WIlkins

Why is online participation great?

Cost Scale

CC 0 CC 0

Why is it not so easy?

Everyone is equal online!

CC BY-SA 3.0 – O Seo Messias

Not everyone.Using the web is a sign of privilege per se.

Who uses Social Media?

http://www.statista.com/statistics/430555/internet-twitter-usage-germany

Some Science on this• Halford & Savage

• Social inequalities are reproduced online

• Zhang• Disadvantaged groups do not have access to either

capitals needed for participation online

If you are disadvantaged offline, the web alone is not sufficient to change that

What is needed to participate?

Experience

Money (Access, Hardware)

Time (Leisure)

Skills (Education)

Literacy

Why should you care?

Diversity Equality

CC BY-SA 2.0 Scott Maxwell CC 0

What can you do?

https://plus.google.com/+ThibautDelp/posts/c47isxURfwN

How can online participation work?• Be aware of issues• Consider your participation goals• and your target group• Pick your tools right• Offer different routes• Engage & Support• Make it meaningful

Thank you!Questions?

References• Brock, A., Kvasny, L. & Hales, K., 2010. CULTURAL APPROPRIATIONS OF

TECHNICAL CAPITAL. Information, Communication & Society, 13(7), pp.1040–1059.

• Dunne, K., 2010. Can Online Forums Address Political Disengagement for Local Government? Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 7(4), pp.300–317.

• Gil de Zúñiga, H. et al., 2010. Digital Democracy: Reimagining Pathways to Political Participation. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 7(1), pp.36–51.

• Halford, S. & Savage, M., 2010. RECONCEPTUALIZING DIGITAL SOCIAL INEQUALITY. Information, Communication & Society, 13(7), pp.937–955.

• Zhang, W., 2010. TECHNICAL CAPITAL AND PARTICIPATORY INEQUALITY IN EDELIBERATION. Information, Communication & Society, 13(7), pp.1019–1039.