E-Democracy Projects offer an opportunity to fulfil an active citizenship vision that includes the whole population. While online forums are growing in influence, it is clear that the existing Internet population is not a microcosm of society.

Therefore, to ensure that no one is left out, there needs to be proactive outreach to under-represented populations within each community to involve them in these on-line opportunities.

This project description was written by Terry Grunwald for the Scottish Communities Channel in 2001, but is now longer available there. We plan to update here shortly.

What do E-Democracy Projects Do?

• Take laptops to community organisations, sports clubs, lunch clubs, youth clubs, community centres, pubs, small businesses and other places where hard-to-reach people naturally congregate, in order to demonstrate the active citizenship opportunities of the Net
  
• Connect new users with a variety of online forums where they can 'weigh in' with their views on issues that directly affect their lives
  
• Create on-line forums, surveys, and content which supports and promotes greater involvement in public policy
  
• Sponsor on-line active citizenship events and archive them on the web for future reference
  
• Publicise opportunities for citizen input both electronically and in 'live' hearings, forums, workshops, etc.
  
• Provide web-based multimedia opportunities for local people to tell stories about their lives that have policy implications

Resources

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations' Parliamentary Information and Advisory Service offers the definitive on-line guide to Parliament and how it works ­ everything from how to submit a petition to this year's legislative programme.

The International Teledemocracy Centre of Napier University aims to develop innovative ICT-based applications that will strengthen public understanding and participation in government. It partners with business, government, voluntary organisations, and schools on customised projects. Resources include tools for (1) electronic consultation, (2) electronic petitioning, and (3) electronic elections and voting. Their site also includes a useful set of links.

Scottish Civic Forum provides an online space where churches, trades unions, business, and voluntary organisations, community groups and professional associations can come together and debate the subjects which concern them.

Scottish Policy Net, a project of the Scottish Council Foundation provides an online forum for focused discussion of a diverse range of social, economic and governance issues. It aims to support and supplement face-to-face dialogue rather than to take its place. Thus people who have met can use it to continue their discussions, and groups that form online may subsequently meet in person. It is actively seeking partners with whom to launch public dialogues.

Democracies Online promotes online civic participation and democracy efforts around the world through information exchange, experience sharing, outreach, and education. Sign up for DO-WIRE , a free e-newsletter which describes what is happening with democracy and the Internet internationally. Check out articles that provide a step-by-step guide to starting an online discussion that matters.

Open.Gov.Uk is a first entry point to UK public sector information on the Internet.

The Teledemocracy Action News+Network is an e-magazine that provides articles on five main categories of e-democracy:

1. Voting From the Home: Mail/Phone/Computer
2. Deliberative Polling/Deliberative Democracy
3. Computer Assisted Democracy
4. Electronic Town Meetings
5. Affiliated Organisations/Institutions/Discussion-Chat Groups

Models

ThinkNet is a Discussion Forum for the Highlands. It aims to serve as a 'virtual think tank' to enable local communities as well as business and public sector representatives to get into discussion about major issues facing the Highlands.

The first Scottish Youth Summit Virtual E-conference was held in the summer of 2000. Over 1,000 young people across Scotland took part in nine separate conferences across Scotland. However, many more young people took part during the day through the E-Conference part of this website, giving their views and comments on a wide variety of issues, such as drugs, alcohol, smoking, Europe, bullying and other issues of importance to them.

Parables to Policy (US) is a project of the Southern Rural Development Initiative which records life stories of rural people and makes them available on the web using audio clips and graphics. Listen to the stories of the Appalachian people of a coal-mining area of Kentucky or the Gullah people of the Sea Islands off South Carolina. Then view a Dialogue among policymakers in response to those stories.