An NSF-funded initiative to “build and sustain an international digital government research community of practice” has agreed to provide support for an international “digital democracy” research group to be co-chaired by Peter M. Shane, the Jacob E. Davis and Jacob E. Davis II Chair in Law at Ohio State University, and Stephen Coleman, Professor of Political Communication at the Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds.
The Center for Technology in Government at SUNY Albany announced on December 13 that the International Working Group (IWG) on Online Consultation and Public Policy Making will be one of four international research groups receiving its support over the next three years.
Professors Shane and Coleman believe that the IWG will be the first formal research group under transatlantic leadership to focus on the use of online consultations to improve the quality of democracy. The IWG will study, specifically, how to evaluate the policy and other social impacts of government-run or government-supported solicitations of public input via the Internet with regard to public policy. The group will also consider how the optimal design of such initiatives is affected by cultural, social, legal and institutional context.
