Can Internet Improve Democracy in Local Goverment?

Abstract

This paper describes a Swedish example of when the Internet was used as a citizen-local government link. More specifically, the Internet has been used to provide on-line discussion forums in three local government districts in the City of Goteborg. Some user representatives participated in the process of design of the forums. Consequently, this is an example of Participatory Design outside the workplace. The potential of the forums to improve democracy is valued against the ideal of deliberative democracy. In this ideal the presence of a genuine discussion between citizens and politicians is seen as a goal. Unfortunately, there was a lively discussion only in the forum of one district. This means that the goal of deliberative democracy was not reached yet in the districts. To reach this goal, a strategy of continuous involvement of potential user groups in the design and implementation of the forums is recommended. Such groups are e.g. parents of schoolchildren, as well as relatives of elderly that get service from local government.