The benefits of eDemocracy
Democratic Renewal
eDemocracy in practice has many benefits. It can help to overcome traditional barriers to participation and encourage more people to make their views know by making the process easier, less daunting, or widening the choice. It overcomes issues common to most including place, time, mobility and other access restrictions.
This can mean a greater voice in the working of local authorities, service providers, or even national government for people who are less able or less inclined to get involved.
Both organisations and the public benefit from higher levels of participation - a high level of public involvement means that policy can be developed with the benefit of a wide range of different opinions and evidence. Hence the solutions or decisions should be more tailored to its target market.
eDemocracy contributes to more informed policy debate by providing a quick and easy way for people to access and exchange relevant information and contribute opinions which inform and support debate.
eDemocracy also harnesses popular technologies that are already a growing part of people's lives - e.g. web, text, MP3 players
Online methods can distribute information to a wide audience quickly and
relatively cheaply. Responses are far easier to analyse electronically - and can benefit from automatic transferrence into a data base or statistical package. Those who respond can also be engaged further, and easily through online acknowledgement, analysis and feedback.
The benefits outlined in this section are taken from feedback provided during the eDemocracy National Project. Over the coming weeks we will be building on this and enhancing it with case studies and links to examples and evidence.
- 1. Democratic Renewal « You are here
- 2. Benefits for communities
- 3. Benefits for councillors
- 4. Benefits for councils