Electronic Democracy and Political Participation

新生的信息高速公路为公民以电子方式参与政治活动提供了迅速扩大的机会。“电子民主”项目引发了很多人的猜测，即基于网络的新技术将如何影响政治进入和参与的模式，以及最终这些将如何影响美国的政治影响力和权力分配。这项研究涉及对几个电子民主站点的政治参与的纵向调查，目的是产生电子参与者的经验概况。将在几个电子民主网站使用在线调查收集数据，调查将分三轮进行，每隔六个月进行一次。问题将审查社会经济地位，对政治制度的支持，传统的参与习惯，政党认同和意识形态，以及参与电子民主网站的程度。调查数据将被用来建立研究所包括网站的电子民主用户的统计资料。这一资料将与传统政治参与者的资料进行比较，这些资料来自全国选举研究和一般社会调查的现有数据，以及一系列关于不同资料之间差异的假设。这项研究的目的之一是：(A)提供证据，说明电子民主技术可在多大程度上缓解或加剧低收入、受教育程度较低的公民的获取和疏远问题；(B)为一些人的说法提供实证资料，即该技术可能带来民粹主义的民主复兴；(C)探索一种新的政治参与模式，为个人层面的特征和政治背景的变量增加参与的媒介。

The nascent information superhighway is offering rapidly expanding opportunities for citizens to engage in political activities electronically. `Electronic democracy` projects have generated a great deal of speculation about how new network-based technologies will affect patterns of political access and participation, and ultimately, how these will affect the distribution of political influence and power in the US. This study involves a longitudinal survey of political participation at several electronic democracy sites, with the aim of producing an empirical profile of electronic participators. Data will be collected using on-line surveys at several electronic democracy sites, which will be conducted in three rounds spaced at six-month intervals. Questions will examine socioeconomic status, support for the political system, traditional participation habits, party identification and ideology, and extent of participation in the electronic democracy site. Data from the survey will be used to construct a statistical profile of users of electronic democracy at the sites included in the study. That profile will be compared with a profile of traditional political participators drawn from existing data in the National Election Studies and General Social Survey, and a series of hypotheses about differences between profiles tested. Among the aims of the study are: a) providing evidence about the extent to which the technology of electronic democracy may alleviate or exacerbate problems of access and alienation among low-income, less educated citizens; b) shedding empirical light on the claims of some that the technology may bring about a populist renewal of democracy; and c) exploring a new model of political participation that adds medium of participation to variables for individual-level characteristics and political context.