Electronic Democracy and Political Participation

新生的信息高速公路正在为公民以电子方式参与政治活动提供迅速扩大的机会。“电子民主”项目已经产生了大量关于新的基于网络的技术将如何影响政治访问和参与模式的猜测，最终，这些将如何影响美国政治影响力和权力的分配。这项研究涉及对几个电子民主网站的政治参与进行纵向调查，目的是产生电子参与者的经验概况。数据将通过在几个电子民主网站进行的在线调查收集，这些调查将分三轮进行，每隔六个月进行一次。问题将考察社会经济地位、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。调查所得的数据将用于构建研究中包括的网站上电子民主用户的统计概况。该概况将与从全国选举研究和综合社会调查的现有数据中得出的传统政治参与者的概况进行比较，并对有关不同概况的一系列假设进行测试。这项研究的目的包括：a)提供证据，证明电子民主技术可能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异化问题；B)对一些人认为技术可能带来民主的民粹主义复兴的说法提供经验启示；c)探索在个体层面特征和政治语境变量中加入参与媒介的政治参与新模式。

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.