Political Participation in the Digital Age: An Ethnographic Comparison Between Iceland and Germany
Bielefeld: transcript (2020), 221 pp.
Contains bibliogr. pp. 201-221
Series: Digital Society, 25
ISBN 978-3-8394-4888-5 (pdf); 978-3-8376-4888-1 (print)
Other editions: Universität Göttingen, Doctoral Thesis 2018
"This book explores the potential of the Internet for enabling new and flexible political participation modes. It meticulously illustrates how the Internet is responsible for citizens' participation practices from being general, high-threshold, temporally constricted, and dependent on physical presence to being topic-centered, low-threshold, temporally discontinuous, and independent from physical presence. With its ethnographic focus on Icelandic and German online participation tools Betri Reykjavík and LiquidFriesland, the book offers plentiful advice for citizens, programmers, politicians, and administrations alike on how to get the most out of online participation formats." (Publisher description)
1 Introduction, 11
2 State of Research, 17
3 Doing Ethnography I: Constructing Research Fields, 45
4 Research Fields, 53
LiquidFriesland -- Betri Reykjavík
5 Doing Ethnography II: Methods and Translating Them into Practice, 65
6 Methodology, 69
7 Doing Ethnography III: Making Sense of the Data, 77
8 Results and Discussion, 81
Political Participation – A Definition? -- Information Practices through the Ages -- Communication within Online Participation Tools: Software is Politics -- Political Participation in the Digital Age -- The Role of Geographical Proximity in (Online) Political Participation
9 Conclusion, 197
10 Appendix, 201
2 State of Research, 17
3 Doing Ethnography I: Constructing Research Fields, 45
4 Research Fields, 53
LiquidFriesland -- Betri Reykjavík
5 Doing Ethnography II: Methods and Translating Them into Practice, 65
6 Methodology, 69
7 Doing Ethnography III: Making Sense of the Data, 77
8 Results and Discussion, 81
Political Participation – A Definition? -- Information Practices through the Ages -- Communication within Online Participation Tools: Software is Politics -- Political Participation in the Digital Age -- The Role of Geographical Proximity in (Online) Political Participation
9 Conclusion, 197
10 Appendix, 201
