TY - GEN
T1 - Designing a Public Participation Digital Architecture in Formal Policymaking Processes
AU - Schwartz, Moshe
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2024.
PY - 2024/1/1
Y1 - 2024/1/1
N2 - This paper addresses the issue of how to avoid obstacles and improve digital systems design for citizen participation in formal policymaking processes. Public consultations conducted in the United States while setting the policy on net neutrality (2014–2017) were researched using an analytical tool comprised of four evaluating dimensions and a combination of critical discourse analysis and socio-technical methodology. The study demonstrates the effects of digital platforms’ affordances and architecture on undermining public participation in institutionalized policymaking. This system of control through design (as a central component alongside other methods) established hierarchical power relations and structured discrimination between groups of participants. Furthermore, the properties of the digital management system’s design and its technical failures facilitated dark participation and large-scale manipulation of the process. Concluding the research findings, several recommendations are suggested for designing a better digital environment that enhances participation as a democratic practice.
AB - This paper addresses the issue of how to avoid obstacles and improve digital systems design for citizen participation in formal policymaking processes. Public consultations conducted in the United States while setting the policy on net neutrality (2014–2017) were researched using an analytical tool comprised of four evaluating dimensions and a combination of critical discourse analysis and socio-technical methodology. The study demonstrates the effects of digital platforms’ affordances and architecture on undermining public participation in institutionalized policymaking. This system of control through design (as a central component alongside other methods) established hierarchical power relations and structured discrimination between groups of participants. Furthermore, the properties of the digital management system’s design and its technical failures facilitated dark participation and large-scale manipulation of the process. Concluding the research findings, several recommendations are suggested for designing a better digital environment that enhances participation as a democratic practice.
KW - digital platforms affordances
KW - participation process design
KW - public participation in policymaking
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85200694402&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-031-61698-3_5
DO - 10.1007/978-3-031-61698-3_5
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85200694402
SN - 9783031616976
T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
SP - 57
EP - 64
BT - Design for Equality and Justice - INTERACT 2023 IFIP TC 13 Workshops, 2023, Revised Selected Papers
A2 - Bramwell-Dicks, Anna
A2 - Evans, Abigail
A2 - Petrie, Helen
A2 - Winckler, Marco
A2 - Abdelnour-Nocera, José
PB - Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
T2 - 19th IFIP TC13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, INTERACT 2023
Y2 - 28 August 2023 through 1 September 2023
ER -
