'Hyperlocal e-democracy'? The experience of Scotland's Community Councils.

Cruickshank, Peter; Ryan, Bruce; Smith, Colin F

Abstract

This paper is motivated by the need to understand the reality of the use of the now well-established opportunities offered by the internet to engage with citizens. Building on previous research this paper derives a framework tailored for evaluation of e-participation and internet usage by representative bodies at the community or hyperlocal level which was applied in a survey of the use of Scotland’s Community Councils (CCs). The survey found a generally low level of use and engagement with citizens with even the actually existing websites hosting one-way communication, with only a small minority hosting online discussion and opinion-gathering. A significant factor in the richness of contet is association with other local community groups. Findings are contextualised with reference to other European examples and research indicating a number of contributing factors. The report concludes by suggesting an agenda for further research.

Citation

Cruickshank, P., Ryan, B., & Smith, C. F. (2014). 'Hyperlocal e-democracy'? The experience of Scotland's Community Councils. In P. Parycek, & N. Edelmann (Eds.), CeDEM14 Proceedings (73-84)

• Conference Name: CeDEM14
• Start Date: May 21, 2014
• End Date: May 23, 2014
• Publication Date: 2014
• Deposit Date: Oct 6, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: May 16, 2017
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 73-84
• Book Title: CeDEM14 Proceedings
• ISBN: 978-3-902505-35-4
• Keywords: representation; communication; internet; hyperlocal; e-participation; community
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/7164