Community Councils online: a survey

Ryan, Bruce; Cruickshank, Peter

Abstract

A survey of Scottish Community Councils found that only 22% have up-to-date online public presences. Only 4% of Community Councils have easily accessible online planning content. Most Community Councils websites communicate from Community Councils to citizen – only 10% use social media to host online discussion and opinion-gathering. Local Authority-hosted presences guarantee that Community Councils have presence but not that they are up to date. Such presences are also not content-rich. Community Councils’ own volition makes the difference between having no presence at all, mediocre presences and informative, content-rich presences that may serve citizens well. Suggestions to improve matters include broadening the scope of Local Authority-hosted presences and CCs mentoring each other.

Citation

Ryan, B., & Cruickshank, P. (2012). Community Councils online: a survey. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh Napier University

• Report Type: Technical Report
• Publication Date: 2012-10
• Deposit Date: Jan 23, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 23, 2013
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.14297/enr.2016.000001
• Keywords: Community Councils; local governement; internet; electronic democracy; transparency; Scotland; Great Britain; local democracy
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/5758
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.14297/enr.2016.000001