The relationship between late modern governance and new information and communication technologies (ICT) is complex and dynamic, catching the attention of scholars across disciplines.

The book “Democratic eGovernance : approaches and research directions” by Olsson, Jan and Åström, Joachim (eds.), brings together research within informatics, political science, media and communication studies and history, and provides a critical perspective on approaches and research directions from an inter-disciplinary perspective. The collective aim of the book is to develop a more comprehensive understanding on the conditions for Democratic eGovernance by pulling together insights from a variety of disciplines.

Taking on this challenge, the book summarises empirical researchand theoretical questions ranging from the invigoration of formal politics to the “explosion” of informal politics, from global trends to local responses, and from political ideas to technical practices. In its concluding part, a strategic inter-disciplinary research agenda is developed by combining thet hree intellectual virtues of Aristotle: episteme, techne and phronesis. This book is essential reading for all who have an interest in late modern governance, ICT and the possible futures of democracy.

Envision Solutions has published a new e-book that explains how to communicate about healthcare successfully in a world where social media is becoming increasingly influential. From Command & Control To Engage & Encourage focuses on how innovative healthcare industry players can integrate social media in their communications efforts:

“Currently, companies like Dell, Microsoft and GM are using social media technologies such as blogs to engage and communicate with their stakeholders. These corporations understand that social media has given the masses the power to significantly influence their economic fortunes.”

“Despite this shift in the communications landscape, many in the healthcare industry have been hesitant to do more than dip their toes into the social media ocean. They fear that engaging social media will require giving up control of their messages. However, the masses are already shaping perceptions of the healthcare industry. Individuals and organizations in this sector will have no choice but to develop a strategy for communicating effectively in a social media world.”

The e-book is available as a free download from the Envision Solutions web site.

(via the Business Innovation Insider)

“Extreme democracy” is a political philosophy of the information era that puts people in charge of the entire political process. It suggests a deliberative process that places total confidence in the people, opening the policy-making process to many centers of power through deeply networked coalitions that can be organized around local, national and international issues.

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Government 2.0: Using Technology to Improve Education, Cut Red Tape, Reduce Gridlock, and Enhance Democracy
by William D. Eggers.

A well-written, lively, optimistic book that calls for the transformation of technology in government from lipstick on a bulldog to total information awareness. This book is proactive in nature (see what these governments are really doing), does not call for a wholesale and costly transformation, and employs a subtle shaming of those governments that have not yet joined the 21st century. William Eggers’s argument, conservative in nature, states that the world of politics would quickly and markedly benefit from this digital transformation in terms of a fiscal payoff, but a more profound change would result as governments become more transparent, more democratic, and more efficient.

- Amazon link
- Book website
- Article by the book author

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the TED (Towards Electronic Democracy) Conference on E-Government, TCGOV 2005, held in Bolzano, Italy in March 2005.

The 28 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 92 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on e-democracy: improving citizen participation and policy making, e-democracy: experiences from different countires, political and societal implications, security for e-government services, semantic Web technologies, architectures for government application integration, case studies for government application integration, decision support systems, managerial and financial aspects of e-government projects, and e-procurement.

(By clicking on “Online version available” you can download all the text or individual chapters for free.)

This 41 page report by Steven Clift, subtitled “Representation and citizen engagement in the information age” details the democratic goals of e-government with case examples. It was based on UN commissioned research and was published in February 2004.

“Leading governments, with democratic intent, are incorporating information and communication technologies into their e-government activities. This trend necessitates the establishment of outcomes and goals to guide such efforts. By utilizing the best practices, technologies, and strategies we will deepen democracy and ensure representation and citizen engagement in the information age. It is upon this foundation that opportunities for greater online engagement and deliberation among citizens and their governments will demonstrate the value of information and communication technology in effective and responsive participatory democracy.”

Download report (pdf, 301 kb, 41 pages)

Wikis, blogs and other interactive tools are making it easier to find out what people really think of their government and its services.

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