Participation ladders have been described previously, but E-Participation and Open Government have changed the perspective on how people interact and what rungs on an imaginative ladder need to be climbed in order to set forth sustainable participation with a genuine impact on how public services are delivered. The proposed E-Participation Ladder focuses not only on political participation, but more generally on the question of how policies, programs and projects must be designed in order to get people involved.

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E-Participation Ladder
Advancing from Unawareness to Impact Participation
Bernhard Krabina, CeDEM 16
20 May 2016 · Seite 1

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Mirko Tobias Schäfer
20. Mai 2016 · Seite 2

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Implicit Participation
 Schäfer (2011) described "implicit participation" as
motivated by the design of an information system
itself.
 In implicit participation, people are unaware that
they are actually participating, but they take action
by following certain media practices: by simply using
the systems they participate implicitly.
 By clicking on certain elements on a website (e. g. a
video), people interact with the system. They
view/read an item, share it or tag it, thus interacting
with the system without necessarily being aware of
participating.
20. Mai 2016 · Seite 3

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Analogy: The Knowledge Ladder
(North, 2002)
Symbols
Data
Information
Knowledge
(know what / why)
Action
(know-how)
Competence
Competitive
ness
+ syntax
+ bundled uniquely
+ right choice
+ application + motivation
+ relation to context, experience, expectation
+ meaning
Source: North/Kumta, Knowledge Management, 2014

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Related Work
 Arnstein: "Ladder of Citizen
Participation”, 1969
 Connor: "New Ladder of
Citizen Participation“, 1988
 Pretty: “Typology of
Participation”, 1995
 Fung "Democracy Cube“, 2006
 Ferro and Molinari/Forrester
Research “The “new” Ladder
of Participation“, 2010
20. Mai 2016 · Seite 5

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Arnstein: "Ladder of Citizen Participation”, 1969
Connor: "New Ladder of Citizen Participation“, 1988
Pretty: “Typology of Participation”, 1995
20. Mai 2016 · Seite 6
 Important, but pre-Internet era

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Fung "Democracy Cube“, 2006
20. Mai 2016 · Seite 7
 Very holistic
 Not easily manageable

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Ferro and Molinari
Forrester Research (2010)
“New Participation Ladder”
20. Mai 2016 · Seite 8
 User types
 Different
engagement
possibilities

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E-Participation Ladder?
Goals
 Main question:
How to set forth sustainable participation with a
genuine impact on how public services are
delivered?
 Generic enough for all kinds of participation
projects
 Remain easy enough to use
 Include the concept of implicit participation
 Explain what is missing/needed to move up/down
the steps
20. Mai 2016 · Seite 9

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20. Mai 2016 · Seite 10
E-Participation Ladder

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Unawareness
 How can I deliver the
information to the
different target
audiences?
 What are the target
audiences to be
involved?
 Where do they usually
get their information?
11
unawareness + information

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12
Indifference
unawareness
indifference
+ information
+ caring
+ opinion/content
 How can we find those among
the informed who do care?
 How can we make people care
about the topic?
 What additional information is
needed for them to form their
opinions and who can deliver
it to them?
 What content could they
provide that is relevant to and
important for our discussion or
problem solving?

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Passive Participation
unawareness
indifference
passive participation
+ information
+ action
+ caring
+ opinion/content
 How can people be
motivated to take
action?
 What possibilities do
they have to take
action?
 Is our service
attractive and easy
enough for them to
use?

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14
Implicit Participation
unawareness
indifference
passive participation
implicit participation
+ information
+ awareness/
connection
+ action
+ caring
+ opinion/content
 How can we make
people aware that
participating is worth the
effort?
 How can we connect the
possibilities they have
with a participatory
goal?
 How can we design our
systems to make use of
implicit participation?

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Active Participation
unawareness
indifference
passive participation
implicit participation
active participation
+ information
+ dedicated
interface
+ awareness/
connection
+ action
+ caring
+ opinion/content
 How can we get
people to use our
dedicated interface?
 What alternatives do
they have?
 How can we make our
system easy to use for
active participation?

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Intended Participation
unawareness
indifference
passive participation
implicit participation
active participation
intended participation
+ information
+ goal/agenda
+ dedicated
interface
+ awareness/
connection
+ action
+ caring
+ opinion/content
 How do we best
communicate the goals of
participation?
 What timeframe will people
be willing to spend in the
process?
 What timeframe do we
need to get enough
participation?
 What phases do we need,
what will happen when?

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Effective Participation
unawareness
indifference
passive participation
implicit participation
active participation
intended participation
effective participation
+ information
+implementation
+ goal/agenda
+ dedicated
interface
+ awareness/
connection
+ action
+ caring
+ opinion/content
 How can we make sure
that the output is taken,
used, put into action?
 How can we communicate
at the beginning what
possible outcomes of the
participation are?
 How can we communicate
what has been done and
what has changed after the
participation phase?

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Impact Participation
unawareness
indifference
passive participation
implicit participation
active participation
intended participation
effective participation
impact participation
+ information
+implementation
+ goal/agenda
+ dedicated
interface
+ awareness/
connection
+ action
+ caring
+ opinion/content
 How to set forth
sustainable participation
with a genuine impact on
how public services are
delivered?

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Open Government Implementation
Model: Feedback Mechanism
20. Mai 2016 · Seite 19
 https://www.digitaleagenda.wien/idea/328658/8603

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Contact
4. Oktober 2012 · Seite 20
http://www.kdz.eu/en/open-government-implementation-model
Bernhard Krabina
 krabina@kdz.or.at
 www.kdz.or.at
 @krabina