Information materialities of citizen communication in the U.S. Congress

Abstract

In this paper, we use a materiality lens to explore how information and communication technologies condition interaction between citizens and policymakers of the U.S. Congress. We work with ethnographic data - six months of observation in Washington D.C. and 48 interviews with staff in the House of Representatives. Customer relation management systems (CRMs) used by Congress are one of numerous technologies expected to enhance responsive communication between citizens and representatives. We find, instead, that these technologies promote the datafication of citizen information that configures and constrains how policymakers engage citizens as legitimate actors within the policy-making process. CRMs not only mediate communication between citizens and policymakers, they shape the idea of what communication between citizens and policymakers can be and how citizens are viewed in the eyes of policymakers and their staff. Thus, we extend our understanding of the ways in which material configurations of communication technologies influence not only how communication acts unfolds, but also how each partner conceives of and engages with the other. This has dramatic implications for the possibilities of digital communication channels to enhance, or uphold, the ideals of a representative democracy.