A regional model for e-participation in the EU: Evaluation and lessons learned from VoicE

Abstract

Attracting and motivating citizens to participate actively in online discussions of European policies turns out not to be easy. In the VoicE project, a regional e-participation model has been developed to deal with this challenge. The results and lessons learned from the project VoicE are of particular importance for the follow-up project VoiceS. This way, VoicE and VoiceS incorporate ongoing evaluation through an iterative design cycle. In this paper, we present the scientific evaluation method and results whether the regional e-participation model of VoicE is an appropriate means to attract citizens for European policies and to motivate citizens to participate in discussions. The methodology is based on a layered model of e-participation evaluation. Subsequently, this paper examines to what degree the approach chosen in the project delivers suitable insights for establishing successful e-participation platforms on a European level and what lessons can be learned. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.