Karin Geiselhart, Karin Geiselhart, University of Canberra, Bruce, ACT 2601. kgeisel@actonline.com.au
Steve Colman, Global Learning, O'Connor Shops, O'Connor, ACT 2602, Australia global.learning@netinfo.com.au
Australia; Complexity; Electronic Democracy
A framework is proposed for conceptualising uses of interactive technology across scales. The first part of the paper considers a generic definition of democracy and relates this to the pluralising potential of interactive technology, as an extension of complexity theory. In this view, the added voices of electronic democracy are the ‘butterflies’ of chaos theory, creating widespread but unpredictable effects. Technology use at different level is linked by the values of the dominant actors.
The authors describe two web-based experiments in electronic democracy conducted during 1998. One culminated in the first Australian on-line debate between candidates in the ACT territory elections in February. The other was a national discussion board set up in the period preceding the Federal election in October. The factors affecting the outcomes in both these cases will be considered. A set of information values for the democratic uses of information technology is contrasted with globalising values that minimise participation.
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