Reconfiguring civic participation : open source software in the political space

• Discourses on participation, democracy and politics are today profoundly questioned and challenged. Internet and the entrance of open source software into the governmental sphere have much contributed toward the shift in understandings of citizen participation, their rights and representation. In the field of participatory design such an inquiry is reflected in a shift of focus regarding the study of the use of technologies within government. From being concerned by issues on transparency and equity researchers are nowadays more prone to explore issues regarding the transformative power or/and performativity of open source software in contexts such as government. This paper describes the case of the political “Net Party” which in 2013 introduced the platform “Democracy OS” into the legislature of the Ciudad de Buenos Aires in Argentina. The question that motivates the study is: Do open source tools redefine the political space and reconfigure citizen civic participation? And if so, how? The paper contributes five analytical axes for scrutinizing the entrance of open source tools into the political space.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Systemvetenskap, informationssystem och informatik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Information Systems (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

human-computer interaction

civic participation

open source software

democracy in the 21 st century

Man-Machine-Interaction (MMI)

människa-maskin-interaktion (MMI)

Publikations- och innehållstyp

pop (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)