For the first time in history, a wide distribution of technology
allows citizens to get involved in public governance and
participate in institutional life on a very regular basis. Yet
websites of public authorities are barely taking advantage of
the power of the participatory citizen. Two factors play a key
role in this gap. First, the average citizen is not well
informed about how basic democratic institutions function, which
dramatically reduces the citizen’s capacity to influence the
democratic process. Websites can help reduce the complexity of
public institutions and get people to understand the way
institutions and public administrations function and behave.
Second, access to public services online is increasingly
separated from institutional information. While online service
sites are popular, the role of the institutional sites is not
clear. The authors argue that these sites can and should take on
the role of a two-way communications tool on topics of policy
and politics, support knowledge sharing o