The possible use of local political online forums to engage young people in local politics. Kerill Dunne

Overview  Background / definitions  Criteria / forum type  Methodology  Sampling strategy  Data entry  Concepts  Findings

Political disengagement ! & Young People

Participatory budgeting  Hazel Blears (the new communities secretary)  10 pilot projects allowing citizens to direct local spending

Local Political Online Forums  What is political?  What is an online forum?

Criteria Political criteriaOnline fora criteria 1Necessary public action required Situated on the English speaking World Wide Web. 2There has to be public choice on local issues. Do not require registration to read posts 3Absence of independent ground i.e. conflicting viewpoints The general layout is not that of a blog or a listserv or list (unless list has achieved threads). There must be (the potential for) more than one contributor, each providing distinct, signed input, which remains on a message / discussion / bulletin threaded board. 4Issues which affect all participants Moderated or un-moderated 5Forums which are exclusionary i.e. the republicans’ forum will not be collected. Nor will forums which are set up for one single issue i.e. environmentalism. A rules based framework

6There must be a thread dedicated to a village, town or city; not just threads for province, state or international issues. However, forums set up exclusively for local issues may contain some wider issues. In the most general sense provides a format for citizens to participate in local / national decision making or input into policy formation 7All citizens, private organisations and government officials must be allowed participate within. 8Can be independently, privately or governmentally run. Criteria con…

Design  East Harlem Online Discussion Forums - powered by vBulletin East Harlem Online Discussion Forums - powered by vBulletin East Harlem Online Discussion Forums - powered by vBulletin  East Harlem Online Discussion Forums – Politics East Harlem Online Discussion Forums – Politics East Harlem Online Discussion Forums – Politics  Oxfordshire Forums Oxfordshire Forums Oxfordshire Forums  Oxfordshire Forums - Abingdon Oxfordshire Forums - Abingdon Oxfordshire Forums - Abingdon

Analytic Induction  ‘Analytic induction is an approach to the analysis of data in which the research seeks universal explanations of phenomena by pursuing the collection of data until no cases that are inconsistent with a hypothetical explanation (deviant or negative cases) of a phenomena are found’ (Bryman, p400)

5 sampling strategies tried & rejected  Random geographic sampling  Quota (non-random) sampling  Cluster  Random numbers  Random numbers with Google’s omitted results

Sampling strategy used  5 search phrases were developed  Internet as a whole focused on  Google’s most relevant search result pages used  All pages & forums examined  This sample has an under representation of sites with few links to them

PhraseNumber of forums Number of Google pages 1Online political discussion forum Local politics discussion forum Community online discussion forum Local government council online forum Local politics message board50050 Total

Data entry  Software / commissioners  Active  Select group  Evidence  Relevant debate  Web address / / location  Posts / threads / users/ exist  Political model; Participatory type; Platform for deliberation

Data entry con…  Enveloped  138  Q&C  Missing data

Participatory type  Non Participation  Pseudo participation  Partial participation  Full participation

Deliberation  Mixed discourses and modes of communication  Rational deliberation redefined  Non-rational, non-consensual deliberation

Participatory democratic models  Protective thin democracy  Plural thin democracy  Direct democracy  Unitary democracy  Strong Democracy

Preliminary findings  Software and commissioners influence  Not much activity  Influence on local government  Moderation / administration  Posts Users 1411

Preliminary findings con..  Deliberation  Evidence

Preliminary findings con..  Political Model  Participatory type  Deliberative form  Conclusion

Questions?