139 b - involved – electronic extended public participation

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are increasingly becoming more pervasive of peoples' lives, both for individual and collective usage. Factors like globalisation and individualisation cause more distance of citizens to the state and its institutions. Hence, it becomes tempting to develop electronic tools that can constitute alternatives to enhance citizenship, in particular tools that can be used in the context of societal debates of public policies. b-involved (http://b-involved.jrc.it/) is an Internet platform that enables a small group of people to have a focused discussion about a pre-defined issue. As in many social research group settings, such as focus groups, each group has at least one Moderator and several Participants who meet in a virtual room that offers the means for an on-line informed debate. This tool was developed with the aim of enhancing eparticipation processes, hence providing the means for active involvement of society in public policy making. In this paper we suggest how the b-involved platform could be used in participatory venues, using limited applications in research settings, as well as challenges for its effective deployment in policy initiatives.