A Regional Model for E-Participation in the EU: Evaluation and Lessons Learned from VoicE

Attracting and motivating citizens to participate actively in online discussions of European policies turns out not to be easy. In the VoicE project, a regional e-participation model has been developed to deal with this challenge. The results and lessons learned from the project VoicE are of particular importance for the follow-up project VoiceS. This way, VoicE and VoiceS incorporate ongoing evaluation through an iterative design cycle. In this paper, we present the scientific evaluation method and results whether the regional eparticipation model of VoicE is an appropriate means to attract citizens for European policies and to motivate citizens to participate in discussions. The methodology is based on a layered model of e-participation evaluation. Subsequently, this paper examines to what degree the approach chosen in the project delivers suitable insights for establishing successful e-participation platforms on a European level and what lessons can be learned.