Redistricting is among the least transparent processes in democratic governance. Often, politicians shape districts behind closed doors with little or no input from the public.1 The resulting lines embody the political goals of politicians and not the public interest, as much as the goals of the two groups do not overlap.2 Politicians use redistricting to realign their constituencies to further...

The literature on public goods has shown that efficient outcomes are impossible if participation constraints have to be respected. This paper addresses the question whether they should be imposed. It asks under what conditions efficiency considerations justify that individuals are forced to pay for public goods that they do not value. It is shown that participation constraints are desirable if ...

This research provides secondary data analysis of two large-scale scientist surveys. These include a 2009 survey of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) members and a 2006 survey of university scientists by the United Kingdom's Royal Society. Multivariate models are applied to better understand the motivations, beliefs, and conditions that promote scientists' involvement i...

An environment is studied in which mechanisms suggest public goods allocations and individuals then choose whether or not to submit their requested transfer to the central planner. The set of allocations such that unanimous participation is an equilibrium is shown to be sub-optimal in a wide variety of environments and shrinks to the endowment as the economy is replicated. Optimal public goods ...

Map-based public participation with the medium interactive television is a very young research area. The conclusion after an intensive search on the internet is that nobody has dealt with this research topic yet. With interactive television the viewer is able to make personal input or feedback that has an influence on what he/she sees and hears or is subjected to. This paper has the focus on th...

Focusing on public access rather than business or commercial applications, this article seeks to answer some fundamental questions about Internet use in Indonesia: How many people use the Net? Where and how do they gain access? Who facilitates this: government or private industry? What strategies are expanding public access? In answering such questions, the article examines Internet use as a so...

This paper assesses the status of eParticipation within the political system in Austria. It takes a top-down perspective focusing on the role of public participation and public policies on eParticipation. The status of eParticipation in Austria as well as of social and political trends regarding civic participation and its electronic embedding are analysed. The results show a remarkable recent ...

Public participation in scientific research can be a powerful supplement to more-traditional approaches. We discuss aspects of the public participation project Foldit that may help others interested in starting their own projects.