Paper presented at "Digital Cities Summit", Lisbon, 24-25th of Sept. 2007.
- 1.IS THERE PLACE FOR CITIZENSHIP IN DIGITAL CITIES REALM?A
SOCIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT BRBARA BARBOSA NEVES Centre for Public
Administration & Policies Institute of Social and Political
Sciences of Lisbon Technical University Foundation for Science and
Technology Portugal.
2. The Research: Multiple Case Study
- The aim is to verify if digital cities can reinforce/complement
citizenship
- Longitudinal empirical study of two Portuguese digital cities
(grounded civic types)
- Selection of two different approaches,Gaia Global,a digital
city andAveiro Digital, adigital region
- Methodological Triangulation
3. Citizenship Versus Digital Citizenship
- In this digital framework, the concept of digital citizenship
(virtual citizenship or e-citizenship) emerges.
- If some authors consider that new paradigms are born with the
digital, others think that these notions remain unaltered, only
being carried to a different level.
4. Citizenship Versus Digital Citizenship
- Thecitizen of the technological digital globalized society
5. Gaia Global and Aveiro Digital 6. Gaia Global Vila Nova de
Gaia City 7. Gaia Global
- Gaia Global( www.gaiaglobal.pt ) is the digital city project of
Vila Nova de Gaia.
- Option for Global instead of Digital.
- This digital city conjugates a set of inter-related sites,
namely concerning services, the town hall site and other municipal
sites, like water supply company site, etc. Concerning information
and interaction, they have the Gaia citizen portal (
www.gaiaglobal.pt , object of our research), the youth site and the
interactive Gaia map.
8. Gaia Global www.gaiaglobal.pt www.gaiaglobal.pt 9. Aveiro
Digital Aveiro Region 10. Aveiro Digital
- In the first phase (1998-2000) the Project represented only the
Aveiro city. However, in the current phase (2003-2006),Aveiro
Digitalis a digital region.
- TheAveiro DigitalProgramme 2003-2006 ( www.aveiro-digital.pt )
is established as a social, economic and cultural development
engine, that addresses the qualification of people and the
modernization of services in the Associao de Municpios da Ria
(Association of Municipal Districts of the River) region.
11. Aveiro Digital Portal www.aveiro-digital.pt 12. Ishida
Matrix Applied to the Multiple Case Study Aveiro Digital
Association andAssociation of Municipal Districts of the River
(Local governments, Aveiro university and local enterprises);
Management by CEAD (Execution Comission of Aveiro Digital)
Attendance Level: Gaia Town Hall; Management and Coordination
Level: Energaia, Gaia Energy Agency; Consultation Committee.
ORGANIZATION Digital Infrastructure that allows e-mail accounts
creation and has a verification and attendance system forAveiro
Digital(SAVAD) beneficiaries (access restricted to the entities
that have projects with Aveiro Digital, namely, council
departments, university, companies and local associations). Digital
Infrastructure based on a first layer with three important pillars:
Connection with Citizen Management,Geographic Information Systems
and Contents Management; Technologies Convergence. TECHNOLOGY Site
that describes all the projects and beneficiaries. Interaction
platform among those beneficiaries. Model based on generic citizens
needs, dividing contents in life events, (for instance in the Viver
Live Menu, information is divided by different life phases);
Representation of the digital city according to its physical model
(the site was formulated according to squares connected to
intervention areas). ARCHITECTURE To qualify people and
organizations in the AMRia Region. Establishment of a public
communication infra-structure and an information and mediation
structure between different role-players; Regional dynamics and
region modernization. GOAL AVEIRO DIGITAL GAIA GLOBAL 13. Aurigi
Elements Applied to the Multiple Case Study
- Complementing this matrix with the Aurigi four concepts:
- ownershipcorresponds to the Ishida organization;
- informativeness and serviceabilityvaries betweenGaia
GlobalandAveiro Digital , although globallyGaia Globalreaches a
higher level of available information and services online;
- social access and participationis more visible inAveiro Digital
;
14. Aurigi Elements Applied to the Multiple Case Study
- therelation with the host cityis observed in both projects,
mostly in contents and actions, although in digital terms (of
digital representation) it is only noticeable inGaia Global .
- Bringing up the three types of digital cities (underlined by
Aurigi), namely the informative, participative and rooted, the
studied digital city and digital region can be linked to the three
types, even though they achieve different levels.
15. Digital Cities and Citizenship
- Within the new urbanity, the citizen (or digital citizen) has
access to a platform that allows him to interact with his
community, to access a significant number of public services and to
intervene in decision centres.
- Digital cities have as a main goal the offer of basic
citizenship elements, such as process transparency, information and
services availability, communication platform and simplicity in the
interaction.
16. Digital Cities and Citizenship
- Basing our research in the theoretical support of SCOT, we
applied semi-structured interviews and e-interviews (2005-2006) to
national and international experts (ten interviewees) and through
their opinions and visions, we started to construct our perception
of digital cities and their connection to citizenship.
17. Digital Cities and Citizenship:Interviews Results Can
digital cities additionally provide for some social and political
needs (like interaction, identity, citizenship exercise) of their
citizens? N=10 N=10 18. Digital Cities and Citizenship:Interviews
Results Are they promoting debate, public intervention and
participation? N=10 19. Digital Cities and Citizenship:Interviews
Results Are they spaces of citizenry? N=10 20. E-Survey: Some
Considerations
- To approach the citizens of these digital cities and in order
to understand who they were, what type of using they do and what
social, cultural and political impact come from these virtual
projects in their opinions, we applied an e-survey.
- However, we could only perform that atGaia Globalportal (
www.gaiaglobal.pt ).
- TheAveiro Digitalis chiefly an internal platform for the
beneficiaries. Therefore, we not only were not authorized to access
these beneficiaries, as the definition of the common user, the
cybercitizen of the digital city were not fully framed in this
project.
21. E-Survey Applied to Gaia Global Users
(www.gaiaglobal.pt)
- The e-survey applied to the Gaia citizens portal (
www.gaialglobal.pt ) was online from 15th of September to 15th of
October 2005, when the site had 628 registered users.
- It was answered by 40 users, 37 registered in the site (80%
male, 20% female); between 25 and 34 years old (37,5%), married or
united in fact (62, 5%) and with higher education levels
(65%).
22. E-Survey Applied to Gaia Global Users
(www.gaiaglobal.pt)
- It is crucial to address a few methodological considerations
about these questionnaires:
- First, we know the number of registered users, but we do not
know the number of users.
- Second, we do not have any socio-demographic information about
the registered users, because to register it is only asked to
introduce name, physical and virtual address.
23. E-Survey Applied to Gaia Global Users
- Third, it is important to state the limitations of an
e-survey.
- Fourth, the site was launched in 2004, i.e., one year prior to
the survey, what demonstrates its initiate level.
- Finally, it is pertinent to underline that even being a
convenience sample, not representative of the universe (that we do
not even know) the results might be useful to observe what could be
the perceptions of the portal users.
24. www.gaiaglobal.ptUsers Results Does GG allow you to
intervene actively in your city? Legend :yesnodn/da53% 30% 17% 25.
www.gaiaglobal.ptUsers Results Does GG allow you to exercise your
citizenship? Legend :yesnodn/da63% 20% 17% 26.
www.gaiaglobal.ptUsers Results Does GG allow you to have a better
quality of life? Legend :yesnodn/da70% 17.5% 12.5% 27.
Conclusion
- According to the study outcomes, digital cities are reinforcing
citizenship, although still at a low degree, mainly concerning
bi-directional communication, participation, public intervention
and public debate.
28. Conclusion
- The digital cities users are associated to the profile of early
adopters, young, male and with high education levels.
- Nonetheless, digital cities can be mechanisms of urban
inclusion and participation, as well as, info-inclusion, as they
also establish initiatives and strategies for bringing the digital
divide.
29. Closing Remarks
- It is fundamental that digital cities focus on citizens instead
of blindly on technology.
- Democracy and public intervention is not made by ICTs, they are
only tools.
- Information is not knowledge.
- Access is not participation.
30. Closing Remarks
- Digital cities are facing numerous challenges, which might even
threaten their survival:
- the nascent state of the projects,
- the financial and operational projects sustainability;
- the need of incessant mutual planning of the physical and the
digital city;
- the crucial requirement for continuing existence.
31. Closing Remarks
- Only as a long-term process, will digital cities manage to have
a significant impact and relevant effect on community and
territory.
- Finally, the social impact assessment of these digital
platforms is a prominent problem and challenge.
32.
Institute of Social and Political Sciences of Lisbon Technical
University,Centre for Public Administration &
Policies,Portugal.