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needed to support teledemocracy in order to choose a more inclusive sustainable future. Faster, cheaper, more diverse, and more interactive communication has the potential to increase citizen participation and involvement in the democratic pro- cess in terms of voicing their opinions and electing the “right” leaders. Local infor- mation networks should be designed to promote civic participation by offering government information and communication at little or no cost. This may increase citizen interest in other community activities, thus tightening communal ties and increasing participation in community governance. However, this may necessitate changes in the role of government as we know it today (Shane, 2004).
Perhaps a more dramatic change for the future will be a shift in governmental processes. Traditionally, a representative government is used so that people are able to elect those they believe will uphold governmental rules effectively and repre- sent their interests. In this setting, elected representatives are agents of those who elect them. In a virtual society, however, these agents may no longer be necessary because people could perform governmental functions virtually (i.e., virtual voting on issues). While we foresee an increase in electronic meetings for global com- merce, we expect an even greater impact will be made by simplifi ed distribution in the government and political arenas.
Teledemocracy allows citizens who wish to make informed choices con- cerning candidates, government policy, or regulation to retrieve information from government databases (Koumirov, 1994; Shane, 2004). Citizens can engage in more thorough and substantive discussions rather than merely listening to a brief adver- tisement or sound-byte. They can also vote electronically for candidates and issues. Of course, this assumes freedom of press and speech, something for which many countries are still striving.
However, there are some issues that need to be addressed: (1) Access to the Internet: A broad-based access to the Internet must be ensured. As shown in Table I, there is a large section of the global society that does not have access to the Internet. It is imperative that everyone have computer Internet access either from home or from a community location. At a minimum, one should have a wireless device, such as a cellular phone, that has Internet access. (2) Security and privacy: Unsecured transmission is often a main deterrent for rapid growth of tele-democracy. Here, security includes authentication, integrity, accuracy, and confi dentiality. We need to verify the identity of the participants so that the authenticity of the information being transmitted can be ensured. Citizens need also to ensure that the information is confi dential and only the participants know the content. Individuals also need to have protected “anonymity.” (3) Mechanism for coordination: The system should ensure that different viewpoints are presented, with impartial refereeing of messages and automated negotiation.
Several projects have been initiated to examine tele-democracy in several countries. In November 1996, the Dutch province of North Brabant conducted an experiment to test the applicability of an Internet-based software for public
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debate. They invited 100 residents and organizations to discuss aspects of land use for the region under the banner. They debated the issue using an Internet- based application, which allowed moderated discussion, periodic polling of par- ticipants, and voting (Jankowski et al., 1997). Norway’s Telenor Research and Development developed a communication system to support local politicians. The system allowed elected leaders to make calls, set up telephone conferences, use e-mail, and exchange documents among them and other government offi ces (Ytterstad et al., 1996).