In an exclusive interview with the editor of Digital Icons, Professor Stephen Coleman discusses evolving forms of citizen participation. He examines e-deliberation as an emerging body of research, technological tools, social practice and policy-making related to encouraging and facilitating democratizing processes on the Internet and other post-broadcasting media. He examines e-deliberation environments and discusses the philosophical underpinnings of web interfaces and software enabling social online interactions between citizens and public officers. He views participatory processes from the point of view of governmental structures, commercial use and reflection pertinent to contemporary western academia.
