On the path towards smart participation: a case study of Taiwan

Book of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have become wildly infused in policy making process in recent years, and it has shown its potential of bringing public participation into another level. There are numerous sorts of participatory platform that uses ICTs as a tool to enhance the quality as well as quantity of citizen participation. However, studies on the transaction mechanism from traditional participation towards e-participation is in scant. This article conducted path dependent analysis by using archived data and literature, retrospecting the evolution of e-participation in the decades in Taiwan. Result of this study shows that the development of ICTs has led citizens participation to another level in Taiwan, and the focus of public participation though ICTs has shift from quantity to quality. The path of the ICTs development are more driven by contingent events such as social movements and political incidents in Taiwan.Published versio