Informed citizens or not? Implications for academic libraries
•Als PPT, PDF herunterladen•
0 gefällt mir•97 views
Presents findings of a survey of students of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek, Croatia on the topic of e-democracy.
Empfohlen
Empfohlen
Weitere ähnliche Inhalte
Was ist angesagt?
Was ist angesagt? (20)
Ähnlich wie Informed citizens or not? Implications for academic libraries
Ähnlich wie Informed citizens or not? Implications for academic libraries (20)
Mehr von Kornelija Petr
Mehr von Kornelija Petr (13)
Kürzlich hochgeladen
Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)
Informed citizens or not? Implications for academic libraries
- 1. Informed citizens or not? Implications for academic libraries Kornelija Petr Balog, Boris Badurina Department of Information Sciences 1
- 2. E-democracy • usage of information and communication technologies (ICT) to enhance the democratic structures and processes • refers to: – all sectors of democracy, – all democratic institutions, and – all levels of government. • e-democracy vs. e-government – e-government - efficient delivery of government/state information to citizens • current problem: – young people’s passive attitude toward democratic processes – possible solution (Council of Europe 2009) potential of e-democracy to, through new technology, attract young people to democracy, democratic institutions and democratic processes LIDA 2016 2
- 3. Academic libraries and democracy • active role in promotion of civic literacy, creation of informed citizens • ‘informed citizen’ importance of citizen access to information cornerstone of the democratic vision • information literacy (IL) programs: – intellectual abilities of reasoning – critical thinking – lifelong learning students - informed citizens and members of communities students - informed citizens and members of communities LIDA 2016 3
- 4. Research • May 2015 • sample: 246 FHSS students – 123 1st year undergraduate (UG) – 123 1st year graduate (G) • instrument: online (59%) and paper survey (41%) • response rate: 60% Research questions: 1.In what degree do FHSS students interact with online e-democracy and/or e- government information? 2.Do senior FHSS students exercise higher level of awareness for the importance of the involvement in the democratic processes than their junior colleagues do? 3.Do FHSS students see academic libraries as relevant sources of this type of information? Research questions: 1.In what degree do FHSS students interact with online e-democracy and/or e- government information? 2.Do senior FHSS students exercise higher level of awareness for the importance of the involvement in the democratic processes than their junior colleagues do? 3.Do FHSS students see academic libraries as relevant sources of this type of information? LIDA 2016 4
- 6. Online activities of FHSS students 57% access Internet more than 10 times a day 51% spend online between 3-4 hours a day 51% spend online between 3-4 hours a day Access Internet by smartphone (84%) or laptop (83%), usually from home (95%) or faculty library (54%) Access Internet by smartphone (84%) or laptop (83%), usually from home (95%) or faculty library (54%)LIDA 2016 6
- 7. LIDA 2016 7
- 8. E-democracy related activities (by undergraduate and graduate students) Only 6.9% created account for a portal E-Citizens (launched by Croatian government in 2014) Only 6.9% created account for a portal E-Citizens (launched by Croatian government in 2014) LIDA 2016 8
- 9. Participation in e-democracy at the level of national, regional, local government, or at the level of a legal personality with public jurisdiction 2% 0% 4% 2% 8% 1% 5% 3% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9% National Regional Local Public jurisdiction Participation UG G 90.7% did not take any part in e- democracy at any of these levels LIDA 2016 9
- 10. Does my voice matter? LIDA 2016 10 6.1% - yes 71.5% - no 22.4% - I do not know 6.1% - yes 71.5% - no 22.4% - I do not know
- 11. Online sources of official information (study, work, life in a local community, etc.) LIDA 2016 11
- 12. Comments I can write and bother what and who I want, nothing will change! I really liked the Pula initiative about e- consultations. I’ll look for similar initiative at my local town government pages. And this survey reminded me about the E-Citizens portal. I do not have time to deal with those things. I see no future in Croatia.I see no future in Croatia. I prefer face-to-face communication and not online. There is neither democracy nor e- democracy in Croatia There is neither democracy nor e- democracy in Croatia To be frank, I didn’t really understand this survey. This is a good survey because it makes a young person think about the importance of personal engagement in democratic processes This is a good survey because it makes a young person think about the importance of personal engagement in democratic processes I had no idea an individual can have such an influence! I’m definitely going to become a member of E- Citizens portal. I had no idea an individual can have such an influence! I’m definitely going to become a member of E- Citizens portal. I’m leaving Croatia as soon as I graduate! LIDA 2016 12
- 13. Conclusions • true repesentatives of Google generation – spend a lot of time online, engaging in various online activities, primarily related to leasure and entertainment • engaged little in democratic processes at any level (national, regional, local, legal personality with public juristiction) • libraries recognized as relevant online sources of official information LIDA 2016 13
- 14. … • difference between undergraduates and graduates, with graduate students slightly more active in e- democracy activities – however – graduate students have lower confidence that they have any influence on the work of public servants LIDA 2016 14 Statistically significant differences: •Contacting representative in a Student Board •Contacting representative in a local government •Participation in e-democracy at a national level •Does my voice matter? •Sources of information: Ministry, University of Osijek, FHSS, local county, libraries
- 15. … • opportunity and responsibility for academic libraries – education does matter! –include information about e-democracy into their IL program LIDA 2016 15 35% motivated by this survey to think about the importance of personal engagement in e- democracy/e-government 35% motivated by this survey to think about the importance of personal engagement in e- democracy/e-government
- 16. Thank you for your attention! LIDA 2016 16
Hinweis der Redaktion
- - The importance of e-democracy was recognized by various international institutions such as the United Nations or the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the European Union. In 2009 the Council of Europe issued an important document which encompasses 12 recommendations to European Union member states regarding the introduction of e-democracy. This document recognized also the problem of young people’s passive attitude toward democratic processes and in one of the principles of e-democracy (P.13) it stresses out the potential of e-democracy to, through new technology, attract young people to democracy, democratic institutions and democratic processes. - The term e-democracy is often used together with the term e-government. It is actually closely linked to good governance, which is the efficient, effective, participatory, transparent and accountable democratic exercise of power in electronic form and includes informal politics and non-governmental players [4]. Therefore, these two terms, although related, must not be confused or used as synonyms. In fact, e-government should be considered to be a part of e-democracy, which is much broader and encompassing collection of ideas. Chadwick and May define e-government as the efficient delivery of government/state information to citizens, but the control is still in hands of the government [5]. In fact, e-government is neither good nor bad in itself but can be used or misused to achieve and further the goals of the society in which it operates, or to obstruct pursuit of those goals. Therefore, a democratic and open society may use e-government to become even more open and democratic. On the other hand, a tightly controlled society may use e-government to assert even more control over the lives of its citizens [6]. However, these two terms have rarely been examined separately, although they are discussed in the literature as distinct [7]
- Colleges and universities often overlook academic libraries as venues for deliberative democracy. Yet, many of those libraries put a lot of effort to promote civic literacy and ensure an informed citizenry fit into democratic practice (Kranich 2010). The concept of the 'informed citizen' itself emphasizes the importance of citizen access to information and has become the cornerstone of the democratic vision (Pettinato 2007). By ensuring that the individuals have the intellectual abilities of reasoning and critical thinking colleges and universities provide the foundation for their continued growth as informed citizens and members of communities (ALA 2000, 4). Libraries, in particular the academic ones, can ensure an informed citizenry and promote civic literacy through their programs of information literacy (IL), which in turn has been recognized as a key component, and contributor to, lifelong learning. Therefore, libraries can play a critical role in raising civic spirit by providing not only information, but also opportunities for dialogue and deliberation as a practice ground for democracy.
- The goal of the research was to find out whether the students of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (FHSS) in Osijek, Croatia interact online with any sort of e-democracy or e-government information. Our research questions were: In what degree do FHSS students interact with online e-democracy and/or e-government information? Do senior FHSS students exercise higher level of awareness for the importance of the involvement in the democratic processes than their junior colleagues do? Do FHSS students see academic libraries as relevant sources of this type of information? Implicitly, by this research we hoped to raise awareness for e-democracy issues and topics among the FHSS student population.
- Students in our sample spend a lot of time online. They access the Internet more than 10 times a day (57.3%), spending online usually between three and four hours a day (51.2%). Their three most frequent online activities are connected with leisure activities (social networking 95.1%, e-mailing 89.8%, and downloading of films 88.2%). They are relatively active online in regard to finding information connected with their academic responsibilities (e.g. finding information about exams, scholarships, etc. 77.2%), but rarely get engaged in democratic processes at the level of academic community (only 11.8% have contacted the student representative in the University Student Board). They are even less interested in democratic processes at the level of local community (8.1% have contacted the local authority representative regarding an administrative or communal matter). As many as 90.7% confess not to have used ICT for exercising their democratic rights to influence the decision processes at various levels (national, regional, local or at the level of legal entities with public jurisdiction such as universities) and only 6.9% of students in our sample are registered users of Croatian portal E-Citizens. Although the majority of our respondents remain indifferent to topics of e-democracy (possibly because only 6.1% feel that they have influence on the work of public servants and politicians), 35.0% report to have been motivated by the research to rethink their engagement in democratic processes.
- Contact your local government representative regarding administrative or communal issues Contact your student representative at the Student Board
- - Statistički značajno za Student board i Local gov. representative
- Legal personalities with public jurisdiction are institutions that have the right to, within their jurisdiction, decide about rights and obligations of citizens (e.g. educational institutions, social welfare institutions, etc.)
- - more than 100 comments!
- - our research confirmes the importance of education – we had numerous comments in the survey saying that they did not know that it is possible to change anything, and that they had learned from our survey about all those possibilities and that they are going to look for more info about e-democracy on their own, or that they are going to log into E-Citizens portal. etc.