By Michelle Ruesch and Oliver Märker

1. Real Name Policy in E-Participation
The case of Gütersloh‘s second participatory budget
Michelle Ruesch, Oliver Märker
Zebralog GmbH & Co KG
Bonn / Berlin
ruesch@zebralog.de
maerker@zebralog.de
www.zebralog.de
CeDEM | May 03, 2012

2. Real Name Policy vs. Anonymity
http://lawblog.legalmatch.com
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3. Real Name Policy on the WWW - Good or Evil?
+ Self-control argument
- Open participation
argument
Freedom argument
Legal argument
Privacy argument
Online=offline argument
Practicability argument
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4. What about E-Participation?
Social networks Online consultation
platforms
Purpose connecting people / collecting expertise, ideas,
friends opinions of citizens
Input undefined call for expression of opinion
on political topics
Time usually unlimited usually limited
period
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5. Gütersloh‘s Participatory Budget (PB) 2011/2012
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6. Gütersloh PB: Registration with Real Names
„Hinweis: Name und Vorname werden
auf Ihrer Profilseite für registrierte
Teilnehmer des Bürgerhaushalts sichtbar
sein.“
[Names will be visible for registered
users.]
„Ihr Geburtsort dient zur Überprüfung, ob
Sie in Gütersloh gemeldet snd, und wird
nicht öffentlich sichtbar.“
[The place of birth is required for the
validity check; it is not visible to others.]
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7. Gütersloh PB: The Rationale for Real Name
Policy
Limiting participation to citizens of Gütersloh (enhancing
1 representativeness and legitimacy)
Facilitation of high-quality dialogue,
2 prevention of offensive communication
Ensuring transparent communication (strengthening
3 democracy)
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8. Gütersloh PB: Objections against Real Name
Policy
1 Distraction from issue-related dialogue, lower quality of discourse
2 Violation of citizens‘ right to privacy
3 Time and cost-intensive implementation
4 Negative media attention, negative public perception
5 Usability problems may lead to decline in participation
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9. Real Name Policy as Obstacle to Participation
Verified
real name
Real name
Pseudonym
No name
No Voluntary Compulsory Verifed
personal data personal data personal data personal data
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10. Conclusion
 Evidence that negative consequences of real name policy outweigh
positive ones
 Use of moderation and pseudonyms can account for some problems
associated with anonymity
 Observations are only preliminary - more research is needed!
 Gütersloh will have a 3rd participatory budget – without real names!
THANK YOU!
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