When top down visions meet grassroots digital activism: notes from Netherlands

The Netherlands provides several avenues for citizen participation in formal policy-making, and is often described as a global leader in e-participation and e-government. Yet, even in a context where citizen participation has become a policy principle, the desired format of and the actual opportunities for participation can be problematic. The Dutch case raises awareness on four pitfalls: the appropriation of citizen participation as a means to legitimise cuts to public services; the development of a limited (and limiting) vision of participation; the difficulty of a systematic review of the landscape of participation opportunities; and the limited approach to the role of ICTs in policy-making. This Brief seeks to understand what lessons can be learned from the integration of ICTs in the governance process in the Netherlands. In particular, it looks at the visions and opportunities for citizen engagement opened up by the use of digital technologies in governance processes. This research presents the top-down visions and opportunities for citizen engagement, comparing them to those emerging organically out of a specific case of grassroots digital activism.DFIDUSAIDSidaOmidyar Networ

Ons Geld citizen initiative, Netherlands

Ons Geld (Our Money) is a Dutch citizen initiative seeking to put the question of money production on the public agenda. Ons Geld pushed for legislation that would ensure commercial banks cannot create new money when providing their clients with credit lines. Furthermore, the initiative asked that when money is created by the state, it should be used in the public interest and not for bailing out commercial banks or real estate companies. The Netherlands is often hailed as a leading example of the integration of ICTs within democratic politics, and the organisers of Ons Geld initiative made extensive use of digital technologies - websites, online forums, social networking platforms, electronic newsletters - to build support for their initiative. This case study suggests that explicitly integrating ICTs within the formal avenues for citizen participation constitutes a good starting point for expanding the current e-government policy framework. Such an enlargement entails the development of suitable online tools that can allow citizens to start citizen initiatives in a way that is inclusive and deliberative from the beginning. Furthermore, such a framework should not limit itself to technological solutions, but also invest in the development of cultures of civic engagement, as well as provide resources for the development of these initiatives.DFIDUSAIDSidaOmidyar Networ

Country overview Netherlands

Citizen engagement in the Netherlands is formalised at both national and local levels. The legal avenues for citizen engagement at the national level consist primarily of agenda-setting and advisory direct voting mechanisms such as citizen petitions and referenda. At the local level, citizens have a more diverse array of opportunities to engage in policy development. Yet, the availability of these opportunities depends on local administrative arrangements and as such it varies from place to place. This report aims at providing an overview of the normative and institutional state of art of ICT-mediated citizen participation in the Netherlands. The first section provides an overview of the political and civic liberties framework in the Netherlands. In the second section the landscape of ICT mediated citizen engagement is mapped. In the third section, the report engages with the implications of technology mediations for deliberative democracy and transformative citizenship. The findings of this report suggest that the Dutch e-government framework remains focused on service-provision, missing out on opportunities to foster the creation of ICT-enabled civic infrastructures that would enable citizens to engage in the governance of their lives. Furthermore, in addressing citizens mostly as consumers of digital governmental information or of online public services, this policy framework encourages the development of individual-centred information systems, ignoring the community-building potential of ICTs.DFIDUSAIDSidaOmidyar Networ

Early Tithonian Saturnalidae (Radiolaria) from the Solnhofen area (Southern Franconian Alb, southern Germany)

In order to complete the study of the very rich early Tithonian (Hybonoticeras hybonotum Zone) radiolarian fauna from the Mühlheim Member of the Mörnsheim Formation outcropping in the Solnhofen area, the taxa of the family Saturnalidae are described. Although rather rare, the Saturnalidae of this member contain 14 species, ten of which are new. These species belong to four genera, one of which is new (Moebicircus n. gen.), and two subfamilies (Hexasaturnalinae and Saturnalinae). The taxonomy at generic level of these late Jurassic radiolarians is founded on the basis of the position of the blades along the ring and number and morphology of the spines. Type of spines (simple or forked) has either species level value or none, depending on species. Special attention was given to anomalies, which sometimes are rather frequent, since they can give Information of paleobiological and paleoecological Orders. Among them frequent cases of open ring and additional spines withDicerosaturnalis and Siamese twins skeletons withSpongosaturninus andDicerosaturnalis are to be noted. The authors hope that this new taxonomy will give a better image of the evolution and radiation of the Saturnalidae during the Tithonia

Teaching Qualitative Research Methods in Media and Communication: The Benefits and Limitations of Digital Learning Objects

Teaching qualitative research is often hampered by student uncertainties around how to apply methodological knowledge in practice. Digital learning objects (DLOs) may offer a solution to this problem, although they also come with limitations. This study assessed the student perspective on the strengths and limitations of six qualitative analysis DLOs in the field of media and communication. Drawing from a thematic analysis of 527 written student reflections on the use of these DLOs in learning practices, this paper found that DLOs were helpful in clearing doubts and cementing knowledge. Furthermore, they motivated students by increasing self-regulation and by providing a new learning environment that was perceived as showcasing “learning how to learn.” However, the DLOs also introduced new anxieties, destabilized the relationship between lecture and tutorial, and were not successful at fostering student reflexivity in relation to the research process. These findings provide practitioners with pedagogical insight into using DLOs to improve the learning experience of qualitative research

Slideshow activism on Instagram: Constructing the political activist subject

An emerging activist tactic on visual-based social media such as Instagram, slideshow activism adapts the production and consumption of political information to the logic of the platform. In so doing, slideshow activism provides followers with an ideal subject position for civic engagement. By examining a popular slideshow activist Instagram account, we outline the features of this activist tactic and its mobilizing appeal. The qualitative content analysis of a sample of 50 posts reveals that slideshow activism addresses its followers as individuals who are actively staying well-informed on the social justice dimension of a wide range of political issues and are constantly engaged in self-transformation in order to become better citizens. This ideal, we argue, entrenches social justice as a core political value for civic engagement, and recommends a mix of argumentation and personal transformation as the everyday means for individuals to bring about political change. We further explore the consequences of this subject position for citizen engagement with politics

Mediated Grassroots Collective Action: Negotiating Barriers of Digital Activism

While so far social media have been largely constructed as the quintessential tools of collective action and praised for their potential to empower individuals to act as civic agents, this paper foregrounds the tension between expectations created by public discourse and citizens’ own involvement with digital activism. This study adds to an understanding of barriers by examining how they are experienced by participants in mobilizations at the individual level. Looking at how obstacles of digital activism are experienced by citizens reveals the processes through which the structures of digital mediation impose limits over those who depend on them for their organization. By examining three regional Canadian cases, this research discusses the significant barriers mobilizers experience and finds that many of the obstacles organizers face point to an enduring need for a wellorganized, tech-savvy, collaborative network as an organizing body to reflectively handle the challenges posed by digital grassroots civic mobilization