Enriching Community Networks by supporting deliberation

The increasing shift of attention from e-government to e-governance, even at the local level, requires technological solutions designed to support deliberative processes. We believe that to answer the request for local governance it is necessary to put at stake the background accumulated by community networks for undertaking the development (the design, implementation and testing) of a so-cio-technical, computer-enabled, trusted environment for e-participation enriched with deliberative tools. We call this environment Deliberative Community Net-work, in order to stress that its main goal is to overcome the intrinsic limits of community and civic networks by introducing deliberative facilities that provide support to the decision-making processes. The paper presents the conceptual framework behind the design of Deliberative Community Networks, their logical architecture and a first prototype developed for supporting public dialog in the occasion of the 2006 Municipal Elections in Milan, Italy. The feedbacks from this experience, presented in the conclusions, are the input for the next release of the system currently under development

Navigation in Information Spaces: supporting the individual

The issue of how users can navigate their way through large information spaces is one that is crucial to the ever expanding and interlinking of computer systems. There are many ways of dealing with the issue of navigation. The use of appropriate metaphors is one, virtual reality and 3D interfaces another. A third is to provide adaptive interfaces based on individual differences in users navigational ability. This paper takes a critical look at the alternatives for assisting users to navigate information spaces and concludes by outlining a research agenda for navigation support

Strategic Quadrants and Service Quality: Tourist Satisfaction in Portugal

The main objective of this study is to examine the tourist satisfaction levels in Portugal across various segments by comparing tourists' expectations with service performance. This paper applies expectancy-disconfirmation theory for this purpose. Data were collected through personal interviews of 221 tourists in Lisbon regarding the importance they attach to attributes of tourism and service delivery. The importance-performance analysis identified gaps between tourists' expectations and actual service performance. Overall, most of the tourists in Lisbon are concerned with safety, cleanliness, and price levels. Though tourist segments have differing needs, male and female tourists seem to have similar perceptions and preferences overall. Both package tourists and domestic tourists are not satisfied with the local food. It is further suggested that the friendliness of the local people and the local food could be highlighted in the tourism promotional campaigns. In the future, data could be collected from other tourist segments based on tourists' age and the purpose of their visit.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio