In times of crisis of representation the question of what kind of democracy can be achieved through the expansion of new technologies emerges with renewed vigor. Is it direct democracy or yet another appendage of representative democracy? Is it democracy as understood by classical liberals, libertarians or communitarians? Is it deliberative or participatory electronic democracy? In the first book of the Digital Democracy series, Professor Wilson Gomes draws on ten years of research on the subject to present a historical cross section of the idea of electronic and digital democracy, addressing themes such as transparency, public sphere, participation and political deliberation. PhD in Philosophy and coordinator of the Center for Advanced Studies in Digital Democracy of the Federal University of Bahia (Ufba), Gomes divides his book into three periods: "1970-1995 - The origins of the idea of electronic democracy – Teledemocracy"; "1996-2005 - The consolidation of the idea of digital democracy"; and "2006-2015 - The state of digital democracy". As Gomes summarizes: "The history of the idea that it was possible to improve democratic processes through information technology can naturally go a long way back, as the invention and, above all, the massification of new communication media have always been accompanied by renewed hopes for improvement in democracy and public life." Published exclusively in digital format, the Digital Democracy series is edited by the professor and sociologist Sergio Amadeu da Silveira.

The internet has created a new social base where governments are ever more critically examined and measuring public sentiment expressed on social media is crucial to gauging ongoing support for democracy. This book illustrates a methodology for doing so, and considers the impact of this new public sphere on the future of democracy.

Democracy in the Digital Age is a fascinating philosophical exploration of how the emerging information and communication technologies are impacting political participation in the United States. Rather than being the antidote to democratic ills, the political conversations occurring online are neither inclusive nor deliberative, suggesting that new technologies, as currently designed and used, are as much threats to progress as they are vehicles of progress. Wilhelm finds that there is often an appearance of progress, but negligible advancement of the human condition. He discusses the four features of digitally-mediated political life (resources, inclusiveness, deliberation, and design) and demonstrates the need for a strong public policy.

Theoretically grounded and using quantitative data spanning more than 50 years together with qualitative research, this book examines investigative journalism’s role in liberal democracies in the past and in the digital age. In its ideal form, investigative reporting provides a check on power in society and therefore can strengthen democratic accountability. The capacity is important to address now because the political and economic environment for journalism has changed substantially in recent decades. In particular, the commercialization of the Internet has disrupted the business model of traditional media outlets and the ways news content is gathered and disseminated. Despite these disruptions, this book’s central aim is to demonstrate using empirical research that investigative journalism is not in fact in decline in developed economies, as is often feared.

Digitization is disrupting representative democracy and the consequences are profound.

In light of the increased utilization of information technologies, such as social media and the ‘Internet of Things,’ this book investigates how this digital transformation process creates new challenges and opportunities for political participation, political election campaigns and political regulation of the Internet. Within the context of Western democracies and China, the contributors analyze these challenges and opportunities from three perspectives: the regulatory state, the political use of social media, and through the lens of the public sphere. The first part of the book discusses key challenges for Internet regulation, such as data protection and censorship, while the second addresses the use of social media in political communication and political elections. In turn, the third and last part highlights various opportunities offered by digital media for online civic engagement and protest in the public sphere. Drawing on different academic fields, including political science, communication science, and journalism studies, the contributors raise a number of innovative research questions and provide fascinating theoretical and empirical insights into the topic of digital transformation.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Conference on E-Democracy, E-Democracy 2019, held in Athens, Greece, in December 2019. The 15 revised full papers presented were carefully selected from 27 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on rrivacy and data protection; e-government; e-voting and forensics; online social networks and "fake news".

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Security, Privacy and Trust in a Digital World, e-Democracy 2013, held in Athens, Greece, December 2013. The 20 revised full papers presented were carefully selected from numerous submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on security, privacy; e-governance; e-government applications, virtualizations; politics, legislation: European initiatives.

This book is the first attempt to introduce the current status of archival practices in Japan as well as the basic views of the populace on making records accessible to English readers. In general, Japan has not paid sufficient attention to keeping and utilizing records except in the field of historical research. This book thus examines Japanese attitudes about history, records management, information acts, the status of archivists of the constitution, and genealogical research practices and a description of archives. Consequently, such investigations clarify how both private and public archives function or fail to do so in those spheres of Japanese society. In addition, this book presents the efforts in wartime record keeping in Australia, which is significantly different from how the Japanese deal with such records. This book therefore provides a clear and concrete picture of the status of current archival practices in Japan and the thinking that underlies them. On the basis of such examinations, this book enables readers to understand to what extent and how the past affects the present through archives, to recognize the importance of archives, and to respect the past in order to maintain and develop perspectives in people’s lives.

The advancement of technologies in the 20th century has radically transformed the interconnectedness of humans, science, and technology within an evolving society. Evolving Issues Surrounding Technoethics and Society in the Digital Age serves as an interdisciplinary base of scholarly contributions on the subject of technoethics, a field that deals with current and future problems that arise at the intersection of science, technological innovation, and human life and society. This premier reference work leverages ethical analysis, risk analysis, technology evaluation, and the combination of ethical and technological analyses within a variety of real life decision-making contexts, appealing to scholars and technology experts working in new areas of technology research where social and ethical issues emerge.