Building on typology set out by Stephen Coleman and John Gotze (Bowling Together: Online Public Engagement in Policy Deliberation), there are four potential aspects of e-democracy.

- direct of plebiscitary democracy mediated through the web i.e. internet facilitates participation e.g. e-voting.
- government using the web to communicate with the public and assess public opinion - web also as a means of accessing govt services.

- online communities or civic networks translating into activism in society
- online participation in deliberative policy making.
(these last two = interactive, generative politics.)

Number 10 petitions has had over 8 million signatures - obviously a latent desire to speak out.

Charles Leadbeater - the logic of With - the ethic of web 2.0 is create, connect, combine and collaborate. But govt is not With the people.

What problem is e-democracy trying to solve?

1. long term social challenges - require individuals and communities to work together
2. we are entering an era of severely constrained public finances - citizens will be required to play a more collaborative role in the provision of these services.
3. the crystallisation of dissatisfaction with the current system of representative democracy.

The most important task for any new politics then is to find new ways to build social capital, to reinvest in and develop the sorts of public relationships that allow communities to pool their creativity and intelligence and generate collective action.

social media allows collaborative, non-hierarchical co-ordination online creates powerful coalitions who are able to initiate real world offline action - so the democracy that the web creates is participative, decentralised and non-hierarchical.

The key is not how central govt can use social media, it's how active bubbles can be brought together and create more civic action.

older people are the most active citizens - and they are the fastest growing group of internet users.

People want the information that really/only/specifically matters to them.

Re. criminal justice system... Louise Casey's research for the Cabinet Office showed that lack of confidence in the criminal justice system is linked to both fear of crime nationally and locally.

Justice is contentious, and the public should have a way to express their perspective on how justice is served. - social networks would also allow for positive stories to emerge.

younger people are more likely to be involved in informal political activity, in particular online social networking - two hours a day on the internet.

demonstration against knife crime shows that young people can and will harness the power of new technologies to mobilise themselves on issues of direct impact and meaning to them.

how young people are engaged in social network sites - varied - Davies T & Cranston P Yoiuth Work and Social Networking.