eRulemaking Research Group
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Publication Democracy and the Environment on the Internet: Electronic Citizen Participation in Regulatory Rulemaking(2006-01-01) Zavestoski, Stephen; Shulman, Stuart W; Schlosberg, DavidWe hypothesize that recent uses of the Internet as a public-participation mechanism in the United States fail to overcome the adversarial culture that characterizes the American regulatory process. Although the Internet has the potential to facilitate deliberative processes that could result in more widespread public involvement, greater transparency in government processes, and a more satisfied citizenry, we argue that efforts to implement Internet-based public participation have overlaid existing problematic government processes without fully harnessing the transformative power of information technologies. Public comments submitted in two United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) rule-making processes—the National Organic Program’s organic standard and the Forest Service’s Roadless Area Conservation Rule—compose our data. We conclude that the Internet provides an arena for playing out three types of conflicts that have long plagued environmental decision-making processes: conflicts over trust of federal agencies, the use of science, and the role of public values.Publication eRulemaking: Issues in Current Research and Practice(2005-01-01) Shulman, Stuart WA rich and challenging dialogue about the shape of eRulemaking is underway. While in its infancy, an interdisciplinary research community has formed to assess and inform the development of information technologies that serve the public and rule writers. To date, little is actually known about whether this transition is likely to benefit or degrade the role of public participation. As with all policy innovation, particularly technologically determined innovation, the risk of unintended consequences is present. While the Internet may usher in a new era of more inclusive, deliberative, and legally defensible rulemaking, it may be just as likely to reinforce existing inequalities, or worse, create new pitfalls for citizens wishing and entitled to influence the decision-making process. This article examines the origin of Regulations.Gov, a federal Web portal, in the context of recent literature on public participation, and federally funded research into impact of eRulemaking. It draws on workshop, interview, and focus group experiences that have fed into a multiyear dialogue between researchers, regulators, and the regulated public. It argues this dialogue is a fruitful and necessary part of the development of a standard architecture for eRulemaking that is consistent with the intent of public participation in the regulatory rulemaking process.Publication Democracy and E-Rulemaking: Web-Based Technologies, Participation, and the Potential for Deliberation(2007-01-01) Schlosberg, David; Zavestoski, Stephen; Shulman, Stuart WDeliberative democratic theorists and public participation scholars have become increasingly interested in institutionalized forms of citizen discourse with the state, including those facilitated by information technology. However, there have been very few empirical studies of the claims that the Internet will make public participation more inclusive and deliberative. We report the results of an exploratory survey of 1,556 citizen participants in regulatory public comment processes in the United States. Our analysis focuses on the differences in deliberative indicators between those who submitted their comments using newly available electronic tools and those who postal mailed or faxed letters on paper. We also examine differences between those who submitted an original letter and those who submitted a version of a mass-mailed form letter. Overall, the data found modest evidence of the presence of deliberative democratic practices. More interesting are the apparently fundamental differences between citizens who submit original comments and those who submit form letters. We discuss the implications of these findings as they relate to the use of information technology to increase government-citizen deliberation.Publication Whither Deliberation? Mass e-Mail Campaigns and U.S. Regulatory Rulemaking(2006-01-01) Shulman, Stuart WMass e-mail campaigns are the organizational tool of choice for environmental activists seeking to inform and mobilize their constituencies. Some democratic theorists and reformers pin their hopes for more responsive and informed government policy on Internet-enhanced dialogue and debate. Electronic advocacy campaigns and action alerts are changing the nature and scope of public deliberation in contentious federal rulemaking. This paper examines the new digital landscape of electronic rulemaking through a case study of the recent mercury rulemaking at the US Environmental Protection Agency. Results are presented from an effort to code a sample of 1,000 e-mails selected at random from a dataset of approximately half a million. Particular attention is paid to the unique additions made to form letters.