Participation of citizens is critical to the democratic process and to the effective performance of e-Governmental services and systems. This minitrack focuses on e-Participation, the involvement of citizens in the development, use, and evaluation of e-Government and Digital Democracy systems. As e-Government becomes more ubiquitous, many questions arise about what it means to be an “e-Citizen,” how the concept of citizenship might be changing, and how participation in the democratic process and democratic/governmental institutions might be influenced.

Topics and research areas include, but are not limited to

1. - Experience and involvement of the “e-Citizen”
   

2. - Social networking and collaborative spaces in the context of political participation and e-Government
   

3. - Studies of citizens and democratic processes in virtual worlds
   

4. - Research on the e-participation and the democratic process online
   

5. - Participatory design practice, ethnographic studies, empirical studies, and case studies of e-Government, e-Democracy, and e-Participation applications
   

6. - Analyses of impacts and adoption of e-Government, e-Democracy, and e-Participation systems
   

7. - Studies of the universal access requirements of e-Government
   

8. - National ID card and smart card debate and its implication and integration with other services