Electronic Democracy- making collective decisions

• Understanding information- are you making real choices?
• What are the issues they have voted on?
• Decision overload- are you making wise decisions
• 'Referendums' - how often? How detailed?
• Who knows your mind- are your decisions 'private'
• Example: Qube in Columbus - TV set choice with tape drive
• Digital Signatures, etc. - do you trust them? Or trust local ballot?

Technology as facilitating existing political process

• Getting information out to voters more directly-
• fewer 'interpreters' and 'filters' - now full speech
• more historical view- how has candidate voted in past?
• Getting information exchanged within election organization
• exchanging: email, fax, web pages
• getting: demographics, backgrounds of candidates

Technology as changing existing process?

• More local? Communitarian voting locally
• Remember 'Technological Mythos'
• More access? Finding out who voted and how?
• More freedom?- fighting censorship beyond 'jurisdiction'
• 'Global Grassroots' / 'Temp. Autonomous Zone- TAZ'

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paradox@actlab.utexas.edu