MBA Vienna, Austria

Deliberation and Collaboration in the Policy Process – A Web 2.0 approach

(PhD, 2010-2013)

Abstract

This thesis is an exploration of the abilities and potentials of collaborative e-policymaking or CPM to enable Australian citizens to deliberate and make decisions on public policy issues by using the CoPolicy website. CPM is a universal process designed to facilitate organisations or self-selected groups to develop their own regulations, strategies, and decisions by involving all stakeholders in grassroots decision-making processes. This thesis will implement a prototype of the CPM process as social networking site (the CoPolicy website) and trial it with a group of volunteer Australian citizens. The goal of the thesis is to make first practical experiences with CPM, to observe the interaction and behaviour of the sample in the collaborative processes, and to evaluate the functionality, feasibility and practicality of the CoPolicy website for real public policy making.

In the current phase of the research, this web application software is being developed on the basis of the Joomla content management system. In the subsequent phase the functionality and practicality of the platform will be evaluated in a trial that involves volunteer Australian participants (internet users). The data generated by the users during the trial will be evaluated electronically. After the trial there will be an online survey that will address the same of participants with questions about the functionality and satisfaction with the software.

Biography

Klaus has completed his masters’ degree at Vienna University of economics and business administration. At the end of his study he specialised in management information systems and market research. In 2008 he started his PhD on collaborative policymaking; his preliminary research was published at two international conferences on digital governance in Mexico and Austria. Klaus research focuses on human computer interaction, e-democracy, and online collaboration. When he is not working on his PhD, Klaus is travelling in Australia and plays sports, particularly martial arts and yoga.

Supervisors

Assoc. Prof. Axel Bruns (Principal)

Assoc. Prof. Marcus Foth (Associate)

Publications

http://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Petrik,_Klaus.html

Petrik, K. (2009). Deliberation and collaboration in the policy process: a Web 2.0 approach. In Proceedings of the Conference on Electronic Democracy EDEM 2009, Austrian Computer Society, University of Economics and Business Administration, Vienna, Austria. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/41615/

Petrik, K. (2009). Participation and e-democracy how to utilize web 2.0 for policy decision-making. In Chun, Ae Soon, Sandoval , Rodrigo, & Regan, Priscilla (Eds.), Proceedings of the 10th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research (pp. 254-263). Digital Government Society of North America, Puebla, Mexico. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/41614/