Results: British citizens, the Internet and representation (2)

The ESRC press release for the public opinion survey was out today, hopefully it will help generate some interest in the media.

We are wittier than I thought ...

-----

Nice website, shame no-one visits it: politics still a turn-off, even in cyberspace

EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01 HRS THURSDAY 24TH FEBRUARY 2005

Despite soaring use of the Internet, online politics is still 'very much a minority sport', according to new ESRC-sponsored research showing that e-mails and websites have so far done little to bring us closer to our parliaments and politicians.

With a General Election perhaps weeks away, MPs and legislatures are failing to reap the benefits of new forms of communication aimed at reversing voter-apathy, says a study led by Dr Stephen Ward, of the Oxford Internet Institute, with Wainer Lusoli of Salford and Rachel Gibson of the Australian National universities.

In stark contrast with the upsurge of the Internet, interest in politics in Britain remains flat, says the study, revealing that fewer than two per cent of regular Internet users have visited the personal websites of their MPs.

There are high expectations and widespread public support for a range of online services and initiatives from MPs, the House of Commons and the Scottish and Welsh legislatures, aimed at encouraging us to play our part in democracy.

But there remains a large gap between this apparent support and actual use of new technologies. For example, people still have concerns about casting their ballots online, three years after the first e-voting pilots in the UK.

-----

Read more on the project site