Introduction - Informing Digital Futures: Strategies for Citizen Engagement - page 10

and design of our vastly complex 'Information Society' which is under-
pinned by an immense network of ever-evolving digital technologies.
Chapters 4 and 5 examine current practice in citizen engagement - often
enabled by ICT - through 20 case studies in 10 different countries. Chapter
5 focuses specifically on the widely-held aspirations for ICT to promote
social inclusion. Case study material relating to some highly diverse and
often marginalized groups reveals complex social needs and some innovative
ways of meeting them. Chapter 6 provides an analysis of citizen engagement
in the different case studies, and models the processes and outcomes.
Chapter 7 explores barriers and facilitators to citizen engagement and pro-
poses an integrated approach which draws upon related theoretical frame-
works and approaches. The last three chapters are a suite of component
strategies for achieving a shift in focus of ICT design. Chapter 8 draws to-
gether the lessons learned and the best practices in citizen engagement to
inform strategies for engaging citizens in defining and designing desirable
digital futures. Chapter 9 describes some of the tools and techniques which
are available to support citizen engagement. Finally, Chapter 10 addresses
the challenge of making citizen engagement a mainstream activity i.e. the
process of citizen engagement in design and development of ICTs for use
by the public.

1. Introduction

Scene
Setting

2. Designing Digital Futures
3. The Case for Engagement

4. Citizen Engagement in Practice

Evidence
Base

5. Giving a Voice to the 'Hard to Hear'

Analysis &
Model

6. Modelling Citizen Engagement
7. Citizen Engagement in ICT Design: The Challenge

8. Strategies for Citizen Engagement: (i) Shifting the focus of ICT design practice

How to
Implement

9. Strategies for Citizen Engagement: (ii) Tools and Techniques
10. Achieving a Culture of Participation and Engagement

Fig. 1.2. Structure of the topic.