Areas of participation

The method described earlier, in particular categorisation of localised literature according to research areas, enabled the direct identification of those areas of participation on the Net that have attracted noteworthy attention within the field of research. These are the following five areas:

  1. Politics: participation in political decision-making processes.
  2. Business: participation in value creation processes.
  3. Culture: participation in creative processes of generating meaning.
  4. Health: participation in healthcare and the treatment of illnesses.
  5. Education: participation in processes involved in training and the acquisition of skills.
Figure 4: Areas of participation (number of studies in English-language literature)

Figure 4: Areas of participation (number of studies in English-language literature)

Figure 5: Areas of participation (number of studies in German-language literature)

Figure 5: Areas of participation (number of studies in German-language literature)

Figure 4 provides an overview for the scope of English-language literature available on these five areas of research, measured against the number of studies identified as relevant.

Similarly, Figure 5 shows the scope of research in German-language literature. It is evident in both cases that research in the area of political participation predominates. The DIVSI Opinion Leader Study (2012) had already shown that in terms of its political contexts, the Internet is associated with civic participation, while barely one third see these links in the realms of business or science. Indeed, political participation is alone among the five areas identified that can be considered an established field of research with a uniform understanding of terms and phenomena, a substantial theoretical foundation and something akin to a communal tradition of research. In other words: In this field, academics see themselves truly as researchers into „participation on the Internet“, quoting each other and also using a quite clearly delineated, common foundation in literature and theory.

It would not be appropriate to speak of established fields of research in the other four areas – business, health, culture and education. In each case here we find topical focuses exhibiting points of intersection concerning questions of participation on the Internet, among them open innovation, online courses or patient information forums. However, these focuses are not considered based on a common understanding of new options for participation on the Internet. Although some form of participation may be relevant here, it is not in the spotlight of research. In some cases it is perfectly clear that the area of research is not even aware of the links between the phenomena analysed and Internet-driven changes with regard to participation in social interaction and decision-making processes, and hence that these aspects represent a more immersive social phenomenon.

On the one hand, this fragmentation and isolation of research into participation across the smaller areas of analysis fails to produce any dynamic establishment of theories concerning participation on the Internet – unlike in the field of political participation. The studies rarely refer to each other, and indeed only do so within narrow topical areas. All too frequently there is a dearth of consideration when it comes to related insight produced in other studies, however contextual they may be. On the other hand, the imbalance manifest across these five areas may indeed create the impression that „participation on the Internet“ is equatable with political engagement. Any widening of this focus requires that the related fields of research develop self-assurance and hence that a form of self-discovery takes place, underlining that a common research into forms of participation on the Internet most certainly takes place in the areas of business, culture, health and education.

Figure 6: Areas of participation (percentage spread of the studies)

Figure 6: Areas of participation (percentage spread of the studies)

Figure 7: Development of research areas (number of studies published per year (DE & EN)

Figure 7: Development of research areas (number of studies published per year (DE & EN)

The inadequate process of self-discovery and definition within participation research across the smaller study areas is expressed equally in how the respective literary foundation has developed. Figure 7 documents the dynamic growth seen in the research area into online political participation. The other areas exhibit a marginally positive development that nevertheless falls some way short of growth seen in the political sphere. The following chapters in this report will shine a spotlight on the focal points and insight within the five areas and will seek to identify common understandings.