Summary

The opportunities of participation on the Internet come associated with a wide variety of hopes. Will the join-in media lead to a join-in society? All too often the insight into these questions is based on insular examples, while prognoses remain speculative. This study presents an overview of participation on the Internet. It shows the forms and areas of participation that research has focussed on so far.

What becomes clear first of all is that the topic of participation on the Internet is clearly gathering pace – the number of recently published studies has risen exponentially. Second, it is obvious that political participation dominates the question of participation on the Internet. This area is larger than the sum of all other fields of participation, based on the number of publications.

Finally, it is equally evident: The question of participation on the Internet remains inadequately accessible. A common understanding of terms is lacking. What does „participation“ mean exactly? Where does it start, and where does it end? Where should the lines be drawn between „apparent“ and „real“ participation? And what does „on the Internet“ even signify? Where are the boundaries between the digital lifeworld – and what impact will they have on our analogue life together?

Numerous blind spots remain, even in the well-established research area of political participation. Here also, there are chasms in the understanding of participation on and outside of the Internet. The drivers and barriers for participation are extraordinarily difficult to identify as two phenomena come together here: skilled use of the medium (Internet) and the various forms of participation. For instance, younger people tend to use the Internet with greater frequency, while older people are more politically interested. So what does this mean in terms of participation on the Internet? Certain phenomena overlap, also, among them self-assurance and actual ability – all of this necessitates a prudent, theoretically and conceptually grounded, empirical approach within research.

An advantage of the method selected here is that it provides a broad overview of the academic discourse concerning participation on the Net. It becomes clear in this way that participation is more than just political participation – it takes places across a variety of different life areas. And in these different areas it sometimes has different drivers and effects.

So the Net is in a state of flux, and user behaviour is changing. The new media are leaving marks on our society – as media always do. Some of these marks become visible in the overview provided here: