Engage through integrated polling - bridging the gap between e-forums and e- surveys

Abstract

E-forums are the most common form of implementation of eparticipation projects. Many properties of e-forums make them suitable for that purpose; yet, e-surveys can offer an easier, faster and more extensive involvement of participants. From a comparison of the properties this paper moves to the question of bridging the gap between e-forums and e-surveys. The distinctive advantages and disadvantages suggest the requirements of a solution that could meet the needs of future e-participation projects. The integrated polling module of the e-participation platform DlTa (Voss 2002; Voss et al. 2003) gives a first example of the described solution and demonstrates the operability (Salz et al. 2003).