Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the theme of this special issue, “Advances in e‐democracy: engaging citizens and electorates”. Design/methodology/approach – An overview is provided of developments in e‐government before providing a summary discussion of the papers...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how blogging has grown as an online phenomenon. Design/methodology/approach – Examines the way that blogs have become a phenomenon that embrace private authors who go online to write personal diaries through to representatives from different...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the emergence of blogging in the news sphere. If blogs represent a genuinely new breed of news provision, then they should adhere to some of the founding principles of mainstream news and journalism. A key principle in this respect is news...

An online survey was conducted among 800 readers of Arab electronic newspapers resident in different parts of the world. The aim of the survey was to obtain baseline data about the readership for such newspapers, readers’ opinions about these publications, and antecedents of overall...

This paper attempts an overview of the literature on issues relating to the electronic provision of health information for the consumer, to provide a context for current work being undertaken by the Internet Studies Research Group (ISRG) examining the impact of various electronic platforms....

A marketing efficiency model was applied to the analysis of the use of Web sites by the three major political parties (Conservatives, Labour, and Liberal Democrats) in the UK during the 2001 general election. Data were collected through face‐to‐face interviews with the Web project managers...

During an evaluation of a digital interactive consumer health television channel (NHS Direct) on Kingston Interactive Television the prominence of the channel’s menus regarding the interactive element of its service diminished considerably over a period of four months. During this time the use...

The growth of the Internet and other digital media has opened up exciting opportunities for the provision of public services, for business and for personal transactions. Comparisons between the earliest forms of “online” research, in the form of telephone interviewing, and offline data...

To achieve its objective of having virtually all its services (central and local) online by 2005, the Government must close the “digital divide”, i.e. provide access for those sections of society not yet linked to the electronic, computer‐mediated communications environment. There is a...

Provides a summary of a Department of Health funded research study investigating performance and impact of four pilot digital interactive television services in the consumer health field. These were launched in various locations in the UK in 2001. Text and video, interactive and transactional...