Agora and Demos

We use the Greek terms here in an attempt to capture the flavour of our interest in the impacts of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on public and civic spaces: most particularly in relation to inclusion, emancipation and democracy.

Governments in industrialised countries have long been large-scale users of ICTs to provide services to their citizens. Most recently, the trend has been towards electronic portals and one-stop shops for such services (e-government). With the active encouragement of the major development institutions such initiatives are increasingly seen in developing countries too, aimed at delivering good governance as a basis for economic and social growth.

Our interest is in how such initiatives establish and pursue their goals, and what their wider consequences are for both the state and the citizen. This leads us to an interest in issues of civic space and, for example, the potential of ICTs to alter the privacy rights of individuals, to shape new understanding of intellectual property, or to undermine governments' ability to raise taxation and police borders.

Research in this petal is undertaken in both developed and developing countries. Themes addressed include national and local e-government strategies and projects, the changing nature of higher education when mediated through technology and the changing values that result. The question of how technology is or should be regulated is considered too: for example, encryption technologies or the development of music sharing technologies which change our understanding of intellectual property rights. Other research addresses the organisational implications of government intervention in areas as diverse as public key infrastructures, city management, and delivering health services.

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