Content Analysis of a Local Government Initiated Discussion Forum

This paper reports on content analysis performed on a local government initiated web site: demokratitorget.no. The expressed purpose of this web site is to increase citizen participation by using a discussion forum. This research reports on activity prior to the local and regional elections in the autumn of 2003. In order to analyse the content of the political discussions, it was necessary to develop a categorization scheme. Content is analysed based on scope, type of contribution, and intention. The results show that the primary use was to raise and comment on political issues. The discussion forum was also used to promote party political viewpoints, and to ask questions. The discussion forum generated only a few new ideas that could be translated into political decisions. On this basis, strategies for increased citizen influence are discussed.