Colleagues: I've been engaged in an interesting debate via e-mail with a colleague in the U.K. regarding a claim in a recent article, i.e., that in addition to well-known examples of organization via the Internet, etc., it takes _bodies_ to bring about significant political change, as in the cases of Yugoslavia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and elsewhere. In this context, I observed that in the U.S., the view seems to be that politicians are far less impressed with e-mail campaigns, precisely because they're so easy to organize, than with actual paper / postage stamped letters. (The current U.S. administration's ability to ignore e-mail protests over the past year or so regarding Iraq is perhaps an extreme example?) My colleague responded with an example of successfully lobbying the government in the U.K. via e-mail regarding a procedure for classroom evaluation. My response in turn - I should not be surprised that, as the Swiss say, these things vary from canton to canton, much less from country to country. And now, the query: has anyone done a systematic, comparative study of how far electronic democracy initiatives have been successful among a range of countries - especially with a view towards uncovering underlying cultural and other factors that might explain the differences? (I know from her very interesting presentation at AoIR 1.0 that Liza Tsaliki has been involved in an E.U. project on electronic democracy that had to engage with cultural differences, hence this message is copied to her. Any insights and results you can share, Liza?) Thanks in advance for any advice and assistance - and in the meantime, cheers - Charles Ess Distinguished Research Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies Drury University 900 N. Benton Ave. Voice: 417-873-7230 Springfield, MO 65802 USA FAX: 417-873-7435 Home page: http://www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html Co-chair, CATaC: http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/catac/ Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23