Welcometothe?rstintheePartseriesofannualinternationalconferences.ePart is dedicated to reviewing research advances in both social and technological scienti?c domains, seeking to demonstrate new concepts, methods and styles of eParticipation. ePart is dedicated to innovative and rigorous eParticipation research. It aims to bring together researchers from a wide range of academic disciplines and provide the scienti?c community with a platform for discussing and advancing research ?ndings. The conference itself is preceded by a doctoral colloquium providing young researchers with the important opportunity to be part of the eParticipation research community. This book bringstogether 16 papers representing the completed, compreh- siveresearchof41authorswithfromcountriesrangingfromSwedentoAustralia. Re?ecting on the highly complex and multi-faceted nature of eParticipation - search undertaken by these authors, the papers are clustered under the three headings: - Research Review and Outlook - Evaluation and Assessment - Tools, Techniques and Case Studies Papers include those that consider future multi-disciplinary research directions, examine the potential contribution of social networking sites to political enga- ment, provide evaluation frameworks for both eParticipation policy and speci?c projects, and those that describe emerging tools and techniques with which to conduct and analyze eParticipation. The ongoing research, projects, and general development issues, which have alsobeenacceptedforePart2009,arepublishedinacomplementaryproceedings volume by Trauner Druck, Linz, Austria.
