Element 68Element 45Element 44Element 63Element 64Element 43Element 41Element 46Element 47Element 69Element 76Element 62Element 61Element 81Element 82Element 50Element 52Element 79Element 79Element 7Element 8Element 73Element 74Element 17Element 16Element 75Element 13Element 12Element 14Element 15Element 31Element 32Element 59Element 58Element 71Element 70Element 88Element 88Element 56Element 57Element 54Element 55Element 18Element 20Element 23Element 65Element 21Element 22iconsiconsElement 83iconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsiconsElement 84iconsiconsElement 36Element 35Element 1Element 27Element 28Element 30Element 29Element 24Element 25Element 2Element 1Element 66
Motivation for Participation: ePetitions

Motivation for Participation: ePetitions

Together with the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet und Society (HIIG), this project has tackled the topic of e-petitions. The object of investigation was the e-petition platform of the German Bundestag.
Petitions from citizens can be established on the e-petition platform of the German Bundestag and then co-signed by other citizens wishing to support the matter. If, in this way, a petition reaches a quorum of 50,000 signatures within a certain period, the petitions committee has to consider its contents. Up to August 2012, co-signing an e-petition on this site was only possible under a person’s real name. Since then, an e-petition has also been able to be signed under a pseudonym.

Alongside the investigation of general patterns in submitters’ behaviour, the study is meant to provide particular insight into the issue of whether the introduction of the possibility for making anonymous submissions has led to an increase in them and what users of the platform think of this possibility. To this end, two empirical components were combined: firstly,the project team could assess a database provided in a pseudonymic form from the petitions platform. Secondly, an online questionnaire was carried out among the users of the platform and assessed.

show more

Project Description

We were able to confirm and extend a succession of insights from earlier studies, among them, for instance, a “spill-over” effect: popular petitions direct attention to the platform and this benefits other issues. By contrast, the findings on the shift to the pseudonymic possibilities for submitting are something new: it did not bring an increase in the lodging of submissions. However, in the meanwhile, around three quarters of all submissions operate under a pseudonym. This can be attributed above all to the fact that this setting is predetermined in the software – the study has thus also delivered indications of the directive power of “software default settings”.

Download paper "On the Use of the E-Petition Platform of the German Bundestag"

Project Information

Overview

Duration: 2013-2013

Research programme:
RP2 - Regulatory Structures and the Emergence of Rules in Digital Communication

Involved persons

Dr. Lennart Ziebarth • PD Dr. Jan-Hinrik Schmidt • Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz

Third party

Alexander von Humboldt Institut für Internet und Gesellschaft (HIIG)

Cooperation Partner

Julian Staben, HIIG

Contact person

Dr. Lennart Ziebarth
Senior Postdoc Media and Telecommunications Law

Dr. Lennart Ziebarth

Hans-Bredow-Institut
Rothenbaumchaussee 36
20148 Hamburg
Tel. +49 (0)40 450217-31
Fax +49 (0)40 450217-77

Send Email

MAYBE YOU ARE ALSO INTERESTED IN THESE TOPICS?

media system and politics • Neue Regulierungsformen • participation

Related projects and publications

Projects
Publications
Events
All
DFGJounalismusPublikumWL_Hans-Bredow-Institut.jpg

Transformation of Journalism

Journalism and Its Audience: The Re-Figuration of a Relationship and Its Influence on News Production

The relationship between journalism and its audience is changing, yielding consequences for what journalists cover and how. The project, which is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), examines the breadth, depth, and diversity of this re-figuration and its consequences.
07_Public-Connection_Hans-Bredow-Institut.jpg

The Construction of the Public

Public Connection

How does each individual establish a connection to the public through media and, thus, change the communicative figuration of the public? The project “Public Connection”, financed by the German Research Foundation, seeks to answer these questions as part of the research association &ldqu...
Media Performance and Democracy_schmal.jpeg

Study for Germany, Austria and Switzerland

Media Performance and Democracy

Democracy needs information services that provide relevant topics and debates for society. How is the journalistic quality of such information services in the daily media in Germany, Austria and Switzerland?  
229904_Grundrecht-auf-Internetzugang_Hans-Bredow-Institut.png

Qualitative Study

Do Intermediaries Influence the Formation of Opinion?

What role do intermediaries like Google, Facebook, YouTube or WhatsApp play when people get informed about social issues or when they form an opinion?  
229910_Haftungsprivilegien_Hans-Bredow-Institut.png

PhD Project

The Legal Concept of Interference Liability

In which cases is a WiFi provider liable for illegal downloads made by a third party using its internet access? Is YouTube to be held responsible for uploads infringing the copyright? Such questions cannot be answered conclusively by the written law and are a solved by the construction of interferen...
CI_Recht im Metaverse.jpg

Rules for Immersive Worlds

Einführung in die Regulierung der Metaverse

Matthias C. Kettemann, Caroline Böck and Martin Müller examine selected legal issues of rule application in the metaverse and look at future developments. Excerpt The metaverse is phenomenologically diverse; technically complex; economically endowed with much potential; challenging tradit...
CI_Transparency-or-Opacity.jpg

Editorship

Transparency or Opacity

Martin Fertmann, together with Simone Kuhlmann, Fabrizio De Gregorio, Hannah Ofterdinger and Anton Sefkow, has published an anthology with contributions from legal scholars on the problem of transparency in automated decision-making processes. The anthology is available as an open access publicatio...
CI_JMS-Report_2022.jpg

Jugendmedienschutz-Report 6/22

Folgen der sich wandelnden Regulierungsansätze im Jugendmedienschutz

Dr. Stephan Dreyer, Sünje Andresen and Neda Wysocki have published an article in the current Youth Media Protection Report. In this article, they address the systematic changes in the legal protection of minors from harmful media and the associated control advantages for interaction and communi...
CI_Tiedeke_Statification.jpg

Understanding Digital Corporations as States?

Self-Statification of Corporate Actors?: Tracing Modes of Corporate Engagements with Public International Law

In order to understand the role of large digital corporations in international lawmaking on the internet from a jurisprudential perspective, Anna Sophia Tiedeke applies Michel Foucault's model of "stateification" (Étatisation). This article is published as an open access paper b...
CI_Clara-Iglesias-Keller_Regulating-Disinformation.jpg

Journal Article

Don’t Shoot the Message: Regulating Disinformation Beyond Content

In the Brazilian journal for public law "Revista Direito Público", Dr Clara Iglesias Keller writes about the regulation of disinformation. The article is published as open access.   Download article (PDF) Iglesias Keller, C. (2021): Don’t Shoot the Message: Regulating D...
show more

Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter and receive the Institute's latest news via email.

SUBSCRIBE!