How can people, from diverse backgrounds, increase meaningful participation online?
What perspectives influence people's online activities in this context and how is this changing?

Our interpretations of space affect our behaviour, including whether and how we participate in community and civic life. In offline spaces, we may have established appropriate behaviour, for example by having a reasonable idea of the purpose of a situation and who can see or hear us. It can be more difficult to decide how to behave in online spaces. People may have quite different attitudes towards the same online space and our own attitude is likely to change over time and through experience. Participation is also an active process and people adapt and create space, as part of that process.

People have divergent concepts of participation and democracy and these also influence how people feel about getting involved and the activities they are likely to consider. EParticipation occurs at the intersection of democratic paradigms with online contexts, both of which are changing and evolving.

Exploring the creation of participation spaces and how perceptions of space, participation and democracy, influence feelings and actions, may contribute to understanding a number of issues associated with eParticipation, including participant diversity and use of social media.

Case studies of participation are conceived in the vein of work place studies: ethnographic approaches to studying current situations and identifying potential opportunities and challenges of using more digital technology. The concept of Participation Spaces themes the investigation, helping to focus on the experiences of those participating, without pre-specifying technologies, websites, locations or activities.