Reflecting our profile as a Research Center, among our membership we count 18 Ph.D.'s, 11 Ph.D. candidates, 20 holding a Master, and 4 Master degree candidates. About 70% of our membership is actively engaged in research, including as post-grads or faculty members of:

Univ. de Lisboa, Univ. Nova de Lisboa, Univ. do Algarve, Univ. de Coimbra, I.P. de Viana do Castelo, Univ. Lusófona, Univ. Estadual de Londrina - Brasil, Univ. de S. Paulo, Université de Paris, London School of Economics, MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard U., Univ. of Massachusetts, Univ. of California, Ohio U., Univ. of Illinois, Univ. of Colorado, Univ. Autonoma del Estado de Mexico, Univ. de Guanajuato - Mexico, Colegio Mexiquense.

Reflecting also our commitment to link research to praxis in society, many CITIDEP members are professionals with responsibilities in both the private and public sectors; some of them are leading activists of major Non-Governmental Organizations.

a) Organize and develop disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary studies and research projects;

b) Offer grants for research and study, including for masters and doctoral study, and host and orient grantees of the Center itself or other institutions;

c) Collaborate with educational institutions to develop new curriculum materials relating new information technologies and participatory democracy;

d) Sponsor and collaborate with other scientific institutions in the holding of colloquia, conferences, and seminars, with the aim of fostering debate and furthering knowledge on these issues;

e) Promote and collaborate in training activities;

f) Constitute a Documentation Center, with access to international computer networks;

g) Contribute to research and development of computer-based tools that support participatory democracy;

h) Inform public opinion and raise public awareness, through its own publications, including international ones, and through the general mass media;

i) Provide services that help to promote participatory democracy, as well as related research and development activities;

j) Promote and collaborate in initiatives that lead to legislative reform in the area of new technologies and participatory democracy;

k) Collaborate with public institutions, such as national, regional and local administrations and parliaments, as well as federative multinational institutions such as the European Parliament, United Nations, and others;

• Pedro Ferraz de Abreu (President)

• Rui Ponte (Vice-President)

• Nuno Vieira (Treasurer)

• João Joanaz de Melo

• Filomena Viegas Henriques

• Timothy Sieber, U. Massachusetts, USA (Chair)

• Ana Coito, UCLA, USA

• Annie Pecastaings, Ohio U., USA

• Fernanda Veiga de Oliveira, FCT-UNL, Portugal

• João Joanaz de Melo, FCT-UNL, Portugal

• José Cardoso Duarte, INETI, Portugal

• José Manuel Costa Portela, IPVC, Portugal

• José Manuel Palma-Oliveira, FP-UL, Portugal

• Lucie Laurian, Arizona U., USA

• Luis Rionda Ramirez, U.Guanajuato, Mexico

• Mark Allan Hasegawa-Johnson, U. Illimois, USA

• Melvin King, MIT, USA

• Pedro Ferraz de Abreu, MIT, USA

• Prudencio Mochi, UNAM, Mexico

• Rui Ponte, AER, USA

• Timothy Wutrich, Ohio U., USA

• Mathematical analysis, Models and Simulation

• Pedagogy, Learning and School Curricula

• Information Technology

-Ideology, Ethics, Economy and Political Science

-Planning, Legislation and Public Administration

1. Role of PP-IT in global environmental and development policies (e.g. global climate and environmental change).

2. PP-IT, democratic models and expressions (e.g. electronic democracy, referendum, NGOs)

3. PP-IT and planning procedures (at national, regional or local level).

4. PP-IT in environmental impact assessment.

5. Public access to information.

6. Internet role in teaching, education and arts.

7. Human-computer interface technology.

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New information technologies (IT) are decisive in promoting citizen participation in public life, particularly in guaranteeing the transparency and efficiency of decision-making processes. International experience shows that informed and participatory processes lead in general to better decisions, with higher benefits and lower social and environmental costs.

Despite much talk about the Information Society, the use of IT for enhancement of citizen participation has fallen quite short of technological possibilities (especially as compared to commercial uses of the same IT). Among other reasons, this has been caused by the lack of priority given to research on these kinds of applications.

This rationale set the stage for the organization of the first International Conference on Public Participation and Information Technologies (ICPPIT 99), that took place in Lisbon, Portugal, on 20-22 October 1999. This book is a result of that Conference.

The chief goals of ICPPIT 99, as a scientific forum, were to create an agenda and assess and promote research in this new field. We believe that these goals have been achieved.

Our first concern was quality. All submitted papers were subject to referee review. We are grateful to our senior guest scientists and Conference Committee members, who brought high, demanding standards to the selection of contributions to the program.

Second, given the interdisciplinary nature of the theme, ICPPIT 99 was deliberately conceived as a meeting ground for people with different backgrounds, from social sciences and humanities to environmental and computer science and technology. Multidisciplinary research agenda such as ours present complex challenges for focus, organization and synthesis, but corresponding intellectual rewards. We thank all authors for making this book a successful attempt to set the boundaries of a research community concerned with public participation and IT. This is also the reason why we have included here some abstracts that did not evolve into longer contributions.

Our third concern was to provide a common forum for researchers, practitioners and decision-makers. We are delighted that here also our goal was satisfied. Besides the balance of contributions from academia and practitioners from 17 countries, we are indebted to the Vice-President of the USA, Mr. Al Gore, who sent a letter of support to the Conference; to the President of the Republic of Portugal, Mr. Jorge Sampaio, and to the Portuguese Minister of Science and Technology, Mr. Mariano Gago, who were the keynote speakers at the Conference opening.

We hope this book will help to foster research and best practice in the application of information technologies to public participation, for better governance.

 Pedro Ferraz de Abreu    João Jonaz de Melo

 President, CITIDEP    DCEA-FCT-UNL