Author's Keywords: e-mail, state legislatures, state legislators, constituents, Minnesota, Wisconsin, technology, communication,	Convention Convention is an application service for managing large or small academic conferences, annual meetings, and other types of events! Submission - Custom fields, multiple submission types, tracks, audio visual, multiple upload formats, automatic conversion to pdf. Review - Peer Review, Bulk reviewer assignment, bulk emails, ranking, z-score statistics, and multiple worksheets! Reports - Many standard and custom reports generated while you wait. Print programs with participant indexes, event grids, and more! Scheduling - Flexible and convenient grid scheduling within rooms and buildings. Conflict checking and advanced filtering. Communication - Bulk email tools to help your administrators send reminders and responses. Use form letters, a message center, and much more! Management - Search tools, duplicate people management, editing tools, submission transfers, many tools to manage a variety of conference management headaches! Click here for more information.
Association: Name: American Political Science Association URL: http://www.apsanet.org
Citation: URL: http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p62554_index.html Direct Link: HTML Code:

Alperin, Davida. and Schultz, David. "E-Democracy: Legislative-Constituent Communications in Minnesota and Wisconsin" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia Marriott Hotel, Philadelphia, PA, Aug 27, 2003 <Not Available>. 2009-05-26 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p62554_index.html>

Alperin, D. and Schultz, D. , 2003-08-27 "E-Democracy: Legislative-Constituent Communications in Minnesota and Wisconsin" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia Marriott Hotel, Philadelphia, PA Online <.PDF>. 2009-05-26 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p62554_index.html

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript Review Method: Peer Reviewed Abstract: Communications between elected officials and their constituents is a major concern for political scientists trying to understand the nature of representation in a democracy such as the United States. In this study the impact of e-mail on communications between constituents and state legislators is examined. Much has been written in the popular media about dramatic changes to society resulting from new technologies such as the Internet and e-mail. In addition, studies in the political science research literature have examined such topics as the use of new communication technologies by citizen activists, by state level political parties, by interest groups in their issue campaigns, and by member of Congress. However, little research has been done on the use of e-mail in communications between state legislators and their constituents. In 1997, one of the primary investigators in this current project conducted a survey of Minnesota�s state legislators on the use of e-mail in the Minnesota legislative. Since the original study was conducted, significantly more citizens and legislators nationwide have gained access to e-mail and the Internet and use them on a regular basis. To examine these changes and their impact on legislator-constituent relations over time, a follow-up survey of Minnesota legislators was conducted in the summer of 2002. In addition, to broaden the focus of the study and to be able to make some cross state comparisons, Wisconsin state legislators were also surveyed in the summer of 2002. The 1997 study concluded that at least at the time �e-mail may have been oversold as an effective tool of communication between citizen and legislator. Instead the best way for a citizen to get her point across is the old-fashioned way � send a letter or visit her state legislator.� The 2002 survey suggests that office visits and sending a letter are still seen as the most effective way to get one�s point across to your legislator. E-mail is also seen as an effective tool of communication between citizen and legislator, but only under certain circumstances. If a legislator recognizes that the e-mail was personally written by a constituent, it is seen as almost as effective a method of communication as sending a handwritten or typed letter via the postal service. However, �the problem with e-mail,� as one legislator for Minnesota put it, �is that one does not have the time to respond to non-constituents, but there is no easy, non-offensive way to sort out the �political spammers.��

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