Greetings all - The Texas Legislative Session is coming up in January and, as the old saying here goes, no man or his property is safe. The Texas Observer has an active social networking segment, IObserve, on our site, but it's only open to subscribers who donated a minimum of $35 to the Observer. Funding would allow us to improve our software and, most importantly, IT WOULD ALLOW US TO MAKE THE SITE AVAILABLE TO ALL, with no sign up fee. Our site traffic has double in the last year and the Observer is known as the go-to group for legislative coverage. We know we can make iObserve a buzzing hub of citizen/reporter interaction and information.

Call for articles for a special issue of the Journal of Information Technology and Politics (JITP) on "Understanding eParticipation" -- efforts to broaden and deepen participation in societal decision making processes by enabling citizens to connect with one another, with public officials and with their elected representatives using information and communication technologies. Processes involved include both directly political ones such as petitioning and consultations and indirectly political ones such as city planning processes. (I checked with the guest editors: their definition of eParticipation includes online volunteers for advocacy groups/efforts and for nonprofits who are engaged in a politically-related activity).Topics include but are not limited to:

• Current and emergent eParticipation technological infrastructures;
  
• Current and emergent eParticipation methods;
  
• Criteria and methods for evaluation of eParticipation initiatives to be undertaken in a systematic and standardised way;
  
• The business case of eParticipation: Drivers and barriers;
  
• Theories and contextual analysis of eParticipation.

Manuscripts should have significant theoretical and empirical roots, preferably in both social/political science and IT, but should at least contain significant content in both areas.