Citizens without Borders – new media and global accountability measures

Abstract

In an environment of globalisation and rapidly expanding deployment of interactive digital communication, this paper takes a complex systems approach to the mapping of large scale global indicators onto electronic flows of information and intent. It argues that democracy is being transformed by online technologies, and that governments which embrace and encourage citizen inputs and monitoring of public information can establish vital groundwork for more effective forms of global governance. Growing awareness of issues that transcend jurisdictions makes such transformations both necessary and increasingly acceptable. The prism for this bird’s eye view is the Australian Government’s evolution in its uses of information communication technologies (ICTs) for citizen engagement.