Students of Law and E-Democracy: Are They Information Literate at All?
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Students of Law and E-Democracy: Are They Information Literate at All? Kornelija Petr Balog Ljiljana Siber University of Osijek, Croatia
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ECIL 2014 findings of a small-scale pilot-study conducted among students of law at Osijek University on e-government and e-democracy information. The aim of the research was to find out the degree of the students’ information literacy regarding the e-government and e-democracy information. The survey was conducted in May 2014 (paper-survey) on the sample of 171 law students. Students were asked about the usage of ICT technology in their study and everyday lives as well as about the ability to find, evaluate and apply the e-government information. The results of our survey detected a low interest of our sample for information related to local, regional or national governing bodies (e.g. only 3.4% of students used ICT to access the local communal information, 0.5% contacted the representative of local authority regarding administrative or communal issues).
Transcript of Students of Law and E-Democracy: Are They Information Literate at All?
Students of Law and E-Democracy: Are
They Information Literate at All?
Kornelija Petr Balog
Ljiljana Siber
University of Osijek, Croatia
E-democracy and e-government
• e-democracy
– meeting of information technology (IT) and democracy
• e-government
– part of e-democracy
– the efficient delivery of government/state information to citizens
ECIL, Dubrovnik, October 20-23, 2014 2
E-democracy in Croatia
• right to the access to information – regulated by the Constitution and Access to Information
Act
• e-democracy and e-government – underused but positive trends (E-Citizens portal since May
2014! https://www.gov.hr/#e-gradjani)
• research from 2011 (Digital Information-documentation Agency of the Croatian Government - HIDRA)
– local admin. websites offer useful information, but poorly organized
– no online discussion forums with citizens
ECIL, Dubrovnik, October 20-23, 2014 3
J. J. Strossmayer University
– 17 members:
• 11 faculties
• 5 departments
• 1 academy
ECIL, Dubrovnik, October 20-23, 2014 4
Students of law, e-democracy and IL
• small-scale pilot-study conducted among students of law at Osijek University on e-government and e-democracy information, but also on media literacy
• students of law
– identified as those who are professionally directed to such information and have to be able to find, evaluate and apply it
ECIL, Dubrovnik, October 20-23, 2014 5
Instrument, methodology and sample
– May 2014
– paper survey
• media literacy
• e-democracy
– 171 law students
• survey reached 59% of the
1st year population and 64% of the 4th
year population enroled in academic year 2013/2014
ECIL, Dubrovnik, October 20-23, 2014
1st year69%
4th year31%
Sample
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ECIL, Dubrovnik, October 20-23, 2014
Online activities in the sample
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%
Social networking
E-mails
Watch films
Scholarships, exams, etc.
Photos
Hobbies
6 most represented activities
4th year
1st year
14%
12%
9%
7%
3%
3%
34%
30%
26%
19%
13%
8%
E-banking
Price comparison websites
Online petitions
Forums, blogs
Student Board
Local gov. rep.
6 least represented activities4th year 1st year
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Active participation in e-democracy activities at various levels
ECIL, Dubrovnik, October 20-23, 2014
Activity National level
N (%)
Regional level
N (%)
Local level
N (%)
Legal entity with
public jurisdiction
N (%)
No activity
N (%)
1st
year
4th
year
1st
year
4th
year
1st year 4th year 1st year 4th year 1st year 4th year
Exercise of
democratic rights
in decision-
making processes
(issues of public
interest)
8 (6.8) 5 (9.4) 5 (4.2) 2 (3.8) 8 (6.8) 5 (9.4) 13 (11.0) 14 (26.4) 94 (79.7) 37 (69.8)
Public policy
modification
5 (4.3) - 3 (2.6) - 6 (5.1) 6 (11.3) 1 (0.9) 2 (3.8) 108
(92.3)
47 (88.7)
E-consultation 1 (0.8) - 2 (1.7) - 5 (4.2) 1 (1.9) 2 (1.7) 1 (1.9) 111
(94.1)
51 (96.2)
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Influence on work of public servants
ECIL, Dubrovnik, October 20-23, 2014
Yes1%
No 71%
Undecided28%
Perception of influence
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Patterns of official information seeking habits
ECIL, Dubrovnik, October 20-23, 2014
0%20%
40%60%
80%100%
Faculty of Law Osijek
The University in Osijek
Libraries
Croatian Government
Croatian Parliament
Croatian Ministry of Justice
European Union
Local government
Local county
Some other Croatian ministry
HIDRA
Preferred sources of information
Series1
10
Level of trust
ECIL, Dubrovnik, October 20-23, 2014
2.5
2.1
3.8
2.5
Online newspapers andmagazines
Social network websites Webpages of thenational, regional, or local
government
High level of security anddata protection (gov. sites)
Level of trust
Mean
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Satisfaction with information found at the official websites
ECIL, Dubrovnik, October 20-23, 2014
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
Ease of access toinformation
Accuracy Usefulness Stability of access todata
Axi
s Ti
tle
Satisfaction
Mean*
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Conclusions
• student dedicate majority of their online time to hobbies, leasure, and entertainment
• activities connected with e-democracy –underrepresented
• 4th year students – slightly more active in e-democracy
• interest primarily for issues connected with immediate academic tasks
ECIL, Dubrovnik, October 20-23, 2014 13
• students do not exercize their rights (either as citizens or as future legal system workers)
• reasons: – perception of no influence on the work of civil servants
– present curriculum
• survey outcomes: – 61.4 % became aware of the issue
– course instructors decided to dedicate more attention to e-democracy within their courses in following academic years
ECIL, Dubrovnik, October 20-23, 2014 14
