Informative architectures and citizen participation: a comparative study between the digital platforms Decidim and Rousseauv

Abstract

To what extent does the way in which digital platforms are organized favor citizen participation? This article looks at this question using a comparative study between two digital informative architectures: the Five Star Movement’s (originally in Italian “Movimento 5 Stelle”) Rousseau platform in Italy, and the Decidim platform, developed after the 15M movement in Spain by a collaboration of entities from different countries. From a qualitative analysis of its architectures – in accordance with an approach based mainly on communication theory – we sought to investigate and describe the ways in which information circulates and operates, and the possibilities they offer for democratic actions. This was accomplished by analyzing two aspects of the platform: 1) the conception and development of codes; 2) the functions that the platform offers and its interaction with users. In this paper, we start from the central hypothesis that the communication conditions act as a base for the quality and levels of participation. Just as more verticalized communicative structures (such as those of traditional mass media) tend to concentrate decision-making processes and power, more horizontalized structures end up favoring more collaborative and democratic actions: thus, we aimed to verify the extent to which the modes of elaboration and organization of information on these platforms, operating in digital network contexts, enable broad and effective modalities of citizen action