There is widespread belief that the Internet and other digital technologies have the potential to broaden and deepen the democratic process, making it more transparent, inclusive and accessible and, as such, we are seeing the emergence of participative democracy across Europe. These technological developments are giving policy makers the potential to listen to citizens as they have not been able to do before.

In recent years, software tools to support the use of arguments have been transferred from their origin in training, business and legal reasoning to the policy domain. Tools to formulate, analyze and visualise arguments have great potential especially in policy debates, where they help organizers as well as participants to gain a better picture of the state of the debate and make their views heard more effectively. However, it is still a matter of research how best to use the power of such tools in actual policy practice.

The Policy Argumentation Network pursues two objectives. Firstly, to make accessible the state of the art of computer-supported argumentation in policy-making by connecting experts from the domains of policy-making, argumentation theory and argument visualisation, secondly, to enable discussion and participation in the design of our new tools to support the use of arguments in policy-making.

We welcome you as part of this network and invite you to share your expertise and experience!

Welcome to the start of the Policy Argumentation Network! Whether you're a policy analyst, a facilitator, a lobbyist or just someone interested in policy-making - we hope we can provide insights from computer-supported argumentation and stimulate a debate about how it can be applied in the policy-making domain.

The Policy Argumentation Network was initiated by the IMPACT project. The network is part of the project's activities to strengthen the link between argumentation researchers and practitioners of policy analysis and policy-making. As a member of the network, you will learn about current developments in computer-supported argumentation and you will be able to share your experiences and discuss your expectations of computer-supported argumentation. Occasionally, we will ask you to evaluate and discuss questions of software development and the impact on the political process.

This website on Posterous is the virtual home of the network. Members can post information (via the web or just an e-mail message) and discuss statements from other members. News, background information, reports from personal experience as well as opinions are welcome contributions. Please keep in mind that this website is open to the public (read-only) to allow newcomers to get to know the network.

The network's activities will spread out to other online social networks like Twitter and LinkedIn, but also to real-world activities like workshops. The network will initially run until the end of 2012, when the IMPACT project terminates, but once a community of practice is formed, we will together work out how to keep it alive independently.

We hope you will enjoy being part of the community and we look forward to your comments!

For the partners in the IMPACT project,
Steffen Albrecht (facilitator)