The efficacy of electronic group meetings

Telephone conference calls could be used to extend participation in public decision-making. In order to clarify the involved problems and prospects we conducted 16 nine-member conference calls discussing and voting on a public issue. The discussions were recorded for analysis and a questionnaire was administered. The meetings worked well despite the isolation of the participants and the lack of visual contact. Access to the floor was easy, attention good, and participation was eager. The participants felt that the analysis of the topic had been effective. The chairman's guidance of the discussion was judged effective, and his actions legitimate. Additionally, the data suggest what we might call greater intellectual elbow room—less pressure to go along with the group opinion than in face-to-face meetings, and more ease in changing opinions and positions. The disagreements about the issue did not spill over into emotional hostility. The participants were quite pleased with the conduct and efficacy of the electronic meetings. These findings suggest that a mass participatory system, based upon such electronic meetings, can also be used to provide wider involvement in decision-making in our society.This study is part of a much larger project exploring the use of technology to extend political participation. The project is supported by the National Science Foundation, grant # GI-29940. Dr. Amitai Etzioni and Dr. Stephen Unger are Co-Principal Investigators for the MINERVA Project, which is being carried out at the Center for Policy Research in New York. The author is particularly indebted to Dr. Etzioni for many important contributions to the conception, design and analysis of the study reported in this paper. Dr. Unger also made significant contributions to the development of the study. Camille Gubello, Joshua Freeman and Nancy Gershon were of central importance in conducting the experiments, assembling the data and preparing this report.