Now that so much of collective action takes place online, web-generated data can further understanding of the mechanics of Internet-based mobilization. This 'big data' offers social science researchers the potential for new forms of analysis, using real-time transactional data based on entire populations, rather than sample-based surveys of what people think they did or might do. This paper uses a 'big data' approach to track the growth of over 8,000 petitions to the UK Government on the No.

We are currently engaged in a three-year research programme on The Internet, Public Policy and Political Science: Collective Action, Governance and Citizen-Government Interactions in the Digital Era, which started 1st April 2011.

More information about this project is available in the OII press release, and project description page.

The Study on User Expectations of a Life Events Approach for Designing e-Government Services project for the European Commission investigated the new government landscape online and how eGovernment expectations among citizens and eGovernment services have changed. Project partners included: Deloitte, the Oxford Internet Institute, and Dear Media.

This UCL-based project forms part of the Communications Research Network
(CRN), a Knowledge Integration Community funded by the Cambridge-MIT
Institute and co-funded by British Telecom. It brings together researchers from Cambridge University, MIT and University College
London – economists, public policy experts, management analysts, engineers and computer scientists – who together provide a uniquely

A book by Professor Christopher C. Hood (Oxford) and Professor Helen Margetts (Oxford).

Has been published by Palgrave Macmillan on 20th July 2007 (order details).

by Vaclav Petricek (UCL Computer Science), Tobias Escher (UCL School of Public Policy),
Ingemar J. Cox (UCL Computer Science) and Helen Margetts (UCL and Oxford Internet Institute)

This paper has been presented at the E-Applications Track of the 15th International World Wide Web Conference in Edinburgh (23rd - 26th May 2006) and is also being published in the conference proceedings.

We were commissioned by the UK National Audit Office to produce a value for money report looking at the design and ease of use of government administrative forms that are commonly filled in by citizens. Full report can be downloaded here plus supplementary material from focus groups and a government-wide census of forms.

Guidance and tips for people working in government departments and public sector agencies with responsibility for forms filled in by customers or citizens, see file below: