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The purpose of editorial to this special issue is this to introduce “We Decide”, a grassroots e‐democracy learnscape. This timely collaborative initiative was conceptualized to promote the deployment of internet communication technologies (ICTs) for advancing social justice and equity in an increasingly digitized era. The special issue presents six individually selected papers delivered at the IADIS International Conference e‐democracy, Equity and Social Justice held in Rome, Italy, 20‐22 July 2011. These papers provide examples of unique innovations that highlight new possibilities and directions for e‐democracy that are grounded in an ethos of greater equity and social justice.

The authors outline the mission and approach of “We Decide” and how it can be understood in the evolution of e‐democracy.

The authors discuss how the six papers in this special issue suggest ways to transform e‐democracy towards equity and social justice.

These papers help researchers and practitioners extend the concept of e‐democracy from a variety of perspectives, and show the importance of thinking about e‐democracy as access to resources for all citizens.

Given the increasing policy demands for effective e‐democracy and active citizenship online through new and emerging social networking technologies, the knowledge produced by “We Decide” brings together researchers, practitioners and activists from across the world. It provides a robust platform to share innovations that challenge us to rethink and re‐research the core concepts and approaches necessary to transform e‐democracy to realize equity and social justice.

The purpose of this paper is to report results from an evaluation of an online abstract mentoring programme to support early career and less experienced human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) researchers improve their chances of acceptance to International HIV/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Conferences.

An evaluation study was conducted on the impact of this programme over two conferences. Survey questionnaires also gathered data on the perceptions of users and mentors on the value of online mentoring.

Results from the evaluation show that online mentoring increased the motivation and acceptance rate of early career and less experienced researchers, especially from low‐ and middle‐income countries.

This study shows that the use of online mentoring at a distance can make access to desirable literacy practices for researchers’ professional development more equitable, and enhance the added value of informal learning in today's lifelong learning context. It also shows a cost‐effective way to use technology to widen participation of early career researchers from resource‐limited settings, and improve their understanding of the practice of writing up and publishing research for competitive international conferences or journals.

With a situated and constructivist view of online teaching and learning, the paper considers the implications for redesigning future global conferences as collaborative capacity‐building spaces, via the use of Web 2.0 technologies.

This paper provides research capacity builders with insights into the use of online mentoring to not only build writing skills, but also to enhance the induction of novices into a global learning community. It aims to inform decision makers of issues in effective online mentoring design to consider for impact and quality.

Building local capacity to protect public health and promote social justice with stigmatized populations disproportionately at risk of HIV infection is difficult regardless of context. The purpose of this paper is to document an international collaboration's approaches to integrate sexual rights and community legal education into two HIV online peer outreach and prevention (OPOP) programs in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

This paper documents an international collaboration's approaches to integrate sexual rights and community legal education into two HIV online outreach and prevention programs (OPOP) in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The project's goal was to increase access to justice alongside HIV prevention and education.

The paper illustrates how a clinical legal education (CLE) externship clinic can provide an opportunity for law students and advocates for justice to make an authentic contribution to assisting others, very different from themselves, in overcoming legal injustices in Thailand.

The paper argues that the CLE externship clinic provides a productive framework for designing e‐democracy initiatives with future lawyers and advocates for justice to achieve a greater understanding of and synergy with the dynamic relationships between academic knowledge and its practical application to the legal and justice issues that will arise in the diverse communities they may work in the future. Furthermore, the paper also argues, that to improve e‐democracy, equity and social justice, practitioners now need to acknowledge that technology is part of a suite of resources when it comes to HIV prevention and promoting human, legal and sexual rights, it is not simply the solution.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of electronization in improving the effectiveness of citizens' democratic participation in the context of e‐petitioning. With this aim, the current study worked to ascertain what influences citizens' offline and online petitioning and the extent to which electronization empowers citizens for effective e‐petitioning.

The paper uses a case study from Sutharyakeralam meaning “Transparent Keralam” to determine the extent to which e‐petitioning worked for protecting a public irrigation canal in Kerala (India). Data were obtained through in‐depth interviews with relevant government officials, journalists and petitioners who reside near the canal. Secondary data used for the case analysis consist of petitioners' documents. Using a content analysis, this paper assesses citizens' ability to participate and influence decision making.

Findings illustrate adequate citizen participation before and after the electronization of the grievance redress mechanism. Results also show if there are adequate publicizing facilities, e‐petitions can empower citizens to engage effectively in efforts to fight for their human rights.

The scope of the study is limited to exploring the determining parameters that may improve democratic participation in an issue of environmental pollution. Results imply that adequate policies to ensure the involvement of participants are essential to enable e‐government initiatives to deliver on the ideals of e‐democracy for equity and justice.

Earlier studies on e‐participation were less adequate in explaining the influence of electronization on citizens' capability for effective e‐petitioning. The current study attempts to explore the enablers of effective e‐petitioning. Drawing on the canal case study, arguments are presented that explain the possible success and failure of e‐petitioning initiatives in India.

UCLAForum.com is a co‐operative venture between the UCLA Sanela Diana Jenkins Human Rights Project and the International Criminal Court Office of the Prosecutor (ICC OTP). The main purpose of the forum is to create an opportunity for the greater legal community to engage in a dialogue covering topics of special interest to the Prosecutor. The purpose of this paper is to document the process of developing this unique resource in the form of a case study.

This study provides the history of the project, web‐use statistics, structural details that shed light on the use of information communication technology (ICT) within a complex partnership of UCLA School of Law and ICC OTP, and provides a summary of the outcome to date.

There have been six debates to date. Individuals from 190 countries speaking 90 languages have visited the forum and almost 280,000 words have been written on the Forum since its launch in September 2010.

UCLAForum.com is the only place on the internet where an average online citizen has access to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court by simply posting his or her opinion on the Forum.

UCLAForum.com is a unique use of ICT to explore issues of interest to the Prosecutor of the ICC. It provides a place where these issues get highlighted. It presents the relevant legal landscape with the framing of the issue and the invited experts, in addition to the public debate. The Forum provides visibility to OTP policy decisions. It gives voice to the public and creates a community of interested parties around each issue. And it vets each issue in a defined time span, making it a useful resource prior to its ripening before the ICC.

While information communication technologies (ICTs) are essential for social and economic development in today's emerging digital society, the problem of the digital divide persists. To close this gap, the European Union has proposed eInclusive policies. However, a general belief has emerged that this issue must be dealt with at the local level. The purpose of this paper is to report on such an effort, the Digital Local Agenda (DLA). It aims to show the DLA development in Europe and provide an example of its utilization in practice through a European initiative.

The paper explains the rationale for the DLA, and examines implementation of the DLA in pilot sites in five European countries to support civil servants in small municipalities, and empower them to develop and utilize their capacities to use ICTs and reach people most in danger of eExclusion.

Preliminary findings indicate that the DLA should be considered when looking for solutions to the persistent problem of digital exclusion in Europe. Implementing the DLA may improve public service provision and reduce the digital divide faced by disempowered groups.

Given the flexible and adaptable instruments provided for in the DLA, the paper argues that the DLA is an effective and strategic approach to translate policy frameworks into solutions that practitioners can deploy to overcome the barriers of accessing eGovernment, reduce the digital divide among marginalized groups in Europe and include all stakeholders in decision making processes.

Reducing inequity in accessing healthcare among rural and remote populations remains a problem. Internationally, eHealth is now touted as a potential solution, with a range of diverse approaches and impacts. Yet, the equity gains of implementing eHealth are often not realized due to a lack of effective strategies for citizen participation. The purpose of this paper is to present the background to, and results of, a multidisciplinary eHealth assistance project in a remote region of the Brazilian Amazon, highlighting the importance of citizen participation within planning processes.

The project was conducted in three phases – pre‐mission, mission, and post‐mission. Discussions were held between health teams and local community leaders, and were coordinated by government health organizations in partnership with the Amazon State University. A multidisciplinary team visited five remote communities in the Brazilian Amazon, where participants underwent clinical assessment using eHealth technologies within pharmacy, cardiology, dermatology, and/or odontology. Analysis and second opinion were provided by relevant specialists and the results were delivered electronically to local healthcare teams.

A total of 111 patients were evaluated with an average age of 54 years. There were several important findings following specialist second opinion, which improved the quality of care they received. These comprise identifying drug interactions and patients requiring further investigation for cardiological and dermatological complaints, including suspected malignancy.

Due to a breakdown in communication, data from the post‐mission phase are lacking, particularly regarding treatment outcomes. Furthermore, the authors did not perform an analysis of cost‐effectiveness. If eHealth technologies are to become part of routine clinical practice it is important that the financial implications are acceptable.

This project demonstrates how equity can be designed for with a multidisciplinary approach to eHealth activities in rural and remote environments within Brazil. Such activities typically focus on one particular area, yet primary healthcare facilities see patients with a variety of problems.

Mobile phone adoption and diffusion in low economic development countries (LEDCs) may provide for greater information access using open educational resources to support large‐scale teacher education programmes. The purpose of this paper is to explore this.

Drawing on evaluations of the current basic services provision in South Sudan and the identified needs for improving English language teaching, this conceptual paper presents an analysis of the nature and extent of teacher training needs in South Sudan, and the capacity of the current system to deliver against those needs.

The education system in South Sudan is ranked among the lowest in the world for primary and secondary enrollment. South Sudan is faced with the almost impossible task of tripling its teacher work force, but the quantity and quality of training required cannot be delivered through existing teacher training institutes.

The immediate post‐conflict situation in the new nation state, transitioning from humanitarian relief to international development activities, means that hard national data are tentative and emergent.

The author puts forth an argument for a radically different approach to teacher professional development capable of operating at sufficient scale to enable the government of South Sudan to meet its ambitious target of adequately educating 3.5 million students.

There is very little in the literature that examines the use of mobile phones to support professional learning within the educational domain, particularly in the context of LEDCs; equally, there is little in the literature that addresses how LEDC governments might meet the challenges of scale and access through appropriate models of school based teacher development (SBTD).