TownHall: a Secure, Deliberative e-Participation System

The potential of e-Participation mechanisms has significantly evolved over time. However, with governments, political parties, corporations, and mass-media controlling the communication channels, citizens who deliberate through e-Participation may have to contend with bias, censorship, and even eavesdropping. TownHall is intended to help manage this burden. As a platform-independent, peer-to-peer, “communications browser,” TownHall enables small and large groups of citizens to securely create text-based discussion forums, share documents, and crawl/catalog informational websites. We present an overview of TownHall’s technology and approach, discuss why we believe this eParticipation tool is viable, and consider theoretical implications of TownHall’s use.