Communication Technology and Democratic Participation: œPENners  in Santa Monica Dutton Kendall Guthrie, Joe Schmitz, Daehee Ryu, John Harris, Everett Rogers and William University Will public information utilities enhance or erode the quality of political participation? Experiments in the 1970s raised serious questions about whether computer-based systems would democratize access to information, or provide better access for the most active and socio-economically privileged, or reinforce more traditional media. Such concerns were muted by the failure of early experiments. However, in the late ™80s a small but growing number of public agencies began to develop computer-based systems to support information and communication services within their jurisdictions. One of the most extensive applications is Santa Monica, California ™s Public Electronic Network (PEN), a system owned and operated by the municipal government. ˜Residents who sign an agreement with the city not to use the system for political campaigning or commercial purposes can access it free of charge. PEN includes bulletin boards that have a wide range of city government and local information, computer conferences on topics ranging from city politics to leisure activities, and facilities for electronic mail between and among residents and city hall. The present paper assesses the political impact of the PEN system and is based on a survey of 712 Santa Monica residents fielded one year after the system ™s launch, nearly two dozen interviews with city officials and citizen activists involved in developing it, and computer generated, aggregate data on system use. During the first eleven months, the system was accessed more than 81,000 times by about 1,200 users. Nearly one-third of those who registered to use PEN never logged on. Most non-users cited lack of access as their reason. To the surprise of some city staff, residents have found PEN most useful for communication functions, such as participating in computer conferences about local issues and sending electronic mail to city staff and other residents. The most popular conferences involve Santa Monica local issues, planning and development issues, Annenberg School, of Southern California and œIdeas,  a free-ranging conference where users can set the agenda of topics. During the first ten months, residents sent city hall an average of 245 Retrieving electronic messages per month. information was a less frequent activity, accounting for only 31 percent of the system ™s usage. Compared to other residents, PEN users make greater use of computers in their daily lives and are more likely to have had previous exposure to computer communications. Most are college educated and professionals. They are also more interested in politics and more active in local public affairs. However, the socio-economic and gender distinctions are significantly less pronounced than expected, particularly among the most active PENners, who include several of the city ™s homeless. Interest in local politics appears to be the single most important motivation of the most frequent users. This intense political interest tends to diminish the role of socio-economic and gender differences in shaping computer use. About 20 percent of those people who use PEN more than once a week have no home access to the system, so they access it from public terminals or their workplace. While usage patterns among those with and without home access are fairly similar, those with home access have come to rely on PEN for getting information about local affairs to a greater extent than those without home access. A number of active users who met on-line have formed user groups to encourage more people to use PEN and have successfully lobbied the city to consider proposals first discussed on line. - 104 -

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