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Komito, Lee
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Komito, Lee
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Komito, Lee
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Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
- PublicationDevelopment Plan Rezonings: The Political PressuresRezonings and section four motions have made planning an issue for public discussion, media publicity, and professional conferences, but debates have tended to focus on planning problems, such as proper land use, future rezoning requirements, financing local services, and so on. Rezonings are not so much a planning problem, as a political problem. The real issues are the political pressures behind planning decisions and the role of community opinion in determining planning policy. In this context, politicians are not necessarily villains; they too are victims of the Irish political system and voter's expectations.
173 - PublicationPolitical Transformations: clientelism and technological change(School of Social, Political and Economic Sciences, University of Northumbria at Newcastle, 1999-04-01)New information and communications technologies are expected to transform political systems as part of a move to an 'Information Society'. A Utopian view of this transformation is often reflected, not only by some who write about cyber-democracy, but also in government policy statements. For instance, in Europe, the 'Bangemann Report' (High Level Group on the Information Society, 1994) expected that the Information Society would lead to a "more efficient, transparent and responsive public services, closer to the citizen and at lower cost" in Europe. The High Level Expert Group on the Social and Societal Aspects of the Information Society (1996) noted that "ICTs create new opportunities for greater public participation in and awareness of the political process". Thus, new technologies are expected to improve political participation and administrative efficiency, as long as appropriate policy decisions are taken.
74 - PublicationThe Culture of Paper, Information and Power: An Irish ExampleThe analysis of electronic versus paper documents, especially in the context of computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW), has often focused on affordances, issues of design and implementation and work practices. Issues of culture are often understated in such studies. Yet, like any object of material culture, the use of paper files, as well as an aversion to electronic information sharing, is conditioned by the cultural and political background of a society. This article will suggest that the persistence of paper files in a section of the Irish civil service during the 1990s had much to do with issues of accountability and a cult of expertise, in which papers files, as material objects, were deployed on behalf of claims of expertise and power. This intertwining of power, politics and information is a feature of Irish society, and the discourse of expertise and power is a theme that permeates many aspects of Irish culture.
257 - PublicationDublinDublin is the capital city of Ireland, and is not only the largest in both population and size, but it is also the center for administrative, political, economic, and cultural activities in Ireland. It is also the main transportation link between Ireland and the rest of the world, with direct flights to numerous United States, British, and continental European cities. It is also linked, via ferries, with Great Britain, but remains the only member of the European Union without a direct rail or automobile link with other member states.
87 - PublicationVirtually local : social media and community amongst Polish nationals in DublinPurpose - This paper examines the impact of social media (including social networking technologies) on migration strategies and integration, focusing on the use of new technologies for information seeking and dissemination, as well as personal communication. Methodology - Twenty-six Polish nationals resident in Ireland were interviewed, using semi-structured interviews, in 2008. Findings - Results indicated a significant use of new social media, especially social networking technologies based in Poland and largely used by Polish language speakers. The use of social networking technologies enabled “media rich” and resilient social groups to develop, founded on the latent monitoring of activities characteristic of face-to-face, geographically delimited communities. The resulting social groups incorporated friends and relations based in Poland, Ireland and throughout the world. These networks tended to minimize integration into Irish society, as most Polish nationals interacted only with other Polish people, whether resident in Ireland or elsewhere. Originality - This research demonstrates that new technologies are having a significant impact on patterns of migration. New social media are changing the character of international migration, with an emphasis on mobility rather than assimilation. Where foreign nationals previously tended to integrate into the societies where they resided, migrants are now more likely to be peripatetic mobile workers. Furthermore, while these migrants often no longer live in physical ghettos, they now live in “virtual” ghettos or enclaves, as they use new technologies to create separate lives within the wider society in which they work and live.
867Scopus© Citations 50 - PublicationCommunity and inclusion: The impact of new communications technologiesCan new information and communications technologies increase citizen participation in civic life and promote community development? Worldwide studies of community information systems demonstrate that new technologies can enhance the effectiveness of activists, However, there has been little evidence that they bring in new participants. This article argues that e-government systems can, if properly designed and implemented, involve citizens who have not previously been active in local community life, and describes an Irish pilot project which has this capacity. The success of such systems depends not only on design issues, but also on the willingness of government to respond to the resulting policy inputs by citizens.
403Scopus© Citations 11 - PublicationVoters, politicians, and bureaucrats: a Dublin surveyThe examination of clientelism has been a major theme in Irish politics and administration. People usually understand clientelism as referring to exchanges in the electoral arena: politicians intervene, on behalf of voters, in the administrative process, and, in return, voters reward politicians with votes. If most citizens do not recognize the term, they recognize the phenomenon: politicians using their personal influence to obtain state benefits for constituents and, in return, constituents providing their votes. Politicians are viewed as brokers, mediating between the state and the public.
193 - PublicationE-participation and Governance: Widening the netAs a solution to declining political and civic participation, many governments are seeking to increase the number of citizens who participate in policy-making and governance. Contrary to early expectations, recent research suggests that new information and communications technologies (ICTs) may not increase participation rates in formal organisations, and so may not improve participation rates. The Mobhaile project in Ireland is an example of a local government initiative which combines service provision (‘e-government’) functions and facilities for voluntary, community and business organisations that enhance social capital in local communities, while also enabling civic participation functions (‘egovernance’), in a single web-based geographical interface. Such projects enable citizens to access government services and encourages them, as part of this process, to also participate in local activities that build social capital in the community. The resulting mix can be an effective basis for greater political and civic participation.
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