Citizen organizing in cyberspace : illustrations from health care and implications for public administration
By: BRAINARD, Lori A
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ArticlePublisher: Thousand Oaks : Sage Publications, December 2003Subject(s): Organizing; Internet; Civic Engagement; Social Capital; Health Care; E-governmentThe American Review of Public Administration 33, 4, p. 384-406Abstract: This article investigates two examples of citizen cyber-organizing in the context of the literature on social capital and organizing. Its asks, What can cyber-organizations teach us about the current state of social capital? What are the implications of cyber-organizing for the context of public administration? What implications do cyber-organizations hold for the role of the public administrator? The author concludes that the continuous communications of participants in cyber-organizations, as well as their transitory and informal roles and rules, their social and emotional support, and their development of a shared understanding of the issues they face function as forms of social capital that facilitate civic engagement. Furthermore, cyber-organizations add to the fragmented and fluid social and political environment confronting public administration. Finally, to realize the potential power and significance of cyber-organizing, public administrators should begin to see such organizations through a lens that is different from the professional orientation to interest groups that has pervaded the field. Public administrators must reimagine themselves as agents of the social bond.
This article investigates two examples of citizen cyber-organizing in the context of the literature on social capital and organizing. Its asks, What can cyber-organizations teach us about the current state of social capital? What are the implications of cyber-organizing for the context of public administration? What implications do cyber-organizations hold for the role of the public administrator? The author concludes that the continuous communications of participants in cyber-organizations, as well as their transitory and informal roles and rules, their social and emotional support, and their development of a shared understanding of the issues they face function as forms of social capital that facilitate civic engagement. Furthermore, cyber-organizations add to the fragmented and fluid social and political environment confronting public administration. Finally, to realize the potential power and significance of cyber-organizing, public administrators should begin to see such organizations through a lens that is different from the professional orientation to interest groups that has pervaded the field. Public administrators must reimagine themselves as agents of the social bond.
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