Abstract

The design of tools and interfaces for e‑democracy systems takes place in a highly multidisciplinary context. However, the inter‑contextual understanding of democracy is still immature. This article presents a framework suitable for evaluating tools for e‑democracy. The framework has been developed based on earlier theories and frameworks and then further evaluated against two test cases: Twitter and BottenAda. The evaluation model builds on the inclusion of different views of e‑democracy, not seeing them as conflicting per se but rather making it possible for e‑democracy tool users and developers to understand the varying degree of support a tool can display for several aspects of democracy. The model also provides a visualization of complex theories and can thus contribute to a more informed discussion on what types of democratic values are being supported in a particular e‑democracy tool.