Representação política e internet: uso das TICs por membros do parlamento brasileiro

Abstract

In this paper we propose to make a diagnosis of the use of ICTs by the Brazilian members of parliament. In Brazil, the House of Representatives have sought to enlarge the area of electronic participation through its electronic portal (http://www2.camara.gov.br/) contributing for new democratic forms of interaction between the public sector and civil society. This portal aims to increase channels of political participation, deliberation and transparency through the development of interaction tools between citizens and deputies, such as “Talk to the MP”, forums and chat rooms. We developed a survey questionnaire to find out with which frequency ICT tools have been used by MP’s and, if they used it, if the interactions with citizens through these technologies have influenced their decisions in parliament. We will try to identify patterns of usage by the members of Brazilian parliament through the analysis of different elements such as age, gender, education, ideology, region and other independent variables. At first we analyzed descriptive data, and then estimate some effects through a regression analysis