ABSTRACT

Low-cost forms of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) such as phone calls, e-mail, faxes, online town halls, constituent databases, and social media are thought to improve Congress’ ability to capture and be responsive to constituent views. However, scholarly work finds evidence that congressional offices do not use ICTs to effectively listen to constituent concerns. Rather, Members of Congress use such technologies primarily for one-way communication and self-promotion, indicating a clear disconnect between the expectations and realities of Congress adopting these technologies for responsive engagement. Using staff survey and interview data collected during ethnographic fieldwork, we find that this disconnect can be partially explained by institutional pressures and interpretations of responsive citizen engagement. Congress adopts ICTs as symbols of responsiveness by efficiently responding to constituents via form letters. The language of responsiveness touted by congressional offices allows staff to bridge public narrative and institutional practice by using the same word to promote different values in constituent engagement. This disconnect leads to a mismatch between the public’s expectations of how ICTs might influence communicative practices by elected officials and how such tools are used in practice.

摘要

人们认为，低成本形式的信息和通信技术（ICT），例如电话，电子邮件，传真，在线市政厅，组成数据库和社交媒体，可以提高国会捕获和响应组成观点的能力。但是，学术研究发现有证据表明国会代表处没有使用ICT来有效地倾听各方面的关注。相反，国会议员主要将此类技术用于单向交流和自我推广，这表明国会采用这些技术进行积极参与的期望与现实之间存在明显的脱节。使用人种志田野调查期间收集的工作人员调查和访谈数据，我们发现这种脱节可以部分归因于机构压力和对公民参与度的回应。大会通过以信函形式对选民进行有效回应，将ICT用作回应的象征。国会办公室吹捧的回应性语言使工作人员可以通过使用相同的词来促进三方参与的不同价值观，从而在公共叙事和制度实践之间架起桥梁。这种脱节导致公众对ICT如何影响民选官员的交流做法的期望与实践中如何使用此类工具之间的不一致。