Wikipedia
e-participation (also written 'eParticipation''' and e-Participation'') is the term referring to " ICT-supported participation in processes involved in government and governance". Processes may concern administration, service delivery, decision making and policy making. E-participation is hence closely related to e-government and e-governance participation. The need for the term has emerged as citizen benefits and values have often received less attention in e-government development than those of the service providers, and the need to distinguish the roles of citizen and customer has become clearer.
A more detailed definition sees e-participation as "the use of information and communication technologies to broaden and deepen political participation by enabling citizens to connect with one another and with their elected representatives" . This definition includes all stakeholders in democratic decision-making processes and not only citizen related top-down government initiatives. So e-participation can be seen as part of e-democracy, whereas e-democracy means the use of ICT by governments in general used by elected officials, media, political parties and interest groups, civil society organizations, international governmental organizations, or citizens/voters within any of the political processes of states/regions, nations, and local and global communities .
The complexity of e-participation processes results from the large number of different participation areas, involved stakeholders, levels of engagement, and stages in policy making, which characterize the research and applications .