Affiliations: [a] School of Computing/International Teledemocracy
Centre, Napier University, Edinburgh, EH3 5DT, Scotland, UK. Tel.: +44 131 455
2774; Fax: +44 131 455 2727; E-mail: cf.smith@napier.ac.uk | [b] Department of Management, University of Stirling,
Stirling, FK9 4LA, Scotland, UK. Tel.: +44 1786 467359; Fax: +44 1786 467329;
E-mail: c.w.r.webster@stir.ac.uk
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author
Abstract: This article explores the ways in which information and
communications technologies (ICTs) have become embedded within the activities
of parliamentarians, by examining the experiences of Members of the Scottish
Parliament (MSPs). The article presents an overview of exiting research in this
area and suggests that many authors do not take into account the full range of
functions and activities undertaken by a modern parliamentarian and
consequently cannot fully perceive the extent to which these technologies
support parliamentary life. Central to the article is a discussion of new
unique longitudinal research data which provides empirical evidence of a
significant technological orientation, and an emergent ICT culture, that is the
outcome of the intertwined relationship between the adoption and use of new
communications technologies by parliamentarians, and the established norms and
procedures of parliamentary activity. The research findings presented here
highlight the significant role played by new ICTs in the Scottish Parliament
and the emerging new democratic system in Scotland. For the new Scottish
Parliamentarians interacting with ICT is an important part of their daily life,
to the extent that it would not be unreasonable to assert that use of these
technologies has become a core parliamentary activity, possibly even to the
extent that parliamentarians, and consequently the parliamentary system, have
become reliant on the informational and communications capabilities
embedded in ICTs. This is because these technologies are supporting a wide
range of parliamentary roles and activities, and because they are underpinning
a range of communicative relationships in the parliamentary arena and wider
polity.
