Styles of online participation in the Monza Participatory Budgeting

Participation is changing over time, thanks to the improvements in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Traditional online forums and structured discussions are being complemented, often replaced, by a more immediate involvement where people can leave spot opinions, often by simply clicking to agree or disagree. These “weak” forms of engagement allow many people to be part of the community also, escaping from the category of the lurkers, and to increase the civic involvement when used into participatory initiatives. This paper aims to show and discuss these changes in the case of the Participatory Budgeting (PB) initiative in the city of Monza (Italy), by using an analytic framework based on four styles of participation.