E-participation actors: understanding roles, connections, partnerships

The article explores an e-participation phenomenon from the perspectives of its key actors. The research relies heavily on the analysis of empirical data derived from various socioeconomic settings of such emerging digital society as Kazakhstan. The recent adoption of numerous digital participatory platforms in this country has provided a good opportunity to elaborate further on existing theories about collaborative nature of this universal movement. The roles of its main stakeholders, namely public agencies, non-governmental organizations, independent developers, civic, business, academic and journalistic communities, were analyzed accordingly through the prism of related participatory activities and collaborative partnerships they create. In this regard, the paper aims to understand how these stakeholders participate in and contribute to the movement, who their key partners are and, more importantly, how they are interconnected with each other in advancing related participatory platforms.