Theoretical Approaches to Digital Services and Digital Democracy: The Merits of the Contextual New Medium Theory Model

This article develops a theoretical framework that can be used to analyze all types of political and administrative web applications Through a discussion and criticism of social construction of technology (SCOT), an earlier version of this model based on new medium theory (the NeMT model), Leavitt's "diamond" and Jane Fountain's "technology enactment" model, the article arrives at a model, called the "Contextual NeMT" model. This model focuses on how the specific affordances of the Internet are translated into specific political and/or administrative practices, and how these practices are produced through the interplay between and among discourses, actors, and technology. Finally, the article demonstrates the merits of the model by using it in the analysis of the digital practices of the municipality of Odder, a frontrunner in the development of digital services and e-democracy in Denmark.