Sociotechnical design for citizen participation and democracy: a special issue of Interacting with computers

Extract: In 507 BCE, the Athenian Kleisthenes faced with a conflict with rival aristocrat Isagoras, “took the demos into his faction” in the words of Herodotos.1 This move gave him the power to become the ruler of Athens and to bring in the important changes to the shared political structure of the city–state that laid the foundations for the later transfer to full democratic rule in 462 under Ephialtes and then Perikles. We know that Kleisthenes introduced ostracism early in his program of change, but the fact that this measure was not used for another 20 years has led to some confusion among scholars of Ancient Athens.2 From a realist democratic perspective, however, the logic of this is clear: the facility for the demos to send an unwanted leader into 10 years of exile was part of the deal by which Kleisthenes obtained the support of the demos in his move to gain power. To put it another way: it was a condition imposed by the demos in return for their suppo