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In this book a fuzzy-based recommender system architecture for stimulating political participation and collaboration is proposed. It showcases the "Smart Participation" project, which uses the database of "smart vote", a well-known voting advice application (VAA) for local, cantonal and national elections in Switzerland. Additionally, an evaluation framework for e Participation is presented, which allows to analyze different projects and their development towards the enhancement of citizen´s participation and empowerment. The book demonstrates the potential for building political communities and the stimulation of civic participation.

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Part I: Motivation and Objectives.- Part II: Background.- Part III: Conceptual Framework.- Part IV: Evaluation Framework.- Part V: Conclusions.

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Luis Terán is currently working as assistant doctor at the Information Systems Research Group, University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He earned a Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Fribourg (Information Systems Research Group). In 2009, he finished a M.Sc. in Communication Systems from the Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland. In 2004, he received a B.Sc. in Electronics and Telecommunications from Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito, Ecuador. His research interests include eGovernment, eParticipation, eCollaboration, eDemocracy, eElection, eVoting, eCommunities, ePassports, recommender systems and fuzzy classification. He is currently a board member for the IEEE e-Government Special Technical Community, the program chair and main organizer for the International Conference on eDemocracy and eGovernment (ICEDEG) and an instructor in the International Seminar on eDemocracy and eGovernment (ISEDEG).

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