E-petition Data Mining: Looking for Contemporary Utopias
The history of petitioning in the UK is long and rich, with its latest chapter still unfolding through the introduction of e-petition platforms—first by the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and then by its British counterpart in 2011. Analysing data from e-petitions has made it possible to draw instructi...
Gorde:
| Argitaratua izan da: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles, |
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| Egile nagusia: | |
| Formatua: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Hizkuntza: | Anglais |
| Argitaratua: |
Angles
2025
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| Gaiak: | |
| Sarrera elektronikoa: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_10629 |
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openedition |
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OpenEdition Journal |
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Anglais |
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Article ou chapitre numérique |
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0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
Royaume-Uni Parlement Pétitions Fouille de données Utopie Dystopie UK Parliament Petitions Data Mining Utopia Dystopia |
| spellingShingle |
Royaume-Uni Parlement Pétitions Fouille de données Utopie Dystopie UK Parliament Petitions Data Mining Utopia Dystopia Castel, Géraldine E-petition Data Mining: Looking for Contemporary Utopias |
| description |
The history of petitioning in the UK is long and rich, with its latest chapter still unfolding through the introduction of e-petition platforms—first by the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and then by its British counterpart in 2011. Analysing data from e-petitions has made it possible to draw instructive conclusions on this enduring form of political participation. Yet there is still much to learn about the Westminster platform and its users. The current article thus proposes to explore what utopian aspirations of the British public might be revealed by an empirical approach based on text mining of e-petition data and what dystopian trends petitions might be meant to address. To carry out this study, metadata pertaining to the 162.675 e-petitions published by the British Parliament between 2011 and 2022, during the mandates of David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson was analysed. Such an analysis reveals that if petitions can be viewed as expressions of utopias in the form of alternatives to political and social realities, then evidence exists of a sustained wish to present such alternatives throughout the period under consideration via the UK parliamentary e-petition platform, particularly in reaction to dystopian trends disturbing to users like mounting violence, social precarity or growing erosion of political institutions. Moreover, a general wish for protection from dystopian evolutions is the most marked trend in the dataset as well as a desire to restore order and control, mainly via regulation and legislation. However, those general trends conceal signs of divisions in the demands being formulated and in public attitudes. The article concludes with remarks on the potential benefits and drawbacks of the digital tools used in the context of this study. |
| author |
Castel, Géraldine |
| author_facet |
Castel, Géraldine |
| author_sort |
Castel, Géraldine |
| title |
E-petition Data Mining: Looking for Contemporary Utopias |
| title_short |
E-petition Data Mining: Looking for Contemporary Utopias |
| title_full |
E-petition Data Mining: Looking for Contemporary Utopias |
| title_fullStr |
E-petition Data Mining: Looking for Contemporary Utopias |
| title_full_unstemmed |
E-petition Data Mining: Looking for Contemporary Utopias |
| title_sort |
e-petition data mining: looking for contemporary utopias |
| publisher |
Angles |
| publishDate |
2025 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/159t2 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/angles/10629 |
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1877291862446833664 |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_10629 https://doi.org/10.4000/159t2 urn:doi:10.4000/159t2 en https://journals.openedition.org/angles/10629 2025-12-03T01:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/159t2 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ E-petition Data Mining: Looking for Contemporary Utopias Angles Société des Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2274-2042 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles Castel, Géraldine Royaume-Uni Parlement Pétitions Fouille de données Utopie Dystopie UK Parliament Petitions Data Mining Utopia Dystopia The history of petitioning in the UK is long and rich, with its latest chapter still unfolding through the introduction of e-petition platforms—first by the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and then by its British counterpart in 2011. Analysing data from e-petitions has made it possible to draw instructive conclusions on this enduring form of political participation. Yet there is still much to learn about the Westminster platform and its users. The current article thus proposes to explore what utopian aspirations of the British public might be revealed by an empirical approach based on text mining of e-petition data and what dystopian trends petitions might be meant to address. To carry out this study, metadata pertaining to the 162.675 e-petitions published by the British Parliament between 2011 and 2022, during the mandates of David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson was analysed. Such an analysis reveals that if petitions can be viewed as expressions of utopias in the form of alternatives to political and social realities, then evidence exists of a sustained wish to present such alternatives throughout the period under consideration via the UK parliamentary e-petition platform, particularly in reaction to dystopian trends disturbing to users like mounting violence, social precarity or growing erosion of political institutions. Moreover, a general wish for protection from dystopian evolutions is the most marked trend in the dataset as well as a desire to restore order and control, mainly via regulation and legislation. However, those general trends conceal signs of divisions in the demands being formulated and in public attitudes. The article concludes with remarks on the potential benefits and drawbacks of the digital tools used in the context of this study. Les pétitions au Royaume-Uni ont une longue et riche histoire, dont le chapitre le plus récent est encore en cours d'écriture grâce à l'introduction de plateformes de pétitions électroniques, d'abord en Écosse en 1999, puis pour le Parlement britannique en 2011. L'analyse des données relatives aux pétitions électroniques a permis de tirer des conclusions instructives sur cette forme durable de participation politique. Cependant, il reste encore beaucoup à apprendre sur la plateforme de Westminster et ses utilisateurs. Le présent article propose donc d'explorer quelles aspirations utopiques du public britannique pourraient être révélées par une approche empirique basée sur la fouille de texte des données des pétitions électroniques et quelles tendances dystopiques les pétitions pourraient être destinées à traiter. Pour mener à bien cette étude, les métadonnées relatives aux 162 675 pétitions électroniques publiées par le Parlement britannique entre 2011 et 2022, au cours des mandats de David Cameron, Theresa May et Boris Johnson, ont été analysées. Cette analyse révèle que si les pétitions peuvent être considérées comme l'expression d'utopies sous la forme d'alternatives aux réalités politiques et sociales, il existe des preuves d'un désir continu de présenter de telles alternatives tout au long de la période considérée via la plateforme parlementaire britannique de pétitions électroniques, en particulier en réaction aux tendances dystopiques qui préoccupent les utilisateurs, telles que la montée de la violence, la précarité sociale ou l'érosion croissante des institutions politiques. En outre, une volonté générale de protection contre des évolutions dystopiques est la tendance la plus marquée dans le jeu de données, de même que le désir de rétablir l'ordre et le contrôle, principalement par le biais de la réglementation et de la législation. Toutefois, ces tendances générales cachent des signes de division dans les demandes formulées et dans les attitudes du public. L'article se termine par des remarques sur les avantages et les inconvénients potentiels des outils numériques utilisés dans le cadre de cette étude. |