A participatory information service consists of an information provider which helps receivers to find answers to their questions. It is related to collaborative services, " that (...) ask for the direct and active involvement of all the interested actors, final users included, o be performed. The development of participatory information services is due to global societal and economic changes of this century: the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...

era, the

information age The Information Age (also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, Silicon Age, or New Media Age) is a historical period that began in the mid-20th century. It is characterized by a rapid shift from traditional industries, as established during ...

and the

learning organization In business management, a learning organization is a company that facilitates the learning of its members and continuously transforms itself.Pedler, M., Burgogyne, J. and Boydell, T. 1997. ''The Learning Company: A strategy for sustainable develo ...

. The availability of resources, such as personal data and general information, together with

information and communications technology Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications ( telephone lines and wireless signals) and comput ...

tools have created a perfect match for sharing knowledge through the web involving users and/or consumers participation. The difference between an information service and a ''participatory'' information service is that the former one is a service that provides information to a user. In this process, the

information flow In discourse-based grammatical theory, information flow is any tracking of referential information by speakers. Information may be ''new,'' just introduced into the conversation; ''given,'' already active in the speakers' consciousness; or ''old ...

is one-way. Whereas, the latter one is based on the culture of participation and the information flow is two-ways. Wikipedia is a good example of participatory information service. On the one hand, ''The Team Wikipedia'' manages the platform by providing instructions about writing or modifying articles, approving the contents and publishing them on the website. On the other hand, every user can create a new article and/or edit an existing one in a climate of high degree of mutual trust and relational qualities.

References

{{Reflist Information Age ICT service providers