The e-Democracy European Network (EDEN) sought to apply natural language processing technologies in e-democracy. EDEN improved communication between public administrations and citizens by improving information access and helping citizens make informed decisions. The main focus, however, was on using a particular NLP approach (Augmented Phrase Structure Grammar) and the factors that helped and hindered its rapid deployment in an e-democracy environment. Although the linguistic resources were highly reusable, EDEN had difficulty building a shared understanding of what NLP could and should accomplish to meet the project's aims. Even when the partners acutely recognized the need for such mutual understanding, the lack of it led to delays and jeopardized project success.