The UK COVID-19 app: The failed co-production of a digital public service

IF 3.1 Q2 BUSINESS, FINANCE Financial Accountability & Management Pub Date : 2021-10-11 DOI:10.1111/faam.12307
Tobias Polzer, Galina Goncharenko
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引用次数: 11

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic put governments under pressure to make radical and urgent decisions, and to implement new digital solutions to steer society and deliver public services. Our study analyzes social media discourse to understand the co-production of a digital public service in an emergency situation. Empirically, we mobilize Twitter netnography and discourse analysis to examine citizens’ perceptions of the contact tracing app (CTA) introduced by the UK government to tackle the pandemic and save lives. Our study contributes to research on public sector accountability for digital transformations by advancing scholarly understanding of how societal concerns and public perceptions impact the co-production of digital services. Our findings reveal a high level of public skepticism toward the app and a general distrust of the UK government among the main social challenges of the CTA's implementation. Furthermore, we evidence widespread public distress over the potential violation of democratic freedoms and misuse of the data collected by the app. Finally, we reflect on the linkages between the lack of governmental accountability and the difficulties in mitigating the expressed societal concerns, causing a corresponding resistance on the part of the public to engage in and support co-production.

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英国COVID-19应用程序:数字公共服务的失败合作
2019冠状病毒病大流行给各国政府带来了压力,要求它们做出激进和紧急的决定,并实施新的数字解决方案,以引导社会和提供公共服务。我们的研究分析了社交媒体话语,以了解紧急情况下数字公共服务的共同生产。从经验上看,我们利用推特网络学和话语分析来研究公民对英国政府为应对疫情和拯救生命而推出的接触者追踪应用程序(CTA)的看法。我们的研究促进了对社会关注和公众看法如何影响数字服务合作生产的学术理解,有助于研究公共部门对数字化转型的问责制。我们的调查结果显示,公众对这款应用持高度怀疑态度,对英国政府普遍不信任,这是CTA实施的主要社会挑战。此外,我们证明了公众对潜在侵犯民主自由和滥用应用程序收集的数据的普遍不满。最后,我们反思了政府问责制的缺乏与减轻表达的社会关切的困难之间的联系,从而导致公众参与和支持合作制作的相应阻力。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
4.90
自引率
18.20%
发文量
27
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