Algorithms are rapidly transforming government bureaucracies. The implications of this transformation for the work of public service employees are not yet well understood. So far, the literature has mostly neglected the use of algorithms by these “screen-level bureaucrats”, and this constitutes a major gap in our knowledge about how algorithms affect bureaucracies. To understand the work of screen-level bureaucrats and to explore how they actively engage with algorithmic software to support their assessment of online fraud, we analyzed 45 hours of observations and 12 in-depth interviews at the Netherlands Police. We employ a socio-material perspective to analyze the dynamics between screen-level bureaucrats and algorithms. We conclude that for administrative tasks, algorithms help screen-level bureaucrats to perform their work by providing structured data and allowing them to focus more on assessments which need a nuanced judgement. At the same time, algorithmic advice in a decision-making task is simply ignored by the screen-level bureaucrats as they predominantly rely on their professional judgement in the assessment of online fraud reports. This highlights the need to further investigate how an algorithm should not only provide accurate advice to the screen-level bureaucrats but also convince them to follow it.
{"title":"Screen-level bureaucrats in the age of algorithms. An ethnographic study of algorithmically supported public service workers in the Netherlands Police","authors":"Carlos Soares, S. Grimmelikhuijsen, Albert Meijer","doi":"10.3233/ip-220070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/ip-220070","url":null,"abstract":"Algorithms are rapidly transforming government bureaucracies. The implications of this transformation for the work of public service employees are not yet well understood. So far, the literature has mostly neglected the use of algorithms by these “screen-level bureaucrats”, and this constitutes a major gap in our knowledge about how algorithms affect bureaucracies. To understand the work of screen-level bureaucrats and to explore how they actively engage with algorithmic software to support their assessment of online fraud, we analyzed 45 hours of observations and 12 in-depth interviews at the Netherlands Police. We employ a socio-material perspective to analyze the dynamics between screen-level bureaucrats and algorithms. We conclude that for administrative tasks, algorithms help screen-level bureaucrats to perform their work by providing structured data and allowing them to focus more on assessments which need a nuanced judgement. At the same time, algorithmic advice in a decision-making task is simply ignored by the screen-level bureaucrats as they predominantly rely on their professional judgement in the assessment of online fraud reports. This highlights the need to further investigate how an algorithm should not only provide accurate advice to the screen-level bureaucrats but also convince them to follow it.","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":" 18","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139207272","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In its regulatory enterprise to improve the conditions of data sharing and reuse, the European Union has enacted new legislation: the Data Governance Act (DGA). The DGA envisages new forms of sharing public sector data (PSD). Based on a legal analysis of the DGA and an in-depth study of data governance literature, this paper highlights what is at stake in the new regulatory framework and argues that more than the mere openness of more PSD will be necessary to ensure that the European Union policy goals are achieved, especially those concerning enhancing innovation for the common good. From this perspective, the paper argues that the public data trust model of data governance and the Responsible Research and Innovation approach offer two powerful tools for public sector data governance. In this context, this paper contributes to the debate about new data governance models and discusses tools and frameworks enabling the use of data for the common good. It also provides insights to public administration practitioners aiming to implement a framework for increased and sustainable PSD sharing.
{"title":"Managing public sector data: National challenges in the context of European Union’s new data governance models","authors":"Clarissa Valli Buttow, Sophie Weerts","doi":"10.3233/ip-230003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/ip-230003","url":null,"abstract":"In its regulatory enterprise to improve the conditions of data sharing and reuse, the European Union has enacted new legislation: the Data Governance Act (DGA). The DGA envisages new forms of sharing public sector data (PSD). Based on a legal analysis of the DGA and an in-depth study of data governance literature, this paper highlights what is at stake in the new regulatory framework and argues that more than the mere openness of more PSD will be necessary to ensure that the European Union policy goals are achieved, especially those concerning enhancing innovation for the common good. From this perspective, the paper argues that the public data trust model of data governance and the Responsible Research and Innovation approach offer two powerful tools for public sector data governance. In this context, this paper contributes to the debate about new data governance models and discusses tools and frameworks enabling the use of data for the common good. It also provides insights to public administration practitioners aiming to implement a framework for increased and sustainable PSD sharing.","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139281689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Citizen-centricity is a common concept in digital government research and policy. However, there is little clarity regarding the concept in previous literature. To address this shortcoming, and build theoretical foundations for addressing both citizen-centricity and associated phenomena, we have examined how citizen-centricity is characterized in digital government research. This study is based on literature review of 66 journal articles. A combination of narrative analysis and ideal-type methodology identified themes concerning four modes of government, designated traditionalist, service-dominant, participatory, and transformative. Further analysis of associated types and research streams provides an overview of the theoretical understandings of citizen-centricity and methodological approaches applied to explore it in the literature. The findings contribute to contemporary theory on citizens in digital government by outlining an integrative framework of citizen-centricity. The paper concludes with proposals for further research, including efforts to enhance conceptual clarity and develop more dynamic theories.
{"title":"Citizen-centricity in digital government research: A literature review and integrative framework","authors":"Leif Sundberg, Jonny Holmström","doi":"10.3233/ip-220047","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/ip-220047","url":null,"abstract":"Citizen-centricity is a common concept in digital government research and policy. However, there is little clarity regarding the concept in previous literature. To address this shortcoming, and build theoretical foundations for addressing both citizen-centricity and associated phenomena, we have examined how citizen-centricity is characterized in digital government research. This study is based on literature review of 66 journal articles. A combination of narrative analysis and ideal-type methodology identified themes concerning four modes of government, designated traditionalist, service-dominant, participatory, and transformative. Further analysis of associated types and research streams provides an overview of the theoretical understandings of citizen-centricity and methodological approaches applied to explore it in the literature. The findings contribute to contemporary theory on citizens in digital government by outlining an integrative framework of citizen-centricity. The paper concludes with proposals for further research, including efforts to enhance conceptual clarity and develop more dynamic theories.","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134913987","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Social media adoption in the public sector of Bangladesh: Progress and efficiency","authors":"Md. Ashraful Islam, M. A. Bhuiyan","doi":"10.3233/ip-239011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/ip-239011","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":"28 1","pages":"439-449"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69960294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editorial issue 3 2023: The Value of Classic Works in our Field","authors":"","doi":"10.3233/ip-239010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/ip-239010","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":"28 1","pages":"315-316"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69960748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper examines the concept of data sovereignty as a discursive practice in light of the populist idea of popular sovereignty and analyzes the digital policies of Western European right-wing populist parties (WEPs). It argues that WEPs use popular sovereignty and data sovereignty in a similar way: as discursive tools to legitimize drawing power back to the national level (with divergent and often contradictory interpretations), rather than workable foundations for policy plans. The paper also discusses how international cooperation, which populists often reject, is a useful tool to achieve data sovereignty. With this contradiction in mind, the paper develops an agent-based typology of data sovereignty as a discursive practice. It then analyzes the most recent official electoral programs of several WEPs: AfD in Germany, PVV and FvD in the Netherlands, UKIP in the UK, Vlaams Belang in Belgium, and Rassemblement National in France. It uses a comparative policy analysis to compare the cases along several data points such as the proposed roles of governments, private companies, and cyber diplomacy. Most of the WEPs under discussion see data sovereignty as synonymous with individual privacy, do not acknowledge the role of international cooperation, and use digital policy as a means of reinforcing their image as challenger parties.
{"title":"Future-proofing the people? A comparative analysis of data sovereignty as a discursive practice in Western European right-wing populism’s digital policies","authors":"Jens Meijen","doi":"10.3233/ip-220023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/ip-220023","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the concept of data sovereignty as a discursive practice in light of the populist idea of popular sovereignty and analyzes the digital policies of Western European right-wing populist parties (WEPs). It argues that WEPs use popular sovereignty and data sovereignty in a similar way: as discursive tools to legitimize drawing power back to the national level (with divergent and often contradictory interpretations), rather than workable foundations for policy plans. The paper also discusses how international cooperation, which populists often reject, is a useful tool to achieve data sovereignty. With this contradiction in mind, the paper develops an agent-based typology of data sovereignty as a discursive practice. It then analyzes the most recent official electoral programs of several WEPs: AfD in Germany, PVV and FvD in the Netherlands, UKIP in the UK, Vlaams Belang in Belgium, and Rassemblement National in France. It uses a comparative policy analysis to compare the cases along several data points such as the proposed roles of governments, private companies, and cyber diplomacy. Most of the WEPs under discussion see data sovereignty as synonymous with individual privacy, do not acknowledge the role of international cooperation, and use digital policy as a means of reinforcing their image as challenger parties.","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42547369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
H. Wahyuni, Andi Awaluddin Fitrah, D. Eprilianto, Ida Mardalena
This article aims to analyze the implementation of digital government in handling the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia from a public communication perspective. The three units of analysis that build this article are technology, transparency, and collaboration & integration. A systems approach is used to analyze data collected through searching government policy documents, various relevant webinars, as well as online media reporting data that captures the dynamics of digital governance problems during the year the pandemic lasted. This article finds that the problem of digital government in handling the COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia is a complex in terms of technology, transparency, and collaboration/integration. From a public communication and system perspective, the findings of this article in all aspects show a portrait of a digital government system in Indonesia that is not yet robust and adaptive enough.
{"title":"Technology, transparency, and collaboration/integration: Analysis of digital government problems from public communication perspective during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia","authors":"H. Wahyuni, Andi Awaluddin Fitrah, D. Eprilianto, Ida Mardalena","doi":"10.3233/ip-211545","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/ip-211545","url":null,"abstract":"This article aims to analyze the implementation of digital government in handling the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia from a public communication perspective. The three units of analysis that build this article are technology, transparency, and collaboration & integration. A systems approach is used to analyze data collected through searching government policy documents, various relevant webinars, as well as online media reporting data that captures the dynamics of digital governance problems during the year the pandemic lasted. This article finds that the problem of digital government in handling the COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia is a complex in terms of technology, transparency, and collaboration/integration. From a public communication and system perspective, the findings of this article in all aspects show a portrait of a digital government system in Indonesia that is not yet robust and adaptive enough.","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45655088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brazil has been standing out as one of the worst places on Earth to be during a global health crisis, especially for those whose struggle for basic humanitarian rights is already routine. How do the political environment and historical inequalities in countries like Brazil affect the ways in which public policy and technologies are framed as responses for the pandemic crisis? In this paper we aim to present the sequence of actions and omissions in the fight against sars-cov2 in Brazil, concentrating on measures based on the use of digital technologies and the sociotechnical arrangements unfolding in materialities that give shape to such measures. We will also discuss possible repercussions of the widespread adoption of surveillance technologies as a quick fix to the effects of the pandemic. Our focus is to explain how the materiality of the virus and its political as well as territorial effects are combined with digital technologies as responses (or lack of them) in the fields of healthcare, education, communication and labour in the context of the Global South.
{"title":"Pandemic techno-politics in the Global South","authors":"R. Firmino, R. Evangelista","doi":"10.3233/ip-211514","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/ip-211514","url":null,"abstract":"Brazil has been standing out as one of the worst places on Earth to be during a global health crisis, especially for those whose struggle for basic humanitarian rights is already routine. How do the political environment and historical inequalities in countries like Brazil affect the ways in which public policy and technologies are framed as responses for the pandemic crisis? In this paper we aim to present the sequence of actions and omissions in the fight against sars-cov2 in Brazil, concentrating on measures based on the use of digital technologies and the sociotechnical arrangements unfolding in materialities that give shape to such measures. We will also discuss possible repercussions of the widespread adoption of surveillance technologies as a quick fix to the effects of the pandemic. Our focus is to explain how the materiality of the virus and its political as well as territorial effects are combined with digital technologies as responses (or lack of them) in the fields of healthcare, education, communication and labour in the context of the Global South.","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45465246","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
E-petitions constitute a promising method of increasing public participation and engagement in government processes. However, there is a lack of knowledge of why some government entities implement e-petitions, while others do not. Moreover, it is unknown why some organizations may receive many e-petitions while others receive relatively few. Thus, in this paper, we aim to fill these gaps by investigating the implementation and use patterns of e-petitions based on data from Swedish local governments. Through statistical analysis of data related to demography, economy, technology, and democracy, our findings unveil variations in municipalities’ implementation of e-petitions and citizens’ use of them. The results reveal that municipalities with a relatively large population and established modes of local democracy are more inclined to implement e-petitions than smaller jurisdictions. However, we also found that the number of incoming e-petitions per capita is negatively correlated with population size. Thus, the presence of institutionalized work structures related to local democracy is an important precursor for the implementation of e-petitions, while previous experience with communication technologies had a positive effect on the number of incoming petitions. In addition to these findings, the novelty of our study lies in the use of several official data sources to seek explanations for the implementation and use of e-petitions in local government. By doing so, this study has paved the way for similar research in other contexts. The paper concludes with implications for both research and practice as well as suggestions for future studies.
{"title":"Explaining variations in the implementation and use of e-petitions in local government","authors":"David Karlström, Gustav Lidén, Leif Sundberg","doi":"10.3233/ip-220033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/ip-220033","url":null,"abstract":"E-petitions constitute a promising method of increasing public participation and engagement in government processes. However, there is a lack of knowledge of why some government entities implement e-petitions, while others do not. Moreover, it is unknown why some organizations may receive many e-petitions while others receive relatively few. Thus, in this paper, we aim to fill these gaps by investigating the implementation and use patterns of e-petitions based on data from Swedish local governments. Through statistical analysis of data related to demography, economy, technology, and democracy, our findings unveil variations in municipalities’ implementation of e-petitions and citizens’ use of them. The results reveal that municipalities with a relatively large population and established modes of local democracy are more inclined to implement e-petitions than smaller jurisdictions. However, we also found that the number of incoming e-petitions per capita is negatively correlated with population size. Thus, the presence of institutionalized work structures related to local democracy is an important precursor for the implementation of e-petitions, while previous experience with communication technologies had a positive effect on the number of incoming petitions. In addition to these findings, the novelty of our study lies in the use of several official data sources to seek explanations for the implementation and use of e-petitions in local government. By doing so, this study has paved the way for similar research in other contexts. The paper concludes with implications for both research and practice as well as suggestions for future studies.","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42896228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Given the various benefits of social media for governments, municipalities are increasingly attempting to institutionalize their use of social media. This article looks at the use of middleware that is observed on municipal Twitter accounts in Dutch municipalities in 2018 and 2021 (N= 724), which provide a set of APIs that specify input and output modalities. It is observed that the use of subscription-based customer relationship management (CRM) tools, developed mostly in a corporate context, has grown considerably, with an uptake of 89.0% of Dutch municipalities in 2021, whereas the use of free CRM tools appears to be declining. Middleware were studied and linked to three models of social media institutionalization (informal experimentation, centralization, and distribution). Municipalities in the informal experimentation model were observed to have smaller population sizes and generally had fewer IT professionals in their constituencies. Larger municipalities with more IT professionals were mostly observed to have a centralized model of institutionalization. Although municipalities with a distributed institutionalization model were larger, they were generally less urbanized. Finally, more technologically advanced municipalities were only observed to make more use of the distributed model.
{"title":"Informal experimentation, centralization, or distribution? Assessing technological, organizational and contextual factors for social media institutionalization processes in Dutch municipalities","authors":"Bram Faber","doi":"10.3233/ip-220016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/ip-220016","url":null,"abstract":"Given the various benefits of social media for governments, municipalities are increasingly attempting to institutionalize their use of social media. This article looks at the use of middleware that is observed on municipal Twitter accounts in Dutch municipalities in 2018 and 2021 (N= 724), which provide a set of APIs that specify input and output modalities. It is observed that the use of subscription-based customer relationship management (CRM) tools, developed mostly in a corporate context, has grown considerably, with an uptake of 89.0% of Dutch municipalities in 2021, whereas the use of free CRM tools appears to be declining. Middleware were studied and linked to three models of social media institutionalization (informal experimentation, centralization, and distribution). Municipalities in the informal experimentation model were observed to have smaller population sizes and generally had fewer IT professionals in their constituencies. Larger municipalities with more IT professionals were mostly observed to have a centralized model of institutionalization. Although municipalities with a distributed institutionalization model were larger, they were generally less urbanized. Finally, more technologically advanced municipalities were only observed to make more use of the distributed model.","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42325707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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