The intensified use of digital technologies in the public sector, which is commonly referred to as “digitalization,” is associated with the pursuit of a range of values. Values reflect notions of desirability, and they are expressed in strategic government documents. In this paper, we argue that the study of narratives in policies is important since they constitute starting points for the operationalization of strategic intent. The purpose of this paper is to gain an understanding of the narratives of the digitalization strategies that have been articulated by Swedish local government. We applied a theoretical framework that consists of four value ideals (professionalism, efficiency, service, and engagement), and we combined it with directed content analysis to analyze the strategies in question. Most of the statements in the strategies anticipate beneficial outcomes of digitalization and articulate few risks. The most common value proposal refers to the congruence between values of improved service and increased efficiency, while engagement values are less common. Moreover, the strategies draw on a repository of general and identical optimistic statements, which we refer to as the “parrot syndrome.” In addition, the methods that are used to evaluate values lack specificity. These findings contribute to the literature on the discursive landscape of digitalization by a comprehensive analysis of the value positions that are articulated in local government strategies. The paper concludes with three proposals for further research, namely to perform similar studies in other contexts, to study the enactment of e-Government strategies, and to investigate the aforementioned “parrot syndrome.”
{"title":"What is the value of digitalization? Strategic narratives in local government","authors":"Marcus Heidlund, Leif Sundberg","doi":"10.3233/ip-220063","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/ip-220063","url":null,"abstract":"The intensified use of digital technologies in the public sector, which is commonly referred to as “digitalization,” is associated with the pursuit of a range of values. Values reflect notions of desirability, and they are expressed in strategic government documents. In this paper, we argue that the study of narratives in policies is important since they constitute starting points for the operationalization of strategic intent. The purpose of this paper is to gain an understanding of the narratives of the digitalization strategies that have been articulated by Swedish local government. We applied a theoretical framework that consists of four value ideals (professionalism, efficiency, service, and engagement), and we combined it with directed content analysis to analyze the strategies in question. Most of the statements in the strategies anticipate beneficial outcomes of digitalization and articulate few risks. The most common value proposal refers to the congruence between values of improved service and increased efficiency, while engagement values are less common. Moreover, the strategies draw on a repository of general and identical optimistic statements, which we refer to as the “parrot syndrome.” In addition, the methods that are used to evaluate values lack specificity. These findings contribute to the literature on the discursive landscape of digitalization by a comprehensive analysis of the value positions that are articulated in local government strategies. The paper concludes with three proposals for further research, namely to perform similar studies in other contexts, to study the enactment of e-Government strategies, and to investigate the aforementioned “parrot syndrome.”","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42586290","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":null,"pages":null},"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}
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the inaccessibility of government information and communication technologies (ICTs) for members of the disability community. Organizational learning around ICT accessibility can be impacted by factors influencing strategies and assumptions or values and norms. Using data collected over two time periods in 2021, we study how the accessibility of US state health agencies COVID-19 information and vaccine websites improve over time. We examine how time, state policies, and partisanship influence organizational learning around website accessibility. Our analysis determines that the longer a COVID-19 related website exists on the Internet, the less accessible the website. We also find that more extensive internal state accessibility policies are more correlated with websites that meet fundamental accessibility requirements. Additionally, we find that partisanship plays an unexpected role in meeting fundamental accessibility demands, although both state policies and politics do not influence if an ICT meets the best practices standards of accessibility. Our paper initiates a discussion around the factors that influence organizational learning about government website accessibility and points to future research questions where the primary ICT function is not influenced by a rapidly evolving pandemic.
{"title":"U.S. state health agencies and organizational learning: An exploratory analysis of website accessibility during COVID-19","authors":"Michelle Allgood, Ashlee Frandell","doi":"10.3233/ip-220045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/ip-220045","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the inaccessibility of government information and communication technologies (ICTs) for members of the disability community. Organizational learning around ICT accessibility can be impacted by factors influencing strategies and assumptions or values and norms. Using data collected over two time periods in 2021, we study how the accessibility of US state health agencies COVID-19 information and vaccine websites improve over time. We examine how time, state policies, and partisanship influence organizational learning around website accessibility. Our analysis determines that the longer a COVID-19 related website exists on the Internet, the less accessible the website. We also find that more extensive internal state accessibility policies are more correlated with websites that meet fundamental accessibility requirements. Additionally, we find that partisanship plays an unexpected role in meeting fundamental accessibility demands, although both state policies and politics do not influence if an ICT meets the best practices standards of accessibility. Our paper initiates a discussion around the factors that influence organizational learning about government website accessibility and points to future research questions where the primary ICT function is not influenced by a rapidly evolving pandemic.","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46626969","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":"Jérôme Duberry (2022) Artificial Intelligence and Democracy: Risks and Promises of AI-mediated citizen-government relations, Edward Elgar: Cheltenham","authors":"Isabelle Fest","doi":"10.3233/ip-239006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/ip-239006","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69960727","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}
AI solutions can significantly leverage open government data (OGD) ecosystems in public governance. For that, it is important to design effective and transparent governance mechanisms that create value in an OGD ecosystem through AI solutions. This article develops a conceptual model for a systematic design of an OGD governance model, which adopts a platform governance approach and integrates the governance needs derived from the use of AI. The purpose of the conceptual model is to systematically identify and analyze the interrelationships among multiple change factors on OGD governance design and to project available AI-based solutions for the OGD ecosystem by assessing the managerial, organizational, legal, technological, moral, and institutional variances. The proposed ‘6-step model’ suggests that an AI-compatible OGD ecosystem design requires (i) identifying contingencies, (ii) identifying data prosumers, (iii) assigning data governance roles, (iv) identifying design values, (v) designing the governance of AI, and (vi) designing the governance by AI. Through the recursive and reflexive analysis of each step, policymakers and system designers can develop reliable strategies in leveraging AI solutions for the use of OGD in public governance.
{"title":"Designing an AI compatible open government data ecosystem for public governance","authors":"Evrim Tan","doi":"10.3233/ip-220020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/ip-220020","url":null,"abstract":"AI solutions can significantly leverage open government data (OGD) ecosystems in public governance. For that, it is important to design effective and transparent governance mechanisms that create value in an OGD ecosystem through AI solutions. This article develops a conceptual model for a systematic design of an OGD governance model, which adopts a platform governance approach and integrates the governance needs derived from the use of AI. The purpose of the conceptual model is to systematically identify and analyze the interrelationships among multiple change factors on OGD governance design and to project available AI-based solutions for the OGD ecosystem by assessing the managerial, organizational, legal, technological, moral, and institutional variances. The proposed ‘6-step model’ suggests that an AI-compatible OGD ecosystem design requires (i) identifying contingencies, (ii) identifying data prosumers, (iii) assigning data governance roles, (iv) identifying design values, (v) designing the governance of AI, and (vi) designing the governance by AI. Through the recursive and reflexive analysis of each step, policymakers and system designers can develop reliable strategies in leveraging AI solutions for the use of OGD in public governance.","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136173068","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}
Digital platforms are suitable alternatives to help governments open policy-making and public service delivery to external ideas. Platforms are very flexible and customizable, which makes them effective for a variety of participatory purposes, such as co-creation, co-production, innovation, or transactions. However, this diversity makes it difficult to define how different technical designs could shape the performance of these platforms. Literature has described different types of platforms, based on their participatory goals, but we still do not know enough about the diversity of platforms in terms of technical design. To address this gap, we conducted a cluster analysis to find patterns in the technical design of 52 participatory platforms worldwide. We observed three main architectures: Ideas for the City; Decisions and Debates; and Mapping. These findings are one step forward to better understanding how digital platforms could impose certain dynamics on the participatory processes.
{"title":"A landscape of participatory platform architectures: Ideas, decisions, and mapping","authors":"C. Renteria, Samanta Varela-Castro","doi":"10.3233/ip-211520","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/ip-211520","url":null,"abstract":"Digital platforms are suitable alternatives to help governments open policy-making and public service delivery to external ideas. Platforms are very flexible and customizable, which makes them effective for a variety of participatory purposes, such as co-creation, co-production, innovation, or transactions. However, this diversity makes it difficult to define how different technical designs could shape the performance of these platforms. Literature has described different types of platforms, based on their participatory goals, but we still do not know enough about the diversity of platforms in terms of technical design. To address this gap, we conducted a cluster analysis to find patterns in the technical design of 52 participatory platforms worldwide. We observed three main architectures: Ideas for the City; Decisions and Debates; and Mapping. These findings are one step forward to better understanding how digital platforms could impose certain dynamics on the participatory processes.","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69959845","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":"Developing Digital Governance: South Korea as a Global Digital Government Leader","authors":"Seulki Lee-Geiller","doi":"10.3233/IP-239003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/IP-239003","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69960604","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}
Keegan McBride, Anastasija Nikiforova, Martin Lnenicka
{"title":"The role of open government data and co-creation in crisis management: Initial conceptual propositions from the COVID-19 pandemic","authors":"Keegan McBride, Anastasija Nikiforova, Martin Lnenicka","doi":"10.3233/IP-220057","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/IP-220057","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69960552","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":"What if? A short commentary on the philosophical bedrock of open government discourse","authors":"G. V. Maanen","doi":"10.3233/IP-239005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/IP-239005","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69960681","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":"Tkacz, Nathaniel (2022) Being with data: The dashboarding of everyday life, Polity Press","authors":"Shirley Kempeneer","doi":"10.3233/IP-239002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3233/IP-239002","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46265,"journal":{"name":"Information Polity","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69960565","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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