This paper is a conceptual and empirical exploration of the tensions inherent in the drive to increase openness and transparency in government by means of information access and dissemination. The ...idea that democratic governments should be open, accessible, and transparent to the governed is receiving renewed emphasis through the combination of government reform efforts and the emergence of advanced technology tools for information access. Although these initiatives are young, they already exhibit daunting complexity, with significant management, technology, and policy challenges. A variety of traditional and emerging information policy frameworks offer guidance, while diverse research perspectives highlight both challenges to and opportunities for promoting information-based transparency. Early experience with Data.gov, a central component of the U.S. Open Government Initiative, suggests that two fundamental information policy principles, stewardship and usefulness, can help guide and evaluate efforts to achieve information-based transparency.
E-governance comprises the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to support public services, government administration, democratic processes, and relationships among citizens, ...civil society, the private sector, and the state. Developed over more than two decades of technology innovation and policy response, the evolution of e-governance is examined in terms of five interrelated objectives: a policy framework, enhanced public services, high-quality and cost-effective government operations, citizen engagement in democratic processes, and administrative and institutional reform. This summary assessment of e-governance in U.S. states and local governments shows that the greatest investment and progress have been made in enhanced public services and improved government operations. Policy development has moved forward on several fronts, but new policy issues continually add to an increasingly complex set of concerns. The least progress appears to have occurred in enhancing democracy and exploring the implications of e-governance for administrative and institutional reform. ICT-enabled governance will continue to evolve for the foreseeable future providing a dynamic environment for ongoing learning and action.
Research into relationships among government, society and technology has grown substantially over the past 30 years. However, most research and most advances in practice address narrowly defined ...categories of concern such as government organization, citizen services, interoperability, or personal privacy. By contrast, the future presents complex and dynamic challenges that demand a more holistic and flexible perspective, including consideration of what constitutes an appropriate infrastructure for continued development of government and governance in the digital age. This paper outlines a conceptual framework for considering the future, drawn from a stakeholder-driven investigation into potential scenarios of society and government. The framework reflects a dynamic socio-technical system encompassing interactions among societal trends, human elements, changing technology, information management, interaction and complexity, and the purpose and role of government.
Information and information technologies have become ubiquitous in the public sector and it is difficult to think of a public problem or government service that does not involve them in some ...substantial way. Public management (PM) research now incorporates the effects of the availability and quality of data as well as the technologies used in the public sector. From a PM perspective, digital government (DG) could be considered an essential aspect of innovation, co-production, transparency, and the generation of public value. However, studies that attempt to understand the role that DG research plays in PM theory and practice are scarce. As a research field, DG emerged from multiple disciplines, including public administration, information science, management information systems, computer science, communication, and political science. There have been numerous efforts in the last decade to delineate this emergent academic community by assessing the growing body of research represented by hundreds of new peer-reviewed publications every year. This paper reviews these prior studies about the DG community, along with a systematic review of recent articles in top public administration journals from the United States and Europe, to begin to identify and compare key characteristics of these academic communities, including their core researchers, theories, topics, and methods. We argue that their similarities and differences present opportunities for more dialogue between DG and PM scholars that could produce synergies to enhance the production and dissemination of knowledge, yielding greater influence on practice.
As pressures to engage in cross-agency and cross-sectoral partnerships become more common, the importance of information sharing becomes an ever more critical and daunting aspect of public ...administration. In this edition's exchange among scholars and practitioners, Sharon S. Dawes, Anthony M. Cresswell, and Theresa A. Pardo of the Center for Technology in Government at the University at Albany, State University of New York, offer a "baker's dozen" of lessons they have culled from prior research and their own action research agenda studying the building of public sector knowledge networks in New York over the past 15 years. Grounded in a multidisciplinary, experientially based, and street-level view of the obstacles to and tactics for building successful PSKNs, the authors' warning to conceive collaborative information-sharing efforts as governance rather than information-technology challenges is advice that practitioners ignore at their peril. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
The open government data (OGD) movement has rapidly expanded worldwide with high expectations for substantial benefits to society. However, recent research has identified considerable social and ...technical barriers that stand in the way of achieving these benefits. This paper uses sociotechnical systems theory and a review of open data research and practice guidelines to develop a preliminary ecosystem model for planning and designing OGD programs. Findings from two empirical case studies in New York and St. Petersburg, Russia produced an improved general model that addresses three questions: How can a given government's open data program stimulate and support an ecosystem of data producers, innovators, and users? In what ways and for whom do these the ecosystems produce benefits? Can an ecosystem approach help governments design effective open government data programs in diverse cultures and settings? The general model addresses policy and strategy, data publication and use, feedback and communication, benefit generation, and advocacy and interaction among stakeholders. We conclude that an ecosystem approach to planning and design can be widely used to assess existing conditions and to consider policies, strategies, and relationships that address realistic barriers and stimulate desired benefits.
•Reviews open government data (OGD) benefits and barriers•Identifies key social and technical considerations for OGD program design•Develops an ecosystem model of stakeholders, policies, practices, relationships, and influences•Applies the model to case studies of New York and St. Petersburg•Suggests further testing and additional research
In order to improve legitimacy, accountability and effectiveness for both policy making and service delivery, governance networks can benefit from the knowledge, skills and other key resources of ...external actors. However, these networks are often prone to social and cognitive exclusion of outsiders, reducing the potential benefits of greater inclusiveness and diversity. Inclusiveness within governance networks is defined here as the possibility for new actors to both enter the network and to influence its decisions. Based on an extensive literature review, this paper argues that Open Government Data (OGD) strategies and related technologies can potentially contribute to governance network management strategies aimed at preventing social and cognitive exclusion. We propose a conceptual model of how these relationships work. However, empirical evidence from the literature included very few cases in which the positive effect of OGD strategies has actually been achieved. Therefore, we also identify two critical success factors that appear to be needed: (1) proactive data strategies to expand the network of interested parties and their ability to use data, and (2) empowering new interested actors by promoting their access to structural and formal roles in the network and systematically integrating their feedback into the policy cycle.
Open Government Data (OGD) ecosystems are composed of public, private and non-profit actors playing specific roles related to the availability and use of publicly accessible government information. ...The literature considers the presence of healthy ecosystems as crucial for effective use of OGD, with positive effects on democracy, policy effectiveness, and economic development. This paper employs the Exponential Random Graph model (ERGM) technique to empirically explore relations among the actors of an OGD ecosystem for public participation in the context of the European Policy in Italy. The models estimate the likelihood of an ecosystem connection between actors as documented online via Twitter, by considering the type of actor - namely government organizations, user communities, NGOs and the media - and their locations. The analysis showed that governmental organizations as data providers and intermediaries play a crucial role in disseminating OGD and facilitating their use by local communities. Government organizations as policy makers were much less active. In addition, NGOs and the media were less disposed than government actors to serve as data intermediaries and less likely than local communities to engage in policy deliberation. These patterns suggest that the nature and level of engagement by various actors may be influenced by their interest in the specific purpose of the ecosystem. Finally, co-location is a powerful predictor of the creation of new connections among actors of all kinds, demonstrating that effective local data use can be enabled and encouraged by national data provision.
•Open Government Data ecosystems can enable the use of government information when key actors engage in key roles.•A social network analysis empirically explored the relations among the different actors in an ongoing OGD ecosystem in Italy.•Roles and relations among Open Data providers, intermediaries and user communities were considered.•Governments are central actors, playing strong roles as data providers and intermediaries and a weaker role as policy makers.•Effective local data use can be enabled and encouraged by national data provision.
Purpose - The issue of varying stakeholder expectations has significant implications for successful enterprise information system implementation. This issue becomes more prevalent in e-government ...situations where a variety of stakeholders are influenced by inter-organizational knowledge sharing. This paper presents an exploratory investigation of the diverging and converging expectations of various stakeholders at the initiation of e-government projects with regard to the benefits of and barriers to interorganizational knowledge sharing.Design methodology approach - Survey data were collected from seven cases within the New York State (NYS) government setting. We identified two sets of stakeholder groupings in this paper; core key project participants and general participants (similar to developer user stakeholder groupings); and; various organizational participants (state government, local government, non-profit organization, and private organization stakeholders).Findings - Research results indicated that key participants' expectations were similar to those of general participants users. Their perceptions converge on the relative likelihood of achieving benefits and relative severity of barriers; although significant differences do exist in discernment of the opportunity for achieving wider professional networks and the magnitude of control-oriented management. Finally, we found significant differences among stakeholders groups based on the types of organizational membership. Local government stakeholders are considerably less optimistic in achieving goals, and more concerned about a variety of organizational, technological, and financial barriers.Originality value - The results provide guidance for e-government design and implementation strategies that amplify common interests, contend with shared difficulties, and mitigate differences.
This research explored the effect of institutional factors on e-governance development and performance, with particular attention to Russian Federation conditions. The authors conducted a ...multi-method case study that explores how institutional factors appear to influence the performance of e-governance. Using the case of the Russian Federation, the analysis focused on underlying regulative, normative, and cultural factors revealed through international and domestic studies, government structures, legal foundations, and choices made about what to monitor and measure. We found strong hierarchical structures with fragmented responsibilities, and laws and regulations that focus mainly on the role of authorities, formal power and technologies. In terms of performance, most attention is paid to monitoring e-services and technical infrastructure with almost no attention to citizen engagement, empowerment, or participation. These dominant trends contribute to institutional traps (including internal fragmentation, inflexible patterns of interaction, expectations of corruption, over reliance on international rankings) that significantly limit the development of e-governance and its promises of administrative reform, better public services, and new concepts of citizenship. The research concludes with an argument that a multi-faceted approach to assessment provides greater understanding of a given country's e-governance pattern and its prospects for future development.
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