JeDEM - eJournal of eDemocracy and Open Government
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Cracking the Political Code: The Case of E-participation in Colombia
No full textTheory says that, in normal circumstances, politicians do not have many incentives to make the policy process more democratic, and that these political dynamics may be embedded into the enactment of technology. This work will try to determine if this holds true in the case of Urna de Cristal, a Colombian e-participation scheme. The nation-wide projects implemented by this programme in 2017 are analysed using three sets of political criteria—inclusion, participation, and deliberation—drawn from an evaluation framework of centralized cross-platform approaches to social media exploitation by government agencies (Ferro et al. 2013). The evidence suggests that the enactment of Urna de Cristal’s projects reflected the Colombian government’s intention of preventing the policy process from becoming more participatory and deliberative. Some data suggests the government tried to render this process more inclusive. Further research on e-participation should consider the political complexity of technology enactment in the public sector
Improving Monitoring and Evaluation in the Civic Tech Ecosystem : Applying Contribution Analysis to Digital Transformation
No full textFor nearly a decade, civic tech stakeholders have been creating technology-supported solutions to civic challenges. Globally, the civic tech movement is rapidly professionalizing but has a limited history of documenting evidence of successes and challenges. Robust monitoring and evaluation in the civic tech ecosystem are necessary to create a foundation of knowledge for future initiatives. Monitoring plays a key role in improving services, pivoting approaches and guiding more efficient resource allocation. Evaluation highlights what is working, what is not working, and critically, why? In a sector that merges data, design and technology with user-centred principles, monitoring and evaluation in the civic tech ecosystem have several inherent challenges. This paper suggests that a theory-based evaluation approach called Contribution Analysis has the necessary sophistication and agility to support comprehensive monitoring and evaluation to support the growth and sustainability of the movement. This paper applies the early steps of contribution analysis to two Canadian civic tech projects to demonstrate its feasibility for civic tech
Democratic Governance of Digital Platforms and Artificial Intelligence? : Exploring Governance Models of China, the US, the EU and Mexico
No full textThe article addresses the digital transformation and new power asymmetries and challenges to democracy by the world’s seven largest digital platforms. Four different governance models are examined: The Chinese authoritarian model, the libertarian US-model, the European regulatory model, and the Mexican hybrid model. The challenges of digital sovereignty and democratic governance of platform capitalism are explored
Algorithmic Decision-making and the Law
No full textThe Fourth Industrial Revolution is reshaping the world we know dramatically and is characterised by a close interaction between the biological, digital and physical spheres. Digital technologies are impacting all facets of our lives and create a series of new opportunities but also various challenges. The Fourth Industrial Revolution does not follow a linear development trajectory, but due to the diverse nature and rapid pace of technological developments, could rather be compared to a series of networks with multiple connecting points. This has caused the development of the law which deals with these concerns to generally be slow and unable to match the pace and scope of technological developments. In the context of public law there are many questions and challenges relating to individual rights, for example the right to privacy, and the role and responsibilities of government relating to policy development and regulation dealing with the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The concept of a Rechtsstaat could arguably provide an appropriate legal framework for shaping the ethical framework, normative standards and a value-based governance model for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including for algorithmic decision-making. The public law concept of accountability should be contextualised in order to apply it to algorithmic decision-making. In the data-driven economy of the 21st century the pace and scope of technological developments that impact humanity requires the development of appropriate legal frameworks to reflect and accommodate the needs of society, in particular relating to the recognition of fundamental human rights. It is concluded that a broad set of ethical and legal principles, which can guide the development of international and national legal frameworks to regulate algorithmic decision-making, is needed
Editorial JeDEM Vol. 12, No. 2 (2020)
No full textThe editorial from managing editors comprises information on the published articles as well as new information regarding the activities around JeDEM
Transforming Government by Leveraging Disruptive Technologies: Identification of Research and Training Needs
No full textWhile the public sector traditionally lags behind business in innovation, significant changes are anticipated with the broad diffusion of so-called disruptive technologies. The use of such technologies in public service, along with possible benefits, need to be well researched, and challenges be carefully discussed, analysed and evaluated. This paper applies scenario-based science and technology roadmapping to identify research and training needs in the implementation of disruptive technologies in public service. 70 experts reviewed 13 future scenarios and derived a number of research and training needs regarding internet of things, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, big data and other disruptive technologies. The identified needs serve as a starting point for a broader and more informed discussion about how such new (disruptive) technologies can be successfully deployed in the public sector - leveraging the benefits of these technologies while at the same time constraining the drawbacks affiliated with them
Volunteer Co-production in Emergency Management in Excluded Areas : Using Civil Citizens and Semi-professionals as First Responders
No full textThis study explores ICT-enabled co-production using civil citizens and semi-professionals as volunteer first responders in excluded areas, in order to identify key factors and to compare the groups. It shows that volunteers can make a major difference if arriving first at an emergency site, e.g. saving lives, administering CPR and extinguishing fires. The semi-professionals are more protected than civil citizens where challenges relate to individual versus collective engagement, gender aspects, language barriers or insufficient legal protection. However, the citizens have an advantage in relying on easily accessible ICT support installed on their own mobile phones. For the initiatives to expand and enable long-term engagement, calibrated ICT solutions matching competence, role and language with incident and area are needed. The study confirms previous research arguing for the merging of policy science and information systems research in a rapidly digitalized public-sector transformation, but adds that they need to be complemented by perspectives from sociology in initiatives involving excluded areas
Use of Social Media for Political Participation by Youths
No full textThis study investigated use of social media for political participation among youths in Oyo state, Nigeria; specifically, the types of social media used for political participation, the types of political activities social media are used for, as well as factors influencing use of the media for political participation. Survey research design was adopted for the study. Data was collected through questionnaire from 322 youths in three Nigerian universities. Findings reveal that social media was highly used by the youths for political participation. Facebook (98.8%) was found to be the most used, followed by Whatsapp (93.8%), Instagram (60.2%), Twitter (55.3%), and Yahoo Messenger (50.9%) respectively. Majorly, the youths used social media to participate in political advocacy (95.3%), political campaigns (91.9%), communicating with politicians (90.7%), political discussions (87.3%), monitoring and reporting electoral malpractices (85.1%), public consultations (80.4%), joining interest groups that engage in lobbying (64.9%), blogging about political issues (64.9%), and writing letters to public officials (51.2%). Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, subjective norms, and computer self-efficacy significantly influence use of social media for political participation, which suggests that these factors could be considered when promoting use of social media for political participation among youths. Given the growing popularity and penetration of social media and the way they influence peoples’ lives, the empirical findings of this study add to understanding how and why social media use will function in motivating citizens to be involved in political activities
Is Accessibility of Internet Financial Reporting Evolving Towards More Compliance of Disclosure?
No full textFinancial transparency is a demand of the community in the current era of information disclosure. Internet Financial Reporting (IFR) through e-government is the most effective media in disseminating information to the public. The purpose of this article is to analyze the effect of financial performance on compliance with financial information disclosure through accessibility of Internet Financial Reporting as moderating. The sample is determined by purposive sampling technique with the requirement that having e-government and website that can be accessed until June 2018 and has a Financial Report for 2015-2016. The collected data is analyzed by using Moderated Regression Analysis. The finding is financial performance (efficiency ratios, effectiveness ratios, routine expenditure ratios and development expenditure ratios) affected the compliance of financial information disclosures. The results of the Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA) also show that IFR accessibility variables are moderating variables between financial performance to compliance with financial information disclosures. This research provides empirical data about the relevance of IFR accessibility evolving towards more compliance of disclosure through e-government websites