JeDEM - eJournal of eDemocracy and Open Government
Not a member yet
288 research outputs found
Sort by
Beyond Substantive Goals: A Framework for Understanding Citizens’ Needs and Goals in Bureaucratic Encounters
No full textThis paper contributes to e-government research by presenting a conceptual framework of citizens’ needs and goals, with regards to bureaucratic encounters and applying this framework to empirical data. The framework identifies four needs (process security, relational security, discretion, and efficiency/effectiveness) and three goals (substantive outcome, identity-related outcome, and justice- and fairness-related outcome). These needs and goals guide citizens’ approach to bureaucratic encounters. The degree to which they are met may impact the efficiency of service delivery, as well as citizens’ satisfaction with the authorities involved. The framework may be used to analyse citizens’ strategies for bureaucratic encounters and their use of self-service systems, as well as to assess self-service systems, multi-channel strategies, and service designs to determine how they serve citizens’ needs and goals
Publishers Working with Open Government Data: A Work Framework
No full textThis paper presents an Open Government Data (OGD) publisher framework, with work roles, field of work, and environmental descriptions. Previous knowledge about publishers' work is fragmented, with gaps and variations, indicating a high level of complexity with variations in approaches and processes. A two-stage research approach, based on Design Science Research, was used to synthesize the publisher framework. First, a tentative framework was synthesized from previous research, empirical material, and public documents. Second, it was reviewed by informed OGD experts, as well as researchers attending a work conference, and evaluated in two international contexts. As a result, the publisher framework includes environments, social units, and fields of work. The publisher framework is ready to be evaluated in other international contexts, where as, practitioners can use it to inform their work
Considering the Reluctance to Adopt Open Data in German Public Administration: An Exploration of Individual Innovation-Decisions
No full textThis article examines different forms of rejecting Open Data by administrative staff in German public administrations. The starting point for our study, was the observation that the diffusion of Open Data in Germany has been rather restrained in practice, despite potential advantages and strong political commitment. For this purpose, individual innovation-decision processes of administrative staff were examined. The paper is based on semi-structured interviews with experienced Open Data experts and provides insights into rejecting or negative attitudes as well as resistance to Open Data by administrative employees and thus, provides explanations for the reluctance such as perceived high risks associated with the implementation of Open Data. At the same time, experiences regarding barriers, like an insufficient technical framework for Open Data are presented. This provides important insights on how to address negative attitudes and opposition to Open Data effectively
Factors Influencing the Citizens’ Satisfaction Towards the Use of Open Government Data: A Systematic Literature Review
No full textOpen Government Data (OGD) is considered instrumental to promote transparency and accountability for economic and civic development that increases citizens' participation in government digital initiatives. This study employed a qualitative research design and emphasized the factors that affect the citizens' satisfaction with the use of OGD. It systematically reviewed the literature published in the field of OGD. Findings identified that ease of use, usefulness, access, extrinsic motivation, individual differences, computer skills, and training affect the citizen’ use of OGD. It found models, theoretical frameworks, and theories, which have been applied, developed, or tested in the literature about citizen satisfaction with OGD. It highlighted implications for policymakers to increase the quality of OGD portals. It may be helpful at the government level in the identification of factors that affects citizens’ satisfaction with the use of OGD. It may also contribute to enhancing citizens’ skills and awareness of OGD portals’ use
Social Media Adoption and Labor Migrants Protection: The Case of the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs
No full textThe Philippines is internationally recognized as a best practice in advancing migration governance despite its complex, yet comprehensive landscape of migration policies, norms and structures, and institutions. More recently, the rise of social media has created ripples across sectors and actors due to its transformational power. The country’s Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) acknowledged this development and commenced its social media adoption process in 2011 and has rapidly evolved to keep up with the changing environment. Key informant interviews with officials and staff from the DFA reveal, that the agency has opened accounts in key social media platforms and that, this undertaking was positively received by its employees. According to the Mergel and Bretschneider model, it can be characterized as belonging to Level 3: Institutionalization and Consolidation upon the release of DO No. 16-2014, which prescribes “Guidelines on the Use of Social Media Use by All Units and Personnel of the DFA”. The cited document laid out specific rules and regulations on key facets of social media practices, such as access, content management, personal use of SM by DFA personnel, compliance mechanism, and administrative liability. Nevertheless, the DFA's social media adoption process is still challenged by inadequate resources and lack of a central sub-office, absence of success metrics, and spurious reports
Stakeholder Views of Process Automation as an Enabler of Prioritized Value Ideals in a Swedish Municipality
No full textMunicipalities in Sweden are recommended to pursue process automation to face upcoming societal challenges. This paper focuses on a case where these recommendations are operationalized. Views on process automation held by different stakeholders, in relation to value ideals they prioritize in their respective areas of work, are explored by combining stakeholder theory and a model of public value ideals. Our findings show that, different stakeholder groups prioritize different values and that their views on process automation as an enabler of these value ideals are either optimistic, undecided, or pessimistic, where the latter two can be considered obstacles. This paper contributes, with an empirical illustration of how process automation is operationalized, answering previous calls for more research on this topic. We also elaborate on the use of stakeholder theory and public value as an analytical lens, contributing to the growing body of research attempting to understand process automation
Responsible Artificial Intelligence in Government: Development of a Legal Framework for South Africa
No full textVarious international guideline documents suggest a human-centric approach to the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) in society, to ensure that AI products are developed and used with due respect to ethical principles and human rights. Key principles contained in these international documents are: transparency (explainability), accountability, fairness and privacy. Some governments are using AI in the delivery of public services, but there is a lack of appropriate policy and legal frameworks to ensure responsible AI in government. This paper reviews recent international developments and concludes that, an appropriate policy and legal framework must be based on the key principles contextualised to the world of AI. A national legal framework alone is not sufficient and should be accompanied by a practical instrument, such as an algorithm impact assessment, aimed at reducing risk or harm. Recommendations for a possible South African legal framework for responsible AI in government are proposed
A roadmap to becoming a smart village: Experiences from living labs in rural Bavaria
No full textThis paper illustrates the measures and digital integrations being made in the course of digitalization, using the example of existing rural pilot communities in Bavaria, Germany. The participating communities were selected as part of the government-funded project "Digitales Dorf" (Engl. digital village). Since 2016, digital solutions as well as complementary actions have been identified and implemented to make everyday life in the community equal to that in the city: the main intention is to push digitalization to create equivalent living conditions to urban areas. This paper is intended to provide an overview of the requirements and steps that need to be taken in digital transformation, in order to develop a generalized blueprint for other communities. Furthermore, it introduces the pilot projects, provides an insight into best practices to promote digitalization in traditional rural areas, and focuses on the transformation process rather than on digital solutions
The Institutionalization of e-Democracy: Challenges, Risks and Future Directions in an Indian Context
No full textThis conceptual paper attempts to understand the necessity of intertwining Democracy and e-Democracy for the success of institutionalization of e-Democracy. In this respect, it proposes the "Four-Forces Framework of Democracy" and their Drivers. The paper also explores the challenges that e-Democracy may face in its growth and evolution, highlights the risks involved in ignoring the challenges, and suggests the future direction. In the present scenario, there is a considerable push for Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The paper discusses whether this will lead to the strengthening of people's voice and empowerment of the individual and collective aspirations. Societies in their evolution develop cultural contexts, social and ethnic values. It is a challenge for any e-Democracy to integrate them into its mechanisms. In the Indian context, it is essential to develop foresight on how e-Democracy gears-up to also address various contradictions and conflicts, which are possible due to the digital-divide, multitude of people's aspirations, socio-cultural diversity, space for democratic thinking, etc. Keeping many aspects of Democracy and governance into consideration, the paper focuses on how ICT and e-Democracy will honour people's aspirations in the coming years, to keep the public, individual, and society, vibrant and democratically functioning