Chatbots as a novel access method for government open data

IIn this discussion paper, we propose to employ chatbots as a user-friendly interface for open data published by organizations, specifically focusing on public administrations. Open data are especially useful in e-Government initiatives but their exploitation is currently hampered to end users by the lack of user-friendly access methods. On the other hand, current UX in social networks have made people used to chatting. Building on cognitive technologies, we prototyped a chatbot on top of the OpenCantieri dataset published by the Italian Ministero delle Infrastrutture e Trasporti, and we argue that such a model can be extended as a generally available access method to open data

A Chatbot for Searching and Exploring Open Data: Implementation and Evaluation in E-Government

© 2021 Association for Computing Machinery. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive Version of Record was published in DG.O2021: The 22nd Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research, https://doi.org/10.1145/3463677.3463681In this paper, we present a chatbot to access open government data. Differently to similar systems reported in the research literature, the developed chatbot not only allows searching for data collections, but also exploring information within the collections. The exploration is done via complex queries that are easily built by non-expert users through a natural language conversation. Moreover, as another novel, differentiating contribution, we report a conducted user study aimed to evaluate the chatbot according to the achievement of a number of public service values, as well as measuring distinct objective and subjective metrics. Experimental results show that the proposed system outperforms traditional methods followed in open data portalsThis work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-108965GB-I00) and the Centre of Andalusian Studies (PR137/19). The authors thank to all people who participated in the reported stud

Trends and challenges of e-government chatbots: Advances in exploring open government data and citizen participation content

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-108965GB-I00) and the Regional Government of Andalusia (P20_00314 and B-SEJ-556-UGR20). The authors thank all people who participated in the reported studies.In this paper, we propose a conceptual framework composed of a number of e-government, implementation and evaluation-oriented variables, with which we jointly analyze chatbots presented in the research literature and chatbots deployed as public services in Spain at national, regional and local levels. As a result of our holistic analysis, we identify and discuss current trends and challenges in the development and evaluation of chatbots in the public administration sector, such as focusing the use of the conversational agents on the search for government information, documents and services –leaving citizen consultation and collaboration aside–, and conducting preliminary evaluations of prototypes in limited studies, lacking experiments on deployed systems, with metrics beyond effectiveness and usability –e.g., metrics related to the generation of public values. Addressing some of the identified challenges, we build and evaluate two novel chatbots that present advances in the access to open government data and citizen participation content. Moreover, we come up with additional, potential research lines that may be considered in the future for a new generation of e-government chatbots.Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-108965GB-I00)Regional Government of Andalusia (P20_00314 and B-SEJ-556-UGR20

What Will Recruitment Look Like in Five Years and What Will Be Different From Today?

[Excerpt] Across most companies today, recruitment continues to follow the traditional model – hiring managers present lists of desired qualifications and responsibilities through job descriptions, applicants submit chronological summaries of their work experience, and recruiters review applications through the applicant tracking system to identify relevant skills and experience. In the next five to ten years, this model of recruitment will transform significantly. There are many reasons for this. First, careers today are more lattice-like, and less linear. Individuals’ career paths are characterized by shorter tenures, stretch assignments, entrepreneurial endeavors, time off work to spend with family, and gig work. The recruitment process should change to account for these “jagged resumes”. Second, as automation, robotics, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) take over manual, repetitive tasks, the work left to be performed by humans will be more creative and strategic, less predictable, and more consequential to the business overall. The stakes of making the right hire will increase, and recruiting will become a defining differentiator. Already, demand for recruiting professionals is up 63% since 2016. Lastly, as companies prepare for the future of work, recruitment practices will need to change to match new trends and challenges. For example, 50% of millennials are already freelancing, and this number is expected to rise significantly. 43% of college Gen Z’s are eyeing an entrepreneurial future over traditional workplaces. Given these broad trends, the future of recruitment will be marked by changes in three domains – recruitment technology, skills that companies recruit for, and the competencies of recruitment teams in the future

Chatbot sebagai Asisten Customer Service dan Public Relations di Indonesia: Studi Difusi Inovasi Teknologi

Chatbot technology is one of the tools to improve service. In chatbots, communicationis no longer between humans and humans, but between humans and machines or robots,despite it still use human language. In Indonesia, the literature on chatbots is morefocused on the technological aspect, while the communication aspect is still inadequate.This research is a diffusion of innovations study to explain the dissemination ofchatbots’ adoption in Indonesia. Data through interviews with five sources withdifferent backgrounds. Researchers target government agencies as users of chatbotapplications to serve the public, also micro businesses that use automation, and a chatbotprovider as an active party in communicating chatbot technology. Researchers alsoexplore the experiences gained by end-user chatbots. The findings show that the mainreasons for adopting chatbots in Indonesia are the swiftness of service, the efficiencyof human resources, and the unlimited working hours. This leads to chatbots easingthe information process, both customer services, and public relations. The mass mediacommunication channel is used to introduce chatbot services to the public. While theinterpersonal communication channel is used to transfer knowledge from the developerto the administrator.Chatbot adalah salah satu teknologi dalam peningkatan pelayanan informasi. Dalam chatbot, komunikasi tidak lagi antara manusia dengan manusia, melainkan antara manusia dengan mesin atau robot meskipun masih dengan bahasa manusia. Di Indonesia, literatur tentang chatbot lebih banyak mengenai aspek teknologi, sedangkan aspek komunikasi masih kurang. Penelitian ini merupakan studi difusi inovasi untuk menjelaskan adopsi chatbots di Indonesia. Data melalui wawancara dengan 5 (lima) narasumber dengan latar belakang berbeda yakni, instansi pemerintah, pelaku usaha mikro, dan penyedia chatbot, serta pengguna layanan chatbot. Temuan menunjukkan bahwa alasan utama adopsi chatbots di Indonesia adalah kecepatan layanan, efisiensi sumber daya manusia, dan jam kerja yang tidak terbatas. Hal ini sejalan dengan tujuan chatbot yang memudahkan penyediaan informasi, baik sebagai customer services, dan hubungan masyarakat. Kanal komunikasi media massa digunakan untuk memperkenalkan layanan chatbot. Sedangkan saluran komunikasi interpersonal digunakan untuk mentransfer pengetahuan dari developer ke administrator

Chatbot sebagai Asisten Customer Service dan Public Relations di Indonesia: Studi Difusi Inovasi Teknologi

Chatbot technology is one of the tools to improve service. In chatbots, communicationis no longer between humans and humans, but between humans and machines or robots,despite it still use human language. In Indonesia, the literature on chatbots is morefocused on the technological aspect, while the communication aspect is still inadequate.This research is a diffusion of innovations study to explain the dissemination ofchatbots’ adoption in Indonesia. Data through interviews with five sources withdifferent backgrounds. Researchers target government agencies as users of chatbotapplications to serve the public, also micro businesses that use automation, and a chatbotprovider as an active party in communicating chatbot technology. Researchers alsoexplore the experiences gained by end-user chatbots. The findings show that the mainreasons for adopting chatbots in Indonesia are the swiftness of service, the efficiencyof human resources, and the unlimited working hours. This leads to chatbots easingthe information process, both customer services, and public relations. The mass mediacommunication channel is used to introduce chatbot services to the public. While theinterpersonal communication channel is used to transfer knowledge from the developerto the administrator.Chatbot adalah salah satu teknologi dalam peningkatan pelayanan informasi. Dalam chatbot, komunikasi tidak lagi antara manusia dengan manusia, melainkan antara manusia dengan mesin atau robot meskipun masih dengan bahasa manusia. Di Indonesia, literatur tentang chatbot lebih banyak mengenai aspek teknologi, sedangkan aspek komunikasi masih kurang. Penelitian ini merupakan studi difusi inovasi untuk menjelaskan adopsi chatbots di Indonesia. Data melalui wawancara dengan 5 (lima) narasumber dengan latar belakang berbeda yakni, instansi pemerintah, pelaku usaha mikro, dan penyedia chatbot, serta pengguna layanan chatbot. Temuan menunjukkan bahwa alasan utama adopsi chatbots di Indonesia adalah kecepatan layanan, efisiensi sumber daya manusia, dan jam kerja yang tidak terbatas. Hal ini sejalan dengan tujuan chatbot yang memudahkan penyediaan informasi, baik sebagai customer services, dan hubungan masyarakat. Kanal komunikasi media massa digunakan untuk memperkenalkan layanan chatbot. Sedangkan saluran komunikasi interpersonal digunakan untuk mentransfer pengetahuan dari developer ke administrator

Automated Legal Guidance at Federal Agencies

When individuals have questions about Federal benefits, services, and legal rules, they are increasingly seeking help from government chatbots, virtual assistants, and other automated tools. Current forms of automated legal guidance platforms include the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’s “Emma,” the U.S. Department of Education’s “Aidan,” and the Internal Revenue Service’s “Interactive Tax Assistant.” Most scholars who have studied artificial intelligence and Federal government agencies have not focused on the government’s use of technology to offer guidance to the public. The absence of scholarly attention to automation as a means of communicating government guidance is an important gap in the literature, given the strong influence that these communications can have on individuals’ decisions about the law. This Report describes the results of a qualitative study of automated legal guidance across the Federal government, which included semi-structured interviews with both agency technology experts and lawyers. This study was conducted under the auspices of the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS). During our study, we reviewed the automated legal guidance activities of all Federal agencies and conducted in-depth research on agencies that are already using well-developed chatbots, virtual assistants, or other related tools to assist the public in understanding or following relevant law. After identifying the agencies that are primary adopters of automated legal guidance, we conducted interviews with multiple individuals from each agency, as well as representatives from the U.S. General Services Administration. We find that automated legal guidance offers agencies an inexpensive way to help the public navigate through complex legal regimes. However, we also find that automated legal guidance may mislead members of the public about how the law will apply in their individual circumstances. In some cases, agencies exacerbate this problem by, among other things, making guidance seem more personalized than it is, not recognizing how users may rely on the guidance, and not adequately disclosing that the guidance cannot be relied upon as a legal matter. In many respects, this is not a problem of agencies’ own making. Rather, agencies are faced with the difficult task of translating complex statutory and regulatory regimes for a public that has limited capacity to understand them. Agencies also often lack sufficient resources to engage in more personalized outreach. Fundamentally, we identify a tension between agencies’ reasonable desires to promote automated legal guidance and its underappreciated limitations. In this Report, after exploring these challenges, we chart a path forward. We offer policy recommendations, organized into five categories: transparency; reliance; disclaimers; process; and accessibility, inclusion, and equity. We believe this Report, and the detailed policy recommendations that flow from it, will be critical for evaluating existing, as well as future, development of automated legal guidance by governments