Ons Geld citizen initiative, Netherlands

Ons Geld (Our Money) is a Dutch citizen initiative seeking to put the question of money production on the public agenda. Ons Geld pushed for legislation that would ensure commercial banks cannot create new money when providing their clients with credit lines. Furthermore, the initiative asked that when money is created by the state, it should be used in the public interest and not for bailing out commercial banks or real estate companies. The Netherlands is often hailed as a leading example of the integration of ICTs within democratic politics, and the organisers of Ons Geld initiative made extensive use of digital technologies - websites, online forums, social networking platforms, electronic newsletters - to build support for their initiative. This case study suggests that explicitly integrating ICTs within the formal avenues for citizen participation constitutes a good starting point for expanding the current e-government policy framework. Such an enlargement entails the development of suitable online tools that can allow citizens to start citizen initiatives in a way that is inclusive and deliberative from the beginning. Furthermore, such a framework should not limit itself to technological solutions, but also invest in the development of cultures of civic engagement, as well as provide resources for the development of these initiatives.DFIDUSAIDSidaOmidyar Networ

Reaching in? The potential for E-petitions in local government in the United Kingdom

This article considers the extent to which petitions and e-petitions might allow citizens to ‘reach in’ to local authorities in the United Kingdom. It examines how e-petitions sit against wider debates about the use of technology and digital democracy and the extent to which petitions systems might align with traditional approaches to representative democracy. It highlights that, as with many other participative initiatives, digital or otherwise, there are a variety of issues and risks associated with e-petitions, including those associated with broad socio-economic factors, and others that are more specifically related to the use of e-petitions. However, drawing on existing examples of e-petitions systems in the UK, it suggests that, designed well, they may have potential value, not simply in terms of enabling ‘voice’ and participation, but also in helping educate and inform petitioners about local democracy and decision-making

Electronic Participation: Third IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference, ePart 2011, Delft, The Netherlands, August 29 – September 1, 2011. Proceedings

International audienceBook Front Matter of LNCS 684

New platform, old habits? Candidates’ use of Twitter during the 2010 British and Dutch general election campaigns

Twitter has become one of the most important online spaces for political communication practice and research. Through a hand-coded content analysis, this study compares how British and Dutch Parliamentary candidates used Twitter during the 2010 general elections. We found that Dutch politicians were more likely to use Twitter than UK candidates and on average tweeted over twice as much as their British counterparts. Dutch candidates were also more likely to embrace the interactive potential of Twitter, and it appeared that the public responded to this by engaging in further dialogue. We attribute the more conservative approach of British candidates compared to the Netherlands to historic differences in the appropriation of social media by national elites, and differing levels of discipline imposed from the central party machines

Conversations about the elections on Twitter: Towards a structural understanding of Twitter’s relation with the political and the media field

This study uses network analysis to examine Twitter’s level of autonomy from external influences, being the political and the media field. The conceptual framework builds upon Bourdieu’s field theory, appropriated on social media as mediated social spaces. The study investigates conversation patterns on Twitter between political, media and citizen agents during election times in Belgium. Through the comparison of conversational practices with the positions users hold as political, media or citizen agents, we understand how the former is related to the latter. The analysis of conversation patterns (based on replies and mentions) shows a decentralized and loosely knit network, in which primarily citizen agents are present. Nonetheless, the prominence of citizens in the debate, mentions or replies to political and media agents are significantly higher, placing them more centrally in the network. In addition, politicians and media actors are closely connected within the network, and reciprocal communication of these established agents is significantly lower compared to citizen agents. We understand different aspects of autonomy related to the presence, positions and practices of the agents on Twitter and their relative positions as politicians, media or citizens. To conclude, we discuss the promises of Bourdieu’s relational sociology and the limitations of our study. The approach proposed here is an attempt to integrate existing work and evolve towards a systematic understanding of the interrelations between political, media and citizen agents in a networked media environment

Politica 2.0. : a atividade dos partidos políticos nas redes sociais

Mestrado em Marketingevolução da comunicação política tem acompanhado o desenvolvimento das novas tecnologias de informação e comunicação ao longo dos tempos, adotando um modelo baseado no Marketing. Com o surgimento da Internet os políticos/ partidos compreenderam as vantagens da utilização deste novo meio de comunicação. Nos últimos anos, a Internet sofreu uma mudança de paradigma, dando origem à chamada Web 2.0, caracterizada, parcialmente, pelos Social Media. Com o objetivo de criar relacionamento com os cidadãos, os partidos políticos iniciaram um novo tipo de comunicação, tendo por base as ferramentas da Web 2.0, originando a Política 2.0, fundamentada no Marketing Digital. O objetivo do presente estudo é a avaliação do desempenho dos partidos políticos Portugueses em termos de interatividade e envolvimento com os fãs no Facebook, comparando-os com outros partidos políticos de diferentes Países. Para atingir este objetivo realizou-se um estudo quantitativo tendo por base dados recolhidos das plataformas de Facebook dos cinco partidos políticos com maior representação nos sistemas democráticos, de Portugal e de outros quatro Países. A análise dos resultados observados entre diferentes Países foi avaliada através do teste ANOVA. Os resultados obtidos relativamente à interatividade gerada nas plataformas de Facebook dos partidos políticos são distintos entre diferentes Países, enquanto que em termos de envolvimento não é possível diferenciar as plataformas geridas por partidos políticos de diferentes nações. Este estudo contribui com uma visão quantitativa do desempenho dos partidos políticos Portugueses no Facebook, contribuindo com informação relevante para investigações futuras no âmbito da interatividade e envolvimento gerados nesta plataforma digital.The evolution of political communication has kept up with the development of new information and communication technologies throughout time, assuming a Marketing-based model. With the advent of Internet Politicians/Political Parties understood the advantages of using these media. Recently, Internet has undergone a paradigm shift, giving rise to Web 2.0, which is characterized, partially, by the Social Media. With the goal of developing a relationship with citizens, Political Parties started a new type of communication, using the tools available on the Web 2.0 creating Politics 2.0, based on Digital Marketing. The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of Portuguese Political Parties in terms of interactivity and engagement with their fans on Facebook, comparing them with Political Parties of other countries. To achieve this goal a quantitative study was conducted considering data retrieved from the Facebook sites of the five most represented Political Parties of the Portuguese democratic system, as well as of four other countries. The results obtained from different countries were analysed through the ANOVA test. The results regarding the interactivity generated in the Facebook sites of the Political Parties are different between distinct countries, however, in terms of engagement it is not possible to distinguish the Political Parties' Facebook platforms from different countries. This study contributes with a quantitative point of view of the performance on Facebook, by the Portuguese Political Parties, as well as with relevant information for future research on the field of interactivity and engagement generated on this digital platform

Eine Analyse der Literatur zur Referenzmodellierung im Geschäftsprozessmanagement unter Berücksichtigung quantitativer Methoden

Im Geschäftsprozessmanagement nimmt die Referenzmodellierung bei der Gestaltung von Geschäftsprozessen eine große Bedeutung ein, da auf bereits existierende Modelle zurückgegriffen werden kann. So kann Zeit für die Entwicklung der Prozesse eingespart und von bereits etabliertem Wissen profitiert werden. Die vorliegende Masterarbeit analysiert die Literatur im Bereich der Referenzmodellierung im Geschäftsprozessmanagement unter Berücksichtigung quantitativer Methoden. Es werden insbesondere die Forschungsrichtungen bzw. Themenbereiche, Entwicklungen und der aktuelle Stand der Literatur in diesem Bereich ermittelt. Zunächst werden deutsch- und englischsprachige Artikel nach bestimmten Kriterien ausgewählt. Anschließend folgt eine quantitativ orientierte Analyse der Literatur. Dabei kommt die Latente Semantische Analyse zum Einsatz, mit deren Hilfe Themenbereiche ermittelt werden und die einzelnen Beiträge den ermittelten Themenbereichen zugeordnet werden können. Darüber hinaus wird die Entwicklung der Anzahl der Artikel in den Themenbereichen im Zeitverlauf betrachtet und auf Unterschiede zwischen der deutsch- und englischsprachigen Literatur eingegangen. In der darauf folgenden qualitativ orientierten Analyse werden die Artikel der einzelnen Themenbereiche inhaltlich analysiert und der aktuelle Stand der Forschung dargestellt. Nicht zuletzt werden die Ergebnisse der qualitativen Analyse in Bezug zu den Ergebnissen der quantitativen Analyse gesetzt

The Proceedings of the 23rd Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research (DGO2022) Intelligent Technologies, Governments and Citizens June 15-17, 2022

The 23rd Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research theme is “Intelligent Technologies, Governments and Citizens”. Data and computational algorithms make systems smarter, but should result in smarter government and citizens. Intelligence and smartness affect all kinds of public values - such as fairness, inclusion, equity, transparency, privacy, security, trust, etc., and is not well-understood. These technologies provide immense opportunities and should be used in the light of public values. Society and technology co-evolve and we are looking for new ways to balance between them. Specifically, the conference aims to advance research and practice in this field. The keynotes, presentations, posters and workshops show that the conference theme is very well-chosen and more actual than ever. The challenges posed by new technology have underscored the need to grasp the potential. Digital government brings into focus the realization of public values to improve our society at all levels of government. The conference again shows the importance of the digital government society, which brings together scholars in this field. Dg.o 2022 is fully online and enables to connect to scholars and practitioners around the globe and facilitate global conversations and exchanges via the use of digital technologies. This conference is primarily a live conference for full engagement, keynotes, presentations of research papers, workshops, panels and posters and provides engaging exchange throughout the entire duration of the conference

The e-Government Development Discourse

research agenda for e-Government. When e-Government was first conceived, it was designed upon basic technologies where the emphasis was only on the simple display of government information for citizens to read. Nowadays, e-Government design comprises many complicated modules such as upload and download consoles, two-way interaction consoles between citizens and government agents, integrated government business processes presenting the whole of government, and it does not depend solely on technology. The complexity of e-Government has now evolved to include political, cultural, economic, social and technical dimensions. Bringing all these difficult aspects together is so complicated that it needs carefully planned strategies informed by local contextual characteristics. Rather than giving formulaic definitions and conceptual standpoints on many aspects of e-Government, as is the case in many e-Government publications, this book will explore the frontiers of global knowledge value chains by discussing current and future dimensions of e-Government. For example, the book discusses the concept of data governance by exploring how actual opening up of government data can be achieved, especially in a developing world context. Further, the book posits that opening government data should be followed by the opening up of government business processes in order to peddle the concept of accountability and responsiveness. Much text on data governance has concentrated on articulating the basic definitions surrounding this concept. Another very important topic explored in this book is regarding how the concept of decolonisation can be extended to e-Government by providing practical examples as to how researchers in the developing world can contribute to the advancement of e-Government as a scientific field of enquiry and guide its implementation, thereof. Decolonisation is advocated for in e-Government research so that there is a balance in the inclusion of the Afrocentric knowledge into e-Government advancement other than over-reliance on the Euro-, Asia- and America-centric knowledge value chains (Mbembe 2015). As e-Government is a very expensive undertaking, the issue of funding has excluded African countries and a majority of the developing world from implementing e-Government. Despite funding being a critical cornerstone of e-Government development, there is a dearth of information on this topic. Therefore, this book provides a chapter which discusses traditional and innovative ways of funding e-Government design and implementation which can go a long way in improving e-Government penetration into the developing world. Further, the book explores how intelligent e-Government applications can be designed, especially in resource-constrained countries. A couple of emerging technology innovations such as fog computing and intelligent information technology are explored within the realm of e-Government design