Using a Model-driven Approach in Building a Provenance Framework for Tracking Policy-making Processes in Smart Cities

The significance of provenance in various settings has emphasised its potential in the policy-making process for analytics in Smart Cities. At present, there exists no framework that can capture the provenance in a policy-making setting. This research therefore aims at defining a novel framework, namely, the Policy Cycle Provenance (PCP) Framework, to capture the provenance of the policy-making process. However, it is not straightforward to design the provenance framework due to a number of associated policy design challenges. The design challenges revealed the need for an adaptive system for tracking policies therefore a model-driven approach has been considered in designing the PCP framework. Also, suitability of a networking approach is proposed for designing workflows for tracking the policy-making process.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, Proc of the 21st International Database Engineering & Applications Symposium (IDEAS 2017

A generic provenance framework to document public policy making processes

Public policies impact the day to day activities of individuals. Effective public policy outcomes result in general acceptance among the community. The transparency in policy making process and participation during policy creation holds significant positions for developing trust among the community. Established domains such as e-health employs provenance for creating transparency and trust among the researchers. Public policy making can also use provenance to develop trust and transparency in their processes. At present, however, public policy makers employ various means to manage public policy making. Having no unified platform for the policy making process presents challenges in respect of searching and locating the evidence that was used during policy creation and for ensuring trust and transparency among actors. The absence of such a support also presents challenges for participation in public policy making. To address the given challenges, this research presents the provenance framework that manages the public policy making provenance data and enable participation of diverse actors.Due to dynamicity attached to public policy making, a provenance framework needs to be adaptable. Therefore, a model-driven approach has been used to frame the public policy making provenance framework. In addition to a model-driven approach, a mechanism is required that can enable the capture of public policy processes. However, the knowledge-intensive dynamics of public policy making presents challenges for using process-based solutions. Therefore, this research work describes a process-agnostic approach inspired from a network-based packet switching approach for tracking policy making processes. Managing public policy provenance data is not the only facet that develops trust. What is required is the facilitation of citizens and non-government bodies in the policy creation process. Therefore, a provenance framework has been designed by considering the principles of smart governance which results in a smart cities solution. In order to evaluate the framework, a proof-of-concept has been designed and implemented. An evaluation has been carried out to determine the suitability of a model-driven and a process-agnostic approach for policy making provenance framework in smart cities. For the evaluation purposes, three public policy making case studies Shops Opening Hours’ Resolution, Air Quality Monitoring, and Neighbourhood Planning were employed. The three case studies were used to derive various experiments to test the provenance framework. The experiments captured the dynamic and knowledge-intensive aspects of the provenance framework. The results collected from the execution of the experiments demonstrated the aptness of a process-agnostic approach and model-driven approach for the policy making provenance framework. Lastly, an end user evaluation was carried out to assess the effectiveness of the provenance framework. The positive responses of end users showed the usefulness of the provenance framework

Open government in São Paulo : democracy in public policy

Orientador: Wagner de Melo RomãoTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências HumanasResumo: Os planos abertos do governo incluem uma variedade de atividades de participação política, provisão da informação e transparência, colaboração para qualificação da tomada de decisão, mecanismos de responsabilidade e medidas anticorrupção, assentados transversalmente na abertura, disponibilidade de dados padronizados e inovação tecnológica. A estratégia aplicada para alcançar esses propósitos corresponde a certas exigências que foram aplicadas à gestão pública, tais como a modernização da administração, o uso dos avanços tecnológicos, o desenvolvimento das mídias interativas, plataformas de governo e formas híbridas de participação. Diante do cenário, analisamos os limites e potencialidades da municipalização do governo aberto na Prefeitura de São Paulo, inaugurada na gestão de Fernando Haddad. Especificamente, examinamos o potencial para elaboração de políticas públicas de três iniciativas: Programa de Metas 2013-2016, a plataforma virtual Planeja Sampa e o São Paulo Aberta. A abordagem da pesquisa compreendeu a estratégia governamental de abertura como possível reforço aos processos democráticos no nível local, priorizando as diferentes sequências de tomada de decisão, e que envolvem a arena técnica e a arena cidadã na elaboração de políticas públicas, apoiando-se na participação, transparência, colaboração e inovação tecnológica. A pesquisa foi estruturada em três fases. Na primeira fase analisamos a literatura e a intersecção entre e-democracia e governo aberto. Identificamos e selecionamos modelos de análise no campo da e-participação para encerrar um quadro analítico do governo aberto, o ecossistema de governo aberto. A segunda fase consolidou a operacionalização da pesquisa, com a definição dos instrumentos e métodos de pesquisa, promovendo dispositivos arquitetados para analisar o processo políticos apoiado pelas tecnologias, como aplicação de heurística e modelagem política. Na última fase da pesquisa analisamos os casos sob a lente da dimensão democrática do governo aberto e os valores políticos caracterizados pela defesa da abertura; a dimensão do projeto e seus objetivos, o gerenciamento das iniciativas e atuação dos atores envolvidos; e finalmente, a dimensão sociotécnica com as propriedades e características das tecnologias do governo aberto. Os resultados apontaram que as iniciativas variam muito em relação à implementação de estratégias, gerenciamento das estratégias e sua capacidade de influenciar as políticas. A estratégia de abertura é promissora apenas as primeiras etapas do ciclo de políticas - formulação, agenda e tomada de decisões. A pesquisa revelou que critérios operacionais, institucionais e legais do gerenciamento da abertura tem um grande peso sobre a sustentabilidade das iniciativas, confirmando que a condução do projeto impacta nas escolhas das tecnologias e nas escolhas políticas sobre quais iniciativas tem maior prioridade. Ainda que o panorama seja de avanço, os resultados da abertura são intermediários ou de curto prazo, isso quer dizer que a municipalização ainda está em sua infância. As barreiras para o desenvolvimento do governo aberto foram reforçadas pela coordenação fragmentada para elaboração de políticas, sobreposição e conflitos legais e econômicos, baixa adesão à cultura pública aberta, baixa institucionalidade e alta informalidade entre os agentes públicos. Indicando lacunas de habilidades e investimentos em recursos humanos, padrões e especificações pouco claros na formatação técnica e operacional das iniciativas, incerteza quanto à sustentabilidade perante um quadro legal lasso. Ademais, a combinação da inovação social e tecnológica em programas do governo aberto da Prefeitura de São Paulo, envolvendo a participação e colaboração da população foi capaz de promover o status da abertura com o apoio da Open Government PartnershipAbstract: Government open plans include a variety of policy engagement, information provision and transparency, collaboration to qualify decision-making, accountability mechanisms and anti-corruption measures, settling across the gap, availability of standardized data, and technological innovation. The strategy applied to achieve these aims corresponds to certain requirements that have been applied to public management, such as the modernization of administration, the use of technological advances, the development of interactive media, platforms of government and hybrid forms of participation. In view of the scenario, we analyzed the limits and potentialities of the municipalization of open government in the City of São Paulo, inaugurated in the management of Fernando Haddad. Specifically, we examine the potential for public policy-making of three initiatives: Programa de Metas 2013-2016, the virtual platform Planeja Sampa and São Paulo Aberta. The research approach comprised the governmental strategy of opening as a possible reinforcement to democratic processes at the local level, prioritizing the different sequences of decision-making, and involving the technical arena and the citizen arena in the elaboration of public policies, relying on participation , transparency, collaboration and technological innovation. The research was structured in three phases. In the first phase we analyze the literature and the intersection between e-democracy and open government. We identify and select models of analysis in the field of e-participation to close an analytical framework of open government, the ecosystem of open government. The second phase consolidated the operationalization of the research, with the definition of the instruments and methods of research, promoting devices designed to analyze the political process supported by technologies, such as heuristic application and political modeling. In the last phase of the research we analyze the cases under the lens of the democratic dimension of open government and the political values ??characterized by the defense of openness; the size of the project and its objectives, the management of the initiatives and actions of the actors involved; and finally, the sociotechnical dimension with the properties and characteristics of open government technologies. The results showed that the initiatives vary widely in relation to the implementation of strategies, management of strategies and their capacity to influence policies. The opening strategy is promising only the first steps of the policy cycle - formulation, agenda and decision making. The survey revealed that operational, institutional and legal criteria for openness management weigh heavily on the sustainability of initiatives, confirming that project management impacts on technology choices and policy choices on which initiatives have the highest priority. Although the outlook is progress, the results of the opening are intermediate or short term, this means that municipalization is still in its infancy. The barriers to the development of open government were reinforced by fragmented coordination for policymaking, overlapping and legal and economic conflicts, low adherence to open public culture, low institutionality and high informality among public agents. Indicating skills gaps and investments in human resources, unclear standards and specifications in the technical and operational formatting of the initiatives, uncertainty about sustainability before a lax legal framework. In addition, the combination of social and technological innovation in open government programs of the City of São Paulo involving the participation and collaboration of the population was able to promote the status of openness with the support of the Open Government PartnershipDoutoradoCiencia PoliticaDoutora em Ciência Política1443125CAPE