Citizen Participation and engagement in the Design of e-Government Services: The Missing Link in Effective ICT Design and Delivery

Enid Mumford championed an ethical, socio-technical, and participatory approach to the design of ICT systems. In this paper, we focus on the development of e-government as an example of such a system. First, we present an extension of Mumford¡¯s ideas about the benefits and process of participation, based on an analysis of recent citizen engagement initiatives. We then examine the extent to which e-government reflects the principles she espoused. The evidence collated indicates that e-government development is currently characterised by a technocentric approach with minimal engagement of citizens. We discuss the implications arising from this analysis, and explore the benefits that governments could achieve from adoption of a socio-technical, participatory approach to e-government development. The crucial enabling role of capacity building is highlighted. Providing citizens with the necessary skills and capabilities to engage effectively offers the key to the successful development of systems such as e-government which impact our lives in the 21st century Information Society

Digital humanities and crowdsourcing: an exploration

publication-status: Published‘Crowdsourcing’ is a recent and evolving phenomenon, and the term has been broadly adopted to define different shades of public participation and contribution. Cultural institutions are progressively exploring crowdsourcing, and projects’ related research is increasing. Nonetheless, few studies in the digital humanities have investigated crowdsourcing as a whole. The aim of this paper is to shed light on crowdsourcing practices in the digital humanities, thus providing insights to design new paths of collaboration between cultural organisations and their audiences. A web survey was carried out on 36 crowdsourcing projects promoted by galleries, libraries, archives, museums, and education institutions. A variety of practices emerged from the research. Even though, it seems that there is no ‘one-solution-fits-all’ for crowdsourcing in the cultural domain, few reflections are presented to support the development of crowdsourcing initiatives.Horizon Digital Economy Research Hu

User Participation and the Success of Development of ICT4D project: A Critical Review

“Involve target groups in project design and monitoring”. This is the first of five points of lesson-learned from a detailed review commissioned by InfoDev of a cross-section of 17 of the more than 100 ICT4-for-Development (ICT4D) pilot projects it has funded in the past several years in preparation for the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva-2003 (InfoDev, 2003). Yet, since the publication of this report, there are still conflicting arguments among ICT4D practicioners and researchers regarding the positive impact of user participation on the success of development of ICT4D project. This paper reviews the existing ICT4D studies that discuss this issue and offer suggestions for the future research

Digital Inclusion and Sustainable Development in Nigeria: The Role of Libraries

Sustainable development has been defined as the development that meets the social, economic and technological needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. To attain sustainable development, the roles of information and digital literacy cannot be ignored. Unfortunately, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, adult illiteracy rate in Nigeria stands at 56.9%, while 95% of Nigerians do not own a personal computer (PC). Considering that opportunities and access to information and communication technologies (which are key drivers of sustainable development) are predicated on literacy, the Nigerian situation is very disturbing. In this paper, we examine the concept of digital inclusion and its role in sustainable development. An assessment of the situation in Nigeria reveals that libraries at different levels have critical roles to play in surmounting the challenges of digital inclusion in the country. The paper concludes with a way forward for libraries and key actors in the Nigerian polity

CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN INCREASINGLY DIGITALIZED GOVERNMENTAL ENVIRONMENTS – A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Citizen participation in increasingly digitalized governmental environments can introduce fruitful capabilities to encourage citizens to engage in municipal affairs and through this take actively part in fostering smart cities’ effectiveness. However, the practical exploitation of recent knowledge is still not sufficiently operationalized, whilst research in this field yields various approaches focusing on diverse emphases. Therefore, the necessity of systematically collecting and afterwards analysing the existing literature towards this topic is obvious. This paper depicts a proceeding to systematically review the available literature towards the relevant research units on citizen participation. Overall, 48 topic-based papers were identified out of leading journals and conference papers about information systems. The main findings of the relevant papers were assessed to a proposed analytical framework consisting of increasing participation stages and two distinct focus groups namely government and citizens. Accordingly, the covered recent focus areas of research are identified to reveal where state-of-the-art research falls short. Consequently, the imperative of emphasising investigation regarding concepts for ICT-enabled services focusing the empowerment of citizens arises as being our contribution for guiding future research, whilst governments can practically benefit from the composed framework by using it for classifying, planning and implementing proposed participation activities

Mind the Gap Phase 2: Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Students at Anglia Ruskin University

The primary aim of work undertaken with Aimhigher funding is to ensure that the outcomes of such work become embedded in the institution concerned and are taken forward once the funding has ceased. In this regard, MTG2 has been a great success. Building on Mind the Gap 1 (MTG1), the Project was designed to start the process of developing staff and embedding systems of support throughout our University for students with mental health difficulties and/or distress (MHD/D). The Project was identified as a key component of the work our University is undertaking as part of our combined Disability Equality Scheme action plan. The Project has identified a significant interest amongst staff for training in this area and INSPIRE shall – in collaboration with the Office of Student Affairs and Human Resources (HR) – continue to offer workshops and resources in the future

Factors Explaining Government Officials\u27 Perceptions of Citizen Engagement in the Municipal Strategic Planning Process

Research has suggested that citizen engagement in local government decisions is important for sustaining democratic ideals. However, scholars are still working to understand how those responsible for organizing citizen engagement at the local level perceive such efforts. There has also been little work examining how citizen engagement is integrated in strategic planning processes at the municipal level of government. This study aims to address both gaps by investigating contemporary factors impacting government officials’ perceptions of citizen engagement in strategic planning processes. Collaborative Governance Theory (CGT) focuses on creating an environment where community members can develop, debate, and negotiate ideas or concepts that impact their local communities. The theory describes what effective institution, collaboration, leadership, and incentives look like in community engagement processes. In my tristate study (Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming), I examine the practical citizen engagement efforts utilized by city managers and mayors to assess two concepts. First, how well do the engagement methods proposed by CGT explain actual strategic planning processes? Second, do municipal leaders perceive that citizen engagement processes are beneficial to the strategic planning process? Data was collected on a variety of variables drawn from the CGT model, and data related to citizen engagement in municipal strategic planning processes. Data was analyzed using ordinary least squares (OLS), as well as ordinal and binomial logistic regression analyses. Findings indicate that the presence of institutions, collaboration, and leadership, key variables in CGT, increase government officials’ perceptions that citizen engagement in the strategic planning process is both beneficial and impacts the public policy process. The findings also indicate that education and income, which are two key variables used to measure power and resources in the CGT model, are insignificant when measuring government officials’ perceptions of citizen engagement in the strategic planning process. Lastly, the findings of this study suggest that economic and education indicators (average household income, average % with Bachelor’s degree) do not impact citizen engagement in the strategic planning process at the municipal level of government

E-CODEMOCRACIA O ESTADO AMBIENTAL ARTICULADO EM UM ESTADOREDE E O DIREITO FUNDAMENTAL DE ACESSO À INTERNET COMO ELEMENTOS DA PROTEÇÃO PROCEDIMENTAL DO MEIO AMBIENTE NO CYBERESPAÇO / E-CODEMOCRACY THE AMBIENTAL STATE ARTICULATED IN A NETWORK STATE

Resumo: Enfrentar a incerteza inerente ao conhecimento sobre o ambiente significa reconhecer a insuficiência do Estado para, sozinho, determinar diretrizes de proteção ambiental, do que decorre a necessidade de criação de regras processuais relacionadas à informação ambiental e à participação pública em processos decisórios. Este artigo analisa elementos básicos de um Estado Ambiental e, em seguida, de um Estado-rede (a partir da perspectiva de uma sociedade-rede), com o intuito de caracterizar a proteção procedimental do meio ambiente em sede da articulação de um Estado Ambiental em um Estado-rede. O enfoque é perceber essa procedimentalização no cyberespaço, o que significa utilizar o formato de rede da malha comunicativa para obter maior produção, disseminação, análise e compreensão da informação ambiental, de um lado, e o efetivo debate democrático e qualificada participação nos processos decisórios ambientais sob uma estrutura arejada de cyberdemocracia, de outro. Ao fim, são apresentadas algumas características da dimensão positiva da eficácia face ao Estado do direito fundamental social de acesso à Internet. Palavras-chave: Internet. Procedimentalização. Estado Ambiental. Estado-rede. Sociedade-rede. Proteção Ambiental. Democracia. Direitos Fundamentais