Mining Reaction and Diffusion Dynamics in Social Activities

Large quantifies of online user activity data, such as weekly web search volumes, which co-evolve with the mutual influence of several queries and locations, serve as an important social sensor. It is an important task to accurately forecast the future activity by discovering latent interactions from such data, i.e., the ecosystems between each query and the flow of influences between each area. However, this is a difficult problem in terms of data quantity and complex patterns covering the dynamics. To tackle the problem, we propose FluxCube, which is an effective mining method that forecasts large collections of co-evolving online user activity and provides good interpretability. Our model is the expansion of a combination of two mathematical models: a reaction-diffusion system provides a framework for modeling the flow of influences between local area groups and an ecological system models the latent interactions between each query. Also, by leveraging the concept of physics-informed neural networks, FluxCube achieves high interpretability obtained from the parameters and high forecasting performance, together. Extensive experiments on real datasets showed that FluxCube outperforms comparable models in terms of the forecasting accuracy, and each component in FluxCube contributes to the enhanced performance. We then show some case studies that FluxCube can extract useful latent interactions between queries and area groups.Comment: Accepted by CIKM 202

Challenges and Prospects of e‐Elections in Nigeria

E‐governance is a momentous currency in contemporary society, and it manifests in virtually all areas of life, which include, among others, banking, insurance, trade and commerce, and democracy. The deployment of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Information Technology (IT) devices for democratic governance has been successful in technologically advanced countries, and has inspired countries from the developing South, such as Nigeria to contemplate or commence e‐elections for democratic sustainability. The elections regulatory body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had contemplated exploring e‐elections in the country but later dropped the idea on grounds of unpreparedness. Electoral process or election however, has its several components: voter registration, registration review/update, electioneering campaigns, actual voting, and release of election results. These naturally come with their challenges and have informed a school of thought that based on Nigeria’s economic instability, corruption, resources mismanagement, and technologically backward climate, including unstable power supply, e‐elections would be far‐fetched. The other school of thought however, exhibits hope and optimism. This paper, with data scooped through questionnaire administration and from literature, examines the challenges and prospects as well as the peculiarity of Nigerian electoralsystem and the e‐election system, which will be marooned in the general Nigerian politicandl economic climate. Findings show that the prospects are and will always be good for the country, but that the stakes are far too high at a moment of huge infrastructural laybacks of the country. Moreover, not too many people have confidence in the electoral regime, let alone going ahead with such a venture as e‐elections. It therefore recommends, among other things, that the nation should develop the sub‐sectors of the economy that can sustain e‐elections before INEC goes ahead with the capital‐intensive enterprise for democratic sustainability in Nigeria

E-democracy Implementation: The Imperative of Agenda Setting

Decline in the level of citizens’ participation due to disconnect between citizens and their representatives has been identified as one of the prominent challenges facing most democratic societies in the world today. E-democracy has been identified to have the potentials to reduce the contemporary estrangement between the democratic actors by creating new forms of engagement, deliberation, and collaboration in polity to make the democratic processes more inclusive and transparent. However, edemocracy initiatives in many countries have had mixed success as most e-democracy implementations have been unable to justify the essence of huge investments made into it. This research paper reviews existing edemocracy development processes and agenda of nations among the top twenty countries in e-participation implementation as rated in the UN Global E-Government Evaluation, 2010. The sample composed of secondary data sourced from information system centric academic journals, book chapters, conference proceedings, database of international development organisations (OECD, UN, EU) on e-democracy implementation reports and database of research institutions and centres that focus on e-government and e-democracy implementation. Findings revealed that most countries do not have well established framework and agenda setting for e-democracy implementation, but only based their e-democracy implementation on one of the objectives of their e-government implementation. As a result, policy content is largely missing in most edemocracy strategies at both conceptual and implementation stage. This paper therefore, presents a guideline for e-democracy agenda setting and discusses issues germane to establishing e-democracy agenda. It submits that for a successful e-democracy implementation, the agenda-setting phase should capture the legal and political processes of the country. In addition, e-democracy strategic vision, strategic aim and objectives, strategic policy, mode of implementation and overseeing body should be well articulated in the agenda setting phase of e-democracy implementation plan. The discussion will benefit both researchers, government and practitioners on successful e-democracy implementation as basis for societal development

The Role of Information and Communication Technology on Transparency, Trust and Good Governance in Nigeria

Studies on transparency and trust in public sector management have generated exciting moments amongst scholars and practitioners alike in the area of good governance for development of societies. Furthermore, it has been argued by some scholars that government agencies are more likely to achieve their goals of enhanced performance for the improvement in the living standard of the people, particularly in the provision of adequate social amenities such as clean water, electricity supply, good roads, well equipped hospitals and adequate security protection of lives and properties, where transparency on the part of public officials in the use of public resources, and trust about government agencies on the part of the people are the norms in such a society. Previous studies have hinged on transparency for enhanced performance of government and its agencies on the integrity and perception of the individual employees in carrying out their assignments without taking into consideration the lack of capacity to perform, and the value judgment of such individuals. This present study focuses on the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in the management of government and its activities for enhanced development in the society. The work contributes to our understanding of the relationship between ICT, transparency, trust and good governance as a catalyst for development in Nigeria. With the use of structural equation model, the study empirically analyzed 261 copies of the questionnaire that were administered to respondents in the public and the private sectors of the nation’s economy, about their perception on the relationship between the variables under consideration. The findings suggest the importance of ICT as a facilitator of transparency in the management of public resources, including, revenue collection and disbursement of public funds by government officials, as a basis for societal development, than the mere reliance on individual employees’ integrity and perception in the management of public resources in Nigeria’s quest for developmen

Determinants of information and communication technologies for the online citizen participation adoption in urban contexts

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Information Management, specialization in Geographic Information SystemsThe electronic citizen participation (e-participation) is considered a branch of e-government with a focus on citizen involvement in information, consultation, and decision-making processes along with local governments. E-participation is considered an important pillar to support an inclusive and participative democracy. Governments all around the world, mainly local governments, are implementing different e-participation tools, for instance, online participatory budgeting, e-petitions, online incident reporting systems, online forums, etc. The potential benefits for the society of citizens engagement in the use of e-participation is widely agreed in the literature. However, the drivers of the e-participation adoption by the citizens are still on an exploratory stage in existing research. The understanding of the e-participation adoption factors is of a crucial importance for defining governmental strategies that pursue the citizen participatory engagement. This thesis contributes to a better understanding of the determinants of e-participation adoption in the urban contexts at individual level. The dissertation first carries out a review of the existing literature following a quantitative approach. Second, we developed three research models grounded in theories as unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), psychological empowerment, social capital, and sense of virtual community. Each model was evaluated in a cross-sectional experiment in two Portuguese cities that have implemented e-participation tools. The analysis of each model and its results are analysed in detail in each of the sections of this dissertation. And finally, we propose two lines for future research, one focused on the citizens satisfaction with e-participation, and the other explores the inclusion of components from social geography. Furthermore, the findings from this dissertation also provide insights for local governments that implement e-participation tools. The literature review of sixty quantitative studies published from the year 2000 to year 2017 revealed that the factors with stronger effect on the intention to use e-participation were the perceived usefulness, attitude, trust, trust in government, effort expectancy, and social influence. However, the most of these studies used a single theory of information systems to investigate e-participation, which may not uncover specific factors of the e-participation phenomenon. Moreover, the success of e-participation tools relies on the continuous usage over time. Understanding solely the drivers of intention to use in the short time does not guarantee the success in the long-term adoption. From the three research models presented in this dissertation, the first model focus on the study of the intention to use, usage, and intention to recommend e-participation. The last two focus on the continued intention to use e-participation. The first study develops a model that integrates the psychological empowerment, as second-order construct, and UTAUT to explain the intention to use and intention to recommend e-participation. We found that performance expectancy and empowerment were the stronger motivators of intention to use, and empowerment was the stronger driver for the citizens recommend the e-participation technologies. The second study evaluates the effect of each of the dimensions of empowerment plus habit on the continued intention to use e-participation. Results show that competence, meaning, and habit have a significant effect on the continuous intention. Multigroup analysis in this study revealed that the use of e-participation has stronger meaning for older participants. The third cross-sectional study integrates the sense of virtual community theory with constructs of UTAUT that have a direct effect on the usage behaviour, namely facilitating conditions and habit. We found that habit is a good predictor of use behaviour and continued intention, nevertheless, sense of virtual community resulted a good predictor of e-participation usage in the short term, but not significant on the continued intention to use over time

Technology in the 21st Century: New Challenges and Opportunities

Although big data, big data analytics (BDA) and business intelligence have attracted growing attention of both academics and practitioners, a lack of clarity persists about how BDA has been applied in business and management domains. In reflecting on Professor Ayre's contributions, we want to extend his ideas on technological change by incorporating the discourses around big data, BDA and business intelligence. With this in mind, we integrate the burgeoning but disjointed streams of research on big data, BDA and business intelligence to develop unified frameworks. Our review takes on both technical and managerial perspectives to explore the complex nature of big data, techniques in big data analytics and utilisation of big data in business and management community. The advanced analytics techniques appear pivotal in bridging big data and business intelligence. The study of advanced analytics techniques and their applications in big data analytics led to identification of promising avenues for future research

Global competency for an inclusive world

Global Competence includes the acquisition of in-depth knowledge and understanding of global and intercultural issues; the ability to learn from and live with people from diverse backgrounds; and the attitudes and values necessary to interact respectfully with others. The driving ideas are that global trends are complex and require careful investigation, that cross-cultural engagement should balance clear communication with sensitivity to multiple perspectives and that global competence should equip young people not just to understand but to act. These objectives already feature in the curricula of many countries. But they now need further evolution, in response to changing imperatives. The greatest of these is the need to find a new concept of growth. This may not be a quantifiable concept, based solely on maximising economic gains, but a multidimensional concept that includes care for the environment and social harmony, as well as acceptable levels of security, health, and education. It will cover quantitative and qualitative indicators, including subjective well-being and quality jobs. It will ensure that the benefits of growth are fairly shared across society

An Empirical Assessment of Climate Change in the Courts: A New Jurisprudence or Business as Usual?

While legal scholarship seeking to assess the impact of litigation on the direction of climate change policy is abundant and growing in leaps and bounds, to date it has relied on and examined only small, isolated pieces of the vast litigation landscape. Without a complete picture of what has and has not been within the sweep of climate change litigation, it is difficult to offer a robust evaluation of the past, present, and future of climate change jurisprudence. Based on a comprehensive empirical study of the status of all (201) climate change litigation matters filed through 2010, this Article is the first to fill those gaps and assess the state of play of climate change in the courts. It concludes that the story of climate change in the courts has not been one of courts forging a new jurisprudence, but rather one of judicial business as usual. Part I of the Article outlines the scope of climate change litigation, explaining what qualifies as climate change litigation in our study, our methodology for identifying and coding case attributes, and our typology of the claims that have been or likely will be made as climate change moves relentlessly forward. Part I then presents and assesses the major theme revealed from our empirical study and largely missing from commentary on climate change litigation-that a siege-like battle between pro and anti regulation interests has led to an increasingly robust and complex litigation landscape but with mixed results for both sides. Drawing from those findings, Part III takes on a set of empirical and normative questions designed to summarize and assess the climate change litigation experience and its impacts on the content and institutions of climate policy. It is evident at all levels of inquiry that courts have taken a business as usual approach to climate change, resisting litigants\u27 attempts to make courts a locus of direct policy-making, but courts nevertheless have influenced the policy content and its institutional contours dramatically. We extract these themes from the full experience of climate change litigation and suggest fruitful paths of research to develop a better understanding of the role and impact of the courts in the climate change policy arena. Part IV then stretches a bit from the confines of our empirical study and findings to speculate about the future of climate change litigation

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

An Empirical Assessment of Climate Change In The Courts: A New Jurisprudence Or Business As Usual?

With the demise of climate legislation in Congress, and the Supreme Court’s rejection of climate-related lawsuits brought under federal common law, rapt attention has turned to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) efforts to bring greenhouse gases into the regulatory fold. Certainly, as the works in this special issue of the Florida Law Review demonstrate, EPA is not the only important player in the climate arena; indeed, as I will reluctantly suggest, the Agency’s efforts here appear to be waning rather than waxing. Even so, before turning to other aspects of the problem of climate change, discussed in other works in this issue, it is worth taking stock of where EPA is now, how it came to this point, and how it might proceed from here. While legal scholarship seeking to assess the impact of litigation on the direction of climate change policy is abundant and growing in leaps and bounds, to date it has relied on and examined only small, isolated pieces of the vast litigation landscape. Without a complete picture of what has and has not been within the sweep of climate change litigation, it is difficult to offer a robust evaluation of the past, present, and future of climate change jurisprudence. Based on a comprehensive empirical study of the status of all (201) climate change litigation matters filed through 2010, this Article is the first to fill those gaps and assess the state of play of climate change in the courts. It concludes that the story of climate change in the courts has not been one of courts forging a new jurisprudence, but rather one of judicial business as usual. Part I of the Article outlines the scope of climate change litigation, explaining what qualifies as climate change litigation in our study, our methodology for identifying and coding case attributes, and our typology of the claims that have been or likely will be made as climate change moves relentlessly forward. Part II then presents and assesses the major theme revealed from our empirical study and largely missing from commentary on climate change litigation-that a siege-like battle between “pro” and “anti” regulation interests has led to an increasingly robust and complex litigation landscape but with mixed results for both sides. Drawing from those findings, Part III takes on a set of empirical and normative questions designed to summarize and assess the climate change litigation experience and its impacts on the content and institutions of climate policy. It is evident at all levels of inquiry that courts have taken a “business as usual” approach to climate change, resisting litigants’ attempts to make courts a locus of direct policymaking, but courts nevertheless have influenced the policy content and its institutional contours dramatically. We extract these themes from the full experience of climate change litigation and suggest fruitful paths of research to develop a better understanding of the role and impact of the courts in the climate change policy arena. Part IV then stretches a bit from the confines of our empirical study and findings to speculate about the future of climate change litigation