Environmental Activism, Social Networks and the Internet

Social networks and the internet both have a substantial individual effect on environmental activism in China. In this article, we speculate that social linking patterns between environmental actors, which often facilitate activism on the ground, may also exist in cyberspace in the form of an online network. The article addresses the following empirical questions. Does such an online network exist? If so, who are the constituent actors? Are these the same actors observed on the ground? In addressing these questions the article aims to contribute to the growing debate on the implications of the internet for the potential emergence of social movements in China

Governance NASCIO

NASCIO represents state chief information officers and information technology executives and managers from state governments across the United States. For more information visit www.nascio.org

Hack Weeks as a model for Data Science Education and Collaboration

Across almost all scientific disciplines, the instruments that record our experimental data and the methods required for storage and data analysis are rapidly increasing in complexity. This gives rise to the need for scientific communities to adapt on shorter time scales than traditional university curricula allow for, and therefore requires new modes of knowledge transfer. The universal applicability of data science tools to a broad range of problems has generated new opportunities to foster exchange of ideas and computational workflows across disciplines. In recent years, hack weeks have emerged as an effective tool for fostering these exchanges by providing training in modern data analysis workflows. While there are variations in hack week implementation, all events consist of a common core of three components: tutorials in state-of-the-art methodology, peer-learning and project work in a collaborative environment. In this paper, we present the concept of a hack week in the larger context of scientific meetings and point out similarities and differences to traditional conferences. We motivate the need for such an event and present in detail its strengths and challenges. We find that hack weeks are successful at cultivating collaboration and the exchange of knowledge. Participants self-report that these events help them both in their day-to-day research as well as their careers. Based on our results, we conclude that hack weeks present an effective, easy-to-implement, fairly low-cost tool to positively impact data analysis literacy in academic disciplines, foster collaboration and cultivate best practices.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PNAS, all relevant code available at https://github.com/uwescience/HackWeek-Writeu

Exploring capability and accountability outcomes of open development for the poor and marginalized: An analysis of select literature

Open development concerns the application of digitally-enabled openness to radically change human capability and governance contexts (Davies & Edwards, 2012; Smith & Reilly, 2013; Smith, Elder, & Emdon, 2011). However, what openness means, and how it contributes to development outcomes is contested (Buskens, 2013; Singh & Gurumurthy, 2013). Furthermore, the potential of open development to support positive social transformation has not yet materialized, particularly for marginalized populations (Bentley & Chib, 2016), partly because relatively little is known regarding how transformation is enacted in the field. Likewise, two promising outcomes – the expansion of human capabilities and accountability – have not been explored in detail. This research interrogates the influence of digitally-enabled openness on transformation processes and outcomes. A purposeful sample of literature was taken to evaluate outcomes and transformation processes according to our theoretical framework, which defines seven cross-cutting dimensions essential to incorporate. We argue that these dimensions explain links between structures, processes and outcomes of open development. These links are essential to understand in the area of Community Informatics as they enable researchers and practitioners to support effective use of openness by and for poor and marginalized communities to pursue their own objectives

Sharing Government-Owned Data with the Public: A Cross-Country Analysis of Open Data Practice in the Middle East

Since 2009, open government policies, open data, and social media use in government have been actively promoted by democratic governments around the world to promote the goals of government transparency, citizen engagement, and collaboration. To date, however, there is a lack of empirical research into open government practice. This knowledge gap has managerial and public policy implications for democratic governments and, importantly, for the governments in the Middle East in which explosive growth has occurred in the number of users of the Internet and social media. This research attempts to reduce this gap by examining the maturity level in open data implementation across the governments in the Middle East. In this research the maturity level was measured using the eight principles for open government data implementation practice proposed by the 2007 Open Data Working Group. The key findings from website survey analysis on open data practices and plausible reasons are discussed

Peering Through the Digital Window: Assessing Online Disclosure of the Public Procurement Data in Bima City

This article explores the level of "online data disclosure" or "website-based transparency" concerning Open Government and Electronic Public Procurement. It specifically focuses on the availability and accessibility of procurement data on the official public procurement website of the Bima City Government, which can be found at https://lpse.bimakota.go.id/eproc4. The transparency indicator used by researchers to explore this issue is the Municipal Transparency Index (MTI) from Portugal's Transparência e Integridade Associação Cívica (TIAC). The unit of analysis boils down to website-based transparency of public procurement documents and the activities inherent in its management. The researchers used two types of data, namely (i) primary data, obtained directly through in-depth interviews with several informants determined by purposive sampling technique, from the management of the government's electronic procurement system; and (ii) secondary data, obtained through a literature study of official documents, mass media articles, internet news sites, and others. This research is intended to add to the empirical case study on the level of website-based transparency managed by local governments in Indonesia, where this aspect is reflected by data openness in its provision and accessibility, which is an important prerequisite for building transparency and a core part of the Open Government initiative. The official website of the Bima City Government's EPP currently does not show an indication of ideal openness in terms of data availability and accessibility, due to specific constraints in the form of budget limitations, staff competence, and the commitment of political leaders. Corruption allegations against certain elite in the city illustrate the vulnerability of goods and services procurement to the worst maladministration practices or abuse of power

Rights-Based and Tech-Driven: Open Data, Freedom of Information, and the Future of Government Transparency

Open data policy mandates that government proactively publish its data online for the public to reuse. It is a radically different approach to transparency than traditional right-to-know strategies as embodied in Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) legislation in that it involves ex ante rather than ex post disclosure of whole datasets. Although both open data and FOIA deal with information sharing, the normative essence of open data is participation rather than litigation. By fostering public engagement, open data shifts the relationship between state and citizen from a monitorial to a collaborative one, centered around using information to solve problems together. This Essay explores the theory and practice of open data in comparison to FOIA and highlights its uses as a tool for advancing human rights, saving lives, and strengthening democracy. Although open data undoubtedly builds upon the fifty-year legal tradition of the right to know about the workings of one\u27s government, open data does more than advance government accountability. Rather, it is a distinctly twenty-first century governing practice borne out of the potential of big data to help solve society\u27s biggest problems. Thus, this Essay charts a thoughtful path toward a twenty-first century transparency regime that takes advantage of and blends the strengths of open data\u27s collaborative and innovation-centric approach and the adversarial and monitorial tactics of freedom of information regimes

Uncovering Partnership among Village Stakeholders in Village Governance: An Evidence from East Java, Indonesia

This study uncovers the partnership interactions that occur in village government in East Java and aims to determine the partnership, described and explained in the form of a quadrant-type of analysis through two dimensions of Government and Non-partnership. The existence of two institutions (village government and BPD) that carried out village governance requires a robust partnership and mutual interactions among both in the implementation of their activities, the pattern of partnership relations itself has become a trend in public administration and good governance practices, where partnerships are considered capable of increasing the effectiveness of governance in the provision of public services. The data analysis used in this research is descriptive quantitative by measuring the mean of two dimensions, so that it can describe the quadrant that explains the partnership relationship between the two institutions. The results of this analysis indicate that the partnership relationship that occurs occupies the partnership quadrant, meaning that there is a high alliance between the two institutions