Gaining the world and losing the soul? trust change in electronic government

We describe an empirical study of reported changes in citizens' trust when an electronic government system supporting the allocation of public housing was introduced by a local government body in south east England. (Similar systems have been introduced in most local government districts of the UK.) We present an analysis of survey data (521 respondents) showing that users of the electronically-mediated service were much more likely to report a reduction in trust as a result of their experience whilst people who used a more traditional mode of service delivery were much more likely to report improved trust. Using multivariate modelling approaches, we identify those aspects of respondents’ experiences which most influence the reported changes in trust, both positive and negative. We interpret these experiential factors in terms of clients’ needs when they are frustrated in their ability to contribute to the co-production of a public service. We suggest that the origin of the problem with the ICT-mediated mode of engagement with the service may be rooted in the deployment of a model of coproduction based upon e-commerce which was driven by central government targets and the related political agenda for service reform

Life and Health: An evidence review and synthesis for the Equality and Human Rights Commission's triennial review.

This report forms part of the first triennial review of equality undertaken by the Equality and Human Rights Commission; its aim is to provide a comprehensive picture of the state of equalities and human rights within the domains of Life Expectancy and Health

Open science resources for the discovery and analysis of Tara Oceans data

Le " Tara Expéditions" organise des expéditions pour étudier et comprendre l'impact des changements climatiques sur nos océans.International audienceThe Tara Oceans expedition (2009–2013) sampled contrasting ecosystems of the world oceans, collecting environmental data and plankton, from viruses to metazoans, for later analysis using modern sequencing and state-of-the-art imaging technologies. It surveyed 210 ecosystems in 20 biogeographic provinces, collecting over 35,000 samples of seawater and plankton. The interpretation of such an extensive collection of samples in their ecological context requires means to explore, assess and access raw and validated data sets. To address this challenge, the Tara Oceans Consortium offers open science resources, including the use of open access archives for nucleotides (ENA) and for environmental, biogeochemical, taxonomic and morphological data (PANGAEA), and the development of on line discovery tools and collaborative annotation tools for sequences and images. Here, we present an overview of Tara Oceans Data, and we provide detailed registries (data sets) of all campaigns (from port-to-port), stations and sampling events

Community-Level Responses to Iron Availability in Open Ocean Plankton Ecosystems

Predicting responses of plankton to variations in essential nutrients is hampered by limited in situ measurements, a poor understanding of community composition, and the lack of reference gene catalogs for key taxa. Iron is a key driver of plankton dynamics and, therefore, of global biogeochemical cycles and climate. To assess the impact of iron availability on plankton communities, we explored the comprehensive bio-oceanographic and bio-omics data sets from Tara Oceans in the context of the iron products from two state-of-the-art global scale biogeochemical models. We obtained novel information about adaptation and acclimation toward iron in a range of phytoplankton, including picocyanobacteria and diatoms, and identified whole subcommunities covarying with iron. Many of the observed global patterns were recapitulated in the Marquesas archipelago, where frequent plankton blooms are believed to be caused by natural iron fertilization, although they are not captured in large-scale biogeochemical models. This work provides a proof of concept that integrative analyses, spanning from genes to ecosystems and viruses to zooplankton, can disentangle the complexity of plankton communities and can lead to more accurate formulations of resource bioavailability in biogeochemical models, thus improving our understanding of plankton resilience in a changing environment

Evaluative design of e-Government projects: A community development perspective

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework supporting the design and evaluation of e-government projects, especially those involving voluntary and community organisations. The research adapts a socio-economic model of community sustainability, reinterpreting it in the context of e-government. It documents the evolution of a conceptual framework for evaluative design through study of a project in London, UK. An interpretive approach was adopted, within which research was guided by the structured-case method. The research provides an evaluative framework for e-government projects featuring four forms of community capital: infrastructural, environmental, human and social. An ex post evaluation illustrates how the framework identifies design and management issues that are not considered by conventional evaluative frameworks. The main sources of data reflect project management perspectives and information from monitoring the evolution of activities undertaken by participant organisations. There has been limited direct engagement with the latter and the next phase of research will apply the framework from their perspectives to identify factors promoting and inhibiting ongoing engagement with the system. The framework provides an analytic tool for designers and managers of e-government systems, especially those which feature online community building as a strategic outcome. All project stakeholders can use the framework to structure engagement with system design and management. The distinctive contribution is to reinterpret e-government from a community development perspective. It offers a means of identifying project shortcomings ignored by methods taking a narrower approach to e-government information systems development

eGovernment for You: Impact Evaluation Framework

This report details and discusses the impact evaluation framework (IEF) devised for the European Commission funded EGOV4U project. The project piloted the development and use of a range of ICT based initiatives to combat forms of social exclusion by partners in Dublin, Malta, Reykjavik, Rijeka and Milton Keynes, and sought to evaluate their impact

eGovernment for You: Work Package 7: Impact Evaluation: Training and Support Materials, Schedules and Methods

This report is a "toolkit" that contains an introduction to, and versions of, some of the key informational and training materials developed and used for the European Commission funded EGOV4U project