Generating citizen trust in e-government using a trust verification agent: A research note

Generating Citizen Trust in e-Government using a Trust Verification AgentThis is an eGISE network paper. It is motivated by a concern about the extent to which trust issues inhibit a citizen’s take-up of online public sector services or engagement with public decision and policy making. A citizen’s decision to use online systems is influenced by their willingness to trust the environment and agency involved. This project addresses one aspect of individual “trust” decisions by providing support for citizens trying to evaluate the implications of the security infrastructure provided by the agency. Based on studies of the way both groups (citizens and agencies) express their concerns and concepts in the security area, the project will develop a software tool – a trust verification agent (TVA) - that can take an agency’s security statements (or security audit) and infer how effectively this meets the security concerns of a particular citizen. This will enable citizens to state their concerns and obtain an evaluation of the agency’s provision in appropriate “citizen friendly” language. Further, by employing rule-based expert systems techniques the TVA will also be able to explain its evaluation.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council-UK (grant GR/T27020/01

Focus Issue on Legacy Information Systems and Business Process Change:The Role of Stakeholders in Managing Change

To manage organisational change in the context of legacy information systems, which may need replacement or revision, the strategy process should respond to corporate opportunity rather than past internal difficulties. Steering groups are often used to guide the strategy process. An important problem is the identification of appropriate stakeholders that need to be represented on the steering group. A related problem is to establish the boundary of the new information system. Computer Information Systems development often focuses on direct users and affected internal departments as the exclusive stakeholders. However these groups may present too narrow a perspective. To improve the effectiveness of the development process, a wider constituency should be considered that includes organisational partners in the wider business environment. This paper presents a method, the stakeholder web, that identifies appropriate stakeholders and their viewpoints. It illustrates the concepts with a large-scale university information systems project. The stakeholder web is used to analyse the relationships between the activities and membership of a university information systems steering group over a five-year period. The results demonstrate the dynamic nature of the project and the associated changes in membership of the steering group

Care: an integrated framework to support continuous, adaptable, reflective evaluation of eGovernment systems: A research note

CARE: an Integrated Framework to Support Continuous, Adaptable, Reflective Evaluation of Egovernment SystemsThis is an eGISE network paper. It is motivated by a concern to develop a better approach to learning from the experience of an eGovernment project and applying that knowledge in future projects. The proposed project is based on previous work in the construction industry that developed COLA, a Cross Organisational Learning Approach. Developing a similar strategy for Knowledge Management is likely to be effective because the ‘silo’ culture of local government organisations has parallels with the segmented organisational structures within the construction industry.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) UK (grant GR/T27020/01

Democratic Decision-making In The Infomration Society: Exploring Stakeholders’ VIEWS

Exploiting the relationship between democratic decision-making and the underlying technical infrastructure of the Information Society raises important issues of how various stakeholders perceive potential innovations and the role of technology in political activities. The connection between people, technology and politics is a concept usually referred to as eDemocracy. Its practices span from systems developed within the sphere of eGovernment to non-institutional initiatives which emerge through experience and mobilize political expression using ad hoc online means, such as blogs and social networking groups. This paper identifies this diversity and discusses explanatory findings on different perceptions of key stakeholders, examining how the concept of democracy as an online activity is compatible with their experiences and interests. At the next step, it suggests that research should compare and evaluate these diverse practices by importing concepts of stakeholder thinking. The outcome of this research would provide important added value into exploring and balancing different opinions and objectives towards sustainable development of the eDemocracy agenda within Information Society’s policies. We present our ideas by examining the case of a system which has drawn much attention during the last years: the UK Prime Minister’s ePetitions

Information Systems Evaluation Mini-track Introduction

This is the sixth year of the AMCIS Information Systems Evaluation mini-track and once again a significant number of papers have been submitted. In this year’s introduction the track chairs address two areas of continuing need for evaluation research. First there is the question of understanding the full range of mechanisms that lead to systems failure – that is systems that do not meet expectations. Identification, evaluation and management of these risks is an important area with room for further work. Second there is the rapid and pragmatic growth of systems in the public (e-Government) sector. The different notions of value within this area demand reappraisal and revision of systems evaluation methods. The track chairs also introduce the 12 papers selected for this year’s mini-track. They cover issues ranging from conventional ex-ante and expost project evaluation to the assessment of modelling languages and organisational readiness

Social networking for membership engagement in nonprofit organisations: a trade union study

Similar to the majority of public authorities internationally, many non-profit organisations are considering using Web 2.0tools to establish online interactions with their members. However, such organisations encounter practical difficulties withassessing the impact of Web 2.0 tools and aligning them with the expectations of their audience. The limited availability ofrelevant empirical work provides the motivation to reflect on the findings of a research survey conducted with the membersof a Greek trade union organisation. Guided by the survey results, union officials are able to better consider an onlineengagement strategy. For example, contrasting preliminary expectations, most union members did anticipate benefits fromthe union’s presence on Facebook and appeared willing not to draw fixed boundaries between their personal and workinglife. The study illustrates how research and continuous monitoring can contribute to realising the value of networkingtechnologies within the naturally complicated socio-political environment of such organisations

A business model perspective for ICTs in public engagement

This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published article can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2012 ElsevierPublic institutions, in their efforts to promote meaningful citizen engagement, are increasingly looking at the democratic potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Previous studies suggest that such initiatives seem to be impeded by socio-technical integration barriers such as low sustainability, poor citizen acceptance, coordination difficulties, lack of understanding and failure to assess their impact. Motivated by these shortcomings, the paper develops and applies a business model perspective as an interceding framework for analysis and evaluation. The underlying principle behind this approach is that it is not technology per se which determines success, but rather the way in which the businessmodel of the technological artifact is configured and employed to achieve the strategic goals. The business model perspective is empirically demonstrated with the case of an online petitioning system implemented by a UK local authority. The case illustrates the importance of considering ICTs in public engagement from a holistic view to make them more manageable and assessable