Problem Conceptualization as a Foundation of Data Analytics in Local Governments: Lessons from the City of Syracuse, New York

The use data and data analytics (DA) has been attracting the attention of academics and practitioners in the public sector and is sometimes seen as a potential strategy for process and service innovation. While research on the many possible uses of data have clearly increased - open data, big data, data analytics- empirical research on the socio-technical process that local governments followed when using data analytics to improve services and policies is still scarce. Based on existing literature about data analytics in the public sector and the data lifecycle concept, this paper examines how data analytics is actually used in a local government and what are the main steps in this process. It analyzes the experience of a mid-size American city that had a dedicated task force to data analytics use to support decision making at the local level – Syracuse, New York. Findings suggest that data analytics as a process not only involves data analysis and representations (such as visualizations), but also data collection and cleaning. Further, it seems clear that the conceptualization of the problem is a critical step in producing meaningful data analytics, but also in thinking about innovations even when data is not readily available

Understanding Data Analytics Practices in Kansas City: The Importance of Multi-Level Stewardship, Collaborative Governance and an Incremental Strategy

Local governments face complex challenges and are increasingly pressured to find innovative strategies to address them. Recently, they are leveraging data analytics and a number of policy modeling techniques to respond to those challenges. While a lot of attention is given to smart initiatives and data analytics endeavors in big cities, not enough studies have looked at experiences of smaller jurisdictions, who also have to solve difficult and often relatively unique problems. This paper examines how Kansas City, Missouri (KCMO) is currently using data analytics as a means of creating useful information for problem-solving around the city. As part of the What Work Cities network, the city embraced data-driven management as a new modus operandi and has been recognized nationally as a successful case. Among the main findings, it can be highlighted that: (1) data analytics can be kick started by committed public leadership, but is enabled organically by stewards who have traditionally and iteratively responded to information needs from a variety of local government agencies; and (2) stakeholders and organizations that are involved with data analytics have different capabilities, face different challenges, and frequently adopt incremental strategies that include data management and governance aspects

A Collaborative Governance Approach to Partnerships Addressing Public Problems with Private Data

The recent explosion of data, which is generated, collected, and exchanged, opens up new opportunities and poses new challenges. Actors in different sectors have recently began to explore how they can work together and leverage these data to help address ‘wicked’ problems. A novel form of cross sector partnership emerges, labelled “data collaborative”, which is normally focused on accessing private sector data and using it to address public problems. While there is emerging knowledge about how data can be shared in such partnerships, less is known about the collaboration dynamics of these partnerships. Are there any distinct collaboration mechanisms and challenges that come into play? In this paper, we examine this problem from the perspective of collaborative governance and propose a framework for understanding collaboration around data sharing for public good

Being smart: Emerging technologies and innovation in the public sector

Smart government is used to characterize activities that creatively invest in emergent technologies coupled with innovative strategies to achieve more agile and resilient government structures and governance infrastructures. However, there is no consensus in terms of what this term includes and how it is related to emergent technologies and innovation in the public sector. This introductory paper provides readers with ways to think about smart government and summarizes findings from twelve articles included in this special issue. These articles, which are the best papers of the 6th International Conference on the Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV2012), contribute to emerging understanding of being smart in government settings. The articles span a great diversity of related topics such as smart cities, open government, and participation mechanisms. Collectively, the articles provide perspectives on the nature of smart governments and illustrate exemplar practices and initiatives on how governments are opening up and transforming service delivery to become smarter. The special issue in its entirety contributes to understanding governance structures, technical infrastructures, and other requirements geared toward supporting the operations of smarter governments around the world