ICTs and Political Accountability: An Assessment of the Impact of Digitization in Government on Political Accountability in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York State

This report presents a first analysis of the results of empirical research into the impact of digitization on political accountability in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York State. The report focuses on presenting the empirical findings and these data still require further analysis

E-mail in Government: Networks in the Shadow of Hierarchy

Session 5: Knowledge societ

Why Would Anyone Like To Share His Knowledge?

Why do workers within organizations, or organizations in a network share information and knowledge? This question reverses the logic in some of the knowledge management literature, which addresses impediments and problems in information and knowledge sharing. According to property rights theory, information sharing can be explained in terms of self-interest, maximizing behavior, indispensability of groups and complementarity of assets. Based on this line of reasoning and on empirical evidence presented in this paper, we conclude that the ownership structure of information and knowledge systems matters. In building knowledge management systems, developers should take into account that the intuitive wisdom, indicating that central control is better control, should be interpreted with great caution

Citizens4Citizens: mapping participatory practices on the internet

Many important forms of public participation take place in interactions between citizens. Studying these interactions is crucial for understanding e‑governance, defined as steering in the public domain. The new forms of public participations can be labeled Citizens2Citizens interactions (C2C). Citizens use the Internet to facilitate policy participation (meant to support or undermine government policies), political participation (directed at influencing political decision‑making and agenda‑setting) and social participation (to increase social capital). Attention for these forms of digital participation coincides with the rise of a new set of Web applications which are grouped under the label 'Web 2.0'. This paper is an attempt to conceptualize and categorize the wide variety of types and forms of C2C to provide a basis for a further development of this new research field. We do not claim that our exploration will lead to a final and complete description of C2C; we merely aim to present an overview of the diversity of forms of C2C initiatives that are taking place in the digital world. The argument we are putting forward is that new technologies offer new venues for participating and that these new practices will constitute both a replication of and an addition to existing offline practices of public participation. Our explorative research of C2C initiatives results in a map of political, policy and social participation. This map of C2C initiatives can provide insights in the variety of Internet practices and help subsequent researches in their selection of initiatives for in‑depth studies. Additionally, our research results in an exploration of the implications the analyzed initiatives can have for participation in the public sector

Neural spike sorting with spatio-temporal features

The paper analyses signals that have been measured by brain probes during surgery. First background noise is removed from the signals. The remaining signals are a superposition of spike trains which are subsequently assigned to different families. For this two techniques are used: classic PCA and code vectors. Both techniques confirm that amplitude is the distinguishing feature of spikes. Finally the presence of various types of periodicity in spike trains are examined using correlation and the interval shift histogram. The results allow the development of a visual aid for surgeons

Legitimacy of Algorithmic Decision-Making: Six Threats and the Need for a Calibrated Institutional Response

Algorithmic decision-making in government has emerged rapidly in recent years, leading to a surge in attention for this topic by scholars from various fields, including public administration. Recent studies provide crucial yet fragmented insights on how the use of algorithms to support or fully automate decisions is transforming government. This article ties together these insights by applying the theoretical lenses of government legitimacy and institutional design. We identify how algorithmic decision-making challenges three types of legitimacy—input, throughput, and output—and identify institutional arrangements that can mitigate these threats. We argue that there is no silver bullet to maintain legitimacy of algorithmic government and that a multiplicity of different institutional mechanisms is required, ranging from legal structures and civic participation to closer monitoring of algorithmic systems. We conclude with a framework to guide future research to better understand the implications of institutional design for the legitimacy of algorithmic government