Characterizing 311 System Reactions to a Global Health Emergency

Communities are complex, multi-dimensional systems that react to crises in a variety of different ways. Based on the municipal services provided to a community, 311 calls can be used as indicators of the different dimensions of that community’s reaction to a crisis situation. To improve Citizen Relationship Management, municipalities can analyze and even augment their 311 systems to capture specific types of information about an ongoing crisis. New York City did this by adding specific category types and descriptors to their 311 system, in response to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic. This paper provides an initial look at the 311 data for New York City and the variety of community behaviors that it is able to capture as a reaction to the pandemic and the associated actions taken by the authorities to respond to the situation

Examining User Access Options for eGovernment Services During a Crisis from a Digital Inequality Perspective

City governments incorporate ICTs into government services to improve citizen participation and access to those services. Too much dependence on technology, however, can lead to concerns about creating a digital divide between different groups of citizens. The potential for digital inequality is a critical issue that can be exacerbated by insufficient attention being paid to vulnerabilities across communities. Given that socio-economically vulnerable populations are the ones who need government services the most, especially during disaster events, it is critical to investigate the extent to which digital inequality is an issue for technology-based government services. With this in mind, this paper analyzes the use of different technology-enabled access options for a representative eGovernment service system, the New York City 311 service system, in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two sets of socio-economically distinct locations in New York City are compared, using average income as a proxy for vulnerability, to draw conclusions about potential inequalities in such a system during a crisis