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2011 Information Polity
doi: 10.3233/IP-2011-0228
The devolved political settlement in Scotland has been profoundly shaped by the principles of openness, accountability and transparency and by the important role played by Scottish civic society in campaigning for the new Scottish Parliament. The coming into force of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act (FOISA) in January 2005 was intended to help secure the openness of the new Scottish polity. This paper analyses the drivers of information management policies and practices in Scottish public life and assesses some of the complex interrelationships between civil society and the state that have influenced how organizations in the Scottish voluntary have – and have not – availed of the provisions of FOISA. Based on original and extensive survey, interview, documentary and archival research this paper assesses some of the ways in which political culture post-devolution has impacted on how the `third sector' has engaged with FOI. The research finds that the particularity of devolved governance and funding relationships between public and voluntary sectors plays a key role in determining FOI uptake and reflects on what this means for wider public accountability and transparency.
Shepherd, Elizabeth ; Stevenson, Alice ; Flinn, Andrew
2011 Information Polity
doi: 10.3233/IP-2011-0229
Research into the impact of the UK Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 on records management services in public authorities, especially in local government was carried out by the Department of Information Studies at UCL in 2008–2009, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The project considered the inter-relationship between records management and freedom of information, and examined the co-operation and partnerships needed in order to maximise the benefits of freedom of information. The first phase of the research was an extensive literature review, focusing on freedom of information and records management in the UK. This was followed by qualitative research using semi-structured interviews to gather rich data from council officials responsible for the provision of records management, information governance and freedom of information functions, complemented by interviews with requestors, to provide an outsider's perspective. The article reports on the position of records management in local government prior to 2000s drawing on the literature, outlines the research findings on FOI and records management policy and practice in local government, and concludes by considering the perspective of requestors and users of the FOIA as engaged citizens.
2011 Information Polity
doi: 10.3233/IP-2011-0220
This study examines whether a democratic divide (a gap in political participation via the Internet) exists among demographic segments during the campaign season of the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Five different types of online political activity are compared in terms of the divide pattern: conversation, mobilization, information consumption, information production, and activity on social networking sites. Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics such as age, gender, race, education and income are determinants for the degree of online political activism. Although political users of social networking sites mostly fall into the Y generation (DotNets), a high proportion of senior citizens who already use the Internet frequently communicate about politics by email and get political information through the Internet. The occurrence of more active online political participation by the better educated and more affluent is magnified for White males in comparison to non-Whites or females.
2011 Information Polity
doi: 10.3233/IP-2011-0221
The internet is now an important element of most political parties' communication strategies during elections. While online communication might be claimed to enable smaller parties and marginal voices to compete more effectively with major parties, it might also enable minority languages to challenge the existing dominance of majority languages in traditional political communication. This paper explores Welsh-language provision on the websites of the 18 parties which fielded candidates in Wales during the 2010 UK General Election. Three websites making bilingual provision are examined in greater detail, considering the Welsh-language experience in terms of information seeking tasks, the use of web2.0 and resource generation. Overall the provision of regional information relating to Wales and of Welsh-language material has remained remarkably static since the last General Election in 2005. It appears that only parties which regularly contest seats in Wales make regional provision and that Welsh-language provision is limited to those parties who have websites specifically orientated to Wales. The Welsh language does not appear to have been a priority in terms of online political communication for most of the parties campaigning in Wales during the General Election. Even on those sites making a bilingual provision, the quality, timeliness and extent of the Welsh-language experience varied considerably.
Teerling, Marije L. ; Pieterson, Willem
2011 Information Polity
doi: 10.3233/IP-2011-0213
Citizens interact with government agencies through a variety of channels, e.g., front desk, telephone, website and e-mail. Regardless of these possibilities, they prefer the traditional channels like the front desk. Government agencies strive for a balance between service delivery resulting in customer satisfaction and cost efficiency in their operations. Through better use of the online services by citizens, they can achieve a balance between these aspects. So, government agencies should strive to change citizens' enduring preference for the traditional channels. These preferences can be altered through the use of multichannel marketing (MCM) instruments. In order to use these instruments successfully, not only knowledge on citizen multichannel behavior is required but also on the effects of these instruments. Questions such as how do citizens perceive the various instruments and to what extent are the instruments associated with each other rise up. Based on qualitative depth interviews we formulate constructs to measure citizens' perceptions on the MCM instruments. Subsequently, we empirically test the constructs with a quantitative survey amongst almost 2,000 citizens. As a result, this research increases the knowledge on government MCM and the possibilities to influence enduring citizen channel preferences.