Information Polity

2020 Information Polity

doi: 10.3233/IP-200002

Susha, Iryna

2020 Information Polity

doi: 10.3233/IP-180117

Data analytics for public good has become a hot topic thanks to the inviting opportunities to utilize ‘new’ sources of data, such as social media insights, call detail records, satellite imagery etc. These data are sometimes shared by the private sector as part of corporate social responsibility, especially in situations of urgency, such as in case of a natural disaster. Such partnerships can be termed as ‘data collaboratives’. While experimentation grows, little is known about how such collaborations are formed and implemented. In this paper, we investigate the factors which are influential and contribute to a successful data collaborative using the Critical Success Factor (CSF) approach. As a result, we propose (1) a framework of CSFs which provides a holistic view of elements coming into play when a data collaborative is formed and (2) a list of Top 15 factors which highlights the elements which typically have a greater influence over the success of the partnership. We validated our findings in two case studies and discussed three broad factors which were found to be critical for the formation of data collaboratives: value proposition, trust, and public pressure. Our results can be used to help organizations prioritize and distribute resources accordingly when engaging in a data collaborative.

Clifton, Judith; Díaz Fuentes, Daniel; Llamosas García, Gonzalo

2020 Information Polity

doi: 10.3233/IP-190122

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are being heralded by governments and international organizations as a means of augmenting co-production of public services and a number of major initiatives are being rolled out around the world. In parallel to these activities, a body of scholarly work is emerging that investigates the extent to which ICTs enable, or, pose a barrier to, public service co-production. This paper performs the first systematic review of this emerging literature, and provides insights into the main structural and cultural factors which act as an enabler of, or barrier to, ICT-enabled co-production across government and citizens world-wide.

McLoughlin, Liam; Ward, Stephen; Gibson, Rachel; Southern, Rosalynd

2020 Information Polity

doi: 10.3233/IP-190140

This paper examines the structure of Twitter communication networks between MPs during the 2016 EU Referendum campaign. In particular, the research examines the impact of Twitter in two dimensions: (1) how far social media might facilitate inter-party linkages thus eroding traditional partisan relations between MPs? This was given added potential by the supposedly cross-party nature of the Referendum campaign and, therefore, we specifically examined the collective communicative networks that formed around Leave and Remain amongst MPs; (2) Given the potential of social media to provide a platform for individual politicians to personalize campaigns, we asked how far social media might disrupt traditional formal intra-party hierarchies? Did, for example, backbench or relatively unknown figures come to the fore in the EU debate? Our results indicate that whilst there existed a high degree of partisanship, interestingly, Remainer MPs tended to adhere to party networks resulting in a divided remain network. By contrast, the Leave network was more unified but also more porous. Within the networks themselves, the centrality of individual MPs did not always reflect their formal status.

Skargren, Fredric

2020 Information Polity

doi: 10.3233/IP-190131

This literature review looks at research conducted on the phenomenon of benchmarking e-government during the years 2003 to 2016 and entails 27 articles. The review shows how this field has changed over time, its main findings and what the potential benefits are for the public sector in using the results from benchmarks. The findings reveal how initial research created taxonomies of benchmarks and criticised them for being too focused on measuring online services. This research was followed by even more criticism on how benchmarks can have a negative impact on e-government policy and development. During the same time-period there is research giving methodological support on how to improve ways of benchmarking. Later research offer theoretically and conceptually informed critique of benchmark-studies. The review finds that there are mainly implicit assumptions about the potential benefits in using benchmarks for improving e-government. The article concludes by discussing the implications of the findings in terms of the lack of context and relevance in benchmarks for e-government in relationship to the nature of public administration and makes suggestions for ways forward.

Marmier, Auriane; Mettler, Tobias

2020 Information Polity

doi: 10.3233/IP-180120

In many countries, public organisations are among the largest creators and gatherers of data. To increase economic growth, governments have therefore begun to liberate access to large parts of government data by developing open government data (OGD) initiatives. Since the emergence of OGD initiatives, many OGD portals have been launched. There is a common belief that sharing OGD throughout platforms would be sufficient to motivate companies to re-use data and improve economic growth. However, there is very little evidence about the quality of shared OGD. For companies to be able to re-use, share and create value from OGD, data publishers must meet certain good practice standards. Following a pragmatic research approach, in this paper we present an index that can be applied for the quality assessment of the published OGD on portals. On the basis of 17,777 published data resources gathered from the Swiss OGD portal (opendata.swiss), we demonstrate the logic of the index and discuss the key learnings we obtained from applying the index to this concrete case. We conclude that, in Switzerland, the adherence to good practice standards for publishing OGD is fairly low.

Busch, Peter André

2020 Information Polity

doi: 10.3233/IP-190163

Policy implementation is characterized by professional public service workers who make decisions about clients using knowledge and skill-sets acquired through years of training and experience. Their unique position separates them from other workers, provides them with autonomy, and enables them to challenge managerial directives. Information and communications technology is used to tame this power. Whereas public service workers have been criticized for having too much influence, technology may shift decision-making from a professional craft to technology-driven mass-production. This article studies how technology impacts policy implementation in seven sub-stages resulting in alternating professional and managerial imperatives in all sub-stages except for discretionary practices. Whereas managers, public service workers, and clients can appreciate that professional norms are strengthened, and managerial goals achieved, there is a growing concern about the role of technology and its influence on public service workers responsible for policy implementation. The article ends with suggestions for future research.

2020 Information Polity

doi: 10.3233/IP-200001