Week 1:
Artikel 1 (West, D. M.): Digital government: Technology and public sector
performance (1-21)
A digital government:
1. more efficient
2. transparantie
3. vertrouwen van burgers
4. politieke participatie
restrictions of the ability of technology to transform society and politics:
- institutionele regelingen,
- budget schaarste,
- groepsconflicten (over resources),
- culturele normen
- heersende patronen van sociaal en politiek gedrag
many government officials slow the pace of technical innovation until they can figure out how
to make sure their own vested interests are well-protected
it is impossible to know when a particular technological innovation will produce large-scale
societal change
4 general stages of e-government development that distinguish where government agencies
are on the road to transformation:
1. the billboard stage,
- In the first stage, officials treat government websites as static mechanisms to
display information.
- There is little opportunity for citizen interaction and no chance for two-way
communications between citizens and officials.
- do not allow citizens to search the site, send feedback, or order government
services
2. the partial service-delivery stage,
- incorporating information search features and partial service delivery into the
website
- citizens can access, sort, and search informational databases
- Citizens are not able to “personalize” their website or engage in conversation
with public officials.
3. the portal stage with fully executable and integrated service delivery,
- The entire city, state, or nation has one place where all agencies can be
accessed.
- find information and order services
- dynamic and interactive
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, - nadeel: t it is characterized more by a service-delivery mentality than by a
vision of transforming democracy → little interest in providing opportunities for
government feedback and public participation in decision making.
4. interactive democracy with public outreach and accountability-enhancing features.
- citizens customize information delivery and take advantage of the interactive
and two-way-communications strengths of the Internet
→ incremental change comes when websites move from the billboard stage to partial
service delivery
What Drives the Speed and Breadth of Technological Change?
● an organizational approach posits that the pace and breadth of change is affected by
factors such as the nature of work routines within bureaucratic agencies and the
degree to which the organization is open to change.
● sometimes the bureaucracy is a barrier in technological innovation because most
new creations represent a change in the status quo
● the potential of new technology is affected by political dynamics → Because of their
need to provide universal access, government organizations suffer from what is
called the “two systems” problem → agencies seeking to innovate technologically
must maintain parallel systems of information and service delivery (face-to-face,
telephone, and mail) at the same time they are building electronic interfaces!!!
● Financial resources and budget conditions are other factors that drive the pace of
governmental change → Technology requires up-front investment, and the relative
scarcity or abundance of budget support makes a huge difference to the ability of
government agencies to innovate.
● Media coverage is important to the dissemination of new technology because it
affects both how people think about technology and their receptivity to change.
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, ● Political leadership matters because strong cues from elected officials or top
administrators encourage public sector organizations to speed or slow down the
adoption of new technology
How does the Internet Affect the Public Sector, Politics, and
Democracy?
● information availability and serving special populations
○ is the information accessible to people with special needs?
● online service delivery,
○ What services are online and how well are they functioning?
○ Are they the types of services citizens find useful and that make their lives
easier?
● democratic responsiveness
○ the degree to which e-government improves a system’s capacity to respond
to ordinary people
● democracy enhancement through interactive features
○ the ability of technology to improve democratic performance beyond
responsiveness.
○ This could range from simple things such as placing audio or visual materials
online (such as broadcasts of hearings or speeches) → to more interactive
mechanisms that allow citizens to vote, make comments on proposed
government rules, or personalize websites to their particular interests.
● citizen trust in government
○ How does it affect the relationship between politicians, bureaucrats, and
information specialists?
○ Will e-government alter the balance of power between these individuals and
improve citizen attitudes toward government?
Week 2:
Artikel (Lavertu, S.): We all need help:“Big data” and the mismeasure of public
administration. Public administration review (P. 864-872)
- Belangrijk is dat de vooruitgang in ons vermogen om administratieve gegevens te
verzamelen en te analyseren, de grotere rol van een dergelijke analyse in het beheer
van de federale uitvoerende macht vergemakkelijkte
- Importantly, advances in our ability to collect and analyze administrative data
facilitated the expanded role of such analysis in the management of the federal
executive branch
- Vooruitgang in informatietechnologie en analytische technieken hebben ook de
verspreiding van beleidsonderzoek tot ver buiten de federale uitvoerende macht
vergemakkelijkt
- wetgevers, rechters, bestuurders in andere instanties, onderzoekers in denktanks en
belangenorganisaties,en burgers hebben blijk gegeven van een aanhoudende vraag
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, naar informatie over administratieve prestaties → dat wil zeggen vooruitgang in ons
vermogen om informatie te verzamelen, analyseren en verspreiden - die ons steeds
meer in staat stellen vervulling van die vraag
- “big data” and “data analytics” present for policy analysis and management as well as
for enhancing transparency and accountability, but serious risks come with the
expansion of organizational performance measurement that technological innovation
permits
- Omdat technologie de constructie, verspreiding en het gebruik van organisatorische
prestatiemaatstaven faciliteert, zou technologische vooruitgang de administratieve
problemen in verband met gebrekkige prestatiemaatstaven en prikkels heel goed
kunnen verergeren.
additional risks associated with the “big data” revolution that receive less attention:
1. meer gegevens en verbeterde analytische technieken verminderen niet noodzakelijk
de problemen die inherent zijn aan het meten van organisatieprestaties
2. Ten tweede plaatst de enorme toename van de beschikbaarheid van gegevens, vaak
in naam van transparantie en verantwoording, prestatiemetingen in de handen van
relatief slecht geïnformeerde individuen die, vergeleken met beheerders, misschien
weinig idee hebben van welke hoeveelheden prestatiemetingen werkelijk vastleggen
Big Data and the Risk of Goal Displacement
- Technologische vooruitgang verlaagt de meetkosten en zou dus in principe de
prestatiemeting kunnen verbeteren door de doeldekking te verbeteren, evenals de
nauwkeurigheid en precisie waarmee administratieve resultaten worden vastgelegd.
- Als technologische vooruitgang echter leidt tot onevenwichtigheden in de precisie
van prestatiestatistieken, (bijvoorbeeld als ze een nauwkeurigere meting van de
toegevoegde waarde van de organisatie op één dimensie mogelijk maken zonder de
meetnauwkeurigheid op andere dimensies te verbeteren), dan zou technologische
vooruitgang een stimulans kunnen zijn voor een nog grotere focus op bepaalde
doelen ten koste van andere.
- → andere woorden: de onbalans in precisie waarmee prestatiedimensies
worden gemeten, kan leiden tot verplaatsing van doelen in organisaties die
openbare programma's beheren
Voorbeeld met scholen:
- Het gebruik van deze geavanceerde statistische methoden stelt externe politieke
actoren in staat om in het beheer van schooldistricten te kijken en deze te proberen
te beïnvloeden.
Big Data and External Political Actors
- De brede verspreiding van informatie over schoolprestaties sluit aan bij een
algemene maatschappelijke wens om de Amerikaanse democratie te verbeteren
door meer transparantie.
- Voorstanders:
tend to emphasize the potential benefits for empowering citizens
- Tegen:
zij snappen minder dan interne administratieve actoren om te begrijpen hoe
deze maatregelen moeten worden geïnterpreteerd en weten minder goed
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