Digital transparency and the usefulness for open government

Open Government efforts are criticized for providing limited value. Instead of looking at a value, we investigate the usefulness of web-based open government portals and apps. Specifically, we investigated the relationship between digital transparency and usefulness. We analyzed perceived digital transparency and usefulness in a survey of 112...

Woo can tell me what I'm looking for?: An in-depth study on the Information Search Process that is part of Freedom of Information request handling at Ministries of the Dutch National Government

The “Wet open overheid” or Woo is a law that facilitates access to government information for Dutch citizens and states that “everyone has the right to access government information without having to show an interest in it, subject to the limitations provided for by this law.” This law is the Dutch embodiment of a Freedom of Information (FOI)...

The perils and pitfalls of explainable AI: Strategies for explaining algorithmic decision-making

Governments look at explainable artificial intelligence's (XAI) potential to tackle the criticisms of the opaqueness of algorithmic decision-making with AI. Although XAI is appealing as a solution for automated decisions, the wicked nature of the challenges governments face complicates the use of XAI. Wickedness means that the facts that define...

How to sustain sustainability monitoring in cities: Lessons from 49 community indicator initiatives across 10 Latin American countries

Since the 1990s, many countries have witnessed the emergence of organizations publishing environmental, social, and quality-of-life indicators at a city level in order to promote public aware-ness, democratic participation, and sustainability policies. Many such initiatives are short-lived, however, and reasons for their success and failure...

Mobile services use and citizen satisfaction in government: integrating social benefits and uses and gratifications theory

Purpose: Citizen satisfaction with the government is a longstanding and continuous concern in public administration. However, past research did not investigate the effect on satisfaction with the government in the context of mobile government (m-government). The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how the social benefits of citizens using m...

Design principles for creating digital transparency in government

Under pressure to fight corruption, hold public officials accountable, and build trust with citizens, many governments pursue the quest for greater transparency. They publish data about their internal operations, externalize decision-making processes, establish digital inquiry lines to public officials, and employ other forms of transparency...

Unraveling Transparency and Accountability in Blockchain

Blockchain technology is heralded for improving trust and can provide a new approach for creating transparency and promoting accountability of government activities. However, it is still not clear how and in what ways blockchain technologies can improve this. This study examines the mechanisms and capability of blockchain technology to...

Data science empowering the public: Data-driven dashboards for transparent and accountable decision-making in smart cities

Dashboards visualize a consolidated set data for a certain purpose which enables users to see what is happening and to initiate actions. Dashboards can be used by governments to support their decision-making and policy processes or to communicate and interact with the public. The objective of this paper is to understand and to support the...

Designing and Evaluation Transparency in Open Government

One of the objectives of opening data is the creation of transparency. However, transparency is an ill-defined concept. My PhD thesis aims to help designers, architects and policy-makers develop portals and applications to enable transparency for the diverse society. Literature will be reviewed to understand the concept of transparency and to...

Transparency-by-design as a foundation for open government

Purpose: Many governments are working toward a vision of government-wide transformation that strives to achieve an open, transparent and accountable government while providing responsive services. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the concept of transparency-by-design to advance open government. Design/methodology/approach: The opening...

Towards an ambidextrous government: Strategies for balancing exploration and exploitation in open government

Governments are often putting their efforts in the operation and execution of existing services without having the means to innovate. Ambidexterity is the ability to operate existing services and to innovate at the same time Ambidexterity is a concept originating from organizational studies in the private sector and is hardly used in the public...