Complexity and Social Networks Blog

« "Marshall Van Alstyne on "Diffusion, Network Structure & Information Advantage" | Main | The contagiousness of voting »

1 October 2007

More on Governance and Information Technology…

As I noted earlier, we will be having a series of entries about a volume that Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and I edited, Governance and Information Technology: From Electronic Government to Information Government. The key theme of the book is to examine the implications of (and obstacles to) rewiring the flow of information within government, between government and society, and within society. Our assertion is that, at this time, the paradigmatic focus needs to be on the bits and the institutions that support (or block!) them, rather than on the hardware through which the bits flow. The subtitle captures this conceptual shift.

Having attended “back to school” nights the last two weeks, let me offer an example grounded in that experience. In the 11 years I have had children in public schools, there has been a major shift (accelerating the last 2 years) in the informational architecture surrounding their education. In particular, the boundaries between the schools and families have become more malleable. This is particularly notable for high school, where students have many teachers, who, in years past, parents en masse would meet just at back to school night. For most parents, that would be the extent of the communication with teachers for the year. Now, however, it is possible to e-mail teachers. It is also possible to sign on to “teachernet” to find out what assignments students have, and, sometimes, grades in real time. The net result is (for many parents) are order of magnitudes increases in communication with teachers. These changes, I would note, are not inevitable, but reflect a set of policy choices by the schools, where the menu of choices is expanded due to the Internet. And these policies might change depending on the experiences of schools. The question one might/should ask is whether these are desirable changes for the education of children. My strong intuition is (generally) yes—that parents have information and power that can increase the effectiveness of schools (although I would have a caveat about the potential amplification of inequalities in society). I should also note that my children are not so thrilled about the elimination of this particular structural hole (kids these days get “disintermediation” as part of their first grade vocabulary).

In any case, this books attempts to explore these themes, looking at the information flows (1) between government and citizens, (2) within government, and (3) among citizens (focusing, of course, on the public/political sphere).

You can download a copy of the first chapter. As noted earlier, I have negotiated with MIT a 20% discount for readers of this blog.

I would also note that we have a wide disciplinary array of contributors, and with each conceptual chapter we have a brief case illustration. Below is the table of contents for the book.

Governance and Information Technology:
From Electronic Government to Information Government

Acknowledgments xi
About the Contributors xiii
1 From Electronic Government to Information Government
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and David Lazer 1

I Technological Change and Information Flows in Government 15

2 Global Perspectives on E-Government
Darrell M. West 17

Case Illustration
FirstGov: The Road to Success of the U.S. Government's Web Portal
Maria Christina Binz-Scharf 33

3 Electronic Government and the Drive for Growth and Equity
Edwin Lau 39

Case Illustration
"E-Government Is an Outcome": Michael Armstrong and the Transformation of Des Moines

Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and David Lazer 59

4 Challenges to Organizational Change

Multi-Level Integrated Information Structures (MIIS)
Jane E. Fountain 63

Case Illustration
From Computerization to Convergence: The Case of E-Government in Singpore
Ines Mergel 94

Case Illustration
Dubai's Electronic Government
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and David Lazer 97

II The Blurring of the Informational Boundary between State and Society 99

5 Weak Democracy, Strong Information

The Role of Information Technology in the Rulemaking Process
Cary Coglianese 101

Case Illustration
The EPA EDOCKET System
Gopal Raman 123

6 Freedom of Information and Electronic Government
Herbert Burkert 125

Case Illustration
Protecting Privacy by Requesting Access: Marc Rotenberg and EPIC
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and David Lazer 142

7 Socio-Technologies of Assembly
Sense Making and Demonstration in Rebuilding Lower Manhattan
Monique Girard and David Stark 145

Case Illustration
The Rise and Fall (?) of Participatory Electronic Information Infrastructures
Åke Grönlund 177

8 "Open-Source Politics" Reconsidered
Emerging Patterns in Online Political Participation
Matthew Hindman 183

8 Case Illustration
Cyberprotesting Globalization: A Case of Online Activism
Sandor Vegh 183

III Evaluating the Impact of Reengineering Information Flows 213

9 The Challenge of Evaluating M-Government, E-Government, and P-Government
What Should Be Compared with What?
Robert D. Behn 215

Case Illustration
The Swiss E-Government Barometer: Kuno Schedler Feels the Temperature of E-Government Services
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and David Lazer 239

10 Information Quality in Electronic Government
Toward the Systematic Management of High-Quality Information in Electronic Government-to-Citizen Relationships
Martin J. Eppler 241

Case Illustration
Information Quality in Electronic Government Websites: An Example from Italy's Ministry for Public Administration
Lorenzo Cantoni 257

11 It Takes a Network to Build a Network
David Lazer and Maria Christina Binz-Scharf 261

Case Illustration
TeleCities: Sharing Knowledge among European Cities
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and David Lazer 279

12 The Governing of Government Information
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and David Lazer 281

Index 293

Posted by David Lazer at October 1, 2007 1:02 PM

.
• Business (3)
.
• Citizen Relationship Management (17)
.
• Commentary (7)
.
• Complexity (2)
.
• Current Trends (47)
.
• eGovernment (21)
.
• Events/Announcements (72)
.
• Innovation (14)
.
• Internet (18)
.
• Knowledge Sharing (20)
.
• Methodology (32)
.
• Networked Governance (18)
.
• Networks in political science (5)
.
• PNG Working Paper Series (6)
.
• Powerlaws (4)
.
• Reviews (2)
.
• Simulations (1)
.
• Small group networks (3)
.
• Small Worlds (2)
.
• SN in the news (72)
.
• Social Capital (3)
.
• Social Computing (12)
.
• Social Finance (1)
.
• Social Networking Platforms (11)
.
• Social Psychology (2)
.
• Social Software (25)
.
• Societal Networks (40)
.
• Technology (35)