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30 November 2007

Options of 311 and a glimpse at Germany's plans for a networked N-1-1 solution (D-115 Buergertelefon) - Part I

The move to establish an easy to remember number (311) for non-emergency government services has lately gained attention around the globe. There are now initiatives underway in Germany (D115) and the UK (101). After 10 years, more and more counties and cities decide to start 311 projects. Yet 311 is far from being available for the whole population in the U.S. if we consider an earlier post of mine (map of U.S./Canadian 311 service center projects). In order to discuss the alternative or future options of 311 I will first take a look at the general options a government can follow to establish the phone as public service delivery channel. Part I will present the five options. The combination of performance management and service centers is mostly excluded to reduce complexity. The models are based on a country with a federal government structure. Part II which will be added in a couple of days will discuss the future of 311 and issues such as performance management.

The central approach
At first glance it is probably the easiest way to set up a central service center for any government. This can be a single, big service center or a number of service centers which are virtually connected. In Figure 1 below a service-center that covers more than one level of government (either of the same level e.g. several cities or several cities and a county) is called "Regional Service Center". The core aspect of this concept is the central character: Governance, finance (e.g. federal budget) and data bases. While centrality makes many things like setting standards or reducing redundancies easy, data bases are the central challenge of this approach. Not the technology but rather the content. Just gathering and maintaining the data from all levels of governments sounds like a goal that is either unrealistic (if we consider the principle of subsidiarity in a federal state which is many times protected by the constitution) or never ending. Moreover, if we think of the way 311 is used as a tool for performance management and tapping into the local knowledge of citizens there is challenge on how this data gets redistributed to the right sources.

Figure 1: The Central Approach

The 311 approach
I am not going into much detail here. An advantage of 311 is that it avoids the political battles of a central approach or the move to start with a multi-jurisdictional approach. Figure 2 shows the current situation in the U.S. We have mostly 311 centers on the local level. They may have information on higher jurisdictions in their data bases but they are generally not fully integrated in the service value chain. A few Regional Service Centers can be found already. For example, Miami-Dade County has integrated the City of Miami. 34 cities have not been integrated yet. The challenge of administrators in Miami-Dade derives from budget constraints (property tax issue) or the regulatory environment. An additional challenge is to come up with finance and service level agreements that result in benefits for both sides and a sustainable service to the citizens. As one administrators once pointed out to me: "Setting up the call center and data base is easy. Changing the integrated administrations (departments) and preparing them for the change in citizens' expectation is the real challenge". Finally, Figure 2 also points to two further issues of this approach. First, 311 results in a lot of isolated and many times redundant relationships (either data or other form of agreements). Second, it is difficult to realize country wide accessibility. Less populated areas, therefore, the municipalities will lack the financial and HR capacity to realize 311 on their own.

Figure 2: The 311 Approach

The Central/311 Hybrid approach
This model (Figure 3) is generally a combination of the central and the 311 approach. Certain information and services that are provided by higher jurisdictions (here: State/Federal) are managed and available from a central unit/access point. This avoids some of the redundancies of the 311 approach. Regional and local service centers may develop at different speeds and provide varying degrees of services. Therefore, political battles are less likely to come up as would be the case in the central model. Service centers are not exchanging their local data or services with other service centers.

Figure 3: The Central/311 Hybrid Approach

The Networked Approach
The networked approach generally builds on most of the components described in the 311 model. The core difference is that all of the service centers build a network. Information is shared widely while each service center integrates government entities based on its needs or plans. Figure 4 shows the complexity of the network and the probability of creating highly redundant activities and relationships. In order for the network to function all members need to establish some form of governance to solve issues of standards and coordination.

Figure 4: The Networked Approach

The Multi-centric Approach
The Multi-centric approach combines aspects of the central, 311 and network approach. It characteristics of a central approach because there are central units/db which provide information/services/coordination for a certain subset of service-centers within one "center". The service centers can evolve at different speeds and service-depths. They can be local or regional service centers. Therefore, the multi-centric approach starts like the current 311 activities. However, there is a core difference. Within one "center" the service centers are supposed to coordinate their efforts. In addition, there is a central unit (see top left of Figure 5) which coordinates and supports (e.g. good practice sharing, etc.) the overall efforts of all the "centers" and the service centers. Finally, the multi-centric approach also adopts the idea of the network approach. Each center shares information/services with other centers.

Figure 5: The Multi-centric Network Approach

The multi-centric model is currently the favored approach for the introduction of the project "D115 Behördentelefon / Behördeneinheitliche Rufnummer" in Germany.

Posted by Alexander Schellong at 12:00 AM | Comments (1)

28 November 2007

A different kind of network: United Transnational Republics

While attending and presenting some of my work at the "gobernabilidad and participation" week of UNESCO's Monterrey Forum in Mexico a couple of weeks ago I had a lot of interesting discussions on the relationship between government, society and the trend towards networks to answer the today's an future issues of the world.

One of the presenters is working on a project called the United Transnational Republics (UTNR). Today's entry summarizes the project based on conversations with Georg Zoche, the founder, as well as some of their communication material.

The UTNR were found in April 2001 and think of themselves as a “3GO”: a Global Governmental Grassroots Organisation. Moreover, it is also an art project. The focus of the UTNR is to establish democracy on a global level. Democracy as we know it since the last two centuries only takes place within nation-states. At the same time globalization happens globally, outside of national boundaries, legislation or agreements. In Georg's words: the world has global problems, but only local/national governments.

Georg elaborated further that there is no democratic representation of the individual on a transnational, global level. According to the founders of UTNR this leads to inherently undemocratic processes within globalisation. Currently, outside of the nation-states only consumer and national interests are being represented. Both the national as well as the consumer interests are in conflict with our global interest: the preservation of our environment, world peace, establishment of transnational legislation, etc. The UTNR thinks that in order to realize democracy on a global level, the current political system needs to be expanded by one more level of representation: citizen of a city, citizen of a country, and citizen of a Transnational Republic. In this system all citizens of the world will be represented by their Transnational Republic of choice; together, the various Transnational Republics are forming the UTNR, where they are representing their citizens’ transnational interests - just as the various nation-states are assembling into The United Nations representing the national interest of their citizens.

Within the assembly of the UTNR, each Transnational Republic (TNR) has the voting power in relation to the number of citizens it is representing. Following the principle "All power originates in the individual and is not alienable." each person keeps the free choice of TNR to be represented by. This does not only mean that changing between TNRs is always a possibility, but also to start a new TNR. Other than nation states, TNRs are communities based on similarity in mindset, rather than on birthplace or heritage. TNRs thereby are subject to an ongoing competition amongst each other.

In order to assure the independence of the UTNR from the nation-states and in order to establish money as the “fourth power” of democracy, the Central Bank of the UNTR is issuing the transnational citizen currency PAYOLA. (Sidenote: In the U.S. music industry PAYOLA is the illegal practice of payment or other inducement by record companies for the broadcast of recordings on music radio, in which the song is presented as being part of the normal day's broadcast. very similar global monetary system (the BANCOR) was the British proposal promoted by Keynes at the Bretton Woods Conference of 1944.

Currently, the First Transnational Republic has more than 4.300 citizens from around 100 nation-states. Most members are from Germany which is not surprising since the project started there. By contrast only 115 U.S. citizens joined the project.

Marking its 6th year of existence the project has only gained very little of the global population it aims to attract. It seems that online social networking functionality could help to offer its members greater value. Having great interest in your thoughts about this project I am looking forward to your comments.

Posted by Alexander Schellong at 2:39 PM | Comments (0)

27 November 2007

Conference on computational social science @ Harvard on December 7

Announcement of the Eric Mindich Conference on Computational Social Science, December 7, 12:00-5:45

The development of enormous computational power and the capacity to collect enormous amounts of data has proven transformational in a number of scientific fields. The emergence of a computational socialscience has been slower than in the sciences. However, the combination of the still exponentially increasing power of computers with a massive increase in the capturing of data about human behavior makes the emergence of a field of computational social science desirable, but not inevitable. The creation of a field of computational social science poses enormous challenges, but offers enormous promise to achieve the public good. The hope is that we can produce an understanding of the global network on which many global problems exist: SARS and infectious disease, global warming, strife due to cultural collisions, and the livability of our cities. That is, can sensing our society lead to a sensible society? This conference brings together the wide array of individuals who are working in this emerging research area to discuss how we might address these global challenges, and to evaluate the potential emergence of a field of "computational social science."

This conference is co-chaired by David Lazer and Sandy Pentland, and co-sponsored at Harvard by the Institute for Quantitative Social Science and the Program on Networked Governance, and at MIT by the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship and the MIT Living The Future project.

See: http://www.iq.harvard.edu/NewsEvents/Conferences/ESS/ for the up to the minute confererence agenda. Please also note that video of these presentations will be deposited at this website.

CONFERENCE AGENDA
(All events will take place in room S010, 1730 Cambridge Street)

Friday (December 7):

Lunch (12 to 1:20)

Opening remarks: Gary King (Harvard), David Lazer (Harvard), Sandy Pentland (MIT)

Panel 1: Where is social science hitting its limits on BIG problems?
Gary King (Harvard), Nicholas Christakis (Harvard)

Short break (1:20 to 1:30)

Panel 2: Where is computer science creating possibilities? (1:30 to 2:30)
Laszlo Barabasi (Northeastern), Tony Jebara (Columbia), Deb Roy (MIT), Sandy Pentland (MIT)

Coffee break (2:30 to 3:00)

Panel 3: Some initial forays in the social sciences (3:00 to 4:30)
Noshir Contractor (Northwestern), Sinan Aral (NYU), Lada Adamic (Michigan), Alessandro Vespignani (Indiana), David Lazer (Harvard),

Panel 4: Managing human subjects issues (4:30 to 5:45)
William Bainbridge (NSF), Dean Gallant (Harvard), Leigh Firn (MIT), Marshall Van Alstyne (BU), Myron Gutman (Michigan)

Please RSVP to: register@iq.harvard.edu

Posted by David Lazer at 1:23 PM | Comments (0)

19 November 2007

The Mobile Web is not helping the Developing World... and what we can do about it.

I attend an increasing number of keynotes where CEOs and EVPs of both major mobile handset manufacturers and mobile operators trumpet their role in bringing the internet to the bottom of the pyramid in the developing world. It's a total fallacy.

The phones that are designed and marketed for the 'developing world' today aren't data enabled, they have no browser or any ability to function as a traditional data device. We're dumping hundreds of millions of devices into these regions that are essentially crippled - and their legacy (the average life span of a phone in Africa is many times that of it's Western counterpart) will affect mobile internet usage in these regions throughout the next decade. Furthermore, in the small Kenyan village where I live it's significantly less than 1 in 10 phones that can support the traditional 'mobile Web' experience, and it's probably closer to 1 in 1000 phones that have ever successfully connected to the web. Most of the phones I see in the village were originally manufactured well before 2003. (The most popular selling phone in my village is an old Ericsson that stopped being made back in 2001.) The local mobile operators should take some blame as well - many simply don't have the equipment or expertise to role out a data network on top of their rapidly expanding GSM net. It took me over 10 days of phone calls with my local Kenyan operator to get my phone activated for their new EDGE network. Most people I know give up after the first couple of hours of configuration. And that's assuming they actually have the right phone...

This is not to say that these billions of mobile phones do not have the potential to access content from the web - rather, the traditional browser-based paradigm of internet usage does not cater to them. The idea that the mobile web consists exclusively of mobile devices running web-browsers identical to the web experience we are used to with IE/Firefox is simply wrong. Throwing more and more resources towards creating devices for the developing world that can emulate the PC browsing experience is misguided. The 2 billion phones being used in the developing world are really great at making and receiving voice calls and text messages: Why not shape the internet experience to meet the specs of every phone's inherent functionality (voice!) rather than requiring devices to have specs that quite frankly aren't going to be realistic for many years to come?

This is why we're building the mobile web experience using SMS and Asterisk (voice) based applications across East Africa. Taking content from the internet (via rss feeds, text crawling, etc) and piping it to users via SMS isn't a new idea - but it's one that is exponentially growing in the developing world. In Kenya there are countless SMS-based applications that provide subscribers with a different mobile web experience: helping people find jobs, keep up to date with sports scores, get weather information, find a date, get information about commodity prices, etc... All content we expect from a mobile web-experience, but now it can be accessed on any phone in Kenya.

While the SMS protocol is standard on all GSM phones, navigating the web via text message is clumsy at best. It requires users not only to have to type english text using an unintuitive numeric keypad, but perhaps more importantly it assumes literacy. Jonathan Ledlie and I are starting to build an audio equivalent to the web that can be accessed from any phone in the world. We're enabling people to make audio homepages where they can record interactive content (in any of Kenya's 1000+ languages) to whomever they wish; telling the family history, listing their CV, anything that the traditional homepage can be used for. But perhaps our most promising audio application is moSoko (soko is marketplace in Swahili) - like Craig's List, but for East Africa and through an audio interface. This type of interface has several major advantages: it is completely free for any Kenyan to use (in most developing countries it is free to receive calls as well as to "flash"* phone numbers), it has no literacy requirements, and any mobile phone subscriber in the country can use the system regardless of the type of phone, service plan, or network. It's a great way to get all sorts of information to people (not just Craig's List items, but weather, produce prices, etc) and also a way to advertise to a very captive audience.
*"flashing" someone means calling them but hanging up before the connection is established, in order to get them to call you back.

I don't believe it is wrong for these mobile phone executives (or press) to hype the potential of the mobile web in the developing world; however I am doubtful that forcing inappropriate, expensive, and fragile technology on these billions of mobile phone users is realistic or beneficial. Instead, I believe we need to start thinking about how to leverage the existing infrastructure of phones present throughout these regions to serve as portals to the internet for the masses.

http://eprom.mit.edu

Posted by Nathan Eagle at 12:23 AM | Comments (1)

13 November 2007

Symposium on Information Technology and Governance

The Program on Networked Governance is cosponsoring a public symposium on Information Technology and Governance-- please see details below.

Information Technology and Governance:
From Electronic Government to Information Government

Wednesday - November 14, 2007

Bell Hall (5th floor Belfer)
The John F. Kennedy School of Government / Harvard University

09:00 Welcome
David Lazer & Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, Symposium Chairs
Stephen Goldsmith, Ash Institute

09:30 From Electronic Government to Information Government
David Lazer

10:00 Morning Panel: Technological Change and Information Flows in Government
Chair: David Lazer

Global Perspectives on E-Government
Darrell West, Brown University
Challenges to Organizational Change: Multi-Level Integrated Information Structures
Jane Fountain, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
It Takes a Network to Build a Network
Maria Binz-Scharf, City College of New York, CUNY
Weak Democracy, Strong Information: The Role of Information Technologies in the Rulemaking Process
Cary Coglianese, University of Pennsylvania Law School

12:15 Lunch
Speaker: Pippa Norris, introduced by Jerry Mechling

1:30 Afternoon Panel: Information Government, Democracy and Intermediation
Chair: Viktor Mayer-Schönberger
Socio-Technologies of Assembly: Sense Making and Demonstration in Rebuilding Lower Manhattan
Monique Girard & David Stark, Columbia University
“Open-Source Politics” Reconsidered: Emerging Patterns in Online Political Participation
Matt Hindman, Arizona State University

3:00 Information Government – the Normative View & Closing
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger

3:30 Symposium Adjourn

NO RSVP NECESSARY

Posted by David Lazer at 10:11 AM | Comments (2)

7 November 2007

The other side of social networking

by David Allen

The Financial Times recently reported on the rise of bullying - and hate mongering - as web counterparts to 'positive' social networking. As a sample, the story's sidebar describes three 'counter' sites:

Enemybook_Goes under the strap line "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer". Set up as a riposte to the perceived bogus nature of many online friendships, Enemybook runs off the back of Facebook. It allows you to add people as Facebook enemies below your friends, specify why they are enemies and notify them that they are enemies. You can also see who lists you as an enemy, and even become friends with the enemies of your enemies.

Snubster_Similarly to Enemybook, Snubster derides the notion of social networking sites, and can run off Facebook. Users can build lists of personal enemies from their Facebook contacts, who will then be sent a snub and will be alerted that they are either "On notice"
or "Dead to me".

Hatebook_Modelled on the Facebook concept, and with an almost identical layout, Hatebook offers a less friendly approach to the world of social networking. You can befriend "Other haters", and your homepage alerts you when "Other fricking idiots" contact you. The site also provides you with an "Evil Map", marking the locations of other users. The antithesis to Facebook's emphasis on making friends, this is an open forum for abuse and aggression.

Posted by Special Guest Editor at 12:08 AM | Comments (5)

6 November 2007

Changing private spheres and other issues

Online social networks and other applications have changed our private spheres. That is, information that was formerly only shared with friends close to us (e.g. those holiday and party pictures, our daily mood) are now distributed with all those that are part of our network or beyond. Because these networks not only include our closest friends but also random acquaintances the boundaries of private spheres are beginning to blur. In particular this applies to OSNs that offer a wider range of functionalities like picture sharing. Of course this observation is not new and has probably been addressed by Danah Boyd and others. Yet I would still like to reflect on some issues which have been on my mind and which might add to the discussion.

Will future generations have a different perception of privacy?
Social software is a nightmare for all those that have been trying to protect an individual's privacy for all those years. Warnings of putting too much personal information online can not only be found in the discourse on the issue but also be derived from real life examples (e.g. Drunken pirate). However, if there is one thing that separates the younger generations (22 and below) from those in their late twenties and beyond it is the willingness to share what the latter consider private. From my point of view this aspect is very important. Most of today's discussion is based on the normative believes on privacy developed by a generation that grew up without social software. Whether this should remain the position of the generations to come is again a question to be discussed. May be it won't remain the position of future generations. Because they might have the tendency to share more "private" information than less. So that in 10 to 20 years from now there will be so much "private" information available that the value of that kind of information changes. For example, the picture of some alcohol excess won't be of interest to HR managers who now seem to develop the habit to screen the OSN behavior of their candidates. Personal information that is public and that is of not much interest to the public loses its value (e.g. to the journalist who aims at revealing a "dark" past in his social engineering efforts). Because one reason for the tabloids out there to exist is the basic human curiosity in personal/secret information of other individuals. Personal information might also not exactly lose its value because that might depend on everyoneour norms and cultural background. On the other hand this prediction might be wrong if we consider in the NYT of last September. It showed that "even among the MySpace generation, there is such a thing as too much information." Along these lines the blog entry on reputational mortality might also be of interest to our readers. Moreover, the trend to reveal private information might make those that will be able to leave no electronic trail to be of greater interest.

The awkward impact of networking behavior in OSN on social relationships.
A friend recently told me about someone who requested to be connected in an OSN after they got to know each other during a party. My friend decided to grant the person only limited access to the personal profile. In particular the pictures. It didn't take long and my friend received an email from that person complaining about the lack of access to the kind of information. The behavior of my friend - I would consider it quite normal - was interpreted as a clear act of distrust. I am sure by now many of us have already struggled with these problems that did not exist in the pre-OSN era. In the past you might have had a conversation but never exchanged addresses. Contacts many times remained one-time coincidences. Many times there was a reason why we chose to walk down this path. Now its common for oneself or others to search for the names of all the newly acquired acquaintances in the various OSN and request to be connected after some kind of event. How a network is used depends on the individual. Some prefer to keep it as an exact replica of their offline networks (stronger ties). Others simply use OSN as a basket to accumulate any kind of person they meet. Furthermore, the design of the OSN has an influence on the struggles a member might get into in the offline world. Business networks like Xing or LinkedIn probably result in less difficulties than Facebook and its offsprings. Because the latter allow to present much more personal information which also increases everyone's expectations to share that information. Thus the differentiation between closer friends and acquaintances becomes much more obvious. Furthermore, what happens if you decline a connection. We know its a small world out there so may be that decline will come back at oneself in the future...it seems we all need to develop new skills and strategies in shipping through these uncharted waters.

Posted by Alexander Schellong at 3:22 AM | Comments (1)

1 November 2007

MIT Media Laboratory Faculty Openings in Data Mining and Visualization, Collective Intelligence, and Behavior Modeling

The MIT Media Laboratory is looking for faculty in areas of data mining and visualization, collective intelligence, and behavior modeling (among others). The text of the announcement is below:

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The MIT Media Laboratory is searching to hire several new tenure-track faculty. We seek candidates with a passion for building new technologies that will bring dramatic improvements in the ways people live, learn, work, and play. In short, we are looking for candidates who are committed to Inventing a Better Future.

Candidates should have experience in the design and development of new technologies, a focus on how technologies interact with people and society, a commitment to collaboration and interdisciplinary research, and a willingness to take risks and think big.

Areas of interest include (but are not limited to): health technologies, data mining and visualization, collective intelligence, behavior modeling, multiplayer gaming, ubiquitous communications, community development, and educational technologies.

To apply, please visit http://facultysearch.media.mit.edu/
Application deadline: January 10, 2008

Appointments will be within the Media Arts and Sciences academic program, and will be principally at the Assistant Professor level. Responsibilities include: initiating a research program, supervising a team of graduate students and undergraduate researchers, and teaching (graduate and undergraduate). Candidates should have a doctorate (or equivalent), a strong record of research, and teaching experience at the university level.

The Media Laboratory is dedicated to the goal of building a diverse community, and strongly encourages applications from qualified women and members of under-represented groups.

Send any questions to faculty-search@media.mit.edu

Posted by Ben Waber at 9:51 AM | Comments (1)