Opportunities for Digtal Government Research

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Opportunities for Digtal Government Research

• Sharon S. Dawes
• Center for Technology in Government
• University at Albany / SUNY

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A symbiotic relationship?
Government Needs
Generates new knowledge to meet
Research
Generate questions for
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Technology-driven view
DIGITAL
GOVERNMENT
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Tradition-driven view
DIGITAL
GOVERNMENT
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Emerging public management view
DIGITAL
GOVERNMENT
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A Vision of Digital Government
E-services
E-business
E-democracy
E-management
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The leading edge E-services

• 24 x 7
• self-service
• more responsive
• more customized
• organized by need, not organization chart

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The next wave E-business

• government to business
• citizens to government
• government business
• nonprofit contracting
• electronic catalogs
• e-procurement
• e-mall

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The sleeper E-democracy

• electronic voting
• virtual town meetings
• cyber campaigns
• constituency services
• cyber polls
• electronic access to info
• community forums
• public participation in decision making

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The killer E-management

• networked virtual organizations
• process changes
• electronic records
• security
• data management analysis
• information repositories
• skilled people

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(No Transcript)
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Key needs for 21st century government

• Interoperable systems that are trusted secure
• Methods measures of citizen participation
• Tested models of electronic public services
• New models for public-private partnerships and
  other networked organizational forms
• Intuitive decision support tools for public
  officials
• Archiving and electronic records management tools
• Better methods of IT management
• Ways to match research resources to government
  needs

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Key considerations

• What is technically possible, may not be
  organizationally feasible or socially or
  politically desirable.
• Advanced IT applications in government must
  integrate policies, processes, information, and
  technology.
• from Some Assembly Required. . . Center for
  Technology in Government, 1999

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The domain of practice
Public policies 10 mph
Organization management 1000 mph
Technology 10,000 mph
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Knowledge domains of government
Policy
Management
Technology
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Policy Domain
law, economics, demographics, culture,
politics, societal program goals, stakeholders,
constituencies
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Management Domain
organizational structure, human resources,
funding, change processes, business processes,
decision processes, information flows
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Technology Domain
computing, collaboration networking tools for
information collection, processing, storage,
sharing, analysis, integration, and knowledge
management
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Domain of Digital Government
Policy
Management
Technology
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Bridging the culture gap

• Research
• pushes the envelope
• takes a long-range view
• generates theory
• Organized by disciplines
• Specialized vocabulary

• Government
• avoids risk
• needs quick answers
• wants practical advice for todays decisions
• Organized by programs
• Specialized vocabulary

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Three things to remember

• CONTEXT
• CONTEXT
• CONTEXT

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Connecting research practice

• Encourage research methods that deal with context
  and complexity
• case studies
• experimental test beds
• field research
• longitudinal studies
• evaluation studies
• Support an ongoing knowledge exchange
• joint workshops to generate research agendas
  share results
• practitioner-oriented reports and products
• disseminate results in practitioner-oriented
  venues

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Research is needed on research partnerships

• What kinds of research products are useful to
  government practitioners?
• What are the characteristics of successful
  research partnerships with government?
• How do such partnerships form and develop?
• What institutional relationships lead to timely
  and relevant DG research?
• How can research be made usable?

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Panelists
Bob Bemben - Department of Defense Bob Maslyn -
General Services Administration Charlie Rothwell
- National Center for Health Statistics