Kevin C. Desouza | Civic Engagement

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Technology-Enabled Participatory Platforms for Civic Engagement

August 11, 2014/1 Comment/in Arizona State University, Articles, College of Public Programs, Information Technology, innovation, Policy Informatics, Public Policy /by Kevin Desouza

Akshay Bhagwatwar (Doctoral Candidate, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University) and I have a paper accepted in Journal of Urban Technology.

Technology-Enabled Participatory Platforms for Civic Engagement:
The Case of US Cities

Technology-enabled participatory platforms are proving to be valuable canvases for engaging citizens in solving public good challenges. Citizens are playing a more active role by either designing platforms themselves or participating on platforms created by public agencies. Unfortunately, our theoretical knowledge about the nature of these platforms is limited. In this paper, we take the first steps towards understanding technology-enabled participatory platforms. Through an exploratory analysis, following the spirit of a grounded theoretic methodology, we examined technology-enabled participatory platforms in the 25 most populated cities in the US. We deduce four main archetypes – citizen centric and citizen data, citizen centric and government data, government centric and citizen data, and government centric and citizen developed solutions of technology-enabled participatory platforms. We describe the intricacies of how collective intelligence is leveraged on these platforms. Implications for local government managers and urban planners are discussed. We hypothesize how the future of these platforms might evolve in the not so distant future.

This is our second paper in the Journal of Urban Technology, to read our first paper, please click here.

Leveraging Technologies in Public Agencies: US Census Bureau and the 2010 Census – Public Administration Review

January 22, 2012/0 Comments/in Articles, Center for Public Administration and Policy, College of Architecture and Urban Studies, Information School, Information Technology, Metropolitan Institute, Policy Informatics, Public Policy, Virginia Tech /by Kevin Desouza

I recently completed an examination of how the US Census Bureau leveraged technologies during the 2010 Census with Akshay Bhagwatwar (Kelley School of Business, Indiana University). I am pleased to announce that this paper will appear in a future issue of Public Administration Review. This paper is an illustrative outcome of the policy informatics initiative at the Metropolitan Institute. Policy informatics is an emerging field of both research and a community of practice focusing on 1) advancing decision-making in the public sector through information-centric analysis of evidence that leverages computational and technological advances, and 2) designing, managing, and evaluating of information systems and infrastructures for policy construction, analysis, and implementation. Policy informatics expands to the multi-disciplinary nature of the public administration discipline by infusing it with the advances of information technology, management of information systems, and computational and informational science perspectives.

Abstract: Emerging technologies are transforming government agencies and the nature of governance. In this paper, we outline how under the leadership of Steven J. Jost, Associate Director for Communications, the US Census Bureau leveraged emerging technologies during the 2010 census. The US Census Bureau used technologies not only to complete the 2010 census under budget, but also deployed them innovatively to engage citizens through the design of viable participatory platforms. The Census Bureau also managed risks associated with using emerging technologies effectively. The 2010 Census campaign focused on increasing response rates and encouraging citizen participation through innovations in the communication process with citizens and the infusion of technology.

Citation: Desouza, K.C. and Bhagwatwar, A. “Leveraging Technologies in Public Agencies: The Case of the US Census Bureau and the 2010 Census,” Public Administration Review, Forthcoming.

Leveraging Technologies in Public Agencies: The Case of the US Census Bureau and the 2010 Census – MI Working Paper #2011-01

December 22, 2011/0 Comments/in Articles, Center for Public Administration and Policy, College of Architecture and Urban Studies, Information Technology, innovation, Intrapreneurship, Metropolitan Institute, Policy Informatics, Public Policy, Virginia Tech /by Kevin Desouza

Akshay Bhagwatwar and I have completed a paper on how the US Census Bureau leveraged technologies during the 2010 Census effort. The papers is being made available as part of the Metropolitan Institute Working Paper series.

Emerging technologies are transforming government agencies and the nature of governance. In this paper, we outline how the US Census Bureau leveraged emerging technologies during the 2010 census. The US Census Bureau used technologies not only to complete the 2010 census under budget, but also deployed them innovatively to engage citizens through the design of viable participatory platforms. The Census Bureau also managed risks associated with using emerging technologies effectively. The 2010 Census campaign, led by Steven J. Jost, Associate Director for Communications, focused on increasing response rates and encouraging citizen participation through innovations in the communication process with citizens and the infusion of technology.

Akshay Bhagwatwar is a doctoral student in the Information Systems Department at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. His areas of research interest are Information Technology Service Management, Virtual Collaboration and Policy Informatics. For more information on his research work please visit www.akshayb.com.

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