Gaming and simulation for transforming and reengineering government: Towards a research agenda

Design principles for improving the process of publishing open data

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to derive design principles for improving the open data publishing process of public organizations. Although governments create large amounts of data, the publication of open data is often cumbersome and there are no standard procedures and processes for opening data, blocking the easy publication of government data.

Design/methodology/approach

– Action design research (ADR) was used to derive design principles. The literature was used as a foundation, and discussion sessions with civil servants were used to evaluate the usefulness of the principles.

Findings

– Barriers preventing easy and low-cost publication of open data were identified and connected to design principles, which can be used to guide the design of an open data publishing process. Five new principles are: start thinking about the opening of data at the beginning of the process; develop guidelines, especially about privacy and policy sensitivity of data; provide decision support by integrating insight in the activities of other actors involved in the publishing process; make data publication an integral, well-defined and standardized part of daily procedures and routines; and monitor how the published data are reused.

Research limitations/implications

– The principles are derived using ADR in a single case. A next step can be to investigate multiple comparative case studies and detail the principles further. We recommend using these principles to develop a reference architecture.

Practical implications

– The design principles can be used by public organizations to improve their open data publishing processes. The design principles are derived from practice and discussed with practitioners. The discussions showed that the principles could improve the publication process.

Social implications

– Decreasing the barriers for publishing open government data could result in the publication of more open data. These open data can then be used to stimulate various public values, such as transparency, accountability, innovation, economic growth and informed decision- and policymaking.

Originality/value

– Publishing data by public organizations is a complex and ill-understood activity. The lack of suitable business processes and the unclear division of responsibilities block publication of open data. This paper contributes to the literature by presenting design principles which can be used to improve the open data publishing process of public sector organizations.

A call for collaborative academic and practitioner efforts to address remote‐access voting methods

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a timely discussion of the important topic of remote‐access voting technology.

Design/methodology/approach

First, an introduction to the topic is offered; second the existing state of the art is considered; third, a brief history of electronic and internet voting methods is presented; and fourth, a short list of critical success factors for remote‐access voting is presented. Finally, a conclusion is offered surrounding how academics and practitioners can collaboratively proceed to address the salient issues and barriers that currently prohibit the advancement of remote‐access voting.

Findings

There is a brief and largely successful history involving applications of information communication technologies (ICTs) and computer technology to assist in data capture and tabulation of democratic elections. While several critical issues have been identified, none has been so significant that an end‐game strategy should be invoked rather than continued innovation. Concurrently, the business world has witnessed an expanding use of computer‐based infrastructures and enhanced ICTs to facilitate the processing of remote‐access commercial transactions. These advancements have provided a rich opportunity to seek out, identify, and address the substantive operational issues permitting the successful expansion of a variety of business methods, models, and processes. While these successes have provided a solid foundation upon which e‐government voting systems can be attempted, such a process improvement has been elusive to this date with many of the real issues and concerns seeming to be too large to resolve.

Originality/value

The paper considers the important issue of remote‐access voting as a means for supporting the expansion and refinement of democratic processes across the world through increased citizen participation.