| 1. |
- Holgersson, Jesper, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Exploring User Participation Practice in Public E-Service Development : Why, How and in Whose Interest?
- 2018
-
Ingår i: The Electronic Journal of e-Government. - : Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited. - 1479-439X. ; 16:1, s. 72-86
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- User participation is seen as an important enabler for successful public e-service development. However, at the same time development of public e-services is still often characterised by an internal government perspective with little consideration for external users’ perspectives. This paper challenges the overly positive attitude that is surrounding user participation in e-government research. The paper aims to illustrate and problematize various aspects that influence why, how, and in whose interest user participation is conducted in public e-service development. First, via a literature review, we identify a set of dimensions for critically exploring how, why, and in whose interest user participation is conducted in public e-service development projects. Second, we use these dimensions in order to characterise and analyse three empirical public e-service development cases in order to test the utility, usefulness, and feasibility of the identified dimensions. Our findings highlight the importance of questioning and elaborating on the motives behind user participation (the why) in public e-service development. We also identify two basic forms of how user participation is addressed in public e-service development projects: 1) veneered participation, and 2) ad-hoc participation. Furthermore, we argue that any decisions made regarding user participation in public e-service development should be based on conscious and informed choices concerning why user participation is needed and what it may bring for different stakeholders and their interests.
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| 2. |
- Melin, Ulf, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
-
Action in action research : Elaborating the concepts of action, roles and dilemmas in a public e-service development project
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Journal of Systems and Information Technology. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1328-7265. ; 18:2, s. 118-147
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the concept of action by addressing actions and roles in the practice of action research, illustrated by dilemmas in an action research project on information systems development in public sector. The main ambition with action research is being able to solve organisational problems through intervention and to contribute to scientific knowledge. The main emphasis has so far been on the “research part”. Here the authors focus on the “action part” of action research to generate rigorous research, to solve local problems and to deal with evident dilemmas in action research.Design/methodology/approachThis is a qualitative case study. The empirical illustrations of this paper originate from an action research project that focused the two e-service development initiatives analysed below. The analysis is structured using key aspects and phases proposed by Avison et al. (2001). As a result of the analysis, the concept of action is elaborated. The action elements action, actor, motive, space and time are analysed together with different roles. This goes beyond the existing action research literature.FindingsThe conclusions show that there is a need to understand actions and roles within action research projects – not separating action from research. Research is also seen as action. The practice of action research is also discussed as context-bounded interactive social action: action research as a recurrent, interactive and dynamic activity. It is also identified that the understanding of roles, actions and interaction can help handle dilemmas in action research.Research Limitations/implicationsThe authors contribute to the body of knowledge concerning action research in the information systems research field and in general by exploring the need to study the concept of action (e.g. situations and elements), to be explicit concerning the different phases, roles and responsibilities and management of different dilemmas in action research. A limitation of this study is that the inter-organisational development character in this study adds an extra dimension into the practice of actions research only partially highlighted. Another limitation is focus on public agencies. However, this is not critical for the results on action elements and the action research dilemmas that are studied.Practical ImplicationsThe understanding of roles, actions and interaction can solve the dilemmas and challenges linked to the practice of action research in the information systems field, but such understanding can help discover and handle dilemmas in action research.Originality/valueThe originality in this research is an illustration of and a perspective of action research as a context-bounded interactive social action: action research as a recurrent, interactive and dynamic activity. The value is that this knowledge can help handle dilemmas in action research.
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| 3. |
- Melin, Ulf, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
-
Understanding an Integrated Management System in a Government Agency – Focusing Institutional Carriers : Focusing Institutional Carriers
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Electronic Government. EGOV 2018. - Cham : Springer International Publishing. - 9783319986906 - 9783319986890 ; , s. 15-28
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Working with an integrated management system (IMS) is a challenging task. In public organizations, the formalization of an IMS including the communication of control mechanisms, rules, goals and culture are crucial. Several types of carriers are used in order to communicate the content in an IMS – both human actors and artefacts. An artefact studied in this paper is an intranet, as one carrier of the IMS. The purpose of this paper is to explore how institutional theory – focusing institutional carriers – can help us to understand how an IMS is represented through human actors and technology in a government agency. The conclusion is that the application of an institutional carrier perspective on an IMS can help us to understand the past and present, the role, and the relative success of such a system. An IMS can be aligned or misaligned related to three dimensions of structure, process and people. Achieving an aligned and legitimate IMS is crucial in order to achieve goals in an organization. The implications of this study are that further research and practice should give more attention to institutional carriers when studying and improving IMS.
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| 4. |
- Crusoe, Jonathan, et al.
(författare)
-
Investigating open government data barriers : A literature review and conceptualization
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Electronic Government. - Cham : Springer Verlag. - 9783319986890 - 9783319986906 ; , s. 169-183
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- When focusing on open government data (OGD) publishing and related barriers, there are several complexities present. Largely, current research is focused on publishing and usage of OGD; and we argue that there are a need to investigate and to systematise OGD barrier research in order to understand and outline an expanded scope of the phenomenon. We expand by clarifying barriers linked to the release decision and the data’s organisational context. To investigate the OGD barriers, we conduct a systematic literature review, identifying 34 articles as a point of departure for our analysis. From these articles we create, present and discuss illustrations on historical development, barrier types, and different research focuses on OGD. When analysing the articles, we identify a focus on technical, organisational, and legal barrier types, while studies on open data usage and systems are less frequent. Our analysis also identifies some possible open data research barriers. In the article we also relate barriers to an expanded OGD process (Suitability, Release, Publish, Use, and Evaluation), identifying 46 barriers with possible linkages. The results is an expanded scope and a conceptual illustration of OGD barriers. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2018.
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| 5. |
- Crusoe, Jonathan, 1991-
(författare)
-
Why is it so challenging to cultivate open government data? : Understanding impediments from an ecosystem perspective
- 2019
-
Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Introduction: This compilation licentiate thesis focuses on open government data (OGD). The thesis is based on three papers. OGD is a system that is organized when publishers collect and share data with users, who can unrestrictedly reuse the data. In my research, I have explored why it can be challenging to cultivate OGD. Cultivation is human activities that change, encourage, or guide human organizations towards a higher purpose by changing, introducing, managing, or removing conditions. Here, the higher purpose is OGD to realize believed benefits. Thus, OGD cultivation is an attempt to stimulate actors into organizing as OGD.Problem and Purpose: OGD is believed to lead to several benefits. However, the worldwide OGD movement has slowed down, and researchers have noted a lack of use. Publishers and users are experiencing a set of different impediments that are challenging to solve. In previous research, there is a need for more knowledge about what can impede the OGD organization, cause non-valuable organizing, or even collapse the organization. At the same time, there is a lack of knowledge about how impediments shape the organization of OGD. This gap can make it hard to solve and overcome the impediments experienced by publishers and users. The sought-after knowledge can bring some understanding of the current situation of OGD. In this research, I have viewed the organization of OGD as an ecosystem. The purpose of this thesis is to draw lessons about why it can be challenging to cultivate OGD ecosystems by understanding OGD impediments from an ecosystem perspective.Research Design: I set out to explore OGD through qualitative research from 2016 to 2018. My research started with a pilot case study that led to three studies. The studies are each reported in a paper and the papers form the base of this thesis. The first paper aims to stimulate the conceptually oriented discussion about actors’ roles in OGD by developing a framework that was tested on a Swedish public agency. The second paper has the purpose of expanding the scope surrounding impediments and was based in a review and systematization of previous research about OGD impediments. The third paper presents an exploration of impediments experienced by publishers, users, and cultivators in the Swedish national OGD ecosystem to identify faults. From the three papers, lessons were drawn in turn and together, that are presented in this thesis.Findings: Cultivators when cultivating OGD ecosystems are facing towering challenges. The following three main challenges are identified in this thesis: (1) to cultivate a system that can manage stability by itself without constant involvement, (2) to cultivate a system that is capable of evolving towards a “greater good” by itself, and (3) to have an up-to-date precise vocabulary for a self-evolving system that enables inter-subjective understand for coordinating problem-solving.Contribution: The theoretical contribution of this thesis is that OGD ecosystems can be viewed as a public utility. Moreover, I recommend that researchers approach the organizing of OGD as the cultivation of evolution, rather than the construction of a structure; to consider the stability of the system in growth, value, and participation; and to be cautious with how they label and describe OGD actors. For actors that are cultivating OGD, I recommend that they guide the OGD actors to help them organize; view OGD cultivation as the management of evolution (growth) towards a purpose; and view cultivation as a collaborative effort where they can supply ideas, technologies, practices, and expertise.
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| 6. |
- Hedström, Karin, et al.
(författare)
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Identitet arbete privatliv : användning av smarta ID-kort
- 2018. - 1
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Ingår i: Ett smartare samhälle?. - Linköping : Linköping University Electronic Press. - 9789176852460 ; , s. 112-128
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Sjuksköterskan Mikael kliver upp tidigt på morgonen för att åka till jobbet. Han jobbar på en mindre vårdcentral ungefär tre mil hemifrån och måste åka strax före halv sju på morgonen. På väg ut till bilen kommer han plötslig ihåg att han måste ha med sig sitt nya ID-kort. Utan kortet kan han inte jobba…
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| 7. |
- Holgersson, Jesper, et al.
(författare)
-
NOT ANOTHER NEW WINE IN THE SAME OLD BOTTLES : MOTIVATORS AND INNOVATION IN LOCALGOVERNMENT E-SERVICE DEVELOPMENT
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Proceedings of the 25th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS). - : Association for Information Systems. - 9789892076553 ; , s. 691-702
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- E-services hold the potential to innovate how the public sector operates, and to increase the transparencyof public services. Numerous research initiatives have illustrated the innovation power of eservices;with new technology and new solutions to existing problems. Research on this topic also emphasizesthat in order for public e-services to reach their full potential, they need to be designed in away that users find useful and beneficiary. Interestingly, in practice, only fragments of this claimedinnovation seem to take place. Today, most public e-services launched are merely electronic versionsof existing services with no, or very low, degree of innovation. In this paper, we analyse empirical datafrom local government e-service providers. The aim is to explore the current practices in local governmente-service development with respect to how aspects related to innovative and high quality serviceprovisioning are handled. In doing so, we analyse what basic motivators there are for local governmentsto offer e-services in the first place, and how such motivators influence innovation in localgovernment e-service development. The analysis concludes that local governments are facing a challengingsituation in terms of a general lack of resources regarding time, competence, and skills, aswell as a dispersed user segment where needs and wills often are hard to grasp. Furthermore, localgovernments are facing conflicting interests and agendas. At the end of the day, the heights of innovationare then hard to achieve. We call for further research on the applicability of previous researchfindings in other research areas in order to promote more innovative e-service provisioning.
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| 8. |
- Melin, Ulf, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
-
Balanced and integrated e-government implementation – exploring the crossroad of public policy-making and information systems project management processes
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Transforming Government. - : Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.. - 1750-6166 .- 1750-6174. ; 12:2, s. 191-208
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: This paper aims to identify and elaborate on the various interpretations and implications of e-government as a process of public policy-making and as an act of information systems (IS) project management. The paper contributes to the search for a theoretical conceptualization by bridging policy project management and policy-making in public sector organizations at a crossroad of e-government to improve sustainable e-government research. Design/methodology/approach: The research design of this paper focus on a model balancing the two research fields; public policy-making and analysis, and project management in the IS field. Through this model, four critical aspects of the processes are identified: objective, incentives/motivation, input/trigger and coordinative actor. These critical aspects are illustrated through findings from four case studies that are re-analyzed here. The cases show how the conceptual model through different dimensions can balance the two perspectives to reach a more sustainable outcome of e-government. Findings: The paper shows that the two perspectives on e-government – public policy-making and project management – can be balanced and thereby reach a more sustainable outcome at this crossroad. The case studies re-visited in this paper are compared and serves as illustrations of these perspectives and different configurations of them in search for the crossroad. Research limitations/implications: A main contribution of the paper is that e-government projects should be studied in, and taking both public policy-making and IS project management into account to be sustainable and successful. Even if the case studies have been conducted in Sweden, the conceptual results in this paper can be analytically generalized into other setting. However, there is a need for more comparative and conceptual studies in the field of e-government to shed light on the multi-faceted crossroads illustrated in this paper. Practical implications: The paper offers new insights on how to integrate, bridge and even balance the two aspects of e-government policy aspects and projects management to achieve more sustainable and successful e-government. Originality/value: The paper contributes to the literature by shedding light on the crossroad of policy aspects and IS project management approaches in the e-government field. The paper points at the need to further develop the understanding and design of e-government at the crossroad of information system models and political science concepts. © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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| 9. |
- Melin, Ulf, 1968-
(författare)
-
Challenges and Benefits in an Open Data Initiative : A Local Government Case Study of Myths and Realities
- 2016
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Ingår i: Electronic Government and Electronic Participation. - : IOS Press. - 9781614996699 - 9781614996705 ; , s. 111-122
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper investigates the myths and realities of open data at local government (a focused municipality) level. There are many expectations related to open government data (OGD) covering e.g. public transportation, car parks, public committee minutes and air quality measurements and the effects of more open public agencies and commercial possibilities, together with citizen benefits. Expectations are often uncritical and expressed in terms of rationalized myths. The purpose of this paper is to investigate myths and realities in a case study and to present lessons learned from focusing such dimensions in an ongoing and emerging local government OGD initiative. This study confirms previous research on open data myths, challenges and benefits from a local government perspective. The conclusions also illustrate three important findings directed to the existing body of research regarding the importance of alliances of stakeholders in OGD initiatives, aspects of heterogeneous organizations launching open data and reflections on the division of labour between public and private actors when handling different communication channels. Implications for research and practice are also outlined together with limitations and further research.
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| 10. |
- Melin, Ulf, 1968-
(författare)
-
Vetenskaplig kunskap och bildning för samhällets framtida digitalisering : ett nationellt centrum: Utredningsrapport 2018-11-05
- 2018
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Digitalisering innehåller en potential för fortsatt förändring i och av samhället. Samtidigt har digitalisering många former och uttryck och det är inte självklart att goda sidor realiseras. Utredningen, som bygger på studier av tidigare forskning, intervjuer och enkäter, visar med tydlighet att det finns ett behov av vetenskaplig kunskap och bildning för att nå en mera reflekterad praktik gällande samhällets digitalisering. Det framkommer ett antal glapp i mötet mellan nuvarande digitaliseringsforskning och -praktik som gör att den kunskap om digitalisering som genereras inom både forskningen och inom praktiken inte tillräckligt ömsesidigt och aktivt tas tillvara. Med sådana glapp riskerar vi att inte nyttja den potential som finns i digitalisering inom både privat och offentlig sektor; att inte tillräckligt lära av generell kunskap, sammanhang och heller inte av framgångsmönster eller misstag i praktiken. För att framgångsrikt kunna adressera dessa glapp ställs höga krav både på praktiken, på den vetenskapliga kunskapsgenereringen och på den bildning som finns idag och i framtiden. Digitalisering är därmed både kunskapskrävande och kunskapsdrivande. Att samla en förmåga att kunna adressera dessa glapp är centralt för att vi som nation skall kunna nå de intentioner om att bli bäst på att nyttja digitaliseringens möjligheter som allt oftare artikuleras. Här krävs en medveten, långsiktig och samlad satsning på forskning om digitalisering bortom enskilda ämnen och specifika tillämpningsområden. En mångdisciplinär forskning med en samtidig ämnesmässig legitimitet har en viktig roll att spela för att bidra till en reflekterad digitaliseringspraktik. Relevant och vederhäftig utbildning på grundläggande och på avancerad nivå, forskarutbildning samt fort- och vidareutbildning likaså. Sammantaget skall detta resultera i en hantering av digitalisering som en kvalificerad praktisk kunskap guidad av såväl nyttoorientering som av klassiska bildningsideal. Ett nationellt centrum för vetenskaplig kunskap och bildning om samhällets digitalisering kan anta dessa utmaningar och stå för en relevant, möjliggörande, men också kritisk, och rigorös forskning för att ta sig an de ”stora frågorna”. Ett sådant centrum, organiserat med en mindre kärna, och ett omfattande nätverk av forskning och utbildning om digitalisering baserat i Sverige, kan ta en samordnande och tankeledande roll i arbetet. Centret kan vara den kunskapsgenerator och -resurs som krävs för att ta det svenska samhällets digitalisering, och dess olika sektorer, till nästa och nödvändiga nivå av framgång.
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| 11. |
- Simonofski, Anthony, et al.
(författare)
-
Towards a Decision Support Guide for User Participation in Public e-Service Development
- 2019
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- User participation is often reported as a success factor for public e-service development. However, in practice, project managers face challenges to involve users due to lack of methodology, time, or context awareness. In order to tackle this lack of context awareness, we describe a conceptual model summarizing the impact of four influencing factors on user participation decisions. From this model, we then derive a decision support guide that helps project managers from public organizations understand when and how to include users in the development process. Following the design science research approach, the conceptual model is built in an iterative manner based on several literature sources and validated through in-depth interviews and group discussions with project managers and researchers. This paper contributes to research as it helps to frame the conditions impacting participation and opens the discussion for the addition of other factors. Then, it also contributes to practice as project managers developing public e-services will be able to reach a better situated participation.
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| 12. |
- Söderström, Fredrik, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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Coordinating Public E-services : Investigating Mechanisms and Practices in a Government Agency
- 2018
-
Ingår i: 17th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference, EGOV 2018, Krems, Austria, September 3-5, 2018, Proceedings. - Cham, Switzerland : Springer. - 9783319986906 - 9783319986890 ; , s. 85-97
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Coordination is an important enabler when creating and managing coherent, integrated, secure and smart public electronic services (e-services). With an increased demand for such services, coordination as an internal organizational phenomenon is becoming increasingly important. Based on a qualitative case study, and informed by coordination theory, this paper investigates two different theoretical views applied on internal e-service coordination within a government agency in Sweden. At the outset, the agency is seeking one generic way to coordinate the current heterogeneous and fragmented internal e-service landscape in a more efficient way. Hence, our aim also includes investigating the prerequisites and potential for this type of coordination. We conduct this study in two stages. First, we apply a well-established theoretical lens from organizational theory on a set of coordination efforts, thereby perceiving coordination as a planned and anticipated activity based on a fixed set of mechanisms. Second, we apply a lens of coordinating as emergent practice, which allows for an in-depth investigation of more flexible and dynamic aspects of coordinating activities in daily work. By combining these two views, we argue that this approach can facilitate and increase understanding of the dynamics and flexibility needed to understand the type of coordination needed in public e-service contexts. This also implies that there is no single best practice or ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to internal e-service coordination. Instead, organizations need to acknowledge the need for combined multi-dimensional views revealing the inherent complexity of coordination; as planned as well as emerging activities.
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| 13. |
- Söderström, Fredrik, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
-
Creating Local Government Innovation : Lessons Learned From An Institutional Theory Perspective
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Electronic Government. - Cham : Springer. - 9783030273248 ; , s. 125-138
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The public sector is facing an equation that cannot be solved by continuingdoing business as usual. External demands of availability, quality andresilience of services, as well as internal demands of resource efficiency, areputting pressure on the public sector to seek for innovation. In this study, wefocus on local government innovation where high expectations are set on betterutilisation of employees’ creativity and innovative capacity. Based on a qualitativecase study of an innovation programme in a Swedish local governmentorganisation, this study applies institutional theory as a theoretical lens tofurther investigate and analyse the relationship between formal and informalstructures of local government innovation. The institutional structures related tonorms and values, legitimacy and decoupling as well as digital artefacts as institutionalcarriers are discussed. Implications for practice show that formal structures,processes and digital artefacts to support local government innovation areimportant in this work. However, to achieve government innovation, equal attentionshould also be given to informal institutional structures of innovation.For research, this implies that government innovation studies can benefit froman institutional theory perspective to develop a better understanding of how informalstructures affect related processes. We conclude by arguing that theneeded change towards the innovative bureaucracy is a transformative innovationin itself that needs to be acknowledged.
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| 14. |
- Söderström, Fredrik, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
-
Idé- och innovationsarbete i Linköpings kommun : analys och resultat av utvärdering
- 2017
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- I nutid existerar en samsyn kring att den offentliga sektorns innovationsförmåga utgör en mycket viktig potentiell resurs för att möta såväl samtidens som framtidens utmaningar. Denna outnyttjade resurs i form av medarbetares idé- och innovationskraft kan, genom ett systematiskt och strukturerat främjande, stöd och utnyttjande hjälpa offentlig sektor att nå ytterligare förbättringar och effektiviseringar med hänsyn till resursutnyttjande. Genom att omsätta medarbetares förmåga i form av kreativitet och innovationskraft till reell nytta har, som fokuseras i denna utvärdering, den kommunala sektorn bättre förutsättningar att bemöta dagens och morgondagens utmaningar på ett effektivt och ändamålsenligt sätt. För att möta samtidens krav och utmaningar i det lokala samhället, måste därmed traditionella sätt att organisera och strukturera verksamhet utmanas och förändras för att i större utsträckning främja aktörs- och nätverksdrivna ansatser.Denna rapport presenterar utvärderingen av Linköpings kommuns arbete att introducera och etablera ett idé- och innovationssystem - en idé och innovationsfrämjande struktur och stödfunktion. Dessa insatser har erhållit positiv respons, men ett bredare genomslag i operativ verksamhet kan hittills anses vara begränsat. Följande analys fokuserar identifierade utmaningar inom områden som styrning och samordning, förankring av centrala begrepp samt förutsättningar och kultur. Utvärderingens resultat presenteras som tydliga åtgärder och strategiska ställningstaganden. Dessa framhåller vikten av en balanserad och nyanserad helhetssyn på idé- och innovationsprocessen. Med ökad proaktivitet, samverkan i nätverk, minskad distans till operativ verksamhet, tydlig förankring av centrala begrepp samt aktivt främjande av en kreativ arbetsmiljö och innovationskultur ser vi en god potential för fortsatt positiv vidareutveckling av kommunens idé- och innovationssystem.
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| 15. |
- Toll, Daniel, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
-
Artificial Intelligence in Swedish Policies: Values, Benefits, Considerations and Risks
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Electronic Government. - Cham, Switzerland : Springer. - 9783030273248 - 9783030273255 ; , s. 301-310
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Artificial intelligence (AI) is said to be the next big phase in digital- ization. There is a global ongoing race to develop, implement and make use of AI in both the private and public sector. The many responsibilities of governments in this race are complicated and cut across a number of areas. Therefore, it is important that the use of AI supports these diverse aspects of governmental commitments and values. The aim of this paper is to analyze how AI is portrayed in Swedish policy documents and what values are attributed to the use of AI. We analyze Swedish policy documents and map benefits, considerations and risks with AI into different value ideals, based on an established e-government value framework. We conclude that there is a discrepancy in the policy level discourse on the use of AI between different value ideals. Our findings show that AI is strongly associated with improving efficiency and service quality in line with previous e- government policy studies. Interestingly, few benefits are highlighted concerning engagement of citizens in policy making. A more nuanced view on AI is needed for creating realistic expectations on how this technology can benefit society.
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