CALL FOR PAPERS
dg.o 2017: 18th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research
Theme: Innovations and Transformations in Government
City University of New York
College of Staten Island, Staten Island, NY
June 7-9, 2017
http://dgo2017.dgsociety.org/
Twitter handle: #dgo2017
The Digital Government Society (DGS) announces the 18th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research - dg.o 2017, with the theme “Innovations and Transformations in Government." The dg.o 2017 conference will be hosted by the City University of New York, College of Staten Island Campus, NY, June 7--9, 2017.
The dg.o conference is an established forum for presentation, discussion, and demonstration of interdisciplinary research on digital government, political participation, civic engagement, and the impact of technology and innovation on government and governance. Each year the conference brings together scholars recognized for the interdisciplinary and innovative nature of their work, their contributions to theory (rigor) and practice (relevance), and their focus on important and timely topics. The conference program combines:
-Keynote and track presentations and discussions on new research on digital government at the intersections of information technology research, social and behavioral science research, and the challenges and missions of government.
-Presentations of effective partnerships and collaborations among government professionals and agencies, university researchers, relevant businesses, and NGOs, as well as grassroots citizen groups, to advance the practice of digital government.
-A showcase of digital government projects, implementations, and initiatives that bring together the research and practitioner communities, demonstrate the effectiveness and/or challenges of digital government and offer best practices.
JOINT EVENT WITH INTELLIGENT COMMUNITY FORUM
Two global communities, the Digital Government Society (DGS) and the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), will partner in June 2017 to build new bridges between research and practice, with a shared goal of creating new interdisciplinary, multi-sector partnerships within the world’s communities focused on innovation. Both DGS and the ICF have convened respective communities in cities all around the world. This year they are bringing their communities together in New York to share knowledge, allow each group to network at a deeper level and explore new partnerships to advance urban and rural innovation.
On June 7, 2017, the DGS and ICF’s representatives will host the joint program at the City University of New York Staten Island campus for the ICF’s annual Summit and the dg.o conference. For one day, members of both communities will present a set of joint and complementary sessions that provide attendees with a chance to hear from global leaders from across the world’s leading regions, cities and towns. Attendees will participate in master classes and workshops, and seek to build collaborations focused on advancing the scholarship, policy and practice of urban and rural innovation. The capstone of the collaboration of these two communities will be the announcement of the world’s Top7 intelligent communities at a joint reception in Manhattan on the evening of June 7th.
THEMES AND TRACK TOPICS
The 18th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research will feature the main theme of Innovations and Transformations in Government. Technological advances, such as big data and collective intelligence, together with policy innovations including open government, open data, and the creation of new public data labs have been a catalyst for disruptive innovations in government, causing radical re-thinking of the traditional assumptions and expectations regarding how governments should function. Public goods and services once considered exclusively the responsibility of government agencies are now often initiated and produced through collaborations with citizens, non-profits, and/or private sector partners.
The conference theme will highlight challenges and solutions in harnessing innovations and transformations in government. Innovative designs in all aspects of government, including people, services, data, policy, governance, collaboration, and democracy, require leadership talent, creative ideas and implementation strategies, and clear success criteria for evaluating solutions. We welcome research and practice contributions from around the world on the topics including but not limited to innovation strategies, policy innovations, citizen services, engagement innovations, and data-driven decision innovations that address various current societal, environmental and economic challenges, across all the eight tracks below. Each track will accept full research papers as well as research in progress, management case studies and policy papers. Panel, tutorial, workshop, poster and demonstration proposals are also invited. Each conference element has co-chairs who are responsible for managing the submission and review process for their track. Feel free to contact track chairs for guidance as necessary.
Track 1. Social Media and Government
Track Chairs: Andrea Kavanaugh (kavan@cs.vt.edu) and Rodrigo Sandoval
The use of social media has been growing rapidly and globally. Governments at all levels have been using microblogs, such as Twitter, and social network sites, such as Facebook, among
other platforms and tools for public administration and outreach to citizens. Citizens, businesses and voluntary associations have been using these tools and affordances to share information, ask questions, and compete or collaborate on problem solving within and among neighborhoods, industries, states, and nations. The growing use of social media has created new challenges and opportunities for many users such as changes in regulations and policies, marketing, highly diverse perspectives, and feedback. Analysis of communication behavior, messages, and systems and institutions, should contribute to our knowledge of the ways these media are affecting collective problem solving and public policy development. Future trends in social media and government point to new synergies, as well as disruptions, among public agencies and users. This track welcomes research and practice papers addressing a range of similar or related topics on social media analysis on content, metrics, case studies or theoretical models to advance this area of research.
Track 2. Organizational Factors, Adoption Issues and Digital Government Impacts
Track chairs: Jing Zhang (jizhang@clarku.edu), Yu-Che Chen, and Lei Zheng
Public organizations employ information and communication technologies (ICT) to facilitate communication and transactions with many stakeholders in public and private sectors. The adoption and implementation of new ICT by public organizations is influenced by organizational factors such as the availability of resources (i.e. funding, technological knowledge, and personnel), leadership, trust, organization’s technological culture, as well as inter-organizational dynamics. Similarly, the adoption of ICT in government and society has generated important impacts on the organizational effectiveness, efficiency, and innovativeness of public organizations. This track solicits research that examines the organizational factors that influence the adoption and implementation of new ICT as well as the impact of new ICT. Research papers in this track examine the adoption, use, and organizational impacts of a variety of innovative technologies and policies or practices that include but are not limited to social media, citizen-centric technologies, virtual collaboration, open data, big data, and modeling tools.
Track 3. Opening Government: From Open Data Infrastructures to Collaboration
Track chairs: Marijn Janssen (m.f.w.h.a.janssen@tudelft.nl), Vishanth Weerakkody, and Adegboyega Ojo
Governments are utilizing the Internet to achieve an open, transparent and accountable government while providing responsive services. This extensive transformation is required both within the government and in the way governments engage with the public. The opening and sharing of data, the deployment of tools and instruments to engage the public, collaboration amongst public organizations and between governments and the public are important drivers for realizing these goals. Governments initiate open data portals, develop apps, and open more data to engage with the public to create more value. To successfully achieve this vision, fundamental changes in practice and new research on governments as open systems are needed. Successful cases, measurement instruments, information sharing, adoption, stakeholder analysis and theoretical models and frameworks are necessary to advance this field. In particular, this track solicits papers addressing the issue of public sector transformation achieved through open government, collaboration amongst actors and information sharing within and between public and private organizations.
Track 4. Smart Cities, Smart Citizens, Smart Governments
Track chairs: Sehl Mellouli (sehl.mellouli@fsa.ulaval.ca), Yigal Arens
The slogan "Smart Cities, Smart Citizens, Smart Governments” refers to the promise of using linked and intertwined technologies to create innovative and intelligent solutions to life in a city that will result not only in operational efficiency, but also in government transformation through co-creative governance. Topics for this track include but are not limited to: Applications and collaborations based on the “internet of things”; Smart sensors; Big data analytics; The Civic Technology Movement, and Intercity and intergovernmental collaborations; Intelligent solutions for cities and governments. Descriptions of research and development efforts that demonstrate advances in technology and/or policy innovations in the areas of energy, transportation, health, education, public safety, structures, natural environment, and business, are all welcome, as are related issues of cybersecurity and privacy, community-based infrastructure resilience, urban informatics and governance.
Track 5. Cybersecurity and Government
Track Chairs: Loni Hagen (lonihagen@usf.edu), Hun-Yeong Kwon, Wookjoon Sung and Soon Ae Chun
Increasing threats of domestic and international cyber-attacks, and growing dependencies on inter-connected cyberspace, require a need for national and global collaborations to develop secure and resilient cyber infrastructure. This track focuses on technical, policy and social dimensions of cyber security research, including theoretical and empirical models and frameworks, to address ever-expanding cyber security challenges. Topics include but not limited to: information security in e-government, cybercrimes, cyber incident response, critical infrastructure protection, national and global information sharing, surveillance and privacy, cryptography policy governance, security governance and strategies, civil engagement and public awareness. We also invite domain-specific cases and innovative approaches on security challenges, cybernational defence, private/public joint efforts, and education, such as workforce training and retention.
Track 6. Beyond Bureaucracy, Co-Producing Governance & New Models of Governance
Track Chairs: Alois Paulin (alois@apaulin.com) and Leonidas Anthopoulos
The Beyond Bureaucracy track aims to outline and discuss challenges along the boundaries of society, technology, and governance, which reach beyond established e-governance research paths and priorities. Where well-established e-government / e-governance research ambitions focus on providing and/or studying technology that supports the work and mission of government agencies and governmental agents (incremental innovation), Beyond Bureaucracy addresses the question how radical technological innovation transforms the power of citizens and the conceptual sovereign body to actively control (rather than passively observe and follow) government agencies and governmental agents. The Beyond Bureaucracy track invites contributions that discuss pending technological (design science) challenges, promotes the economic potentials of disruptive new technological ecosystems, and serves as a platform for pro/con deliberations on Beyond Bureaucracy thought and knowledge. Research keywords includes but not limited to: Liquid Democracy, Informating Governance, e-Anarchy, Participatory Budgeting & Bottom-Up Excise, Non-Bureaucratic Government, etc.
Track 7. Participatory Democracy
Track Chairs: Claudia Cappelli (claudia.cappelli@uniriotec.br), Cristiano Maciel, José Viterbo Filho
E-participation comprises the use of information and communication technologies to broaden and deepen political participation by enabling citizens to connect with one another and with their elected representatives. It can lead to new methods of producing public policies and services that contrast with transaction-based methods of service delivery, in which citizens consume public services solely conceived and provided by governments. In the novel coproduction-based approaches, citizens are not only consulted but are part of the conception, design, steering, and management of public policies and services. Hence, this track focuses on e-participation approaches that instrument Participatory Democracy, supporting cooperation among citizens and governments on regular basis. Its major topics will discuss strategies, methods, techniques and tools that can contribute to the coproduction of public services.
Track 8. Open Government Data Policies & Politics
Track chairs: Boyi Li (b.li@exeter.ac.uk) and Kyung Ryul Park
A growing body of literature has been focused on the benefits, motivations, as well as best practices to adopt open data in government sectors. Many theorizing efforts regard institutional structures as critical barriers to promote open innovation paradigm in public sector. In this track, we discuss the impact and change of these institutional structures by inviting research papers that examine open data initiatives as either government policies or politics. The policy lens critically analyses the policy documents and reveals how open data policies are drafted, interpreted, and implemented in a specific context. The politics lens is mainly concerned with the power relations between the state, civil society, and business. It leads to a critical reflection on the agenda of open data movement in the context of power structures of informational capitalism. Therefore, we particularly welcome the content and discourse analysis of open data documents, and the storytelling of government-business collaboration in open data innovations.
Panels
Chair: Teresa Harrison
Panel proposals may address themes or topics related to any of the tracks for the conference. Additionally, we welcome panel proposals that put a spotlight on practice and application. Proposals from practitioners at all levels of government featuring experiences with, perspectives on, and evaluations of digital government practice are encouraged. Individuals interested in submitting panel proposals are invited to consult the panel co-chairs about their ideas prior to developing their submissions. Please send expressions of interest for panel development to Teresa Harrison (tharrison@albany.edu).
Poster and Demonstration
Poster and Demo Chair: Kellyton dos Santos Brito and Murray Scott
The poster session, held in conjunction with the system demonstrations, allows presenters to discuss research in progress, application projects, or government policies and program initiatives in one-to-one conversations with other participants at the conference.
PUBLICATIONS
All accepted management or policy papers, research papers, student papers, panels, posters, and system demonstrations will be published in the printed proceedings and included in the ACM digital library and the DBLP bibliography system. Selected papers will be invited for a journal special issue.
BEST PAPER AWARDS
Outstanding achievement awards will be presented in the categories Research papers, Management, Case Study and Policy papers, Posters, and System demonstrations. Papers that reflect the main theme of the conference, Innovations and Transformations in Government, will be preferred. Other selection criteria include the interdisciplinary and innovative nature of the work, its contribution to and balance between theory (rigor) and practice (relevance), the importance and reach of the topic, and the quality of the writing for communicating to a broad audience.
IMPORTANT DATES
January 15, 2017: Papers, workshops, tutorials, and panel proposals due
March 1, 2017: Application deadline for 2017 doctoral colloquium
March 1, 2017: Author notifications March 15, 2017: Posters and demo proposals due
April 1, 2017: Poster/demo author notifications
April 5, 2017: Camera-ready manuscripts due
May 5, 2017: Early registration closes!
SUBMISSION TYPES AND FORMATS
. Research papers (maximum of 10 pages)
. Management, Case Study, or Policy papers (maximum of 6 pages)
. Panel descriptions (maximum of 4 pages)
. Posters (maximum of 2 pages)
. System demonstrations (maximum of 2 pages)
. Pre-Conference tutorial proposals (maximum of 2 pages)
. Pre-Conference workshop proposals (maximum of 2 pages)
. Doctoral colloquium application (maximum of 10 pages)
Submission Site: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=dgo2017
Submissions must not exceed the maximum number of pages specified for each type of submission in camera-ready ACM Proceedings format (double column, single spaced pages). Please do not use page numbers. Paper titles should be on the first page of text, rather than on a separate cover page.
. Research, Management, Case Study, and Policy papers will be reviewed through a double-blind review process. Therefore, author names and contact information must be omitted from all submissions. Authors must identify the topic(s) being addressed in the paper to assist the program committee in the review process.
. All other submissions should follow the same ACM proceedings camera-ready format, but include author names.
. All accepted submissions require at least one author to be registered for the conference before the camera-ready copy is due for it to be included in the conference proceedings.
. At least one author is expected to attend the conference to present the work.
Research papers (8 - 10 pages) – blind review
These submissions report innovative digital government research results in the form of a formal scholarly paper. Papers on any digital government topic and all research methodologies are welcome. Relevance to digital government problems, goals, or policies must be explicit.
Management, case study, or policy papers (4 - 6 pages) – blind review
These submissions describe and evaluate practical digital government projects or initiatives, discuss major policy themes, or present and evaluate management approaches to digital government initiatives and programs.
Panels (2 - 4 pages) - Proposals should include information about the theme and goals of the panel, a summary of the digital government issues or questions that the panel will address, statements about the value of the discussion to conference attendees and how well suited the topic is to a panel discussion. In addition, the proposal should include information about the expertise of the moderator and panelists in the selected issues. Please include names,
institutional affiliations, addresses, email, and phone contact numbers of the contact person, moderator, and presenter(s).
Posters (1 - 2 pages): Two-page summaries should outline the nature of the research, policy, or project and describe why the work will be of interest to dg.o attendees. Posters prepared for the conference should measure approximately 36" x 48." Each poster station is provided with a table and an easel. Selected poster submissions may be asked to give an oral presentation in the conference sessions.
System Demonstrations (1 - 2 pages): System demonstrations are held concurrently with the poster session to the accompaniment of good food and professional fellowship. The 2-page summaries should outline the nature of the system and describe why the demonstration is likely to be of interest to dg.o attendees. Demonstrations of interest include systems under development or in active use in research or practice domains. Submissions should include authors' names and contact information according to that format. Each station is provided with a table, an easel, and Internet access. Monitors will be available for rent. Selected demo submissions may be asked to give an oral presentation in the conference sessions.
Pre-conference Tutorials (1 - 2 pages): dg.o tutorials are half- or full-day presentations that offer deeper insight into e-government research, practice, research methodologies, technologies or field experience. In particular, tutorials provide insights into good practices, research strategies, uses of particular technologies such as social media, and other insights into e-government that would benefit researchers and practitioners.
Pre-conference Workshops (1 - 2 pages): We invite workshop proposals on any e-government research or management topic. Workshops are half- or full-day events intended to offer interactive sessions, in which the workshop host and participants discuss and engage in activities designed to facilitate joint learning and further exploration of a particular subject. Individuals proposing workshops will assume the responsibility of identifying and selecting participants for the workshop and for conducting workshop activities.
Doctoral Colloquium (7 - 10 pages, not including references, tables and figures): The doctoral colloquium is a highly interactive full-day forum in which Ph.D. students meet and discuss their work with each other and with senior faculty from a variety of disciplines associated with digital government research. Ph.D. students can submit papers describing their planned or in-progress doctoral dissertation covering any research areas relevant to digital government. Ideally, student participants will have completed one or two years of doctoral study or progressed far enough in their research to have a structured proposal idea and preliminary findings, but have not reached the stage of defending their dissertations. We expect students at this stage of study will gain the most value from feedback on their work and the more general discussions of doctoral programs and scholarly careers. See the detailed announcement for complete information on the colloquium and how to submit an application. Material provided in applications to the doctoral colloquium will not be published in the proceedings. However, we encourage students to submit finished research to one of the paper tracks or as a poster or demo.
CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION
Conference Chairs
. Soon Ae Chun, City University of New York (CUNY), US
. Beth Simon Noveck, New York University and Yale Law School, US
. Nabil R. Adam, Rutgers University, US
Organizing Chairs
. Paolo Cappellari, CUNY College of Staten Island, US
. Rob Domanski, CUNY College of Staten Island, US
. Richard Flanagan, CUNY College of Staten Island, US
Program Chairs
. Chris Hinnant, Florida State University, US
. Adegboyega Ojo, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland
Track Chairs
. Andrea Kavanaugh, Virginia Tech, US
. Jing Zhang, Clark University, US
. Marijn Janssen, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
. Rodrigo Sandoval, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Mexico
. Sehl Mellouli, Laval University, Canada
. Soon Ae Chun, City University of New York, US
. Vishanth Weerakkody, Brunel University, UK
. Adegboyega Ojo, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland
. Yigal Arens, University of Southern California, US
. Loni Hagen, South Florida University, US
. Hun-Yeong Kwon, Korea University, S. Korea
. Wookjoon Sung, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, S. Korea
. Kyung Ryul Park, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
. Boyi Li, University of Exeter, UK
. Alois Paulin, Vienna University of Technology, Austria
. Leonidas Anthopoulos, University of Applied Sciences (TEI) of Thessaly, Greece
. Yu-Che Chen, University of Nebraska Omaha, US
. Lei Zheng, Fudan University, China
. Claudia Cappelli, Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
. Cristiano Maciel, Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso, Brazil
. José Viterbo Filho, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil
Panels Chair
. Teresa Harrison, University at Albany, SUNY, US
Workshop and Tutorial Chair
. Rony Medaglia, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
. Manuel Pedro Rodríguez Bolívar, University of Granada, Spain
Poster and Demo Chairs
. Kellyton dos Santos Brito, Pernambuco Rural Federal University, Brazil
. Murray Scott, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland
Doctoral Colloquium Chairs
. Sharon Dawes, Center for Technology in Government, University at Albany, SUNY, US
. J. Ramon Gil-Garcia, Center for Technology in Government, University at Albany, SUNY, US
Publicity and Web Chairs
. Yoo Jung An, Essex County College, US
. Chulwoo Kim, Pace University, US
Liaison and Outreach Chairs
. Theresa Pardo, University at Albany, USA
. Norman Jacknis, Intelligent Community Forum, USA
Registration Chairs
. Lukasz Porwol, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland
. Catherine Dumas, University at Albany, US
Finance Chair
. Andrea Kavanaugh, Virginia Tech, US