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Listening to the ground: web and mobile technology options for
public participation in government
2010 ZAWWW International conference
University of Kwazulu-Natal (UKZN)
Laban Bagui and Andrew Bytheway
Menu
• Give you a feeling of what it is about– Background, Research Problem, question, aim and
design
– Public participation stakeholders, technologies, expert opinions, models, and scenarios analysis
• Present our findings– E-Participation quality model and Critical success
factors
• Suggest areas to pursue research
Listening to the ground: web and mobile technology options for public participation in government
Background
•In South Africa, Technology investments were intended to lay foundations for quality service delivery, at the transactional level. E.g. : Numerous technology-based initiatives have been launched: government websites are rich with information from all administrative departments and state institutions, call centres have been established to garner complaints, compliments and ideas, and the Presidency has even opened its own call centre to provide a “direct line” to the President himself. •However, after 16 years the country is still a theatre for violent protests about service delivery, xenophobic attacks against foreigners, student’s violent strikes, violent union marches, and other fierce demonstrations. •The nation exhibits a low level of public satisfaction with service delivery as well as a decrease in confidence in the government.•The efforts at conventional public participation spaces– such as community meetings, public hearings, consultations and forums – sometimes give the impression of being no more than a terrain for confrontation and affirmation of dominance by powerful leaders or parties.
Listening to the ground: web and mobile technology options for public participation in government
Research QuestionHow should South Africa look at using ICTs to make public
participation work as it should?
The aim of this study was to undertake a review of e-participation, balanced by experts opinions and to draw conclusions about the problems and patterns of implementation.
Aim of study
Research problemAlthough significant investments have been made, public
participation seems have poorly benefited from the use of technology
Listening to the ground: web and mobile technology options for public participation in government
Research Design
• Qualitative approach
• Literature review
• Semi-structured interviews
• Content and Scenario analysis
Listening to the ground: web and mobile technology options for public participation in government
Listening to the ground: web and mobile technology options for public participation in government
Mbombela stadium: 7km outside of Nelspruit in Mpumalanga
Key elements using ICTs in Public Participation in Government
Listening to the ground: web and mobile technology options for public participation in government
Some keywords• eGovernment
• eParticipation
• Social Capital
• Leadership
• IT management issues
Listening to the ground: web and mobile technology options for public participation in government
Public Participation Stakeholders• Parliament• Specific government departments• Justice courts• Institutional offices• other governments• Individuals• Community based organizations (CBOs)• Non government organisations (NGOs)• Businesses • Media, and even• Organized crime.
Listening to the ground: web and mobile technology options for public participation in government
e.g. : Technology for Public Participation
• FOSS (Free and open source software)
• GIS (Geographic information system)
• XML
• Web 2.0 and web 3.0
• Mobile platform (PDA, cellular phones)
Listening to the ground: web and mobile technology options for public participation in government
Expert Opinion
Listening to the ground: web and mobile technology options for public participation in government
Expert opinion on e-participation in South Africa, from an external point of viewExpert1 Expert2 Expert3 Expert4Public Participation happens only for those who have means (Rich and influential)
To make the people heard in high spheres parliament has to have space for people to participate in debates.
Issues of participation for poor
Local government do not listen to people
Make people heard, which means to have his/her preferences recognised and influence policy and budget
People are not heard
Protests and demonstrations are the only means they have to get heard
Political parties are heard in parliament
Forms of active citizenship
Critical citizenship
Service delivery is certainly one of the main issues
Issues of dissatisfaction and complaints
Service delivery protests Service delivery protest truly for recognition and to show their frustration
There is an issue accessing information on government channels
Information access issues
Not all departments use technology
People need to earn the right to speak to others
Problem of elitism
Civil society needs to be rooted in the ground
Access to the judiciary is difficult
The systems should be built by the private sector
Leaders should be educated in the use of ICT
Need for cultural and electoral reform
Local areas
Internet and mobile technology (web, mobisite, sms, users opinion tracking on fora, banners, adds on sites)
Cellphones, sms are key Library campaigns Mobile for protests
Mobile participation
Sms comments on topic
Online deliberation
People should deliberate online
Technology can help in context where people have power
Experts word Summary
The key findings from the interviews are that public
participation in government in South Africa doesn’t work
properly; the experts envision a design that would be
local, culturally connected to the people, probably
originating from the private sector, with a sense of
educating both leaders in government and individuals in
communities; they see potential in internet and mobile
technologies to help the process.
Listening to the ground: web and mobile technology options for public participation in government
Gartner E-government hype cycle evolution
Listening to the ground: web and mobile technology options for public participation in government
Source: Gartner research, 2004
E-Participation models
Listening to the ground: web and mobile technology options for public participation in government
• Macintosh and Whyte (2008) framework for characterising e-participation: from level of engagements to critical success factors
• Government IT management challenges and key issues (Di Maio et al., 2010): Strategy and planning, service delivery and operations, and specific activity domains
• UN model for e-participation from emerging to connected;
• Network readiness and e-government ranks: South Africa is respectively 52nd and 97th out of 184
Scenario analysis
• Scenario 1: “Good to Ideal”Social capital is being optimally managed. • Scenario 2a: “Healthy average”Social capital is developing. • Scenario 2b: “Unhealthy average” Social capital is mismanaged. • Scenario 3: “Worst case”Social capital is limited to those who have, there is
nothing for the have-nots
Listening to the ground: web and mobile technology options for public participation in government
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E-Participation quality Model
Listening to the ground: web and mobile technology options for public participation in government
X South Africa
Denmark, Netherland,
Norway X
X Sub-saharian African countries
Critical success factors
• A dedicated and willing leadership• Development of Social Capital in
communities • Careful management of IT issues • A continued focus on people • Access to the growing body of knowledge
concerning e-government thus e-participation
• Transformation of government practices to accommodate available technologies
• Measure participation and engagement
Listening to the ground: web and mobile technology options for public participation in government
Conclusion
• Pay attention to critical success factors
• Defining e-participation strategies
Listening to the ground: web and mobile technology options for public participation in government
Laban Bagui labanbagui@gmail.com
Andrew Bytheway bytheway@mweb.co.za
Faculty of Informatics and DesignCape Peninsula University of TechnologyCape TownSouth Africa
Me Ti Be Ma Yega/ Merci / Thank you/ Danke Shön / Dankie / Ngosi
Questions?
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