Supporting Policy-Makers with Social Media Analysis Tools to Get Aware of Citizens' Opinions

The role of social media in politics has increased considerably. A particular challenge is how to deal with the deluge of information generated on social media: it is impractical to read lots of messages with the hope of finding useful information. In this chapter, the authors suggest an alternative approach: utilizing analysis software to extract the most relevant information of the discussions taking place. This chapter discusses the WeGov Toolbox as one concept for policy-makers to deal with the information overload on Social Media, and how it may be applied. Two complementary, in depth case studies were carried out to validate the usefulness of the analysis results of the WeGov Toolbox components' within its target audience's everyday life. Firstly, the authors used the “HeadsUp” forum, operated by the Hansard Society. Here, they were able to compare the key themes and opinions extracted automatically by the Toolbox to a control group of manually pre-analyzed data sets. In parallel, results of analyses based on four weeks' intensive monitoring on policy area-specific Facebook pages selected by German policy makers, as well as topics on Twitter globally and local, were assessed by taking into account their existing experience with content discussed and user behavior in their respective public spheres. The cases show that there are interesting applications for policy-makers to use the Toolbox in combination with online forums (blogs) and social networks, if behavioral user patterns will be considered and the framework will be refined.

Urban Planning 3.0

This chapter addresses the challenges that changing technologies pose to urban planning. Urban planning continues to be influenced by an emerging creativity and knowledge-sharing culture that has an inherent connection to digital transformation. Technology certainly plays an important role in the production of content and its distribution. Such a transformation is giving urban planning a new look, which is depicted in the concepts of Urban Planning 2.0 and Urban Planning 3.0. In this chapter, this paradigm shift is explained and illustrated with a special view to identifying the ways these second and third generations of the Web affect urban planning. There is a plethora of pilot projects and new practices in Urban Planning 2.0, even if experiences as a whole are so few and far between, which makes it difficult to assess both the best practices in this field and the long-term impacts of their application. Recent developments associated with the applications of Web 3.0 and related technology trends in urban planning, which are designed to bring intelligence into planning, have hardly seen daylight due to both technological and socio-technical challenges associated with them. In brief, in the case of Web 2.0, we know on the basis of our initial experiences by and large how it may support urban planning; however, in the case of Web 3.0, technological uncertainties and systemic dimension of related applications make the concept more ambiguous and thus more challenging to assess what the true potential of this emerging Web trend is from the point of view of urban planning.

Public Communication in Urban Planning

In most European countries, urban planning is a domain of public administration and as such should be a subject of transparent, democratic decision-making procedures. It bares the growing need for public communication, especially in the context of the rapid development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The Internet strongly influences public decision-making systems, including urban planning. This chapter looks for particular patterns and standards of public communication in urban planning in Poland and Germany by comparing online participation tools and by analyzing three complimentary aspects of e-participation in planning: “transparency,” “spatiality,” and “interactivity.”

Risk Communication Methods and Participatory Approaches

The chapter provides an overview of the main methods, tools, and actions of risk communication used in the different phases of risk governance, analyzing their advantages and disadvantages. A practical case study carried out in Italy shows an application of some of these methods, comparing data before and after communication actions. Finally, a discussion for future challenges on risk communication is introduced. It underlines the need to improve the link between communication, consultation, and participation, enhancing the citizens' knowledge and mutual learning by applying the new social media.

Successful Adoption of M-Voting System in Egypt

Citizens everywhere are continuously demanding to be given the chance to participate more in the democratic process. Mobile technology is seen as a new method to fulfill such a demand. A remote voting using mobile device is considered an effectual way in enabling citizens to get involved in the voting process, especially in developing countries. In spite of the the perceived benefits of applying m-voting, it is not widely used by governments in several countries. This chapter identifies the factors that affect citizens' intentions of adopting a mobile voting system by introducing a prototype of an m-voting system to citizens in Egypt. Findings show that ease of use, usefulness, trust, and mobility have significant impact on citizens' willingness to use an m-voting system.

The Developmental Effect of a New Political Anomaly on the Oldest ICT

Economic growth in countries like China, whose democratic credentials and human rights records are unimpressive, compels us to question the democracy-development nexus articulated by eminent writers like Amartya Sen. Against this background, this chapter assesses the impact of pseudo-democratic politics on the use of ICTs for development. It is based on research done in Zimbabwe, an electoral autocracy that recovered from being the world's worst economy in 2008 to impressive economic stability post-2009 (i.e. after the formation of a coalition government that, however, did not usher in substantive improvements in political and civic freedoms and liberties). Sen's (1999) capability approach and Illich's (1973) concept of conviviality are used for analysing the banning of the use of short wave radios in Zimbabwe just before elections that will signal the termination of the coalition government before the end of 2013. The research investigates if and how political and civic freedoms affect development. It shows that in a dual political economy like Zimbabwe, the formal (urban) economy may stabilize without political freedoms yet enclaves of poverty may deepen in the informal and rural economies due to lack of human development. A framework for the effect of politics on the role of analogue radio in development is proposed.

The Relationship between Trust and Citizens' Adoption of E-Government

The rapid growth of e-government in the world has raised the question of how government can increase the citizen's adoption and usage of e-government services. Trusting an e-government Website is a crucial step towards the adoption of such paradigm. Building trust in e-government facilitates and encourages the interaction between government and their customers. This chapter explores the relationship between trust and adoption of e-government and its general concepts including e-government and trust in e-government. It also reviews several models of trust. Conclusions and further future studies are discussed at the end of this chapter.

Quality Approaches for Performance Measurement in Jordanian E-Government Services

Improving the efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of public services has become a growing concern for many governments across the world, and more so with recent popularity of online services, widely referred as e-government services. The application of quality approaches for measuring and improving e-government services has been the subject of much research within the academic world over the last two decades. This chapter discusses the use of key quality approaches to improve services in Jordan's e-government initiatives. As more and more developing countries are adopting e-services as a means of providing quality services to their community and people through the Web, the necessary benchmarking plays an important role. Many traditional quality benchmarking performance measurements have proved futile in improving e-government services due to their quantitative focus. Though qualitative frameworks and measurement approaches such as Six Sigma and Balanced Scorecard have found their success in certain industry sectors, their relevance in the service sector has drawn attention only recently. While some studies have employed such approaches for evaluating projects in information and communication technologies, literature lacks investigations in the e-government sector. To fill this gap, this chapter investigates the application of Six Sigma and Balanced Scorecard approaches to improve quality in Jordanian e-government services.

Application of CRM 2.0 in Spanish Public Administration

Public administrations have a fundamental role in developed societies ensuring the citizens' welfare through the provision of important services. Despite its importance, the effects of using IT in administrations has been less studied by the academy in comparison with using it in businesses, so there is an absence of works focused on analyzing which technologies administrations apply and which results they produce. Accordingly, this chapter aims to analyze the practical results that may be encountered in the application of CRM 2.0 in public administrations. For this, firstly, the CRM concept and its application are analyzed, finding that traditional CRM maintains a unidirectional approach of information, with little room for citizen participation. Secondly, to overcome the one-way approach, concept of Web 2.0, based on the collaborative use of the IT, which extends the possibilities of interaction between administrations and citizens is presented. This integration of traditional CRM with Web 2.0 gives rise to the CRM 2.0; its applications are expected to be the opportunity to modernize services and move closer to citizens. However, the literature has not identified the specific effects of applying CRM 2.0 in public administrations. In this sense, the work identifies some practical results of these implementations through exploratory research by applying a Delphi to senior managers of nine Spanish public administrations; this has allowed the authors to identify as principal results an improved productivity, an increased citizen satisfaction, and a better integration of information. Security and organizational issues are the main difficulties.

Toward Quality Measurement Approaches for Improving E-Government Services in Jordan

Recent research studies reveal that approaches are required in improving the quality of e-government services for ensuring success and improved performance that would result in user satisfaction. This chapter investigates combining lean six sigma applications and SERVQAUL approaches to improve quality of electronic services (e-services). While six sigma applications in the service sector have many success stories in quality improvement programs, there are a lack of studies conducted on its application in information and communication technologies such as e-services. This chapter addresses this gap in literature and benefits future studies in applying six sigma for quality improvement of various electronic projects that are gaining huge investments from develop countries and organizations. This chapter presents e-service dimensions (reliability, responsiveness, ease of use, personalization, Website design); in addition, it considers security as a very important dimension for e-service quality and identifies level of quality service provided by e-government in a developing country, such as Jordan. The results show that the quality measurement approach used improves e-service quality and increases user satisfaction.