E-government, E-democracy, E-Society
Information and communication technology is an extremely important enabler in the modernisation and democratisation of the public sector, and of society as a whole. During the first decades of computerisation, e-government was very much about automation and rationalisation of manual processes in the public sector, thereby getting more value for taxpayers’ money. This goal is still important, not least in developing countries, but the main focus has shifted towards the interactions between governments on different levels, on the one hand, and citizens and enterprises on the other. One line in this development is about offering citizens and enterprises better public services, e-services. Another line is about involving all parties concerned in public decision-making, e-participation and e-democracy.
A main focus of modern e-government is also the functioning of society as a whole, including the system of governance, the information economy, and the knowledge-based society with open access to public data.
Examples of current research areas
Modernisation of public sector systems. The Nordic countries have a long and successful tradition of developing and implementing efficient information systems and services in the public sector, e.g. in taxation administration and official statistics. These experiences are now drawn upon in cooperation with similar developments in other countries, including developing countries and former Soviet republics in transition. It is also possible to learn from successful, citizen-centric developments in countries like Estonia. DSV is actively engaged in research and development projects in these areas.
E-democracy and participative decision-making. Research projects at DSV study different models for e-democracy in general, and participative decision-making models in particular. The latter research is based on the DSV-DECIDE model and tools.
Public e-services. Government institutions on all levels (central, regional, local) are developing and implementing public e-services meeting the needs of citizens and enterprises. There are needs and opportunities to develop and evaluate different methods and approaches to these developments, and to help different actors to cooperate and learn from each other within existing frameworks of public procurements.
Legislation and business models in the information economy. The modern information-based economy offers new challenges. The marginal cost of producing copies of information products are very close to zero, which makes it difficult for producers of such products to charge for them. This challenge can be met by governments and market actors in different ways. Some market actors press governments for protection through more repressive patents and authors rights. Other actors, for example Google, develop new business models, which enable innovative enterprises to survive and flourish in the information economy. Researchers at DSV are engaged in analysing and evaluating different business strategies and different government approaches to these and other important issues in the information economy.
Towards an open knowledge-based society. The Internet has dramatically increased the possibilities and lowered the costs for making all kinds of knowledge, including scientific knowledge, easily available for virtually all citizens and enterprises in society. Open and free knowledge resources offer great potentials in many sectors of society, e.g. the education and learning sector. Open access to government data could stimulate a wide range of new business opportunities to be exploited by innovative entrepreneurs. Social media offer new ways of powerful, networked-based interaction and collaboration, both privately, professionally, and in business life. How to best make use of these opportunities in all sectors of society is an important field of research.
