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1. Understanding online civic engagement: a multi-neighborhood study of SeeClickFix

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3341161.3345330  

   Yong, Christopher; Chelmis, Charalampos; Lee, Wonhyung; Zois, Daphney-Stavroula (August 2019, 2019 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining (ASONAM))

   The relationship between local governments and the general public is being redefined by the increasing use of online platforms that enable participatory reporting of non-emergency urban issues, such as potholes and illegal graffiti by concerned citizens to their local authorities. In this work, we study, for the first time, participatory reporting data together with neighborhood-level demographics, socioeconomic indicators, and pedestrian friendliness and transit and bike scores, across multiple neighborhoods in the Capital District of the New York State. Our data-driven approach offers a large-scale, low-cost alternative to traditional survey methods, and provides insights on citizen participation and satisfaction, and public value creation on such platforms. Our findings can be used to guide government service departments to work more closely with each neighborhood to improve the offline and online communication channels through which citizens can report urban issues. 

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2. Examining User Access Options for eGovernment Services During a Crisis from a Digital Inequality Perspective

   Zobel, C.W.; Pamukcu, D. (January 2023, Proceedings of the 56th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences)

   City governments incorporate ICTs into government services to improve citizen participation and access to those services. Too much dependence on technology, however, can lead to concerns about creating a digital divide between different groups of citizens. The potential for digital inequality is a critical issue that can be exacerbated by insufficient attention being paid to vulnerabilities across communities. Given that socio-economically vulnerable populations are the ones who need government services the most, especially during disaster events, it is critical to investigate the extent to which digital inequality is an issue for technology-based government services. With this in mind, this paper analyzes the use of different technology-enabled access options for a representative eGovernment service system, the New York City 311 service system, in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two sets of socio-economically distinct locations in New York City are compared, using average income as a proxy for vulnerability, to draw conclusions about potential inequalities in such a system during a crisis. 

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3. Perceptions, motivators and barriers of using city management applications among citizens: a focus group approach

   https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-03-2020-0148  

   Annis, Catherine; Hou, Jinghui; Tang, Tian (May 2021, Information Technology & People)

   null (Ed.)

   Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand citizens' perceptions of smartphone-based city management apps and to identify facilitators and barriers that influence app adoption and use. An aim is to identify how current technology adoption theories might be expanded and enriched for studying citizen adoption of city apps in the US. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a qualitative exploratory case study of citizen perceptions of city management apps in Tallahassee, a top-ranked digital city in the southeastern United States. The authors derive empirical data from focus group discussions with citizens using thematic analysis. Findings Overall, the findings suggest that city management apps are primarily perceived and used by citizens as handy and efficient tools for the provision of information and public services. The findings suggest that current technology adoption and use models applied to citizen adoption of m-government may benefit by being expanded for the US context. Originality/value This paper highlights what factors of m-government technology are effective, useful or inhibiting in citizens' lives from the perspective of a group of citizens in the southeastern US. Implications that might be learned for researchers and practitioners are discussed. 

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4. Transparency, Trust, and Security Needs for the Design of Digital News Authentication Tools

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3579534  

   Francis, Errol; Monroe, Ayana; Sidnam-Mauch, Emily; Ivancsics, Bernat; Washington, Eve; McGregor, Susan E.; Bonneau, Joseph; Caine, Kelly (April 2023, Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction)

   Americans' trust in news is declining, and authenticity and transparency challenges in digital publishing contexts pose unique challenges to the ability to effectively gratify their information-seeking needs via online media. Cryptographic technologies and web-based provenance indicators have the potential to enhance the trustworthiness and transparency of digital communication, but better understandings of news consumers practices and needs are required to develop practical tools. Through a representative online survey of 400 digital news consumers and 19 follow-up interviews, we investigate how users authenticate and assign trust to news content, and identify specific needs pertaining to news transparency and authentication that could be met by digital news authentication tools. While many users currently rely on political ideology to assess news trustworthiness, we find that users of all political orientations see value in independent provenance and authentication tools for digital news. 

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5. A Framework for Open Civic Design: Integrating Public Participation, Crowdsourcing, and Design Thinking

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3487607  

   Reynante, Brandon; Dow, Steven P.; Mahyar, Narges (October 2021, Digital Government: Research and Practice)

   Civic problems are often too complex to solve through traditional top-down strategies. Various governments and civic initiatives have explored more community-driven strategies where citizens get involved with defining problems and innovating solutions. While certain people may feel more empowered, the public at large often does not have accessible, flexible, and meaningful ways to engage. Prior theoretical frameworks for public participation typically offer a one-size-fits-all model based on face-to-face engagement and fail to recognize the barriers faced by even the most engaged citizens. In this article, we explore a vision for open civic design where we integrate theoretical frameworks from public engagement, crowdsourcing, and design thinking to consider the role technology can play in lowering barriers to large-scale participation, scaffolding problem-solving activities, and providing flexible options that cater to individuals’ skills, availability, and interests. We describe our novel theoretical framework and analyze the key goals associated with this vision: (1) to promote inclusive and sustained participation in civics; (2) to facilitate effective management of large-scale participation; and (3) to provide a structured process for achieving effective solutions. We present case studies of existing civic design initiatives and discuss challenges, limitations, and future work related to operationalizing, implementing, and testing this framework. 

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