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This paper examines the relationship between digital transparency and citizens' participation in government activity, specifically, online crowdsourcing. Many local governments have enhanced service transparency by disclosing and sharing information of government activities in digital format. These digital-driven transparency mechanisms often introduce interactive, tailor-made, and user-generating features to online government platforms. This paper explores the efficacy of digital transparency on citizens' participation in online crowdsourcing activities and its heterogeneous influences on various socioeconomic groups. Using the Propensity Score Matching and Difference-in-Differences (PSM-DID) method, this study analyzes the impact of digitized information disclosure to citizens' participation in Sacramento 311, an online crowdsourcing platform. It is found that enhancing digital transparency promotes citizens' participation in online crowdsourcing activities. Furthermore, results suggest that the influence of digital transparency on citizen participation is short termed and varies across communities of different socioeconomic conditions. 

Abstract Does providing information about police shootings influence policing reform preferences? We conducted an online survey experiment in 2021 among approximately 2,600 residents of 10 large US cities. It incorporated original data we collected on police shootings of civilians. After respondents estimated the number of police shootings in their cities in 2020, we randomized subjects into three treatment groups and a control group. Treatments included some form of factual information about the police shootings in respondents’ cities (e.g., the actual total number). Afterward, respondents were asked their opinions about five policing reform proposals. Police shooting statistics did not move policing reform preferences. Support for policing reforms is primarily associated with partisanship and ideology, coupled with race. Our findings illuminate key sources of policing reform preferences among the public and reveal potential limits of information-driven, numeric-based initiatives to influence policing in the US.