Dg.o 2026: 27th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research

Conference Theme: Collaborative Digital Transformation for Public Value Creation

September 19, 2025: Track proposals due!

The Digital Government Society (DGS) announces the 27th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research – dg.o 2026, under the theme Collaborative Digital Transformation for Public Value Creation. The dg.o 2026 will be hosted by the University of Nebraska at Omaha, U.S.A., June 2-5, 2026. The dg.o conferences are an established forum for presentation, discussion, and demonstration of interdisciplinary research on digital government, civic engagement, artificial intelligence, technology innovation, applications, and practice. Each year, the conference brings together scholars recognized for the interdisciplinary and innovative nature of their work, their contributions to theory and practice, their focus on relevant and timely topics, and the quality of their writing.

THEME & TOPICS

This dg.o 2026 theme articulates abundant opportunities and approaches to collaborative digital transformation for the creation of public values. The advancement of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, 5G, and IoT presents governments with opportunities to transform their operations and services. Governments’ utilization of these technologies has the potential of increasing service efficiency and effectiveness and transforming government structure and processes. At the same time, governments face institutional and technological challenges to realize such transforming potential as well as unintended negative consequences of digital transformation.

Public values serve as the guide and purposes of digital transformation for digital government. Generating profits and revenues is the primary motivation for technology corporations. In contrast, public values guide digital government research and practice. These public values include, but are not limited to, effectiveness, equity, transparency, accountability, efficiency, responsiveness, fairness, etc. An enhanced understanding of how public values are created, embedded, and impacted by technology is essential for advancing digital government research.

Digital government is the use of digital technologies for the production and delivery of public services. Such use of digital technologies is ubiquitous in all public service areas. These include functional areas such as general administrative services, technology, finance and budgeting, and human resources. Examples of specific public service areas include technological infrastructure, public finance and budgeting, public safety, social services, etc. Digital government takes place at various levels of governments and communities from local, state, national, to global as well as the integration of these levels in public service production and delivery.

A collaborative approach is paramount in integration and synergy required for digital transformation. The collaboration between humans and artificial intelligence can form abundant intelligence for advancing public values. The collaboration across units and levels of government and organizations in public, nonprofit, and private sectors advances our ability to address cross-boundary societal challenges such as sustainability, climate resilience, and public health.

The dg.o 2026 theme on Collaborative Digital Transformation for Public Value Creation connects with established tracks featured at past dg.o conferences, such as:

• Human-AI Collaboration in Public Service
• Algorithmic bureaucracy
• Application of Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, and Computational Methods for Data-driven governance
• Artificial Intelligence in the Public Sector
• Beyond Bureaucracy & e-Anarchy: Self-Governance of the Public Sphere and Innovative Use of Technology by Civil Society
• Collaborative intelligence: humans, crowds, and machines
• Comparative AI Policy and Governance
• Computational methods for data-driven governance
• Cybersecurity concerns and solutions in the age of Internet of beings
• Data-driven services in government for evidence-based policy and Public Value
• Digital Democracy & AI
• Digital Government and Sustainable Development Goals
• Digital Government Cybersecurity Management: Paradoxical Tensions and Responsible Innovation
• Digital Government Ecosystem Cases: Collaboration for enhancing transformative innovations and overcoming challenges
• Digital Government for Stronger Society
• Digital Government Platform and Core Public Values
• Digital Government Practitioner Track
• Digital Government: Bachelor and Master Student Track
• Digital Government, solidarity and social cohesion
• Digital Transformation in governments
• Digital Transformation in Subnational Governments
• Exploring the impact of open government initiatives: transparency, participation, and governance transformation
• Generative Artificial Intelligence in Government
• Government Cyberinfrastructure and Platforms for Discovery and Innovation
• GovTech and Digital Autonomy
• Citizen Engagement Through Digital Government
• Information processing and governance in the digital era
• Legal Informatics – Foundations and Applications
• Organizational Factors, Adoption Issues and Value Creation of Digital Government
• Re-imagining flexible work in the public service: the shift to remote and hybrid offices.
• Smart Cities for Social Cohesion
• Smart cities: people-centric innovations in the era of citiverse
• Social Media and Government – Democratic challenges, regulation, uses of platforms, and actors’ behavior
• Sustainable and Ethical Public Service Co-Creation
• Sustainable Public and Open Data Ecosystems for inclusive and innovative Digital Government

We encourage past track chairs to update and submit their track. In addition, we invite new tracks to address existing and emerging research challenges related to the dg.o 2026 theme, collaborative digital transformation for public value creation.

Tracks should be related to digital government, but do not have to be limited to the conference theme. Track proposals will be selected based on the reputation of the track chairs in the proposed field, successful track performance in the past, novelty, coherence of the topics covered in alignment with the digital government themes that are of interest to the research and practitioner communities. We also welcome new tracks that were not featured in the past.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS AND FORMATS:

Submit track proposals to Yu-Che Chen (ychen@unomaha.edu), Jing Zhang (JIZhang@clarku.edu),  Tomasz Janowski (tomasz.janowski@pg.edu.pl), and Jooho Lee (jooholee@unomaha.edu).

 Submission of your track proposal should complete the proposal template attached.

 Track Proposal Submission and decision deadlines:

September 19, 2025: Track proposals due

September 26, 2025: Acceptance notification for tracks October 3, 2025: First call for papers for all tracks

Track chair eligibility: at the time of the track proposal, the chairs should be reminded of the following eligibility criteria for acceptance.

The track chairs are responsible for the following conference organization activities:

• Attend the online monthly organization meetings
• Promote the track continuously during the Call for Papers, seeking a good number of quality submissions
• Monitor the submitted track papers and oversee the review of the submitted papers
• Propose to accept/reject papers for the track
• Communicate with the Program Chairs and Program Committee Members
• Support Program Chairs on the session plan
• Chair the track sessions
• Select and nominate papers from the track for the best paper award
• Support the identification of good papers to be invited to special issues in partner journals
• Register and attend the conference.

Opportunities for Journal Special Issues

Track chairs may be able to edit a special issue based on their track papers. Some possible venues include but not limited to:

• Government Information Quarterly
• Digital Government: Research and Practice
• Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy
• International Journal of E-Government Research
• Information Polity
• International Journal of E-Planning Research
• International Journal of Public Administration in the Digital Age

We look forward to receiving your proposals.

Conference Chairs

Jing Zhang, Clark University, USA

Yu-Che Chen, University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA Tomasz Janowski, Gdańsk University of Technology, Poland

Conference Program (PC) Chairs

Jooho Lee, University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA

Flavia Bernardini, Fluminense Federal University, Brazil

Taehee Kim, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, South Korea