- Guest Speaker
J. Ramon Gil-Garcia, Ph.D., MS – An Associate Professor of Public Administration and Policy and the Research Director of the Center for Technology in Government, University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY). Baltimore County (UMBC)
Keynote title:
Revisiting the Smart State: Two Stories about Information Sharing and Smartness and a Few Reflections about the Future of Digital Government.
Abstract:
Forecasting the future is a challenging, if not an impossible, task. However, sometimes it is needed in order to understand the present and be prepared for new risks and opportunities. In the case of digital government, there are many new trends and emergent technologies that help us visualize one or several potential futures. However, these new technologies and trends are just one aspect and to really understand the future of digital government, it is also necessary to take into consideration many other variables. Based on two previous studies, in this presentation, I argue that one of those additional variables is the extent of inter-organizational collaboration and information sharing, since many of the new technologies and applications take for granted that data is available and that is already shared across organizational boundaries. In fact, information sharing could be seen as a dimension of smartness and a necessary condition for a smart State, in which data from all levels and branches of government, from society as a whole, and from a multitude of devices is shared and used to improve government decision making, make many of the new trends and emergent technologies possible, and potentially provide a better quality of life for citizens. Thinking about the future, it will be very important to understand if all this is technically and politically feasible, but also if it is socially desirable.
Bio:
J. Ramon Gil-Garcia, Ph.D., MS is an Associate Professor of Public Administration and Policy and the Research Director of the Center for Technology in Government, University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY). Dr. Gil-Garcia is a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences and of the Mexican National System of Researchers as Researcher Level III, which is the highest distinction a researcher can obtain before becoming Researcher Emeritus as a result of a life-long career of research contributions. In 2009, he was considered the most prolific author in the field of digital government research worldwide and in 2013 he was selected for the Research Award, which is “the highest distinction given annually by the Mexican Academy of Sciences to outstanding young researchers.” More recently, Dr. Gil-Garcia was named “One of the World’s 100 Most Influential People in Digital Government” in 2018 and 2019 by Apolitical, which is a nonprofit organization based in London, United Kingdom. Currently, he is also a professor of the Business School at Universidad de las Américas Puebla in Mexico. Dr. Gil-Garcia is the author or co-author of articles in prestigious international journals in Public Administration, Information Systems, and Digital Government and some of his publications are among the most cited in the field of digital government research worldwide. His research interests include collaborative electronic government, inter-organizational information integration, smart cities and smart governments, adoption and implementation of emergent technologies, digital divide policies, and multi-method research approaches.
- Guest Speaker
Robert Domanski and Kate Hohman
Keynote title:
Pandemic Response and Digital Government: Insights from New York City
Abstract:
In Spring 2020, the COVID-19 global pandemic led to governments facing urgent and immediate challenges in serving their citizenry on an historically unprecedented scale. In New York City – the hard-hit epicenter of the pandemic – there was a mass closure of non-essential businesses, an emergency migration among both public- and private- sector institutions to remote virtual environments, and a rapidly-emerging climate of budget uncertainty – all occurring suddenly and with little time for pre-planning. In many cases, this led to a reconfiguration of what government services would be needed, how they would be delivered, and how they would be prioritized.
This presentation will bring in two practitioners within the New York City government to share their experiences in responding to the needs of citizens, businesses, and other institutions during the pandemic. Topics to be discussed include supporting access to needed digital devices and internet service in vulnerable communities, responding to sudden mass unemployment and supporting job-seekers in a fundamentally altered economic landscape, supporting small businesses during the shutdown as well as in their planning for safe re-openings, working with academic institutions to support their critical role in the upcoming economic rebuild, and more.
While these topics are very broad in scope, the presentation will retain a focus on how digital technology fits within both the problem and solution streams of each challenge. As governments begin to move beyond the initial phase of pandemic-response, the questions are “What lessons can be learned?” and “Where do we go from here?”.
Bio:
Kate Hohman is the Director of Research and Future Planning for the New York City Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer. She leads research, planning, and reporting efforts related to emerging technologies, and their role in City government and across society. Kate has served in City government for over a decade in varied tech planning and implementation roles, with a particular focus on human- and community interaction with tech and tech projects, equity, and inclusion. Outside of government, she has worked in a range of research and teaching roles in the private and non-profit sectors.
Kate holds a PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology from Columbia University, specializing in the experience and negotiation of social class in the contemporary United States, and a BA in music from Barnard College. Robert J. Domanski, PhD, is the Director of Higher Education for the New York City Mayor’s Tech Talent Pipeline industry partnership. He oversees the “CUNY 2x Tech” initiative – a $25 million dollar investment in the City University of New York (CUNY) to double the university’s number of Computer Science graduates by 2022. The initiative has the dual goals of economic development and workforce development: building the local pool of diverse tech talent to grow the NYC tech industry and connecting New Yorkers to high-quality tech jobs.
Rob is also a former professor of both Computer Science and Political Science for the City University of New York. His academic research focuses on Internet Governance, Hacktivism, and the Politics of Algorithms. He has most recently published on the specific subtopics of Algorithmic Bias and Artificial Intelligence from technical, policy, and ethical perspectives.
- Keynote Speaker
Prof.dr.ir. Marijn Janssen — Full Professor in “ICT and Governance” at Delft University of Technology
Title
“Developments in Open government”
Abstract
Open government The advancement of Iot, AI and blockchain has changed the playing field of open government. These developments challenge the traditional relationship between governments and the public and new forms of governance are emergingWhereas in the past the focus was on opening all kinds of data, stimulating citizens participation in policy-making, the current focuses is on trusted data, ensuring inclusion and lowering barriers of engagements. In this talk the foundation of open government related to these technology developments will be discussed. A number of examples will be given to illustrate the impact on openness, transparency, accountability and participation.
Bio
Prof.dr.ir. Marijn Janssen is full professor in “ICT and Governance” and is chair of the Information and Communication Technology research group of the Technology, Policy and Management Faculty of Delft University of Technology. Marijn Janssen is co-editor-in-chief of Government Information Quarterly (GIQ), associate editor of International Journal of E-business Research (IJEBR), international Journal of E-Government Research (IJEGR), Decision Support Systems (DSS) and on the editorial board of Information Systems Frontiers (ISF), Transforming Government: People, Process & Policy (TGPPP), Digital Government: Research and Practice (DGOV) and Information Polity (IP). He is president-elect of DGS and conference chair of the annual IFIP EGOV conferences series since 2009. Marijn Janssen was ranked as one of the leading e-government researchers in surveys in 2009, 2014 and 2016. He was nominated in 2018 and 2019 by Apolitical as one of the 100 most influential people in the Digital Government worldwide https://apolitical.co/lists/digital-government-world100. He has published over 500 refereed publications, his google h-score is 60 having over 14K citations. More information: www.tbm.tudelft.nl/marijnj.
