
Call for Papers / Proposals
dg.o 2025: 26th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research
The Digital Government Society (DGS) announces the 26th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research – dg.o 2025, under the theme Digital government fostering social cohesion for reducing inequalities. The dg.o 2025 will be hosted by the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre City, Brazil, June 9-12, 2025. The dg.o conferences are an established forum for presentation, discussion, and demonstration of interdisciplinary research on digital government, civic engagement, technology innovation, and related 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 research and writing.
THEME & TRACK TOPICS:
The 26th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research (dg.o 2025) will feature the theme Digital government fostering social cohesion for reducing inequalities. It focuses on strong social bonds in civic society, with responsive democracy and impartial law enforcement aiming at collaboratively addressing latent social conflicts. It involves building shared values in communities facing common challenges in an attempt to reduce disparities by increasing citizens’ feeling of belonging to a community and their engagement.
A wide variety of constructive social outcomes are possible when communities are engaged. Three levels can be considered to comprehensively understand the complex construct of social cohesion. The individual level involves keeping an open and constructive communication aiming at building participation spheres and a space to show discontent, as well as encouraging bottom-up initiatives, creating a sense of belonging, and increasing recognition and legitimacy. The community level involves the effort to stimulate shared loyalty, solidarity, and mutual moral support, strengthening communities’ social relations and bonds, trust, and social capital, creating a social environment based on civic engagement, shared values, group values rewards, and goal attainment. The institutional level consists of social organizations looking to reduce social conflict, inequalities, and exclusion by bringing organizations together with citizens in collaborative and smart governance efforts. Social cohesion involves many aspects that societies might improve, and digital government offers essential means to foster social cohesion, especially in the global south, where particular inequalities can be observed.
Considering this context, meaningful connectivity is a critical issue for digital government. Digital inequalities in access and ICT use are consequences of economic, social, and cultural gaps in global south societies. Continuing to develop digital government initiatives is not enough to overcome these gaps. A systemic coping of the challenges for inclusion and citizenship in the digital environment must consider the different needs and current stage of digital government adoption, especially for women, black and Indigenous people, citizens living in rural and marginalized areas, and socioeconomically vulnerable populations. Primary access means are needed to ensure minimum connectivity conditions, such as availability of devices, reliable connection, and digital skills, among other critical aspects. Public policies promoting universal and significant connectivity must be anchored in countries’ economic, cultural, and social development, recognizing the Internet as an essential tool for accessing fundamental rights and combating inequalities. This complex context needs to be considered when selecting, developing, and implementing digital government technologies.
IMPORTANT DATES
January 24, 2025 January 31, 2025: Papers, workshops, tutorials, and panels are due
February 24, 2025: Application deadline for doctoral colloquium
March 26, 2025: Author notifications (papers, workshops, tutorials, panels)
April 2, 2025: Posters and demo proposals due
April 9, 2025: Doctoral colloquium notification
April 9, 2025: Poster/demo author notifications
April 14, 2025: Author registrations are due
April 14, 2025: Paper revision due (camera ready)
April 18, 2025: Early registration closes
April 21, 2025: Regular registration begins
May 5, 2025: Proceeding copyrights approval and publishing system due
June 9-12, 2025: DG.O 2025 conference
Track Chairs: Loni Hagen (University of South Florida, United States of America), Kellyton Brito (Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Brazil), Charalampos Alexopoulos (University of the Aegean, Greece), David Valle-Cruz (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Mexico), Shefali Virkar (WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria)
We invite innovative research papers that harness computational methods to transform digital government. Our focus includes: a) Technical and behavioral studies using computational approaches to analyze, model, and simulate social phenomena; b) Data-driven decision-making and citizen service enhancement; c) Empirical studies leveraging computational methods and big data to co-create public services; d) Innovative models and tools for improved government service delivery; e) Design science research developing and evaluating technical artifacts; f) Best practices in applying AI and machine learning to government operations. We particularly welcome submissions aligned with this year’s theme of “digital government fostering social cohesion for reducing inequalities” through applying AI, data science, computational methods, and big data.
Track Chairs: Marijn Janssen (Delft University, The Netherlands), Adegboyega Ojo (Carleton University, Canada), Sehl Mellouli (Université Laval, Canada)
AI diffusion in governments has continued to grow at different levels of government and across different domains, including policy development, implementation, execution, monitoring, and enforcement. The emergence and rapid diffusion of AI applications in society have led to a growing consensus on the need for AI governance and transforming practices, organizations, and institutions. Nex to the opportunities, AI might impact society negatively. In response, there is a growing stock of AI design, implementation, and governance frameworks and tools to support AI developers and AI practitioners in government organizations in ensuring the responsible deployment of AI in transforming public services and policy-making. However, empirical studies of government use of AI technologies are sparse. Hence, the purpose of this track is to investigate how AI is being implemented, adopted, used and governed at different levels of government, how the institutional contexts are shaping AI systems in government, and how to ensure that AI adoption in government remains trustworthy and beneficial to the public at large.
Track chairs: Alois Paulin (University of Public Administration and Finance Ludwigsburg, Germany), Robert Müller-Török (University of Public Administration and Finance Ludwigsburg, Germany), Zach Bastick (Harvard University, United States of America; University of Oxford, United Kingdon), Zach Bastick (Harvard University, USA & University of Oxford, UK)
The “Beyond Bureaucracy” track explores innovations in e-government and e-democracy that place the citizen at the center of governance. While traditional lines of inquiry at the intersection of politics and technology focus on enhancing or supporting existing political institutions, there is an underexplored opportunity for citizens to use technology to shape the public sphere and to control government more directly. Internet optimists have long anticipated new, digital models of self-governance, including representative, direct, liquid, anarchic models. Critics have argued that technology cannot safely or desirably support greater citizen involvement. This track covers all aspects of direct, futuristic, radical, exploratory, and critical approaches to digital governance. These include the (un)desirability of using technology to support citizen self-governance; challenges to self-governance through technology; theoretical and empirical proposals; assessments of technologies to support governance; the impact of developing digital phenomena on self-governance (misinformation, bots, digital collective intelligence); and the ethical, technological, social, and political implications of existing and potential future models of public governance. The track also welcomes research and case studies on the innovative uses of technologies by NGOs and other non-government actors. The “Beyond Bureaucracy” track serves as a platform for pro/contra deliberations on the near and distant challenges and potentials of e-democracy.
Track chairs: Hsien-Lee Tseng (National University of Taiwan, Taiwan), Magdalena Ciesielska (Gdańsk University of Technology, Poland)
The Data-Driven Services in Government track aims to investigate how public sectors can complement services and policies through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and all kinds of data, such as open data, big data, and linked data, etc. The Data-Driven Services in Government track invites researchers and practitioners to accumulate scholarly papers that explore the interactions of data application, data governance, and/or data policy. Possible topics include strategies for government open data sharing, data-driven services, data principles, value of data identification, creation and assessment, and best practices of public and private sector collaboration on data implementation, or other similar topics and relevant approaches. In this track we are interested in examining the relation between data and evidence-based policy formulation and execution. Evidence-based Policy means creating, applying, and assessing policies and social programs based on the most reliable and relevant evidence available. It emphasizes making decisions grounded in current social and behavioral science research, promoting proven interventions. We welcome papers focused around the impact of data on various types of policies at every level of the government, i.e. health policy, social policy, water use policy, energy policy and more. Since, creating value from government data and services is of particular importance to many stakeholders, including governments, private sector, and citizens. Therefore, in this track we are also interested in the view on data-driven services for public value creation from various angles: the sectoral view, user view, stakeholder view, and more.
Track chairs: Jawad Haqbeen (Kyoto University, Japan), Takayuki Ito (Kyoto University, Japan), Sofia Sahab (Kyoto University, Japan)
The Digital Democracy & AI track seeks to explore how advancements in AI can enhance democratic processes through collaborative human-machine interactions. AI technologies have significantly expanded the potential for improving democratic services, enhancing communication quality, and supporting data-driven decision-making. By integrating AI, we aim to improve citizen-government collaboration, smart city planning, and other key initiatives that foster informed policy-making. This track invites submissions on a broad range of topics, including AI’s role in digital democracy, governance, civic technology, political participation, and citizen-government collaborative planning. We also encourage research exploring the regulation of technology platforms and the ethical use of AI-driven tools in shaping democratic governance. The goal of this track is to gather insights into how AI can support more inclusive, transparent, and responsive democratic systems, addressing both opportunities and challenges.
Track chairs: Jolien Ubacht (TU Delft, the Netherlands), Iryna Susha (Utrecht University, the Netherlands) , Rony Medaglia (Copenhagen Business School, Denmark), Manuella Maia Ribeiro (Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society, Brazil)
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are shaping the global agenda in multiple areas, including public opinion, policy, and research. The 17 SDGs, detailed in 169 targets, have an ambition of linking separate goals of sustainable development across different areas, into a unitary vision. The main consequence of this new vision has been to move the focus beyond the individual instances of e.g., environmental impacts of human activities, or economic inequalities, and to link them in a coherent system within the framework of the Agenda for the Sustainable Development 2030. Digital government can act as an enabler to sustainability, equity, and social inclusion and it represents a cross-cutting objective across several SDGs at both sectoral and horizontal level, with a crucial importance in particular for goal 16 which aims to Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels ́.This track invites contributions focusing on the potential benefits and challenges of digital government in supporting the achievement of SDGs and the role of digital technologies in sustaining policy developments at both horizontal and sectoral levels, including, in particular, the impact on democratic innovation and institutional reforms of governance systems. We invite studies on the design, management, and evaluation of policies and implementation of digital government strategies in relation to the UN SDGs at the global, national, and local levels. Papers that can combine methodological rigor with practical relevance and policy implications are particularly welcome.
Track chairs: Sukumar Ganapati (Florida International University, United States of America),
Kevin C. Desouza (Queensland University of Technology, Australia), Donavon A. Johnson (Florida International University, United States of America)
This track relates to paradoxical tensions in public sector cybersecurity management along with approaches to responsible innovation for an equitable digital government ecosystem. Innovation is oriented toward fast paced technological adoption that could be high risk; cybersecurity measures moderate the pace with an eye toward lowering organizational risks. This paradoxical tension between innovation and security can exacerbate digital government inequities. Resource constrained public organizations could result in low level tech adoption and security measures. Marginalized communities could be left behind from the digital ecosystem, making them more susceptible to exploitation. Public sector management needs to take a holistic approach by adopting technological innovation in a responsible way, taking into consideration the organizational cybersecurity risks. Towards this end, this track will examine the intersecting dimensions of organizational cybersecurity risks and responsible innovation in the public sector for building a more equitable digital government ecosystem that in inclusive. We seek papers that broadly explore the tensions in cybersecurity management, responsible innovation that is organizationally sensitive, and creative approaches toward a more equitable and secure digital government.
Track chairs: David Duenas-Cid (Kozminski University, Poland), Elsa Estevez (Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina), Tomasz Janowski (Gdańsk University of Technology, Poland; University for Continuing Education Krems, Austria)
Traditionally, digital government research has been focused on improved service delivery, efficient administration, open decision-making, and engaged citizens. The research was mainly driven by the problems that were internal to the government or the relationships between the government and citizens. More recently, the focus has been shifting to dealing with mega-problems like pandemics, war, climate change, migration, etc., that no government has the capacity to handle alone, and to problems of democratic breakup that require balancing government power with societal power. Addressing such problems requires institutions and individuals to work together for the well-being, security and prosperity of all members of the society i.e., a stronger society based on cohesion, solidarity, resilience, equity, inclusion and other values. This track will examine the evidence of digital government making societies stronger and capable of the whole-of-society response. For example, using digital capabilities to monitor the needs of vulnerable groups to deliver targeted assistance to them and, in turn, engage them in delivering such assistance to others. The track will also examine the evidence of digital government actually making societies weaker and incapable of the whole-of-society response. For example, using digital capabilities to put groups against each other, e.g. farmers against consumers, to gain their votes but disabling the prospects for a common climate action.
Track chairs: Jooho Lee (University of Nebraska at Omaha, United States of America), Wookjoon Sung (Seoul National University of Science and Technology, South Korea)
The concept of a digital platform government has its origins in initiatives like the UK’s GOV.UK and the Obama administration’s Open Government Initiative. While no universally accepted definition exists, it is helpful to compare it to related concepts. Unlike e-government, which focuses primarily on digitalizing services, the digital platform government emphasizes process innovation and operates as a public-private partnership service model. It encourages the active participation of stakeholders and leverages intelligent technologies. Both models promote online citizen engagement, but the digital platform government grants citizens a more direct role in decision-making. Its core public values include efficiency, accountability, fairness, participation, collaboration, transparency, reducing the digital divide, and promoting digital equity. The structure of a digital platform government varies based on its objectives and the role of the government. Scholars have proposed different types of digital platforms aligned with these goals. With this framework in mind, we invite papers examining the relationship between digital platform government practices and these core public values.
Track chairs: Beatriz Barreto B. Lanza (IDB, Brazil), J. Ramon Gil-Garcia (CTG SUNY Albany, United States of America), Maria Alexandra Cunha (Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Brazil) , Thiago José Tavares Ávila (Fundação Getulio Vargas; Brazil)
Digital transformation is an essential component of government strategies at both national and subnational levels, with an emphasis on secure citizen identification systems, data privacy, and digital inclusion. This track focuses on the challenges faced by subnational governments (states, regions, provinces, municipalities) in implementing digital transformation. It seeks to highlight real-world cases, discuss the difficulties of integrating digital initiatives across different levels of government, and provide actionable recommendations for researchers, developers, and digital government practitioners. Topics of interest include but are not limited to secure digital identification, personal data protection, Citizen Relationship Management (CzRM) models, transparency, and public sector automation. The track also addresses collaborative governance, citizen participation, federative or national-subnational relations in digital transformation. Ultimately, it aims to foster discussions on overcoming the digital divide, enhancing cooperation between national and subnational levels, and developing more effective digital governance systems.
Track chairs: Fadi Salem (MBR School of Government, United Arab Emirates),
Gianluca Misuraca (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain) , Theresa A. Pardo (University at Albany, United States of America)
The track includes research papers that critically examine the adoption and impact of Generative AI (GAI) in government functions, policies, and public engagement. Its research papers aim to provide an in-depth examination of the associated challenges, ethical considerations, and regulatory and policy frameworks associated with the expanding applications of generative AI in government. Given its rapidly emerging transformations, the track aims to bridge research discussing potential theoretical underpinnings of generative AI implications for government, as well as research addressing practitioners’ growing experiences with generative AI in public governance. The track themes are grouped under two pillars: 1) Research on the impact and potential benefits of generative AI for government, such as its ability to contribute to better policy making, operational efficiency, personalizing service delivery through autonomous agents, enhance citizen engagement by providing a more interactive and engaging way to participate in government and receive services, among others. 2) Research exploring the negative implications and risks of introducing generative AI in government settings, such as its potential misuse in citizen-government power dynamics, social engineering, generating misinformation and disinformation, weaponizing GAI in political discourse, its socio-economic impact, such as automation and job loss, ramifications of algorithmic bias, societal discrimination, among other emerging risks and ethical considerations. Collectively, the papers in this track seek to contribute to examining the implications of generative AI on questions of transparency, inclusion, accountability and trust in government. Moreover, the track seeks comparative research papers that explore emerging global governance and policy interventions as well as legal and regulatory frameworks for governing generative AI. Finally, the track seeks research papers contextually examining generative AI applications within diverse geographies, cultural settings and societal structures.
Track chairs: Richard Knepper (Cornell University, United States of America), Kerk Kee (Texas Tech University, United States of America), Yu-Che Chen (University of Nebraska, United States of America)
Cyberinfrastructure—high performance and cloud computing, networks, storage, software, and the people who build and use these systems—represents a strategic investment for nations in order to pursue and achieve policy goals. Cyberinfrastructure drives the research and innovation that supports both basic and applied science, catalyzing industry and increasing productivity in private enterprises, as well as providing analysis, modeling and simulations for weather prediction, resource availability, public health research, and other critical elements that affect citizens’ lives. Government policies around infrastructure investments for support of research and development are a major factor in support of cyberinfrastructure that provides these functions. This track examines the policy initiatives that stimulate the development of cyberinfrastructure at the national level, models for supporting computational research and innovation, the development of next generation technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing, cooperative ventures such as the United States National Strategic Computing Reserve, the collaborative organizations that develop, implement, and maintain cyberinfrastructure, and the outcomes of cyberinfrastructure projects that impact the safety, well-being, productivity, and health of citizens.
Track chairs: Nitesh Bharosa (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands), Tomasz Janowski (Gdańsk University of Technology, Poland; University for Continuing Education Krems, Austria), Luiz Pinheiro (Positivo University, Brazil), Yogesh K Dwivedi (Swansea University, United Kingdom)
Governments no longer hold monopolies on designing and delivering digital solutions for the public sector. Under the label of GovTech, startups, scaleups, and multi-helix initiatives are pounding at the gates with digital solutions built on state-of-the-art technologies. Examples include AI-based digital assistants for citizens and public professionals, digital identities, data wallets and digital twins. Institutions like the World Bank and the World Economic Forum have highlighted the significance of the rise of GovTech in both developing and developed countries. The European Commission stimulates GovTech development via the Interoperable Europe Act as a form of public-private collaboration for digital transformation in the public sector. While there are opportunities in embracing GovTech, risks include long-term stability, transparency and safety. Considering current geopolitical tensions, the lack of strategic digital autonomy is also becoming a growing concern. Many public agencies depend on a few BigTech corporations for critical processes. This dependence can hamper the implementation of new policies, impede innovation and promote problematic vendor lock-in. Digital autonomy is multi-dimensional, and policymakers struggle to shape adequate instruments. Seeking to study the opportunities, risks and potential mitigation strategies, this track invites papers that showcase GovTech and digital autonomy developments worldwide.
Track chairs: Edimara M. Luciano (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil), Gabriela V. Pereira (University for Continuing Education Krems, Austria), Carmine Bianchi (Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italy)
Citizen engagement has been mentioned as a crucial in several research focused on collecting more benefits from digital government strategies. Making public institutions open and transparent, and generating public value is a massive challenge that cannot prescind citizens’ participation in the process of thinking, discussing, modeling, approving, implementing, and evaluating public services and solutions. Consultation and participation processes have been bringing governments and society closer. However, there are new challenges to face, significantly in times when the trust of society in governments is compromised in many parts of the world and misinformation and disinformation issues are arising. Consequently, it is paramount to advance on understanding of engagement as an institutional, structural, social, cultural, and political phenomenon, as well as the individual cognitive process to decide to get involved at all levels, from town to nationwide public management discussion. This track focuses on discussing citizen engagement and digital citizenship through active participation of citizens in the public discussion aiming at improving digital public services and digital government impact.
Track chairs: Peter Parycek (Frauenhofer Fokus, Germany) , João Maurício Adeodato (Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil), Diogo Sasdelli (University for Continuing Education Krems, Austria)
Legal informatics is concerned with the digital transformation of law and of the public sector. The field has two main focusses. On the one hand, it investigates how new technologies can be applied to directly transform law and public administration. Classical examples are legal databases, ejustice, IT-forensics, and the digitalisation of public services. On the other hand, it investigates how to create appropriate legal frameworks to regulate new technologies, i.e., it includes areas such as data protection law, data governance, and AI regulation. The track invites contributions not only on practical applications, but also on the theoretical foundations of legal informatics. Specific interest areas include the field of privacy (policies, regulations, strategies, recommendations), models of legal and ethical knowledge (especially with respect to core concepts such as ‘norms’, ‘arguments’, ‘rules’, ‘cases’, ‘principles’, ‘values’, ‘procedures’), smart contracts, legal interactions of autonomous agents, digital institutions and both the practice and the foundations (e.g., ethical, legal-theoretical) of the various areas of information law. In particular, the track welcomes contributions focussing on the potential of legal informatics with respect to social cohesion and the reduction of inequality.
Track chairs: Michael Ahn (UMass Boston, United States of America), Luis F. Luna-Reyes (University at Albany, United States of America), Jing Zhang (Clark University, Main, United States of America), Chris Hinnant (Florida State University, United States of America)
The adoption and implementation of new ICTs by public organizations have been influenced by organizational factors such as the availability of resources (i.e. funding, infrastructure, technological knowledge, and personnel), leadership, trust, stakeholder involvement, organization’s structure and culture, as well as inter-organizational dynamics. Similarly, the adoption of ICTs in government and society has generated important impacts on the organizational processes, effectiveness, and innovativeness of public organizations, as well as the new governance structure of the government and the societal impacts. This track solicits research that examines the organizational factors that influence the adoption and implementation, and investigate the impacts, especially the value creation, of new and emerging innovative technologies such as smart city, artificial intelligence, data analytics, big data, open data, social media, citizen-centric technologies, and other novel technologies. Furthermore, this track seek research contribute the theories and practices of the adoption of innovative policies or practices that seek to facilitate the strategic use of various ICTs by public organizations.
Track chairs: Fernando Kleiman (TUDelft, The Netherlands), Maria Gintova (McMaster University, Canada)
Telework and other flexible work arrangements were available for government and private sector workers long before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic accelerated the shift to new modalities of working, such as remote and hybrid work, to keep delivering services during the public health emergency. The shift to partially or entirely remote working was strongly supported by the use of digital technologies which enabled many of the changes. Especially in the public sector, the availability of remote and hybrid offices unleashed new ways for completing, registering, monitoring and managing civil servants’ work. Following the pandemic, governments are rethinking their workforce management with the support of flexible work strategies. In many cases, returning to office may be unnecessary, decreasing productivity and leading to a poor work-life balance. Furthermore, it is yet to be understood how flexible work strategies impact government ability to recruit and retain diverse talent in the digital era. This track aims at discussing the use of new technologies, opportunities, experiences and challenges for adoption of remote and hybrid offices for digital government workforce management.
Track chairs: Leonidas Anthopoulos (University of Thessaly, Greece), Soon Ae Chun (City University of New York, United States of America)
In the era of cities and under the UN 2030 Agenda for sustainable growth, cities aim to secure social sustainability and coherence (e.g., deal with affordable energy, poverty, hunger, equal opportunities in education, jobs, and health, etc.) and enhance their performance to become friendlier and able to host their increasing populations. Additionally, new types of business appear, while the co-existence of autonomous things and people generate another challenge that cities have started phasing. Smart Cities are enablers for smart growth, social coherence, and industrial transformation of cities by adopting cutting edge technologies (i.e., IoT, AI, Blockchain etc.). The goals of smart cities are to generate opportunities that engage, upskill and enhance equity in their communities. This track invites research and practices in smart cities that describes smart cities development strategies, policy models, citizen engagement, and technology innovations. This year’s theme calls for research and practices on the Smart and Inclusive Cities which emphasize on participation, access to technology and the ability of citizens and the community to keep on functioning and prospering despite the challenges that can face (i.e., inequity, poverty, violence, environmental threats etc.).
Track chairs: Rodrigo Sandoval-Almazan (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, México), J. Ignacio Criado (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain), Nadzeya Sabatini (Gdansk University of Technology, Poland; Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland) , Kellyton Brito (Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Brazil)
During the last years, we have learned about the risks for governments and political institutions using social media. At the same time innovation capabilities have emerge from the last evolutions of social media and government. Among other issues, TikTok or virtual reality, and other social platforms and areas have abruptly emerged as global players in the entertainment sector, promoting government and other actors to engage with new audiences and social groups. Besides, some political and public institutions challenges remain in process of evolution. Here, some of the key aspects include polarization of the public sphere, growing claims about the potential harm of social media for our democratic communities, or the potential limitations of institutional communications with citizens because of the lack of trained human resources and government specialists. For this year’s theme, we especially will welcome papers related to the conference’s central theme – the Internet of Beings focuses on digital technologies that enable integration, are people-centric, and the creation of open platforms for collaborative multi-user to co-create services and products. Particularly, the post-COVID-19 has forced government, private, and non-profit agencies worldwide to find new ways to deliver services, and this is especially important using social media technologies. In addition, we are open to other aspects of governments’ service delivery and social media, including theoretical and conceptual advancements, methodological and data innovations, or case and practical implications coming from diverse contexts. We will welcome papers on both traditional and emerging issues, including opportunities, risks, and policies in public services delivery in cross-national contexts, social media motivations to use and audiences, political mobilizations and polarization, social media contents and sentiment analysis, fake news, artificial intelligence and algorithms-based systems and virtual agents in government, instant messaging apps in government, entertainment platforms for political engagement, or social media for crisis and emergency management. Also, we will continue working on including exciting research questions, rigorous empirical studies, and in-depth case studies to enrich the theories, research methods, data, and available cases and practical applications in this research area.
Track chairs: Nina Rizun (University of Technology, Poland), Noella Edelmann (University of Continuing Education Krems, Austria)
The growing complexity and evolving requirements of public services present significant challenges for the public sector, including issues related to citizen satisfaction, trust, and limited resources. There is a rising demand for more personalized, citizen-centric services and a shift from viewing policy-making and public service delivery as top-down processes. This track delves into the comprehensive phenomenon of public service co-creation, involving both analogue and digital forms, where citizens and stakeholders actively participate in defining, designing, and evaluating public services. The track will explore the interplay between traditional methods and digital innovations, including the impact of digital tools and AI in facilitating co-creation. It will examine how digital and AI technologies can enhance public value by improving service quality, broadening opportunities for participation, and ensuring services are aligned with diverse citizen needs, all while upholding ethical standards and ensuring sustainability. Evidence-based policy-making and ethical governance frameworks will be central to discussions, highlighting the importance of transparency, accountability, and inclusivity. Key topics include the dynamics of analogue and digital co-creation processes, the role of evidence-based policy-making, ethical and sustainable public service practices, the use of AI for co-creation and the new competencies required for effective digital public service delivery. The track aims to provide insights into how these approaches can promote social cohesion, reduce inequalities, and create resilient public administration systems that effectively address diverse societal needs.
Track chairs: Anastasija Nikiforova (University of Tartu, Estonia), Anthony Simonofski (Université de Namur ASBL, Belgium), Anneke Zuiderwijk (Delft University, The Netherlands), Manuel Pedro Rodríguez Bolívar (University of Granada, Spain)
Public and open data ecosystems promise the transformation of government data-driven actions, the fostering of public sector innovations and the collaborative smartification of cities, society and life, triggering value-adding sustainable development goals-compliant smart living and society 5.0. New research is needed to help public managers and politicians for (1) implementing emerging technologies and technological innovations, (2) improving the achievement of sustainable development goals for increasing transparency, participation, and cooperation, and (3) meeting the stakeholders’ expectations, needs, regulations and demands. This track welcomes contributions covering, but not limited to:
- The concepts of theoretical approaches toward Public Data ecosystems, Open Data ecosystems, Data Spaces, and Data Marketplaces;
- Infrastructures supporting Public and Open Data Ecosystems;
- The role of emerging technologies in Public and Open Data ecosystems (incl. but not limited to AI, Generative AI, LLM, NLP, cloud computing, green computing, Metaverse etc.);
- Data architectures and data governance mechanisms;
- Institutional aspects of implementing sustainable Public and Open Data Ecosystems;
- Other sustainability dimensions of Public and Open Data Ecosystems;
- Stakeholder-centric dimensions of Public and Open Data Ecosystems;
- Human-Computer Interaction between users and systems (platforms);
- Case studies of Public and Open Data Ecosystems, incl. but not limited to Local Government Level Data Ecosystems, e.g., Smart Cities Data Ecosystems;
- The impact of Public and Open Data Ecosystems on Individuals, Organizations and Society.
Track Chairs: Hendrik Scholta (German University of Administrative Sciences,Germany), Chung-Pin Lee (National Taipei University, Taiwan) , Guilherme C. Wiedenhöft (Federal University of Rio Grande, Brazil)
This track addresses Bachelor and Master students and encourages them to submit and present their work at the conference. With this format, we aim to provide students with a first-hand experience of how research works and deepen their interest in academia. We want to attract the original work of students, facilitate a constructive and developmental double-blind peer-review process, and subsequent publication of their works. In contrast to the general research tracks, students will be the first authors of the papers in this track and present their work at the conference. We encourage supervisors to act as co-author to ensure a scientifically guided paper development process. All topics in the area of digital government are welcome. For exemplary topics, please take a look at the topics listed in the other tracks. We are open to all conceptual and empirical papers that use all kinds of research methods. This track gives Bachelor and Master students the opportunity to actively contribute to the digital government community.
Track Chairs: Elsa Estevez (Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina), Maria Alexandra Cunha (Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Brazil), Rodrigo Sandoval-Almazan (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, México)
Latin America has a significant cultural and linguistic diversity, ranging from densely populated urban centers to rural areas. Some of the region’s characteristics include urban populations, developing economies, and deep inequalities in access to services, including digital technologies. Digital infrastructure is a challenge from big cities peripheries to remote areas, which affects the region’s digital economy and public service delivery. However, Latin America has rapid growth in digital government, a promissory market for tech and govtech startups, presenting opportunities for digitalization. Many Latin American countries have invested in digital government strategies and adopted emerging technologies like AI and 5G. These initiatives aim to increase transparency, facilitate citizen engagement, and drive economic development while facing diverse and complex challenges like dealing with digital exclusion, assuring personal data privacy, and improving government interoperability and cybersecurity. The track aims to explore the rich and complex context of the Latin American Digital Government. Topics of interest include all the conference topics when exploring contextual aspects of the region. This trilingual track promotes Digital Government research in and about Latin America. The population in the region speaks primarily Spanish or Portuguese, so the track opens a space for relevant and rigorous Digital Government research written in Spanish or Portuguese. It also accepts papers in English focused on digital Government in Latin America, offering an opportunity to contribute to the growth and exploration of this field within the Latin American context.
Track Chairs: Claudia Cappelli (University of Rio de Janeiro State (UERJ), Brazil) , Vanessa Nunes (Inteli Leadership and Technology Institute, Brazil)
This track aims to explore real-world case studies, showcasing how industry partners face digital government challenges and highlighting the synergy between Industry 4.0 and the evolving concepts of Government 4.0 and 5.0. As the public and private sectors increasingly collaborate in the digital transformation era, sharing experiences and lessons becomes necessary. The track aims to bring together participants from organizations of all sectors and sizes – including multinational corporations, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), non-profits, and public institutions – to provide them with practical insights from industries that have successfully partnered with governments to implement transformative digital solutions. Key topics include but are not limited to, digital transformation strategies, innovations to foster social cohesion and reduce inequalities, AI-driven public-private partnerships, data-driven governance, smart city solutions, cybersecurity for government, innovative uses of digital twins for urban planning, and collaborative digital platforms. By showcasing these forward-thinking case studies, we aim to inspire attendees to implement actionable solutions that align business goals with social impact while fostering cross-sector collaboration in facing future challenges in the digital government landscape. We encourage authors to write their papers by including the context/situation in which it is placed, the approach and actions taken, the results, and the lessons learned. Submission type and format must follow the “Management or policy papers” type described at
Call for Papers. The number of words of this kind of submission is limited to 5,000 words.
SUBMISSION TYPES AND FORMATS:
Research papers – double blind review: research papers present innovative digital government research results in the form of formal scholarly papers. Papers on any digital government topic and using any research methodology are welcome. Relevance to digital government problems, goals, or policies must be explicit. Research papers are limited to approximately 8,000 words.
Management or policy papers – double blind review: research papers that describe and evaluate practical digital government projects or initiatives, discuss major policy themes, or present and evaluate management approaches to digital government initiatives and programs. Management or policy papers are limited to approximately 5,000 words.
Panels: panel proposals should include information about the theme and goals of the panel, a summary of the digital government issues or questions that the panel will address, statements about the value of the discussion to conference attendees, and how well-suited the topic is to a panel discussion. In addition, the proposal should include information about the expertise of the moderator and panelists in the selected issues. Please include names, institutional affiliations, addresses, email, and phone numbers of the contact person, moderator, and presenter(s). Panel proposals are limited to approximately 2,500 words.
Posters: poster summaries should outline the nature of the research, policy, or project and describe why the work will be of interest to dg.o attendees. Poster summaries are limited to approximately 2,500 words and should follow the proceedings template.
System Demonstrations (Demo): system demonstrations should outline the nature of the system and describe why the demonstration is likely to be of interest to dg.o attendees. Demonstrations of interest include systems under development or in active use in research or practice domains. System demonstration summaries are limited to approximately 2,500 words.
Short case practical report: specific for Track 24 – Digital Government Ecosystem Cases: collaboration for enhancing transformative innovations and overcoming challenges. Documents should share relevant practical cases, challenges faced, strategies used, and main results with the digital government community. These will be discussed during the special session Digital Government Ecosystem Gathering. Short case practical report summaries are limited to approximately 5,000 words.
Workshops: workshops offer interactive sessions in which the workshop host and participants discuss and engage in activities designed to facilitate joint learning and further exploration of a particular subject. We seek workshop proposals on any e-government research or management topic. The proponents will be responsible for identifying and selecting participants for the workshop and conducting workshop activities. Workshop proposals are limited to approximately 2,500 words.
Doctoral Colloquium: the doctoral colloquium is a highly interactive full-day forum in which Ph.D. students meet and discuss their work with each other and with senior faculty from a variety of disciplines associated with digital government research. Ph.D. students can submit papers describing their planned or in-progress doctoral dissertation covering any research areas relevant to digital government. Ideally, student participants will have completed one or two years of doctoral study or progressed far enough in their research to have a structured proposal idea and preliminary findings but have yet to reach the stage of defending their thesis. We expect students at this study stage to gain the most value from feedback on their work and the more general discussions of doctoral programs and scholarly careers. See the detailed announcement for complete information on the colloquium and how to apply. The material provided in applications to the doctoral colloquium will not be published in the proceedings. However, we encourage students to submit finished research to one of the paper tracks or as a poster or demo. Doctoral colloquium applications are limited to approximately ten pages, not including references, tables, and figures.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Submit your work via EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=dgo2025
Submissions need to follow the guidelines established for the dg.o conference. All submissions should use the conference proceedings submission template (with the exception of the doctoral colloquium). Prepare your article with Microsoft Word. Prepare your article with LaTeX.
Each author can be a co-author of up to three papers. Each paper should be submitted to only one track; in case it is not followed, the last submission will be considered. Research and Management and Policy papers will be reviewed through a double-blind process. Therefore, author names and contact information must be omitted from the submission.
Authors must choose a specific track while submitting it in EasyChair to assist the program committee in the review process. All submissions will be checked for plagiarism. In March 2025, registered authors will receive email notifications regarding the camera-ready submission guidelines and procedures.
At least one author is expected to attend the conference to present the work. All accepted submissions require at least one author to be registered for the conference for it to be included in the conference proceedings. The authors of more than two papers can register for and present at most two co-authored papers. Some other co-author registration and presentation are required from the third paper onwards.
Travel Grant:
Up to five $1,000 travel grants are offered by the Digital Government Society to support in-person attendance to the dg.o 2025 conference by researchers (PhD students and faculty) from medium and low HDI countries. Grants may be used for travel and accommodation. In addition, awardees will have their conference registration fee, which includes participation in all sessions and all meals, waived. To be eligible for a DGS travel grant, the author must have a paper accepted at dg.o 2025 and apply before April 1st, 2025.
PUBLICATIONS:
All accepted research, management, case study or policy papers and panel, poster, and system demonstration descriptions will be published in the conference proceedings and indexed in the DBLP bibliography system. Workshop and tutorial descriptions can also be published in the conference proceedings, depending on the authors, and decided by the program chairs.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUES:
Authors of selected papers will be invited to submit significantly extended versions to the special issues of various journals. Some possible venues include but are not limited to:
- Government Information Quarterly
- Information Polity
- Digital Government: Research and Practice
- Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy
Other journals may be opportunely added to this list.
BEST PAPER AWARDS:
Outstanding achievement awards will be presented in four categories:
- Research category
- Management, case study, and policy category
- Poster category
- Reflected and related to the Latin America context
- Short case report from e-government ecosystem representatives
CONFERENCE CHAIRS:
- Edimara M. Luciano, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
- Jing Zhang, Clark University, USA
- Yu-Che Chen, University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA
- Tomasz Janowski, Gdańsk University of Technology, Poland
PROGRAM CHAIRS:
- Flavia Bernardini, Fluminense Federal University, Brazil
- Marie Anne Macadar, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- David Duenas Cid, Kozminski University, Poland
- Jooho Lee, University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA
TRACK CHAIRS:
- Adegboyega Ojo (Carleton University, Canada)
- Alois Paulin (University of Public Administration and Finance Ludwigsburg, Germany)
- Anastasija Nikiforova (University of Tartu, Estonia)
- Anneke Zuiderwijk (Delft University, The Netherlands)
- Anthony Simonofski (Université de Namur ASBL, Belgium)
- Beatriz Barreto B. Lanza (IDB, Brazil)
- Carmine Bianchi (Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italy)
- Charalampos Alexopoulos (University of the Aegean, Greece)
- Chris Hinnant (Florida State University, United States of America)
- Chung-Pin Lee (National Taipei University, Taiwan)
- Claudia Cappelli (University of Rio de Janeiro State (UERJ), Brazil)
- David Duenas-Cid (Kozminski University, Poland)
- David Valle-Cruz (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Mexico)
- Diogo Sasdelli (University for Continuing Education Krems, Austria)
- Donavon A. Johnson (Florida International University, United States of America)
- Edimara M. Luciano (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)
- Elsa Estevez (Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina)
- Fadi Salem (MBR School of Government, United Arab Emirates)
- Fernando Kleiman (TUDelft, The Netherlands)
- Gabriela V. Pereira (University for Continuing Education Krems, Austria)
- Gianluca Misuraca (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain)
- Guilherme C. Wiedenhöft (Federal University of Rio Grande, Brazil)
- Hendrik Scholta (German University of Administrative Sciences, Germany)
- Hsien-Lee Tseng (National University of Taiwan, Taiwan)
- Iryna Susha (Utrecht University, the Netherlands)
- J. Ignacio Criado (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain)
- J. Ramon Gil-Garcia (CTG SUNY Albany, United States of America)
- Jawad Haqbeen (Kyoto University, Japan)
- Jing Zhang (Clark University, Main, United States of America)
- João Maurício Adeodato (Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil)
- Jolien Ubacht (TU Delft, the Netherlands)
- Jooho Lee (University of Nebraska at Omaha, United States of America)
- Kellyton Brito (Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Brazil)
- Kerk Kee (Texas Tech University, United States of America)
- Kevin C. Desouza (Queensland University of Technology, Australia)
- Leonidas Anthopoulos (University of Thessaly, Greece)
- Loni Hagen (University of South Florida, United States of America)
- Luis F. Luna-Reyes (University at Albany, United States of America)
- Luiz Pinheiro (Positivo University, Brazil)
- Magdalena Ciesielska (Gdańsk University of Technology, Poland)
- Manuel Pedro Rodríguez Bolívar (University of Granada, Spain)
- Manuella Maia Ribeiro (Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society, Brazil)
- Maria Alexandra Cunha (Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Brazil)
- Maria Gintova (McMaster University, Canada)
- Marijn Janssen (Delft University, The Netherlands)
- Michael Ahn (UMass Boston, United States of America)
- Nadzeya Sabatini (Gdansk University of Technology, Poland)
- Nina Rizun (Gdansk University of Technology, Poland)
- Nitesh Bharosa (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands)
- Noella Edelmann (University of Continuing Education Krems, Austria)
- Peter Parycek (Fraunhofer Fokus, Germany)
- Richard Knepper (Cornell University, United States of America)
- Robert Müller-Török (University of Public Administration and Finance Ludwigsburg, Germany)
- Rodrigo Sandoval-Almazan (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, México)
- Rony Medaglia (Copenhagen Business School, Denmark)
- Sehl Mellouli (Université Laval, Canada)
- Shefali Virkar (WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria)
- Sofia Sahab (Kyoto University, Japan)
- Soon Ae Chun (City University of New York, United States of America)
- Sukumar Ganapati (Florida International University, United States of America)
- Takayuki Ito (Kyoto University, Japan)
- Theresa A. Pardo (University at Albany, United States of America)
- Thiago José Tavares Ávila (Fundação Getulio Vargas, Brazil)
- Tomasz Janowski (Gdańsk University of Technology, Poland; University for Continuing Education Krems, Austria)
- Vanessa Nunes (Inteli Leadership and Technology Institute, Brazil)
- Wookjoon Sung (Seoul National University of Science and Technology, South Korea)
- Yogesh K. Dwivedi (Swansea University, United Kingdom)
- Yu-Che Chen (University of Nebraska, United States of America)
- Zach Bastick (Harvard University, United States of America)
POSTER AND DEMO CHAIRS:
- Aurora Sánchez Ortiz – Universidad Católica del Norte, Chile
- David Valle-Cruz – Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México
- Fernando Bichara Pinto – Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
LATIN AMERICA GATHERING CHAIRS:
- Elsa Estevez, National University of the South, Argentina
- Maria Alexandra Cunha, Getulio Vargas Foundation, Brazil
- Rodrigo Sandoval-Almazan, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México
E-GOVERNMENT ECOSYSTEM GATHERING CHAIRS:
- Claudia Cappelli, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Vanessa Tavares Nunes, Inteli University, São Paulo, Brazil
DOCTORAL COLLOQUIUM CHAIRS:
- J. Ramon Gil-Garcia, University at Albany, SUNY, USA
- Ida Lindgren, Linköping University, Sweden
- Gabriela Viale Pereira, Danube University Krems, Austria
FINANCE CHAIR:
- Mila Gasco, University at Albany, SUNY, USA
LOCAL CHAIR:
- Milene S. Silveira, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
LOCAL COMMUNICATION CHAIR:
- José Viterbo Filho, Fluminense Federal University, Brazil
LOCAL SUPPORTING TEAM:
- Carolina T. Lopes, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
- Claucia P. Faganello, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
- Erica Menezes, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Fernando Bichara Pinto, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Igor S. Garcia, Fluminense Federal University, Brazil
- Raissa S. Barcellos, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Rosiane A. Palacios, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
3rd Call for Papers – dg.o 2025 – Porto Alegre, Brazil (PDF format)
