
Sharon S DawesUniversity at Albany, State University of New York | UAlbany · Center for Technology in Government
Sharon S Dawes
Ph.D. Public Administration, Rockefeller College of Public Administration and Policy, University at Albany - SUNY
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123
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5,494
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Introduction
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July 2007 - present
Publications
Publications (123)
In order to improve legitimacy, accountability and effectiveness for both policy making and service delivery, governance networks can benefit from the knowledge, skills and other key resources of external actors. However, these networks are often prone to social and cognitive exclusion of outsiders, reducing the potential benefits of greater inclus...
Open Government Data (OGD) ecosystems are composed of public, private and non-profit actors playing specific roles related to the availability and use of publicly accessible government information. The literature considers the presence of healthy ecosystems as crucial for effective use of OGD, with positive effects on democracy, policy effectivenes...
As governments work to prevent, mitigate, or solve problems of global concern, they increasingly need to exchange knowledge and information among the expert organizations responsible for policies and programs that address them. We call these working arrangements transnational public sector knowledge networks (TPSKNs). The actors in these networks e...
This research explored the effect of institutional factors on e-governance development and performance, with particular attention to Russian Federation conditions. The authors conducted a multi-method case study that explores how institutional factors appear to influence the performance of e-governance. Using the case of the Russian Federation, the...
This1 paper summarizes the history of Chinese administrative modernization and reform and discusses the ways in which China's e-government development agenda supports reform in the areas of transforming functions, streamlining processes, and enhancing transparency and citizen engagement. It offers a conceptual model of how e-government supports ref...
Information and information technologies have become ubiquitous in the public sector and it is difficult to think of a public problem or government service that does not involve them in some substantial way. Public management (PM) research now incorporates the effects of the availability and quality of data as well as the technologies used in the p...
The rhetoric of open government data (OGD) promises that data transparency will lead to multiple public benefits: economic and social innovation, civic participation, public-private collaboration, and public accountability. In reality much less has been accomplished in practice than advocates have hoped. OGD research to address this gap tends to fa...
The open government data (OGD) movement has rapidly expanded worldwide with high expectations for substantial benefits to society. However, recent research has identified considerable social and technical barriers that stand in the way of achieving these benefits. This paper uses sociotechnical systems theory and a review of open data research and...
Both private and public sector organizations tend to participate in networks in order to gain access to knowledge, skills and resources of other organizations and to create synergies to achieve highly demanding and complex goals they cannot attain individually. The governance of these networks has been recognized as being an important variable infl...
This paper addresses the important issue of open government data (OGD) development evaluation. The overview of existing approaches for open government data evaluation is given in the paper. The authors categorized five groups of OGD assessment approaches: data-oriented, use and user-oriented, program-oriented, scorecard and impact, network and ecos...
This chapter provides a starting point for better understanding how different approaches, tools, and technologies can support effective stakeholder participation in policy development. Participatory policy making involves stakeholders in various stages of the policy process and can focus on both the substance of the policy problem or on improving t...
Policy informatics is an analytical approach that comprises concepts, methods, and processes for understanding complex public policy and management problems. Policy informatics uses modern computational methods to process vast quantities of data, mine data from single and multiple sources, seek patterns in multidimensional data, and develop models...
Transnational public sector knowledge networks (TPSKNs) are becoming crucial for addressing global problems in the environment, public health and other areas that require knowledge and information sharing among nations. This paper explores and compares a set of contextual distances that separate network participants and discusses their influence on...
Digital government is both a research domain and a field of practice. As such, it needs both new knowledge and research-based problem solving and innovation. To achieve both ends, researchers need to bring their full array of theories, standards and methodologies to the actual needs of government, while practitioners’ deep knowledge of policy domai...
This chapter focuses on success in public sector knowledge networks (PSKNs). These networks are especially salient in the context of e-government where expectations for innovation and good performance rest on creative use of data, information, and technology. PSKN success can be assessed at the network, organizational, and individual levels by cons...
Policy informatics is an emergent area of study that explores how information and communication technology can support policy making and governance. Policy informatics recognizes that more kinds, sources and volumes of information, coupled with evolving analytical and computational tools, present important opportunities to address increasingly comp...
Policy makers and public managers want and need to know how well government programs perform, but few have the information to accurately and continuously evaluate them. The dynamic nature of public programs, and the traditional methods used to assess them, compound this problem. Performance measurement and performance-based decisions can be improve...
Sharing of knowledge, information, and practices across cultural and national boundaries has become a means to address critical global problems. As government agencies increasingly collaborate with international counterparts on these issues, transnational knowledge and information sharing networks grow in importance as mechanisms for collaboration....
Over the last two decades universities and post-secondary education policies have addressed globalization trends by internationalizing curricula and articulating global concern in their missions. This paper presents the evaluation of an international training program for early-career digital government researchers, designed to develop their interes...
Transnational networks involving government are emerging as an important feature of international relations. These networks generally involve public sector professionals and other actors in various domains acting at the sub-national level to share knowledge and information in order to better understand or address a problem that crosses national bou...
Global issues present many opportunities for digital government (DG) researchers to form long-lasting relationships that lead to shared research agendas focused on questions of international importance. However, the relatively young DG community has little experience and few guiding strategies or methods for encouraging these kinds of investigation...
As government agencies increasingly collaborate with international counterparts on critical global issues, transnational knowledge and information sharing grow in importance. This paper explores the nature of Transnational Knowledge Networks (TKNs) and identifies critical contextual factors that hinder or enhance their performance. We explore a set...
This paper is a conceptual and empirical exploration of the tensions inherent in the drive to increase openness and transparency in government by means of information access and dissemination. The idea that democratic governments should be open, accessible, and transparent to the governed is receiving renewed emphasis through the combination of gov...
Information-based strategies to promote open government offer many opportunities to generate social and economic value through
public use of government information. Public and political expectations for the success of these strategies are high but they
confront the challenges of making government data “fit for use” by a variety of users outside the...
The ideas that democratic governments should be open, accessible, and transparent to the governed are not new ones, but they are receiving renewed emphasis through the combination of government reform efforts and the emergence of Web 2.0 social media tools that promote information sharing, integration, and public discourse. Although these initiativ...
In the era of globalization, sharing of knowledge, information, and practices across cultural and national boundaries has been recognized as a key for handling the most critical problems. Consequently, the number of Transnational Knowledge Networks (TKNs) that aim to address critical global issues and problems continue to increase. As exchanging kn...
Research questions that cross the boundaries of nations are growing in number and importance. Many of these concerns involve information policies, tools, and strategies that need to take into account different cultures and languages, as well as separate or incompatible systems. As a consequence, comparative and transnational digital government (DG)...
As pressures to engage in cross-agency and cross-sectoral partnerships become more widespread, information sharing becomes an ever more critical and daunting aspect of public administration. In this edition's exchange among scholars and practitioners, Sharon S. Dawes, Anthony M. Cresswell, and Theresa A. Pardo of the Center for Technology in Govern...
Research into relationships among government, society and technology has grown substantially over the past 30 years. However, most research and most advances in practice address narrowly defined categories of concern such as government organization, citizen services, interoperability, or personal privacy. By contrast, the future presents complex an...
This study comprises a comparative analysis between the US and China regarding public sector leadership behaviors in the context of cross-boundary information sharing and integration. The research conducts an original case study in China set in the product safety and food safety policy domain. The case explores leadership behaviors of middle-level...
This paper further develops a recent conceptual framework designed to move from a micro to a macro view by analyzing the dynamics of digital age governance through the interaction of six social and technical dimensions. This exploratory research extends the original model by exploring the interplay of these dimensions through the development of cau...
2009 marks the fourth and final full year of this international research initiative. Its goal is to create a framework for a sustainable global community among digital government researchers and research sponsors. Funded by the US National Science Foundation, the project includes an international reconnaissance study describing the current status o...
This panel session will feature a discussion of the challenges inherent in digital government research projects due to their interdisciplinary nature and practice-based settings. We aim to offer a future-oriented perspective that rests on an open discussion of past and current experiences, with a special focus on the key issues that make (or break)...
E-governance comprises the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to support public services, government administration, democratic processes, and relationships among citizens, civil society, the private sector, and the state. Developed over more than two decades of technology innovation and policy response, the evolution of e-gov...
The purpose of this study was to assess the publishing patterns of digital government (DG) research in top scholarly journals in the fields of public administration (PA), public policy (PP), and management information systems (MIS) within the last five years (See Table 1). DG research was published in nine of the twelve top journals in these fields...
After more than a decade of e-government research, little work has been done to envision the longer term future of government and society and the unanswered questions associated with such a vision. This paper reports the results of a survey of thirteen future- oriented research themes generated by an international research partnership. The survey g...
The quality, credibility, and legitimacy of government depends in part on transparency and access to government information. The character, quality, management, and use of information are crucial concerns for effective government. Many different kinds of organizations provide access to government information---libraries, government archives, and pu...
Research into relationships among government, society and technology has grown substantially over the past 30 years. Most of that research addresses narrowly defined categories of concern such as government organization, citizen services, interoperability, or personal privacy. By contrast, the future presents complex and dynamic challenges that dem...
Digital government research aims not only to generate new knowledge but also to make useful connections between research and practice. To achieve both ends, digital government research ideally derives research problems from practical challenges, and translates research findings into both new knowledge and usable results. Ubiquitous problems related...
This chapter focuses on success in Public Sector Knowledge Networks (PSKNs). These networks are especially salient in the context of e-government where expectations for innovation and good performance rest on creative use of data, information, and technology. PSKN success can be assessed at the network, organizational, and individual levels by cons...
New information technologies are being applied swiftly to all levels of government service: local, county, regional and even national and international. Information technology (IT) is being used to improve data management and data sharing, planning and decision support, service delivery, and more. Application areas affected by government mandates t...
Knowledge and information-sharing networks are emerging in an increasing number of government programs and policy arenas. This article reports the results of an exploratory investigation into ways in which leadership and formal authority shaped the course of four knowledge network initiatives. The study treats authority as both formal and perceived...
For decades researchers have sought ways to make their work have more impact on the world and practitioners have wished for research that actually helps them solve pressing problems. This is particularly true for digital government research which emphasizes positive change. Differences in professional culture and lack of mutual understanding about...
E-government research is currently at a stage of consolidation and new orientation. Smaller steps of government modernization have in part been successfully implemented; larger ones still lie ahead of us. Within an EC funded project, a roadmap for e- government is being defined. Thereby, scenario building about the future is being used to grasp pic...
The development and effectiveness of e-Government is strongly influenced by the degree to which government leaders and organizations adopt management and organizational strategies that emphasize change management, new organizational forms, different professional and organizational relationships while they take advantage of the power of information...
Electronic Governance is defined in many ways, but all the definitions include an expectation of innovation and improvement in the public sphere. Innovation entails experimentation and risk. Improvement requires deep understanding of the context of government, as well as new tools and new ways of working. Accordingly, advancing electronic governanc...
This poster presents an information technology (IT) skills competency framework to help government professionals assess the existing and desired skills of the technical workforce, identify skill gaps, and make investments in needed competencies. The framework resulted from a government-wide IT skills assessment designed to address the challenges of...
How does a very large and diverse state government with a long history of decentralized IT management go about creating a high-quality state-wide Web site? This case describes New York State's distributed approach to Web site development as well as the strategies, benefits, weaknesses, and continuing challenges of a distributed Web management struc...
How does a very large and diverse state government with a long history of decentralized IT management go about creating a high-quality state-wide Web site? This case describes New York State’s distributed approach to Web site development as well as the strategies, bene?ts, weaknesses, and continuing challenges of a distributed Web management struct...
Cross-cultural management research is a valuable but complex and error-prone endeavor. The main challenges the authors encountered in conducting a multinational research project included nonequivalence of key concepts, cultural stereotypes, assumptions of universality, and difficulties in comparative analysis. The authors identified crucial questio...
Policy makers and public managers want and need to know how well government programs perform, but few have the information to accurately and continuously evaluate them. Performance measurement and performance-based decisions can be improved by more sophisticated information systems designed to support analysis and decision making. However, such sys...
Land parcels are the foundation for many aspects of public and community life. This report presents the findings of a study of information about land parcels in New York State. It identifies stakeholders and their interests as well as the needs and issues associated with the uses of parcel data in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. We desc...
The expression 'public participation' in democratic decision-making processes may assume different meanings ranging from "the right to be informed" up to "the right to directly decide". An interesting approach to understand how citizens may influence ...
This panel of experts will explore perspectives and opportunities for championing and sustaining an international digital government/e-government (DG/E-Gov) research community. The panel discussions will set the stage for the open international meeting that will develop future scenarios of e-government that will be held at dgo2006 on Wednesday afte...
This overview describes a four-year effort to create a framework for a sustainable global community of practice among digital government researchers and research sponsors. The project will support an international reconnaissance study describing the current status of digital government research, an annual research institute, a framework for several...
Increasing governmental complexity is a global phenomenon marked by the need for multiple organizations to interconnect their policies, business processes, information, and systems in the service of shared public goals. These goals encompass some of the most important responsibilities of government including environmental stewardship, education, he...
Purpose
– The issue of varying stakeholder expectations has significant implications for successful enterprise information system implementation. This issue becomes more prevalent in e‐government situations where a variety of stakeholders are influenced by inter‐organizational knowledge sharing. This paper presents an exploratory investigation of t...
This paper reports highlights of a current project exploring international collaboration on digital government research. The project seeks models and lessons for encouraging and developing joint US-European Union research projects in information technology generally, and also with specific focus on government. The collaborating projects all involve...
Enhanced information sharing among criminal justice agencies is a critical concern and a goal of much IT investment. Understanding agencies’ capabilities to achieve this goal is central to successful planning and investments, but indeed a difficult endeavor. The difficulty rests in part on the multiple and divergent theory frames for describing and...
This report is a summary of the discussions that took place during the workshop. iii Table of Contents WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES................................................................................................... 1 PRE-WORKSHOP AND OPENING ACTIVITIES................................................................ 2 THE INITIAL PREMISES ......
this document provided this cover page is included. 2 This document is available on the CTG Web site as a downloadable document. It is located at http://www.ctg.albany.edu/resources/pdfrpwp/gis006.pdf Center for Technology in Government University at Albany, SUNY 1535 Western Avenue Albany, NY 12203 Phone: (518) 442-3892 Fax: (518) 442-3886 E-mail:...
The system dynamics group at Albany has been developing approaches to decision conferencing using a combination of group facilitation techniques linked to projected computer models in the room for more than 20 years. Over the years, the group has developed a series of pieces of small group processes to build system dynamics models with groups, i.e....
Integrating and sharing information in multi-organizational government settings involves complex interactions within social and technological contexts. These integration processes often involve new work processes and significant organizational change. They are also embedded in larger political and institutional environments, which shape their goals...
This three-year longitudinal study examined the formation and operation of knowledge sharing relationships in public sector information technology innovations. The research sought to identify the dimensions and dynamics of interorganizational networks as the frameworks of knowledge exchange in IT development and implementation. The study employed a...
Because the Digital Government Program requires partnerships between academic institutions and government agencies, various challenging issues occur. For example, how do people in academia find a government partner and topic (or vice versa)? Furthermore, because a collaborative effort is needed and there can be a culture difference between academia...
Many of the challenges faced by government and the community in responding to the World Trade Center attack involved the use of information and technology linked to professional and organizational relationships. This study involves content analysis of records and in-depth interviews with 29 participants in the response and identifies key problems a...
As electronic voting enters the stage of real-world implementations, digital signature cards emerge as a basic infrastructure element for e-voting. The paper focuses on three main functions of such cards: (i) Authentication and (as National ID Card also) ...
This paper presents a conceptual model of how organizations collaborate to deliver public services to citizens and businesses. The model is derived from a comparative study of 12 collaborations in Canada, the US, and Europe that involved various combinations of public, private, and nonprofit organizations pursuing a variety of service objectives. T...
tures of many digital government research projects are their multidisciplinarity and theincorporation of partnerships between researchers and practitioners. These unique features of DG researchare demonstrated by the rising number of collaborative projects, cross-disciplinary initiatives, multimethodapproaches, appeal to multiple audiences.The amou...
Many of the critical challenges faced by government and the community in responding to the World Trade Center attack involved the use of information and technology linked to related professional and organizational relationships. Multiple crises and ongoing recovery demands spawned public-private and intergovernmental teams, some of which had never...
The last ten years have been a time of growth and formalization for digital government (DG) research. An emerging community of DG researchers is comprised of scholars from computer and information sciences, as well as the social and behavioral sciences. Questions being addressed by DG researchers cut across almost every domain of public service and...
Government leaders and IT executives increasingly recognize that interorganizational information integration (III) is a critical and complex process. Due to the need for integrated information at all levels of government, interorganizational information integration can no longer be pursued through ad hoc approaches that primarily rely on intuitive...
Abstract: Despite big budgets, political endorsement, and formal frameworks for information policy, technology,
and management, government IT projects continue to falter or fail. This paper argues that public management
education must include information strategy and management topics as core concerns. MPA programs should be
teaching the next gener...
this document provided this cover page is included. Table of Contents
The research reported forms a bridge between the case studies reported in the public administration literature and the research on individual elements of electronic access prevalent in the information science literature. It takes a more holistic view, attending to the specifics of users, uses, organizational capacity, data characteristics, and tech...
That electronic government information repositories are growing in number, use, and diversity is one manifestation of the emergence of e-government. These information-centered programs both shape and respond to user demand for electronic government information as computer-mediated user access has displaced traditional staff-mediated access. These p...
The role of IT in coherent service delivery system provided by the government is discussed. The services provided to the public helps build healthy relationships among government and private and nonprofit organizations. The relationships involve formal agreement about the roles and responsibilities. The organizations share a common objective aimed...
Available evidence about the government responses to World Trade Center attack indicates that information technology played a critically important role. Effective use of a variety of information technologies helped government agencies to better cope with and respond to the multiple crises, and ongoing recovery demands, resulting from the attack. At...
Abstract The NSF Digital Government research program helps to develop new research themes by sponsoring preliminary explorations and workshops to outline emerging areas of inquiry One area which was recently explored in this way is the grants making and grants management process by which the federal government distributes more than $100 billion eac...
In 1999, the Center for Technology in Government (CTG) began a three-year study, sponsored by NSF, that could not have been attempted without the existence of mutually beneficial working relationships with government agencies. The purpose of the study was to examine the formation and operation of knowledge networks in the public sector. The study w...
As Conference Chair, it is my pleasure to welcome you to dg.o
2002, the second annual National Conference on Digital Government
Research. Dg.o 2002 is the only national conference to bring
together computer- and social science researchers, government
officials ...
As Conference Chair, it is my pleasure to welcome you to dg.o
2002, the second annual National Conference on Digital Government
Research. Dg.o 2002 is the only national conference to bring
together computer- and social science researchers, government
officials ...
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are used by government, researchers and businesses in a wide range of domains including economic development, environmental management, education, health, human services, infrastructure management, and disaster response. Most experts agree that the most expensive part of a GIS program is the creation of spatial...
Digital libraries and their user communities are increasingly internat ional in nature. However - though technological progress and global education have brought American and European communities closer - cross-cultural and other crosscutting issues impede the formation of &lquo;world community&rquo; on larger scales. The pertinent issues include:...
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are used by government, researchers and businesses in a wide range of domains including economic development, environmental management, education, health, human services, infrastructure management, and disaster response. Most experts agree that the most expensive part of a GIS program is the creation of spatial...
Government at all levels is a major collector and provider of data and user of information technologies. The goal of the Digital Government Program is to fund research at the intersection of the computer and information sciences research communities ...
Questions
Question (1)
E-government, public administration, public policy