Week 10 – Governance
March 20, 2010
Quick hits from:
I. Holliday and Kwok’s Hong Kong e-government:
- HK government substantial progress in having online service for business sector but changes in governance are limited; need to have strategy that also intensifies engagement with citizens in politics
- Focus on two distinct domains of internal and external impacts
- Internally: enhanced communication networks, HKHA linked via improved internal communication, mobile computing facilities in different parts of territory à but hard to say that e-government is transforming operations in HK gov bc still keep same internal dynamics before info age, always in ways that make the government look good
- Internal impacts are limited
- Externally: more useful info available online so citizens better served than before; but still a long way from citizens interaction intensifying
- Overall recognize HK government is committed to e-government and to leading IT development; there’s huge budget to government IT and e-gov projects, also uses private partnerships to make e-government; also created avenues for e-communication access points and e-business à but form of governance still the same
- Governance may be difficult for HK government if don’t intensify e-government in a way that engages citizens at political and policy debate
II. Zhang’s great Chinese firewall:
- interviews 19 Chinese dignitary policy makers; 18 out of 19 agreed the web was good for china in terms of informationization, modernization and globalization
- suggests relaxed in ideological claims but still wants to control online content
- important factors behind China’s cyber policies and policymaking process: economic advances, business opportunities public interests, public demands for info and more contemporary lifestyle, political and ideological concerns, global criticism of China’s internet blocking
- attitude changes in policy makers suggest internet has destabilized old bureaucratic and political systems to more contemporary admin infrastructure
- authorities and individuals now have more to do with the internet than before
III: Kraidy’s Saudi Arabia hypermedia:
- studies how technology influence changes in political, cultural religious and commercial factors in Arab public discourse; argues that introduction of Arabic-language reality tv programs triggered hypermedia space as part of public discourse
- hypermedia chains: e-mail, web sites, cell, text message, digital cameras, e-newspapers, satellite tv
- Reality tv show Star Academy had 16 male and female contestants “vying for pan-Arab stardom… hailed from Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. Throughout every week of the show, the students took lessons in oral interpretation, dancing, singing, music, fashion, hair-styling and make-up.”
- Controversy because clerics thought it was offensive, calling it “whorehouse”; Islamist youth group created site called no2staracademic.net; battle on space of communications ensued with supporters and dissenters of show
- In heavily policed social environments like Saudi Arabia’s, hypermedia space becomes an alternative space for social communication, whose dynamics undermine established modalities of governance and compel policy makers to search for new parameters of governance”
If mashups were to play a role in int’l governance, I think it would be in a way that’s cosmopolitan-esque. As shown in the articles above, state gov’ts use the internet as a way to inform their citizens (as to whether or not it fosters fertile ground for civil participation in policy debates is another story) and to create global business opportunities. So if we apply it to an international sphere, I think international governance would be used in the context of informing people who use ICT.
Mashups could also be used to make the state more effective in carrying out public services. For example, the city of Ann Arbor has a mashup website that allows citizens to “request service and check the status of service requests using Google Maps, Cityworks local API and ReCaptcha. Citizens can solicit a request by entering an address manually or select a location from a Google Map.” Service requests range from street light repair, compost pick up, park maintenance, pot hole repair etc.
Other examples of ways that government can use mashups in their governance is listed here.
I found this video particularly in understanding the overall concept of mashups:
