E-participation research has mainly been concerned with the spread of e-participation technologie... more E-participation research has mainly been concerned with the spread of e-participation technologies, but less with why some government organizations choose to use digital tools to consult citizens (e-consultation) whereas others go further and include them in the decision-making processes (e-decision making). This article is an in-depth, comparative case-study of the adoption of e-participation platforms in Oslo, Melbourne and Madrid, and develops an alternative explanatory framework using theories of institutional entrepreneurship and change. It shows that conventional adoption theory – focusing on resource slack, socio-economic development, competition and top-down mandates – is not able to account for the differences between these cases, and argues that the degree of e-participation should be understood as an outcome of the type and agenda of change agents, the level of institutional discretion, the strength of institutional defenders, and the resources of the change agents.
In Inside Story, Ian McShane reviews Natasha Cica\u27s account of the life of wilderness photogra... more In Inside Story, Ian McShane reviews Natasha Cica\u27s account of the life of wilderness photographer Olegas Truchanas and his role in the campaign to save Lake Pedder. • WHEN I was very young, we lived in the foothills of Mount Wellington, high above Hobart. One of our neighbours was Olegas Truchanas. We moved away after a few years, but Truchanas’s roots grew deep into the hill. He had arrived in Tasmania in 1949 from Lithuania, following an extraordinary escape from the grip of Russian dominance, and re-established his life by joining a circle of Hobart artists, starting a family and building a house on a bush block in West Hobart with a superb view over the Derwent estuary. He spent the working week in the central Hobart office of the Hydro-Electric Commission, Tasmania’s state within a state. And in his free time he explored Tasmania’s southwest by foot and home-made kayak, often solo, exploring and photographing its wild places. From the mid 1950s, he began presenting public s...
This paper examines whether recent innovation in market design can address persistent problems of... more This paper examines whether recent innovation in market design can address persistent problems of housing choice and affordability in the inner and middle suburbs of Australian cities. Australia's ageing middle suburbs are the result of a low density and highly car-dependent garden city greenfield approach to planning that failed to consider possible future resource or environmental constraints on urban development (Newton et al., 2011). Described as 'greyfield' sites in contrast to greenfield (signalling the change from rural to urban land use) and 'brownfield' (being the transformation of former industrial use to mixed use, including housing), intensification of development in such areas is expected to deliver positive social, economic and environmental outcomes (Trubka et al., 2008; Gurran et al., 2006; Newton et al., 2011; Goodman et al., 2010). Yet despite broad policy consensus progress remains elusive (Major Cities Unit, 2010). In this paper we argue that ...
Australian Journal of Public Administration, Sep 5, 2019
Investment by Australian local government authorities (LGAs) in public Wi‐Fi (PWF) provision has ... more Investment by Australian local government authorities (LGAs) in public Wi‐Fi (PWF) provision has grown substantially in recent years. PWF represents the first significant venture of LGAs into telecommunications, a field of national jurisdiction, and thus is a precursor of wider local investment in digital communication technologies, particularly the Internet of Things and other ‘smart city’ infrastructure. However, there has been little published analysis of PWF provision and use in Australia. This knowledge gap limits understanding of the rationales, business models, and uses and impact of investment in these networks and offers little guidance for local authorities and communities contemplating wider ventures in the field of digital networks. This article draws on a national survey of PWF provision by LGAs, together with interview data and critical analysis of policy and institutional settings, to present an overview of local PWF provision in Australia. The analysis highlights some familiar problems associated with LGA infrastructure investment and service delivery, as well as some novel challenges posed for local managers by digital communication networks. Following an empirical mapping of PWF provision in Australia, we explore three significant themes that our research in this field highlights: accountability and transparency, competence in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) and evaluation.
Few government participation initiatives allow real influence on decision making in urban develop... more Few government participation initiatives allow real influence on decision making in urban development. Participation mostly remains a method of collecting information with the aim of improving public services. Some research on participatory initiatives in urban development highlights stories of success, but most are accounts of failure. One significant finding in the literature is that unresolved conflicts in urban regeneration programmes compromise the cooperation between grassroots and governance networks, erode citizens’ trust in city governments and contribute to disengagement, cynicism and protest. In this paper we measure citizens’ trust in local government politicians and civil servants and link it to participation processes in urban development. We investigate how citizens in inner-city districts of Oslo,Melbourne and Madrid participated in urban development processes, how fair they think these processes were and whether development outcomes reflect and respect local community views. Findings from a questionnaire given to local resident organisations in the three cities show that residents trust politicians and civil servants more when they have a sense of efficacy in influencing policy. While digital platforms have widened participatory channels, the findings show that residents combine digital and traditional modes to maximise influence. Results show that engagement in itself raises trust in the government. A very clear finding in all cities is that trust increases when residents believe that public authorities handle urban development correctly and fairly.
E-participation research has mainly been concerned with the spread of e-participation technologie... more E-participation research has mainly been concerned with the spread of e-participation technologies, but less with why some government organizations choose to use digital tools to consult citizens (e-consultation) whereas others go further and include them in the decision-making processes (e-decision making). This article is an in-depth, comparative case-study of the adoption of e-participation platforms in Oslo, Melbourne and Madrid, and develops an alternative explanatory framework using theories of institutional entrepreneurship and change. It shows that conventional adoption theory – focusing on resource slack, socio-economic development, competition and top-down mandates – is not able to account for the differences between these cases, and argues that the degree of e-participation should be understood as an outcome of the type and agenda of change agents, the level of institutional discretion, the strength of institutional defenders, and the resources of the change agents.
In Inside Story, Ian McShane reviews Natasha Cica\u27s account of the life of wilderness photogra... more In Inside Story, Ian McShane reviews Natasha Cica\u27s account of the life of wilderness photographer Olegas Truchanas and his role in the campaign to save Lake Pedder. • WHEN I was very young, we lived in the foothills of Mount Wellington, high above Hobart. One of our neighbours was Olegas Truchanas. We moved away after a few years, but Truchanas’s roots grew deep into the hill. He had arrived in Tasmania in 1949 from Lithuania, following an extraordinary escape from the grip of Russian dominance, and re-established his life by joining a circle of Hobart artists, starting a family and building a house on a bush block in West Hobart with a superb view over the Derwent estuary. He spent the working week in the central Hobart office of the Hydro-Electric Commission, Tasmania’s state within a state. And in his free time he explored Tasmania’s southwest by foot and home-made kayak, often solo, exploring and photographing its wild places. From the mid 1950s, he began presenting public s...
This paper examines whether recent innovation in market design can address persistent problems of... more This paper examines whether recent innovation in market design can address persistent problems of housing choice and affordability in the inner and middle suburbs of Australian cities. Australia's ageing middle suburbs are the result of a low density and highly car-dependent garden city greenfield approach to planning that failed to consider possible future resource or environmental constraints on urban development (Newton et al., 2011). Described as 'greyfield' sites in contrast to greenfield (signalling the change from rural to urban land use) and 'brownfield' (being the transformation of former industrial use to mixed use, including housing), intensification of development in such areas is expected to deliver positive social, economic and environmental outcomes (Trubka et al., 2008; Gurran et al., 2006; Newton et al., 2011; Goodman et al., 2010). Yet despite broad policy consensus progress remains elusive (Major Cities Unit, 2010). In this paper we argue that ...
Australian Journal of Public Administration, Sep 5, 2019
Investment by Australian local government authorities (LGAs) in public Wi‐Fi (PWF) provision has ... more Investment by Australian local government authorities (LGAs) in public Wi‐Fi (PWF) provision has grown substantially in recent years. PWF represents the first significant venture of LGAs into telecommunications, a field of national jurisdiction, and thus is a precursor of wider local investment in digital communication technologies, particularly the Internet of Things and other ‘smart city’ infrastructure. However, there has been little published analysis of PWF provision and use in Australia. This knowledge gap limits understanding of the rationales, business models, and uses and impact of investment in these networks and offers little guidance for local authorities and communities contemplating wider ventures in the field of digital networks. This article draws on a national survey of PWF provision by LGAs, together with interview data and critical analysis of policy and institutional settings, to present an overview of local PWF provision in Australia. The analysis highlights some familiar problems associated with LGA infrastructure investment and service delivery, as well as some novel challenges posed for local managers by digital communication networks. Following an empirical mapping of PWF provision in Australia, we explore three significant themes that our research in this field highlights: accountability and transparency, competence in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) and evaluation.
Few government participation initiatives allow real influence on decision making in urban develop... more Few government participation initiatives allow real influence on decision making in urban development. Participation mostly remains a method of collecting information with the aim of improving public services. Some research on participatory initiatives in urban development highlights stories of success, but most are accounts of failure. One significant finding in the literature is that unresolved conflicts in urban regeneration programmes compromise the cooperation between grassroots and governance networks, erode citizens’ trust in city governments and contribute to disengagement, cynicism and protest. In this paper we measure citizens’ trust in local government politicians and civil servants and link it to participation processes in urban development. We investigate how citizens in inner-city districts of Oslo,Melbourne and Madrid participated in urban development processes, how fair they think these processes were and whether development outcomes reflect and respect local community views. Findings from a questionnaire given to local resident organisations in the three cities show that residents trust politicians and civil servants more when they have a sense of efficacy in influencing policy. While digital platforms have widened participatory channels, the findings show that residents combine digital and traditional modes to maximise influence. Results show that engagement in itself raises trust in the government. A very clear finding in all cities is that trust increases when residents believe that public authorities handle urban development correctly and fairly.
This paper examines the rise and fall of the Victorian education department's learning management... more This paper examines the rise and fall of the Victorian education department's learning management system Ultranet. The Ultranet was conceived as a web-based portal that was designed to integrate and deliver on a range of policy objectives in the areas of student management, school networking and communication, and teaching and learning. Heavily promoted by the Victorian educational bureaucracy and the government, the Ultranet, which operated between 2010 and 2013, proved a costly failure and became the subject of an inquiry by Victoria's anti-corruption commission. This paper looks beyond the inquiry's focus on the conduct of senior departmental officials involved in Ultranet's procurement to examine the policy, technological and pedagogical contexts that framed the project. We argue that the project had its roots in pre-digital educational policy settings of devolution and entrepreneurship, which supported a transformative agenda focused on digital information and communication technologies. While the Ultranet software had fatal design and usability flaws, we broaden the scope of analysis to argue that the project rested on problematic assumptions about the digital literacy and connectivity of parents and teachers, and the viability of a technology-based response to risk and privacy embodied in a 'closed' network, that compromised the venture from its inception.
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