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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Rob WilsonORCiD, James Cornford
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Abstract Achieving the vision of responsive and agile public services was once hampered by a shortage of information. Increasingly the problem is now the opposite – apparent information overload. The implementation of e-government, and the associated ‘instrumentation’ of many public service interactions, has generated vast quantities of administrative data across the public sector. Part of the argument for the ‘e-enabling’ of public services is that policy makers, managers, professionals, service users and ultimately the public can draw on these data to monitor, improve and ultimately transform services. As these kinds of data flows emerge from new systems, the emphasis in public service reform is shifting towards making more effective use of them to improve service delivery and the citizen experience. As policy makers, managers and professionals – and even public service users – begin to make use of such data, a range of new and potentially innovative practices are beginning to emerge. However, making sense of this new superfluity of data is an increasingly pressing challenge. This is not, however, just a matter of the quantity of data that has become available but also a matter of increased qualitative variation in types of data. One dimension of this variety concerns ways in which data is captured stored and presented (i.e. numerically, as text, as audio, as video, as pictures, etc.). More importantly, though, the data available to those working in the public services also varies in terms of its origins and provenance, the conditions under which it is gathered and the purposes for which it is intended to be used.
Author(s): Wilson R, Cornford J
Publication type: Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)
Publication status: Published
Conference Name: e-research conference
Year of Conference: 2008
Publisher: Information Communication and Society (ICS)
