Does privatization affect access to government information?

This article defines and discusses privatization of government information. As the authors note, privatization is effective when it is used appropriately, and ineffective when it is applied as a panacea to all management problems.     

Who pays the piper? The political economy of freedom of information

If freedom of information is fundamental to contemporary democracy, why have democratic countries differed so markedly in their willingness to pass laws enshrining formal rights of access to government files? This article demonstrates that an analysis grounded in comparative political economy can provide a compelling answer to this question. Specifically, it demonstrates that the more highly coordinated a country's economy, the less transparent it is likely to be. Through a comparison of the United States and Germany, this article argues that in coordinated market economies, ongoing negotiations between the state and the peak representative bodies provide privileged access to information about the government, and indeed privileged channels of influence over government action. Public access to official files threatens this privileged access. In less coordinated economies, however, firms lack this privileged access; they are likely to favor access laws as a partial substitute, especially since such laws are more consistent with the highly fragmented and competitive environment in which they operate. By further comparing Sweden and the United Kingdom, it also demonstrates the limits of this explanation, suggesting that historical sequences and classic political variables should also be taken into account.     

The Future of Journalism—Who to Believe?

This work collates the opinions of European professionals and internet users concerning the changing reality facing the world of journalism following the explosion of digital media. Our research shows the results of analytical surveys conducted between October 2013 and January 2014 among 54 professionals of renowned prestige, and 500 regular users of the digital media in the five most populated countries in the European Union: Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain, all states affected to a greater or lesser extent by the crisis of the printed press. The surveys cover a wide range of topics, from the impact of social networks, the quality of the digital media, the willingness of citizens to pay for content and the degree of interactivity in the digital media for the future of journalism. Professionals and users agree that the news in 2020 will be better and more interactive than now. With regard to other matters, there is more disagreement. Professionals are much more critical than users when it comes to evaluating the quality of the news. The professionals’ survey was more qualitative, and, in their opinion, overcoming the crisis in the written press implies, among other measures, promoting analysis, prioritising quality over quantity and offering “niche” specialisation.     

Open access to scientific knowledge. Who receives dividends?

Open access to scientific knowledge is considered as a new neo-liberal project in the globalized world. The advantages and disadvantages that members of the open access obtain are described. Open access greatly facilitates monitoring, analysis, and control of scientific research by global institutions and transnational corporations, and enables them to identify promising branches of knowledge on the periphery of the global science system that are obtained outside of the “mainstream” and use them for their interests. The link between open access to scientific knowledge and knowledge feudalism is developed.     

Citizens’ access to on-line state legislative documents

State legislative web sites should provide information to citizens that is useful and is easily accessible. Each state’s legislative web site was studied to find common usability issues in making legislative documents available on-line. Examples of how various state legislative web sites address each issue are provided. In conclusion, a model for an accessible, useful state legislative web site is proposed.     

The “blur” of federal information and services: Implications for university libraries

Information product content is becoming increasingly interrelated with associated services. This concept is called “blurring” by current management authors Davis and Meyer. In the realm of federal information, there is great potential for “blurred” offerings. Citizens could have access to customized and filtered information from federal websites and could perform transactions with government agencies over the Internet. While some technical, infrastructure, and policy issues will take time to sort out, many innovative products and services will be offered over the Internet. Whether the federal agencies themselves will provide these customized services or whether institutions in the public and/or private sector will provide them remains to be seen. Universities need to re-think how they offer services related to federal information in the networked environment. Such activities as reference service, instruction, access to data archives, and staff training need to be re-examined in light of the changes enabled by the Internet and the development of new types of content and services.     

Who gets access to fast broadband? Evidence from Los Angeles County

Regulatory and market changes in residential (fixed) broadband have raised concerns about Internet Service Providers (ISPs) prioritizing investments in the most profitable areas, thus relegating low-income and minority communities to fewer broadband options and legacy networks. This study examines these concerns for Los Angeles (LA) County during the 2014–18 period. The analysis uses rollout data collected by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in combination with demographic information from the American Community Survey (ACS). Because the spatial distribution of broadband investments cannot be directly observed, competition and the availability of FTTH services are used as proxies. The findings indicate that competition and fiber-based services are less likely in low-income areas and minority communities, with the most severe deficits observed in census block groups that combine poverty and a large share of Black residents. We outline alternative policy tools to address intracity inequalities in broadband investments in the conclusion.     

Are pictures worth a thousand words? The effect of information presentation type on citizen perceptions of government websites

With the increasing disclosure of public information and government data through information and communication technologies, along with the considerable privately generated data now available online, individuals have access to a huge volume of information. This “disintermediation” of (i.e., greater direct access to) public information may improve transparency and facilitate citizen engagement, but it may also overwhelm citizens not only with too much information but also by requiring them to take responsibility for gathering, assembling, and processing information. Despite the importance of effective information processing to successful use of available information, existing studies have not yet fully integrated this consideration into research on citizen use of e-government and open government data. Based on information processing theory—according to which individuals have a finite information processing capacity, which is affected not only by the quantity and quality of information but also by one's preferences for how information is presented—this study examined the effects of information presentation type (infographic versus text) on perceived information overload, along with the consequent effect of information overload on perceived website usefulness. We also investigated whether individual information processing propensity (visual or verbal) moderated the effect of information presentation type on perceived information overload. Our results showed that textual information tended to cause greater information overload, especially for those with a propensity for visual information processing, and that higher information overload was associated with a lower perception of website usefulness. Moreover, individual information propensity moderated the effect of information type on perceived information overload; people with visual information processing propensity were more strongly affected by the presentation of textual information. We discuss the implications of our findings for improving the communication of policy information through government websites.     

U.S. federal government CIOs: information technology's new managers— preliminary findings

The Clinger-Cohen Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996 (Clinger-Cohen Act) had the potential to change the dynamics of how U.S. federal government agencies view and manage their information technology. The mandated provision for chief information officers (CIOs) was intended to provide agencies with information change agents and technology “watchdogs.” To observe how agencies are reacting to employing CIOs, the author conducted field studies via e-mail with eight agencies to discover the successes and the challenges of this new information initiative. The Clinger-Cohen Act mandated four of the agencies contacted and four were non-mandated. The results of this study depict varying levels of agency compliance and commitment to the Clinger-Cohen Act as it relates to the agency CIO position.     

Why are they not accessing it? User barriers to clinical information access

The Medical Library Association''s InSight Initiative provides an open and collaborative environment for library and industry partners to discuss vexing problems and find solutions to better serve their users. The initiative''s fifth summit, continuing work from the previous summit, focused on understanding how users discover and access information in the clinical environment. During the summit, participants were divided into working groups and encouraged to create a tangible product as a result of their discussions. At the end of the summit, participants established a framework for understanding users'' pain points, discussed possible solutions to those points, and received feedback on their work from an End User Advisory Board comprising physicians, clinical researchers, and clinical faculty in biomedicine. In addition to the pain point framework, participants are developing MLA InSight Initiative Learning content with modules to educate librarians and publishers about critical aspects of user behavior. The 2020 Insight Initiative Fall Forum will serve as a virtual home for constructive dialogue between health sciences librarians and publishers on improving discovery and access to information.     

How is information shared across the boundaries of government agencies? An e-Government case study

This paper explores how information is shared across the vertical and horizontal boundaries of government agencies. Different types of information sharing are identified and discussed in terms of their strengths and encountered challenges. Centralized types of information sharing are found as a primary strategy adopted to facilitate interagency information sharing in the two dimensions. Particularly, influential determinants from type comparisons and government agencies are identified and discussed regarding what agencies may take into considerations when selecting certain types of information sharing. While there is no single type of information sharing that can satisfy all the needs and concerns of government agencies, most agencies still simultaneously employ several types of information sharing in different circumstances. A competition-and-cooperation relationship exists among the different types of information sharing in both dimensions. The paper suggests that a balance between centralized and decentralized types of information sharing should be achieved to obtain advantages and diminish disadvantages. The similarities and differences between the types in the two dimensions are also compared and discussed. Lastly, the conclusion outlines the contribution and limitation of the current research and suggests future studies of the current work.     

“The information superhighway is a ‘quivering oxymoron’” and other musings on government information policy in an era of rapidly evolving information technologies

In this JGI interview, futurist Paul Saffo discusses a wide variety of information technology topics ranging from the respective roles of government and private-sector involvement in the Internet to privacy, wireless communications, and the role of information technology in future military conflicts. Throughout the interview, Saffo notes the probable impacts that rapidly evolving information/communication technologies will play in government, business, and personal lives.