Recent literature on government information

The purpose of this column is to provide government information scholars and students with a broad overview of recent publications about government information from the literature of librarianship, archives, information technology management, public policy and law. Given the volume of literature produced in this field, a columnist cannot claim comprehensive coverage. This column seeks to provide a broad, representative survey of literature that illustrates significant trends in the field.Entries were identified through searches of bibliographic databases such as Library Literature, PAIS International, Ebsco Academic Elite, The Index to Legal Periodicals and Books, Science Direct, Westlaw's JLR database, WorldCat, and from manual scans of journals, newsletters, and Internet sites. Citations are to monographs and serials, journal and periodical articles, books, newsletters, and Internet sites. Coverage for this edition of the column includes items from 2002 and 2003, with a smattering of 2001 items that have come to my attention since the last installment of this column. Each citation is listed once under its primary topic and annotated if its content cannot be adequately determined from the title. Book reviews and Internet site reviews are generally excluded.Contributions and suggestions for the next column may be addressed to the column editor at the address below.Material for this column is grouped into the following categories: Freedom of Information/Secrecy, E-Gov/Technology, Archives/Libraries/History, Government Printing Office, Federal, State/Local, and International.     

我国电子政务建设与政府信息公开的关系刍议

论文从几个不同的方面阐述了电子政务建设和政府信息公开这二者之间的关系，提出：我国的电子政务为政府信息公开提供网络平台；电子政务的制度建设与政府信息公开的制度保障密不可分；政府信息公开是我国电子政务建设的前提和基础；政府信息公开是我国电子政务建设的重要目标之一。     

Recent literature on government information

This column was prepared from a manual scan of library and information science journals, and manual or automated searches of sources including ERIC, PAIS International in Print, America: History and Life, Historical Abstracts, R.R. Bowker's Books in Print, Library Literature, Current Contents: Social and Behavioral Sciences, Government Reports Announcements & Index, EPIC, and the electronic discussion group GOVDOC-L. Citations are to items published or indexed from November 1993 through April 1994, including articles, books, reports, government publications, and chapters or essays in collected works. Reviews and short news articles are omitted. Each publication is cited once under its primary topic, and annotated if the content cannot be adequately determined from the title.Contributions of citations to this column should be addressed to the column editor, Susan M. Ryan, Government Documents Librarian, Stetson University, DeLand, FL 32720; Internet: ryan@-suvaxl.stetson.edu.     

Recent literature on government information

This column was prepared from a manual scan of library and information science journals, and manual or automated searches of sources including ERIC, PAIS International in Print, America: History and Life, Historical Abstracts, R. R. Bowker's Books in Print, Library Literature, Current Contents: Social and Behavioral Sciences, Government Reports Announcements & Index, EPIC, and the electronic discussion group GOVDOC-L. Citations are to items published or indexed from November 1994 through April 1995, including articles, books, reports, government publications, and chapters or essays in collected works. Reviews and short news articles are omitted. Each publication is cited once under its primary topic, and annotated if the content cannot be adequately determined from the title.     

提高政府信息消费能力的策略研究

本文阐述了政府信息消费与电子政务信息资源开发利用的关系，探讨了提高政府机构信息消费能力的措施，提出了引导社会公众消费政府信息的策略。     

我国省级政府网站建设现状分析

通过访问我国27个省级政府网站，论文从网站的相同栏目设置、特色栏目设置及电子政务功能等三个方面总结了政府网站的建设现状，并对这些网站做了分析和评价，最后还提出了省级政府网站改进的措施。     

电子政务环境下政府信息资源的形成及采集研究

政府信息资源的有序收集、定向传递与及时发布,是发挥电子政务系统功效的前提和基础,而政府信息资源产生于政府活动的各个环节和各级部门,使得政府信息资源呈现出多元、复杂的特性。本文首先分析了政府信息资源的形成主体,阐述政府信息资源形成的基本规律,并预测信息网络环境下政府信息资源采集的发展趋势。     

公共图书馆与政府信息公开

《政府信息公开条例》实施给公共图书馆带来了挑战和机遇。国外公共图书馆政府信息服务有多样化的形式和良好的效果。目前我国公共图书馆政府信息服务的主要内容,应是对政府信息进行科学组织、加工整合、深度揭示,以方便利用;创新服务方式方法;积极介入当地政府信息公开目录、指南、索引、摘要的编制工作。急需建立政府信息及时、完整进入公共图书馆的制度保障;落实各级政府为公共图书馆开展政府信息服务提供必要保障的规定。参考文献24。     

What users want: Assessing government information preferences to drive information services

Access to government information has changed dramatically in the past 20 years. There are many indicators of information use, but it is challenging for service institutions to gain a current and comprehensive view of the research practices and preferences of their users. Information stakeholders must seek out current data to gauge the potential success of new initiatives and policies in order to meet user needs. To that end, a user study was conducted on the University of Montana campus in spring of 2006. The survey was sent to a random, stratified sample of the campus population. The instrument included questions on frequency of government information use, methods of locating and learning about government documents, awareness of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), and service and format preferences. The results show that the majority of researchers are using government information at least quarterly and that they most often use general search engines to find it. Respondents indicate a strong interest in alerting services, tutorials, virtual reference, and topic-oriented assistance. Although some respondents prefer printed materials for specific types of information, users generally want to find and access government information online. The results offer current data for program planning, collection development, and information policy creation.     

SNS use by the Korean government: a case of Me2Day

This study examines the debates and discussions surrounding the Korean government's Me2Day, the largest social networking and microblogging site in the country used by 26 government bureaus, including the Blue House. Me2Day users post messages composed of up to 150 characters and establish links with other users through multimedia-based information and knowledge obtained from their browsers, desktop computers, e-mail messages, and mobile phones. This study provides a better understanding of the characteristics and structures of cyberspace communication between the Korean government and citizens. The results indicate that although each bureau had different goals in terms of using Me2Day, users were more likely to use the service if their bureau actively posted messages or responded to user comments. Users tended to have critical attitudes toward the Korean government when they were allowed to freely post messages and share information.     

Evaluating the readiness of government portal websites in China to adopt contemporary public administration principles

This article aims to evaluate whether the e-government development in China is ready to adopt contemporary public administration principles. In response to these questions, we propose an evaluation framework that integrates the contemporary public administration principles and current web-quality evaluation theories. The proposed framework evaluates government portal websites in terms of their content, function, and construction, following the theory of website evaluation. The indices for each of these dimensions emphasize interactions, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness, all of which reflect the contemporary public administration principles. The validation analysis shows that the proposed evaluation framework well fits the data. The empirical studies suggest that China has implemented advanced e-government services.     

我国电子政务信息资源建设的影响因素及对策研究

本文简要介绍了我国电子政务信息资源建设的现状,探讨了电子政务信息资源建设中存在的问题和影响因素,提出了加强电子政务信息资源建设的策略。     

User experience of government documents: A framework for informing design decisions

People still use documents in many everyday government processes. From tax payments to passport requests, citizens have to interact with low-interactivity information artifacts such as reports, maps and datasets, among many others. Despite efforts to improve information delivery in the public sector, effective information usage remains a critical topic of action and research. The user experience of government documents has rarely been assessed, despite them being regularly published and frequently used. Considering this, the two following research questions arise: 1) How can government documents be classified (or grouped) in terms of user experience? 2) How can the user experience of government documents be monitored over time in order to inform design decisions? Working with a public agency in Chile, we develop and test a classification and monitoring framework based on two online surveys (N?=?338 and N?=?298). We then propose a framework for understanding user experience of government documents in these three dimensions: interaction goal, volume of information and ease of understanding. Using a graphical representation to classify user experience provides greater visibility of the current status of information produced by a public organization. Furthermore, by monitoring the user experience of a government document at different times, organizations can understand the effect of their design decisions and improve their service quality by implementing user-centered processes.     

Political ideology and information technology in government online communication

Government agencies are directed to communicate objective and scientific information to the public, but studies show that political ideology may play a role in how much information governments provide. In this paper I argue that the ideology of a head administrator, and its alignment with agency mission, can restrict the kinds of information that government agencies provide, which may or may not amount to a type of regulatory capture. This impact may also be moderated by the specific media in which the communication takes place. I explore this theory via a case study of the United States Environmental Protection Agency online communication over a period of 32 months, during the years of 2013–2014, under the Democratic Administrator Gina McCarthy, and 2017–2018, under the Republican Administrator Scott Pruitt, via topical terms and document analyses of Twitter posts and web news releases. The information—topics, policies and issues—remain largely consistent across administrations and media channels, but notable distinctions are observed that point to the political ideologies of administrators in office, including a restriction of relevant scientific information on climate change during the misaligned administrator. Moreover, results show differences across media types which may reflect speed and popularity affordances of Twitter compared to website communication. I conclude by discussing the importance of policies to protect against ideological partisanship, and how social media may be better used as tools in government information policy and online communication.     

试论政府信息增值服务及其运行机制的创新

本文从分析政府信息增值服务的内涵入手,提出政府信息增值服务的深入应以机制创新为突破口。文章认为政府机制、社会机制和市场机制是政府信息增值服务运作机制的可能选择。文章对上述三种机制的内涵及其互补关系进行了论述。     

Electronic government: Rethinking channel management strategies

This article explores how an alternative multichannel management strategy can improve the way governments and citizens interact. Improvement is necessary because, based on empirical data from various sources, the conclusion can be drawn that there is a gap between the communication channels governments prefer and those that citizens prefer. Governments may be too much guided by rational arguments like the cost efficiency of channels while citizens may choose channels depending on, e.g., task characteristics, personal characteristics or situational factors. In order to close the existing gap and to increase understanding about how different channel types may be positioned in multichannel management, this article proposes an alternative multichannel management strategy that takes both the citizen’s and the government’s perspective into account. This strategy is based on differences in channel types and channel modes via which governments and citizens interact.