A public value perspective for ICT enabled public sector reforms: A theoretical reflection

The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical discussion of information system adoption in the public sector (often referred to as e-government) and to contribute to the debate by offering a public value perspective. The paper points to the public value paradigm as an alternative approach to studying ICT-enabled public sector reforms. This paradigm, we argue, proposes an alternative way of framing the nature of the problems faced when ICT enabled public sector reforms are initiated and studied. The public value perspective proposes a new and richer context in which to study and research these phenomena. It also calls for the redefinition of the ways we assess e-government in the context of public sector reforms. It is therefore seen as vital to evaluate the socio-political impact of ICT adoption in the public sector.     

Public engagement and AI: A values analysis of national strategies

Calls for public engagement and participation in AI governance align strongly with a public value management approach to public administration. Simultaneously, the prominence of commercial vendors and consultants in AI discourse emphasizes market value and efficiency in a way often associated with the private sector and New Public Management. To understand how this might influence the consolidation of AI governance regimes and decision-making by public administrators, 16 national strategies for AI are subjected to content analysis. References to the public's role and public engagement mechanisms are mapped across national strategies, as is the articulation of values related to professionalism, efficiency, service, engagement, and the private sector. Though engagement rhetoric is common, references to specific engagement mechanisms and activities are rare. Analysis of value relationships highlights congruence of engagement values with professionalism and private sector values, and raises concerns about neoliberal technology frames that normalize AI, obscuring policy complexity and trade-offs.     

AI赋能公共图书馆适老化阅读服务研究--以杭州市为例

杭州市图书馆运用人工智能等技术,在中心馆-总分馆体系下构建了全市共享的图书馆适老化服务,为老年人在数字环境下提供阅读服务。通过对杭州市公共图书馆的自助转借系统、无障碍服务和设施开发、数字服务平台、“悦借”网络渠道、多元服务方式的分析,肯定了AI赋能下杭州市公共图书馆适老化阅读服务的成效。同时指出,杭图的适老化服务存在对老年人心理层面的关注不够,高层次智慧馆员缺乏等不足。有效提升图书馆适老化服务需要满足老年读者的需求,利用智能设备提高服务效能,加强老年人阅读素养。     

A structural solution for the preservation of canvas paintings

Abstract

Information obtained from 18 surviving panoramas and cycloramas, and a study of the behavior ofcanvas paintings on conventional stretchers under changing environmental conditions, have led the author to develop a new self-adjusting continuous-tension stretcher, which is described in detail.     

Fabrics for the twenty-first century: As artist canvas and for the structural reinforcement of easel paintings on canvas

Abstract

The requirements for, and assessment of, suitable fabrics for artist canvas and for the structural reinforcement of easel paintings on canvas are presented. Crucially, the aesthetic and kinaesthetic, as well as physical properties of the canvas fabrics have been taken into account. To evaluate the fabrics the following properties were measured: stiffness, ultimate tensile strength, moisture response, crimp, drape, and lustre. Fabrics investigated include cotton, linen, polyester, polyamides, and carbonized fibres. Although polyester is yet to match linen or cotton kinaesthetically or aesthetically, overall it exhibits the best combination of properties. However, the results have shown that even when raw fibre material has suitable properties the finished woven fabric may not. This is because of the strong influence of the woven geometry on the final behaviour. It has been found that drape and lustre are very good properties to quantify some aspects of the feel and look of fabrics, in the context of conservation, and to provide a common language to ensure that the specification incorporates these aspects.     

AI adoption and diffusion in public administration: A systematic literature review and future research agenda

Artificial Intelligence (AI) implementation in public administration is gaining momentum heralded by the hope of smart public services that are personalised, lean, and efficient. However, the use of AI in public administration is riddled with ethical tensions of fairness, transparency, privacy, and human rights. We call these AI tensions. The current literature lacks a contextual and processual understanding of AI adoption and diffusion in public administration to be able to explore such tensions. Previous studies have outlined risks, benefits, and challenges with the use of AI in public administration. However, a large gap remains in understanding AI tensions as they relate to public value creation. Through a systematic literature review grounded in public value management and the resource-based view of the firms, we identify technology-organisational-environmental (TOE) contextual variables and absorptive capacity as factors influencing AI adoption as discussed in the literature. To our knowledge, this is the first paper that outlines distinct AI tensions from an AI implementation and diffusion perspective within public administration. We develop a future research agenda for the full AI innovation lifecycle of adoption, implementation, and diffusion.     

Social network analysis: A methodological approach for understanding public libraries and their communities

Social network analysis (SNA) as theoretical framework and quantitatively oriented methodology offers public libraries and public library researchers an as-yet-unexplored way into their big data stories based on these library connections with their community. SNA offers library and information science researchers a methodology, and suggests a new research agenda, to better envision the relationships public libraries have with their communities both in-person and online by exploring the kinds of ties they have, how these ties lead to relationships, and how these relationships can be characterized. The quantitative orientation of SNA combined with its methods of data analysis in the forms of networks and hubs could give libraries the “hard” data they are so often in need of to demonstrate their value to their political leaders, and could uncover new directions in library use and library relationships.     

IoT and AI for Smart Government: A Research Agenda

The Internet of things (IoT) is the network of objects/things that contain electronics, software, sensors, and actuators, which allows these things to connect, interact, and exchange data. The users, sensors, and networks generate huge amounts of data from which governments can develop applications and gain knowledge using Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques. Thus, IoT and AI can enable the development of valuable services for citizens, businesses, and public agencies, in multiple domains, such as transportation, energy, healthcare, education, and public safety. This guest editorial for the special issue on IoT and AI for Smart Government, identifies the challenges involved in implementing and adopting these technologies in the public sector, and proposes a comprehensive research framework, which includes both IoT and AI elements for smart government transformation. Subsequently, the editorial provides a brief introduction of the six papers in this special issue. Finally, an agenda for future research on IoT and AI for smart government is presented, based on the proposed framework and gaps in existing literature, supported by the papers that were submitted to this special issue. The agenda comprises four directions i.e., conducting domain-specific studies, going beyond adoption studies to examine implementation and evaluation of these technologies, focusing on specific challenges and thus quick wins, and expanding the existing set of research methods and theoretical foundations used.     

A methodological approach for object-relational database design using UML

The most common way of designing databases is by means of a conceptual model, such as E/R, without taking into account other views of the system. New object-oriented design languages, such as UML (Unified Modelling Language), allow the whole system, including the database schema, to be modelled in a uniform way. Moreover, as UML is an extendable language, it allows for any necessary introduction of new stereotypes for specific applications. Proposals exist to extend UML with stereotypes for database design but, unfortunately, they are focused on relational databases. However, new applications require complex objects to be represented in complex relationships, object-relational databases being more appropriate for these requirements. The framework of this paper is an Object-Relational Database Design Methodology, which defines new UML stereotypes for Object-Relational Database Design and proposes some guidelines to translate a UML conceptual schema into an object-relational schema. The guidelines are based on the SQL: 1999 object-relational model and on Oracle8i as a product example.Received: 22 January 2002, Revised: 10 June 2002, This paper is a revised and extended version of Extending UML for Object-Relational Database Design, presented in the UML2001 conference [17].     

A methodological approach for object-relational database design using UML

The most common way of designing databases is by means of a conceptual model, such as E/R, without taking into account other views of the system. New object-oriented design languages, such as UML (Unified Modelling Language), allow the whole system, including the database schema, to be modelled in a uniform way. Moreover, as UML is an extendable language, it allows for any necessary introduction of new stereotypes for specific applications. Proposals exist to extend UML with stereotypes for database design but, unfortunately, they are focused on relational databases. However, new applications require complex objects to be represented in complex relationships, object-relational databases being more appropriate for these requirements. The framework of this paper is an Object-Relational Database Design Methodology, which defines new UML stereotypes for Object-Relational Database Design and proposes some guidelines to translate a UML conceptual schema into an object-relational schema. The guidelines are based on the SQL: 1999 object-relational model and on Oracle8i as a product example.     

“Bonded design”: A novel approach to intergenerational information technology design

Based upon research involving two intergenerational teams comprising elementary school students and adults, whose task was to design a Web portal interface for young users, the authors present a new model for designing new technologies, “bonded design.” This model emphasizes an intergenerational partnership working towards a common goal; in this it shares similarities with the cooperative inquiry design model and its conviction that children should play an active role in the design of new technologies for their peers. At the same time, in common with the informant design model, it questions the extent to which equality can exist within an intergenerational team. Bonded design, essentially, is situated between these other two design models, sharing the former's belief in the ability of children to work as partners in all aspects of the design process, but the latter's reservations about the extent to which full and equal cooperation can be established across the generational divide.     

Public libraries embrace citizen science: Strengths and challenges

Can public libraries become hubs for citizen science? In line with the principles of citizen science, this question was answered collaboratively with librarians from the Barcelona Network of Public Libraries who performed two hands-on activities. One activity was a training course taken by 30 librarians from 24 different libraries which enabled them to envisage citizen science implementation at each library. The other activity consisted of co-creating a citizen social science project and involved 40 library users, seven librarians from three different cities, and professional scientists. The analysis considers the perspectives of both librarians and users, through participant observation, surveys, and a focus group to identify strengths and challenges. The overall results suggest that public libraries can offer leadership in the promotion of citizen science and contribute to the mission of public libraries to act as local community hubs. The main challenges identified were related to the complexity of collaboration, uncertainty regarding research co-creation, and participant retention strategies.     

Composite journal rankings in library and information science: A factor analytic approach

This study uses citation data and survey data for 55 library and information science journals to identify three factors underlying a set of 11 journal ranking metrics (six citation metrics and five stated preference metrics). The three factors—three composite rankings—represent (1) the citation impact of a typical article, (2) subjective reputation, and (3) the citation impact of the journal as a whole (all articles combined). Together, they account for 77% of the common variance within the set of 11 metrics. Older journals (those founded before 1953) and nonprofit journals tend to have high reputation scores relative to their citation impact. Unlike previous research, this investigation shows no clear evidence of a distinction between the journals of greatest importance to scholars and those of greatest importance to practitioners. Neither group's subjective journal rankings are closely related to citation impact.     

公安信息网站研究与设计

论文通过对公安专业信息网站的现状调查，提出了搞好公安信息网站建设的设想和措施     

An attention-based view of AI assimilation in public sector organizations: The case of Saudi Arabia

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been suggested to have transformative potential for public sector organizations through enabling increased productivity and novel ways to deliver public services. In order to materialize the transformative potential of AI, public sector organizations need to successfully assimilate AI in their operational activities. However, AI assimilation in the public sector appears to be fragmented and lagging the private sector, and the phenomena has really limited attention from academic research community. To address this gap, we adopt the case study approach to explore three Saudi-Arabian public sector organizations and analyze the results using the attention-based view of the organization (ABV) as the theoretical lens. This study elucidates the challenges related AI assimilation in public sector in terms of how organizational attention is focused situated and distributed during the assimilation process. Five key challenges emerged from the cases studied, namely (i) misalignment between AI and management decision-making, (ii) tensions with linguistics and national culture, (iii) developing and implementing AI infrastructure, (iv) data integrity and sharing, and (v) ethical and governance concerns. The findings reveal a re-enforcing relationship between the situated attention and structural distribution of attention that can accelerate the successful assimilation of AI in public sector organizations.     

Artificial intelligence for the public sector: results of landscaping the use of AI in government across the European Union

Artificial Intelligence is increasingly being used by public sector organisations. Previous research highlighted that the use of AI technologies in government could improve policy making processes, public service delivery and the internal management of public administrations. In this article, we explore to which extent the use of AI in the public sector impacts these core governance functions. Findings from the review of a sample of 250 cases across the European Union, show that AI is used mainly to support improving public service delivery, followed by enhancing internal management and only in a limited number assist directly or indirectly policy decision-making. The analysis suggests that different types of AI technologies and applications are used in different governance functions, highlighting the need to further in-depth investigation to better understand the role and impact of use in what is being defined the governance “of, with and by AI”.     

Evaluating Chinese government WeChat official accounts in public service delivery: A user-centered approach

WeChat official accounts have been increasingly adopted by Chinese government agencies to deliver public services, in response to the “Internet + Public Service” reformation. While previous studies depended heavily on the expert-oriented approach to evaluate the accounts, this paper presents a user-centered study based on a mixed methods research design in which an unobtrusive clickstream data analysis was complemented by a card sorting study, stakeholder interviews, and a focus group. A 2-month server log file containing 42,188,760 clickstream records was obtained from an active government WeChat official account and analyzed at the movement level, which found that the account was mainly used as a lookup tool with most services underutilized and its home portals failed to support effective wayfinding to needed services. Deficiencies in information architecture, operation strategy, and interaction design of the account were identified in the complementary studies. This study not only enriches the knowledge about social media use in the Chinese government for public service delivery, but also introduces innovative methods to generate new research insights. The findings can inform government WeChat official accounts of how to improve service quality and user experience.