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.     

A Classroom Exercise to Examine the Trade‐off between Mission Capacity and Life Cycle Cost

This article presents a classroom exercise, centered on a simulation that has been used for 4 years in an MBA program to help students develop an understanding of the trade‐offs involved in managing capital assets in the public sector. Though often ignored in business schools, mission is a key criterion that must be considered when managing such assets, and acts as a surrogate for profit. The case presents a rich environment in which the impact of cost reductions (or additional investments) on mission can be quantified, and trade‐offs can be assessed and discussed. It gives students a chance to develop creative ideas for process improvement, and provides sufficient data for them to analyze the impact of their suggestions in a rigorous way.     

直辖市“双一流”高校专利合作与知识流动研究

考察我国直辖市"双一流"高校的专利合作网络演化,为提升直辖市的科技创新合作效率,提升科技创新能力和城市创新综合竞争力,为技术创新主体选择技术合作伙伴、探究地区间、高校间知识流动提供经验、启示。本文运用合作强度Salton指数、专利引用、绝对合作频次等,以Patentics和国家知识产权局专利数据库为工具,获取直辖市"双一流"高校合作专利数据,构建高校间的专利合作矩阵,采用合作网络可视化分析,梳理直辖市"双一流"高校专利合作网络,揭示网络环境下高校科技创新和知识流动的特征及趋势,给出提升高校专利合作的建议。结果表明:直辖市"双一流"高校校际专利合作的强同城倾向,清华大学、北京大学、复旦大学是京沪两地的专利合作核心高校。清华大学、上海交通大学、天津大学专利申请量居前三,清华大学、上海交通大学的专利被引量居前,清华大学、上海交通大学、天津大学为专利合作的核心高校,对知识流动影响深刻。不足之处在于专利只能部分反映高校间的技术创新合作,合作申请只是技术合作的一部分,还包括科技论文合作和成果转化。     

基于“诺斯悖论”的中国足球职业化改革研究

运用文献资料和逻辑分析法,以足球职业化改革为分析视角,以足球职业化改革"诺斯悖论"现象为切入点,对中国足球职业化改革的"诺斯悖论"产生的前提、表征、原因以及化解方式进行理性的阐释和论证,以期为中国的足球职业化改革提供理论向导。     

公共档案馆事业发展进程中的政府责任研究

政府向法治性、服务型转变的过程中,作为公共服务部门之一的公共档案馆迎来了一个发展的机会.文章阐述了在这个发展过程中,政府为什么要承担责任,政府应该承担那些责任以及应该如何承担责任.     

Biowatch South Africa and the challenges in enforcing its constitutional right to access to information

This paper examines the difficulties encountered by Biowatch, a South African civil society environmental organization, in its attempts to obtain access to government information in respect of genetically engineered plants. After establishing the context of South Africa's access to information regime, including a brief discussion of several of its weaknesses, the paper engages in an extended account of the Biowatch case as an exemplar of some of the more pronounced challenges to the effective implementation of the country's access to information legislation. The elaboration of the case is based on interviews conducted with the Director of Biowatch and counsel from the Legal Resources Centre that aided Biowatch, as well as various internal and court documents provided by Biowatch and its lawyers.     

Catalyzing Research Competitiveness: The Georgia Research Alliance

Virtually everywhere, there is governmental interest in developing and using science and technology as a tool for economic development and other public purposes. States within the United States look to advance vis-à-vis other states, just as nations seek to rise in competitiveness. What institutional mechanisms work? What research and other strategies are effective? The Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) represents an important model that appears successful. During the 1990s, key business executives, university presidents, and state government forged a research partnership - GRA. A non-profit entity, GRA played a catalytic role in getting state government, industry, and universities in a specific region to work in concert to hire scientific luminaries, attract federal research funds, and translate research into economic development. The dynamics of this catalytic entity are discussed using a life-cycle model of organizational development.     

Book reviews

Alice Lam is Professor of Organisation Studies at the School of Management, Royal Holloway University of London. Her research focuses on the relationship between organizational forms, knowledge creation and societal institutions. Her current work examines the changing nature of academic scientific work and knowledge transfer between university and industry.     

Government research evaluations and academic freedom: a UK and Australian comparison

Performance management systems have been an inevitable consequence of the development of government research evaluations (GREs) of university research, and have also inevitably affected the working life of academics. The aim of this paper is to track the development of GREs over the past 25 years, by critically evaluating their adoption in the UK and Australian higher education sector and their contribution to the commodification of academic labour, and to highlight the resultant tensions between GREs and academic freedom. The paper employs a literature-based analysis, relying on publicly available policy documents and academic studies over the period 1985–2010. GREs are a global phenomenon emanating from new public management reforms and while assessments of university research have been welcomed, they have attracted critique based on their design, the manner in which they have been applied, and the unintended consequences of their implementation on academic freedom in particular. Consistent with international research on the impact of GREs, Australian research assessments appear to be undoing the academic freedom that is central to successful research. Further empirical research on the impact of GREs on academics is urgently needed.