Techno-optimism and policy-pessimism in the public sector big data debate |
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Authors: | Simon Vydra Bram Klievink |
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Institution: | 1. Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, Jaffalaan 5, 2628 BX Delft, Netherlands;2. Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University, Turfmarkt 99, 2511 DP Den Haag, Leiden, Netherlands |
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Abstract: | Despite great potential, high hopes and big promises, the actual impact of big data on the public sector is not always as transformative as the literature would suggest. In this paper, we ascribe this predicament to an overly strong emphasis the current literature places on technical-rational factors at the expense of political decision-making factors. We express these two different emphases as two archetypical narratives and use those to illustrate that some political decision-making factors should be taken seriously by critiquing some of the core ‘techno-optimist’ tenets from a more ‘policy-pessimist’ angle. In the conclusion we have these two narratives meet ‘eye-to-eye’, facilitating a more systematized interrogation of big data promises and shortcomings in further research, paying appropriate attention to both technical-rational and political decision-making factors. We finish by offering a realist rejoinder of these two narratives, allowing for more context-specific scrutiny and balancing both technical-rational and political decision-making concerns, resulting in more realistic expectations about using big data for policymaking in practice. |
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Keywords: | Corresponding author at: Faculty of Technology Policy and Management Delft University of Technology Jaffalaan 5 2628 BX Delft Netherlands Big data Analytics Government Public administration Policy-making Decision-making Science-policy interface Network governance |
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