Public information strategies: Making government information
available to citizens
Issue title: Government Information Sharing and Integration:
Combining the Social and the Technical. Papers from the 9th International
Conference on Digital Government Research (d.g.o.2008)
Affiliations: [a] Utrecht School of Governance, Bijlhouwerstraat 6, 3511
ZC Utrecht, The Netherlands | [b] Ordina Public Management Consulting and Erasmus
University Rotterdam/FSS/Public Administration, PObox 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam,
The Netherlands
Abstract: New technological opportunities and increasing demands make it
imperative for government agencies to make the information they gather
available to citizens. How should they go about this? This paper presents a
conceptual framework for analyzing the strategic options open to agencies which
have information that could be relevant to citizens. The conceptual framework
is constructed on the basis of the literature and tested in a case study. The
Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management in the Netherlands
gathers traffic information which is useful for citizens when they want to
avoid traffic jams. Presently, the agency sells information to intermediaries.
The agency wanted to release the information through its own website but this
was prohibited by a court ruling. This paper reviews other strategies and
proposes that an 'Intel inside' strategy may be a viable option in view of the
consequences for effectiveness, manageability, cost-effectiveness, equity and
legitimacy. The paper concludes that the conceptual framework proves useful for
analyzing the strategic options open to agencies for making government
information available to citizens.
Keywords: Information strategy, analytic framework, public information, structuration
