Affiliations: [a] United Nations University – IIST Center for
Electronic Governance, Macao SAR, China | [b] Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahia Blanca,
Argentina | City University of New York, College of Staten Island | University of Massachusetts, Amherst | Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México | University of Southern California – Information
Science Institute
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence: Adegboyega Ojo, UNU-IIST Center for
Electronic Governance, Casa Silva Mendes, Est. do Engenheiro Trigo No. 4,
Macao SAR, P.O. Box 3058, China. Tel.: +853 28712930; Fax: + 853 28712940;
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: The increasing use of social media by governments for improving
citizen access to information, participation of stakeholders in policy
processes and delivery of customer-focused services are among the defining
features of the so-called "Governance 2.0" phenomenon. Another feature is the
interaction between existing government networks and social networks of
citizens and policy actors in order to disseminate government information and
seek contributions from citizens and other actors to policies, decisions and
services. This article examines the semantic issues associated with the
emerging Governance 2.0 networks. It evolves an architectural framework to
guide governments and their agencies in developing semantic interoperability
capabilities. We approach the problem by first developing a conceptual model
for analyzing semantic interoperability requirements in general. Next, we
provide a case study to generate interesting scenarios and identify concrete
semantic interoperability issues arising from the interactions between
citizens, businesses and government through traditional and electronic channels
and different forms of social media. Subsequently, we present a Semantic
Interoperability Architecture Framework to address these issues based on
existing government semantic interoperability frameworks and semantic standards
for Web 2.0. After validating the prescribed framework, we discuss how it could
be used in practice by governments.
Keywords: Semantic interoperability, semantic interoperability reference architecture, semantic interoperability and Web 2.0, semantic interoperability in governance 2.0, semantic tags, semantic mashups
