Barriers to Realizing the Full Value of Open Government
Barriers to Realizing the Full Value of Open Government
Despite these promising trends in transparency and e-government, several barriers remain to the full realization of true open government at the local, state and federal levels.
Design Flaws that Discourage Public Utilization and Engagement
Modern e-government and open government tools and services can only be useful if they are properly designed to (1) effectively engage the public and (2) produce outcomes that are beneficial to the relevant government agency. A key component of many current design problems is guaranteeing that an online tool or service fully leverages the collective power of the public and that the tools or service are ultimately useful to both citizens and government agencies. Indeed, public administrators have long struggled with designing and building analog and digital services that meet the needs and skills of the general public and that truly foster democratic participation.
Identification of the Key Customer Base
Clearly and accurately identifying whom to serve has been a huge roadblock for government leaders. Online transparency systems ultimately serve a broad customer base that includes citizens, businesses, visitors, other governments, civil society organizations, the donor community, stakeholders from across government and the media. Government leaders face numerous key questions and barriers when developing an online presence: What are the typical behaviors of citizens online? Who is likely to go online to use government services? What types of barriers and obstacles turn people away from accessing services? What factors encourage users to feel comfortable within this environment? What drives an individual to return to the website? How will others be encouraged to use the site? Answering these questions is exceedingly difficult for government administrators who are trained to work exclusively in the analog world. Online feedback loops that can offer insight into the customer base and their needs are often absent in government websites.
Lack of Adequate Broadband Access and Adoption Among the Public
Recent research argues that the existence of a digital divide in e-government use is highly correlated with people’s access to the Internet and a person’s level of digital literacy. Several demographic groups, including African Americans, Latinos, senior citizens, people with disabilities, the urban poor and rural residents, have broadband adoption rates significantly below the national average, which was 65 percent at the beginning of 2010 (OBI, 2010). Exhibit 2 shows the disparities between these groups for broadband access and adoption.
A recent report by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies also found that among the millions of Americans who do not have broadband at home, there are significant demographic differences based on age, gender, education, level of Internet experience and income that potentially influence their acceptance and use of the Internet. While more African Americans and Hispanics are getting online, those that do use broadband tend to be more affluent and better educated than others in their demographic group (Gant et al, 2010). And unfortunately, those Americans who stand to gain the most from the Internet are unable to use it to break the trajectories of social isolation, poverty, and illiteracy. This segment of the American population—one that is wrought with economic and social hardship—is largely not reaping the benefits of digital access. While the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has stated its commitment to bolstering broadband access and adoption among these under-adopting groups (OBI, 2010), it appears to be utilizing much of its resources on the regulatory paradigm rather than on adoption and use issues.
A refocusing on broadband adoption and use is critical from a public policy perspective. Since many of these user groups are significant consumers of government services, bringing them to broadband could be facilitated by education campaigns dedicated to raising awareness of how a computer and Internet connection can streamline how a senior interacts with Medicare or how a low-income user navigates Medicaid. The outcomes of open government will be the most relevant when they not only reduce the digital disparities that maintain a degraded quality of life for many Americans, but also offer a road to opportunity for these vulnerable groups. In the end, cities can begin to see healthier, safer and more viable communities as a result of deeper engagement from all citizens.
Public Demand for these Services and Accessibility Constraints
Actors in the public and private sectors should avoid losing sight of the citizen in the pursuit of technological innovation, particularly in the face of digital divide issues. To date, technology has been viewed in a very deterministic fashion in the public space: build it and they will come. Deploying new technology before earnestly identifying what, if anything, the public needs or is demanding might limit full citizen participation. Indeed, several studies have found that, although participation in e-government and open government processes has increased over the years, participation is often tied to higher income and education levels. Thus, only a portion of the entire public appears to be represented in the majority of online interactions with government. Without representation of lower-income citizens and other key demographics, this could result in the creation of open government services that cater to a narrow set of needs or certain demographics. Moreover, designing websites that are not accessible to people with disabilities or non-English speaking populations stifles the full use of online government services and limits access to vital information.
Legal Constraints that Restrict Better User Experiences
A number of legal constraints limit the ability of innovators to create open government tools and services that are useful to the public. For example, limits on how some government entities can collect information about the user experience at government websites have impeded some progress. The federal Paperwork Reduction Act, for example, has curbed the ability of government agencies to capture data about the user experience of visitors. As reported in the National Broadband Plan, the Paperwork Reduction Act has been a barrier to implementing many best practices because it has precluded surveying web users to improve an agency’s online presence (OBI, 2010). This is problematic because, as mentioned earlier, an online feedback loop enhances the user experience and contributes to the continuous improvement of government websites. On April 7, 2010, Cass Sunstein, Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget, issued a memo updating the way the law applies to certain online and social media in order to remove that barrier going forward.
To address these barriers, a key goal for open government initiatives is to consider the value to both governments and citizens. From the supply side, governments need to share information with the public that increases trust, improves efficiency and raises the standard of accountability. On the demand side, citizens need to be privy to the plethora of information that enhances their ability to make informed choices about the state of their nation. If the design of online services is biased towards the function and bureaucracy of government, it will therefore fail to meet the values, desires, and abilities of individuals. And citizens who are ill advised on what their government has to offer and can make available to them do not bolster a more participatory democracy that potentially improves the quality of future policy decisions.
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