The rapid development and the growing penetration of information and communication technologies (ICT) provide tremendous opportunities for a wide and cost effective application of the ideas of participative democracy and public participation in government decision and policy making. ICT can drive dramatic transformations in the quantity and quality of communication and interaction of government organizations with citizens, revitalizing and strengthening the modern representative democracy which currently faces big problems of reduced citizens' trust and involvement. This book deals with the application of these e-participation ideas in the special and 'difficult', and at the same time highly interesting, national context of Southern Europe and the Balkans. The first chapter provides an overview of e-participation concepts and practices whilst the following chapters analyse pilot applications of e-participation concepts in eight different Southern European and Balkan countries (Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Serbia, Albania, Greece, Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)). They cover both the 'classical' e-participation paradigm, based on official e-participation spaces created, operated and controlled by government organizations as well as emerging new e-participation paradigms including e-participation based on web 2.0 social media, and 'scientific-level' e-participation, based on opening government data to the scientific community. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies.

The rapid development and the growing penetration of information and communication technologies (ICT) provide tremendous opportunities for a wide and cost effective application of the ideas of participative democracy and public participation in government decision and policy making. ICT can drive dramatic transformations in the quantity and quality of communication and interaction of government organizations with citizens, revitalizing and strengthening the modern representative democracy which currently faces big problems of reduced citizens' trust and involvement. This book deals with the application of these e-participation ideas in the special and 'difficult', and at the same time highly interesting, national context of Southern Europe and the Balkans. The first chapter provides an overview of e-participation concepts and practices whilst the following chapters analyse pilot applications of e-participation concepts in eight different Southern European and Balkan countries (Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Serbia, Albania, Greece, Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)). They cover both the 'classical' e-participation paradigm, based on official e-participation spaces created, operated and controlled by government organizations as well as emerging new e-participation paradigms including e-participation based on web 2.0 social media, and 'scientific-level' e-participation, based on opening government data to the scientific community. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies.

This book discusses the latest developments in the field of open data. The opening of data by public organizations has the potential to improve the public sector, inspire business innovation, and establish transparency. With this potential comes unique challenges; these developments impact the operation of governments as well as their relationship with private sector enterprises and society. Changes at the technical, organizational, managerial, and political level are taking place, which, in turn, impact policy-making and traditional institutional structures. This book contributes to the systematic analysis and publication of cutting-edge methods, tools, and approaches for more efficient data sharing policies, practices, and further research. Topics discussed include an introduction to open data, the open data landscape, the open data life cycle, open data policies, organizational issues, interoperability, infrastructure, business models, open data portal evaluation, and research directions, best practices, and guidelines. Written to address different perspectives, this book will be of equal interest to students and researchers, ICT industry staff, practitioners, policy makers and public servants.

This book discusses the latest developments in the field of open data. The opening of data by public organizations has the potential to improve the public sector, inspire business innovation, and establish transparency. With this potential comes unique challenges; these developments impact the operation of governments as well as their relationship with private sector enterprises and society. Changes at the technical, organizational, managerial, and political level are taking place, which, in turn, impact policy-making and traditional institutional structures. This book contributes to the systematic analysis and publication of cutting-edge methods, tools, and approaches for more efficient data sharing policies, practices, and further research. Topics discussed include an introduction to open data, the open data landscape, the open data life cycle, open data policies, organizational issues, interoperability, infrastructure, business models, open data portal evaluation, and research directions, best practices, and guidelines. Written to address different perspectives, this book will be of equal interest to students and researchers, ICT industry staff, practitioners, policy makers and public servants.

The use of information and communication technologies to support public administrations, governments and decision makers has been recorded for more than 20 years and dubbed e-Government. Moving towards open governance roadmaps worldwide, electronic participation and citizen engagement stand out as a new domain, important both for decision makers and citizens; and over the last decade, there have been a variety of related pilot projects and innovative approaches.

With contributions from leading researchers, Charalabidis and Koussouris provide the latest research findings such as theoretical foundations, principles, methodologies, architectures, technical frameworks, cases and lessons learnt within the domain of open, collaborative governance and online citizen engagement. The book is divided into three sections: Section one, "Public Policy Debate Foundations," lays the foundations regarding processes and methods for scoping, planning, evaluating and transforming citizen engagement. The second section, "Information and Communication Technologies for Citizen Participation," details practical approaches to designing and creating collaborative governance infrastructures and citizen participation for businesses and administrations. Lastly, the third section on "Future Research Directions of Open, Collaborative ICT-enabled Governance" provides a constructive critique of the developments in the past and presents prospects regarding future challenges and research directions.

The book is mainly written for academic researchers and graduate students working in the computer, social, political and management sciences. Its audience includes researchers and practitioners in e-Governance, public administration officials, policy and decision makers at the local, national and international level engaged in the design and creation of policies and services, and ICT professionals engaged in e-Governance and policy modelling projects and solutions.

This book provides the latest research advancements and findings for the scientific systematization of knowledge regarding digital governance and transformation, such as core concepts, foundational principles, theories, methodologies, architectures, assessment frameworks and future directions. It brings forward the ingredients of this new domain, proposing its needed formal and systematic tools, exploring its relation with neighbouring scientific domains and finally prescribing the next steps for laying the foundations of a new science. The book is structured into three main areas. The first section focuses on contributions towards the purpose, ingredients and structure of the scientific foundations of digital transformation in the public sector. The second looks at the identification and description of domain's scientific problems with a view to stabilizing research products, assessment methods and tools in a reusable, extendable and sustainable manner. The third envisions a pathway for future research to tackle broader governance problems via the applications of information and communication technologies in combination with innovative approaches from neighbouring scientific domains. Contributing to the analysis of the scientific perspectives of digital governance and digital transformation, this book will be an indispensable tool for students, researchers and practitioners interested in digital governance, digital transformation, information systems, as well as ICT industry experts and policymakers charged with the design, deployment and implementation of public sector information systems.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 10th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference on Electronic Participation, ePart 2018, held in Krems, Austria, in September 2018. The 12 revised full papers presented in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 29 submissions. The papers are clustered under the following topical sections: general e-democracy and e-participation; digital collaboration and social media; policy modeling and policy informatics; and social innovation.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 9th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference on Electronic Participation, ePart 2017, held in St. Petersburg, Russia, in September 2017.The 11 revised full papers presented in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 14 submissions. The papers reflect completed multi-disciplinary research ranging from policy analysis and conceptual modeling to programming and visualization of simulation models. They are organized in four topical threads: methodological issues in e-participation; e-participation implementations; policy modeling and policy informatics; critical reflections.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference on Electronic Participation, ePart 2016, held in Guimaraes, Portugal, in September 5-8, 2016. The 14 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 31 submissions. The papers reflect completed multi-disciplinary research ranging from policy analysis and conceptual modeling to programming and visualization of simulation models. They are organized in four topical threads: theoretical foundations; critical reflections; implementations; policy formulation and modeling.

Organizations and enterprises are becoming more competitive about enlarging their target markets and developing innovative products and services, all the while transforming their business models to better fit the new technological era. Enterprise Interoperability (EI) is an emerging and thriving research domain, but a lack of standardized guidelines inhibit its complete reuse. Revolutionizing Enterprise Interoperability through Scientific Foundations offers information on the latest advancements and research for Enterprise Interoperability knowledge as well as core concepts, theories, and future directions. This book is an essential resource for researchers and practitioners in the Enterprise Interoperability field and related areas.

During the last decade, interoperability has emerged as a vivid research area in electronic business and electronic governance, promising a significant increase in productivity and efficiency of information systems, enterprises and administrations. Interoperability in Digital Public Services and Administration: Bridging E-Government and E-Business provides the latest research findings such as theoretical foundations, principles, methodologies, architectures, technical frameworks, international policy, standardization and case studies for the achievement of interoperability within the provision of digital services, from administration and businesses toward the user citizens and enterprises.