The European Group for Public Administration (EGPA) Study Group on e-Government

The 2024 Annual Conference of the European Group for Public Administration will be held in Athens, Greece, 3-6 September 2024. The Conference is being organised by the EGPA/IIAS Secretariat in close cooperation with key partners. For this conference, the Permanent Study Group on e-Government requests: (1) abstracts for papers relating to the themed session on Teaching Digital Governance; (2) abstracts for papers relating to the themed session on Generative AI in Public Services; and (3) abstracts for the general sessions drawing on current research which is relevant to the interests of this Permanent Study Group.

1. Themed Session: Teaching Digital Governance

We are interested in studies that discuss questions such as: what capacities and competencies do public managers, policy makers and public leaders need to manage and implement digital technologies and services in their organizations? What data knowledge and skills civil servants need to master in order to design inclusive policies in the digital era? What should current and future policy makers know about digitalization and grand societal challenges such as climate change. What topics, knowledge and skills do we therefore have to teach public administration student? And, and in which (innovative) ways? Furthermore, digital governance also requires competencies from citizens who require services from government, use data for citizen actions or engage in digital democracy. We are therefore also interested in studies that focus on the competencies citizens need to use e-government services and in how to educate and prepare citizens for the interaction with e-government services. Also, what digital skills do citizens need to co-create public policies and services? Relevant topics in this regard are for example digital inclusion, digital participation, digital literacy and 21^stcentury skills.

Topics covered may include, but are not limited to:

• State-of-the-art academic thinking about Teaching Digital Governance;
• Theoretical and empirical analyses of approaches to teaching digital governance;
• Case studies or examples of innovative teaching methods in relation to digital governance;
• Theoretical and practical explorations of the teaching digital governance and in particular the digital capacities and skills needed in public organizations;
• Mechanisms and measures for evaluating digital skills and teaching digital governance;
• Approaches to advance critical thinking skills among public administration students (e.g., history of technology, critique of technology, ecological sustainability of digitalization, post-digitalization); and
• Empirical evidence on the nature and direction of the demand for digital governance skills and competences.

Strong contributions can be considered for publication in the Special Issue of Information polity on this topic edited by Erna Ruijer (School of Governance, Utrecht University) and Veiko Lember (Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance, Tallinn University of Technology).  See: Call for Papers: Teaching Digital Governance | Information Polity. Please note that abstracts for this special issue need to be submitted to the Special Issue Editors before 1 April 2024. The EGPA Conference represents an excellent opportunity to present papers and obtain feedback before the full papers need to be submitted (16 September 2024).

2. Themed Session: Generative AI in Public Services

The introduction of LLMs in the public sector challenges all tenets of government, from its legal foundation through the character of the work of a public servant to the provision of the most straightforward services. No other technology has had such a transformative impact on the government. It comes with benefits and tremendous opportunities, but its introduction also necessitates a careful balance of public values - such as confidentiality, transparency, fairness, and accountability - with experimentation and innovation. Governments face complex decisions in implementing LLMs with responsibility stemming from their multifaceted function as LLMs’ financiers, regulators, and users, each role demanding a nuanced understanding of the technology and its implications, requiring an analysis of alternatives and trade-offs based on the current understanding of technology, which might be lacking given its complexity and limited access to expertise.  Developing a conceptual and theoretical understanding of LLMs in Public Service is essential. Doing so will allow for a new area of scholarly inquiry that responds to calls to formalize the study of AI in the public sector.

Topics covered may include, but are not limited to:

• How are LLMs used in public service, and what are the expected outcomes, efficiencies, and consequences?
• What effects and impacts, if any, do LLMs have on the public service? 
• How do LLMs influence decision-making processes in government, and what are the implications for governance and accountability?
• How and under which conditions can LLMs be successfully integrated into public service operations?
• What role do regulatory and policy frameworks play in the development and use of large language models?
• What are the primary considerations and potential applications for large language models (LLMs) that policymakers and public sector leaders should focus on to ensure ethical usage, maximized public benefit, and minimized risk to citizens?
• How do citizens feel about the introduction of LLMs in public services? How can LLMs be utilized in public service to promote social and environmental justice, and what role do they play in mitigating injustices?
• How do LLMs transform labour structures within public service, and how does this affect management and governance?
• Considering LLMs’ susceptibility to errors and misinformation, what strategies can be implemented in the public sector to mitigate these risks?
• How can governments balance the need for innovation in AI with maintaining public trust and ethical standards in the public service?
• What empirical evidence exists regarding the usability and effectiveness of LLMs in public sector contexts?

Strong contributions can be considered for publication in the Special Issue of Information Polity on this topic edited by Adegboyega Ojo (School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University), Sehl Mellouli(Department of Management Information Systems, Laval University), Kasia Polanska (School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University) and Nina Rizun, (Department of Informatics in Management, Gdansk University of Technology). See: Call for Papers: Generative AI in Public Service | Information Polity. Please note that abstracts for this Special Issue need to be submitted to the Special Issue Editors before 1 October 2024. The EGPA Conference represents an excellent opportunity to present papers and obtain feedback before the full papers need to be submitted (1 February 2025).

3. General Sessions: Papers on e-Government

For those who may be new to the Study Group, please note that it is not necessary to address the themes set out above in your submission. This Permanent Study Group is a podium for broad discussion about e-Government with a specific interest on the administrative, political and organizational aspects of service delivery, as well as information flows in and around government, public services and policy. Papers on other topics in the broad area of e-Government, ICT in public administration and e-democracy are very welcome. In recent years, papers have been presented on a diverse range of topics, including: smart cities, big data, governance and regulation, privacy and surveillance, social media, accountability and trust, public policy, and national and international policy and practice around e-government, etc. We are also keen to encourage papers which explore innovate methods in the study of e-Government and those that set out and assess novel technological applications.

Publication of Papers

We aim to publish a collection of papers, around the themes of Teaching Digital Governance and Generative AI in Public Services, as a special issues of the journal Information Polity. Papers not relating to this theme may also be published in Information Polity, as well as in other academic journals such as the Electronic Journal of e-Government and in the International Review of Administrative Sciences.  Subject to editorial and peer review, the best paper from the conference will be fast-tracked for publication in Information Polity.

Information Polity URL: https://informationpolity.com

Further Information

Up to date information on the Study Group, as it becomes available, will be mailed to you directly. The conference website can be found at:

EGPA Conference website, URL: https://iias-iisa.org/egpa-2024-conference/

EGPA Conference Management Platform: https://www.conftool.org/egpa-conference2024

EGPA email: info@egpa-conference2024.org

Submissions should be uploaded directly to the EGPA site, but if you are having problems with the EGPA site you can mail your abstract directly to the Study Group Co-Chairs below.

As in previous years, we will try to organise our time so as to maximize opportunities to reflect on and discuss papers in depth. The EGPA Study Group on e-Government is dedicated to providing the strongest possible discussion forum for both established and new scholars in this field, and to give a good opportunity for scholars to present new ideas and have those ideas discussed and debated by their peers.

Abstracts

This call is for abstracts. In keeping with the aims of the Study Group, the co-Chairs will be looking for a number of key features in the proposed papers. These features are as follows:

• Abstracts should have a succinct and relevant title;
• Abstracts should include author affiliations and contact details;
• Abstracts should be no longer than 500 words in length;
• Abstracts should be submitted in Microsoft Word, PDF or RTF formats;
• Abstracts should cover the main line of argument to be explored in the full paper;
• Abstracts should show evidence of innovative and creative thinking which is well grounded in theory or well argued;
• Abstracts should indicate whether the proposed paper is theoretical and/or empirical in orientation; and
• Abstracts should relate the proposed paper to contemporary discourse in e-Government;

In all cases, there should be evidence that the proposed paper emerges from contemporary debates within the sphere of public administration  and e-Government, broadly defined.

Timeline/Key Dates

The following are the key dates:

• Abstract proposals uploaded to the EGPA website by: 15^thMay 2024;
• Notification to authors about accepted papers by: 30th May 2024;
• Deadline for submitting complete papers to EGPA submission website: 13th August 2024;
• EGPA conference dates: 4-6^th September 2024.

Papers should have a maximum length of approximately 8,000 words and should be submitted in PDF, Microsoft Word or RTF format. We will be asking some lucky participants to act as discussants for each of the presented papers. Discussants provide a further stimulus to valuable discussion on each of the papers presented.

Please note that we are keen to encourage new and existing scholars in the field to contribute to the Study Group. The group is open to new members and we would ask senior members of the group to encourage younger colleagues and PhD students to consider submitting abstracts.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions regarding the conference and/or the Permanent Study Group. We look forward to hearing from you.

With best wishes,

Shirley, Albert and William

 

e-Government Permanent Study Group 1 Co-Chairs:

Dr. Shirley Kempeneer, Tilburg University, Netherlands, S.Kempeneer@tilburguniversity.edu

Professor Albert Meijer, Utrecht University, Netherlands: a.j.meijer@uu.nl

Professor William Webster, University of Stirling, Scotland (UK): william.webster@stir.ac.uk