e-governance and citizen information - Universitat Oberta de ...

E-governance and Citizen Information 49 Research Questions and the Analytical Model3.1. Research QuestionsOur research questions can be formulated synthetically as follows:What changes are being produced in the Public Administration as a result of the incorporationof technological innovations in public service processes?To formulate this question more precisely, we can specify some of the elements present. Onthe one hand, the changes explored are not generally associated with the Public Administration,so we will focus on three specific areas which encompass a large diversity of aspects:• Changes in the relationship between citizens and the Administration• Changes in the organisation and internal running of the Administration• Changes in the management of innovation and, in particular, in relation to other agentsAs regards public service processes, we have tried to mark the limits of their scope. In thissense, we are talking about the relationship interfaces that are being widely used with userscitizens– setting aside new or obsolete methods and systems (DTT, teletext, WAP, etc.). Inparticular, we are talking about telephone, web and face-to-face services. In addition, and asexplained further on, we will focus our analysis in the corporate channels of these three methodsof communication in the Generalitat of Catalonia.As regards technological innovations, we have obviously mentioned those linked to digitalICTs. It is important to highlight that the transformations we aim to analyse are those linkeddirectly or indirectly to the incorporation and use of ICTs. In other words, our analytical andempirical access to the object of the study is focused on technological innovation. We shouldanalyse each case in which technological changes are geared towards organisational, culturaland political aspects.In this sense, the strict meaning of our research questions should not be understood intechnologically deterministic terms, i.e., the analysis of the consequence of using ICTshas various aspects of the organisation and running of the Administration – which is usuallyexpressed as the social or organisational “impacts” of ICTs. We are looking for associationsor links between specific forms in the use of these technologies and otherorganisation elements. It is worthwhile mentioning three of the most important aspectsof this matter.http://www.uoc.edu/in3/pic