Symposium on the Future of Citizen-Government Interaction in the Information Age
Date: October 7-9, 2001
Location: Presidential Conference Center, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
Sponsors: Institute for Science, Technology and Public Policy, Office of the Vice President for Research, and the Academy for Advanced Telecommunications and Learning Technologies
This event was designed to bring together a diverse group of participants who could share their expertise and insights into the challenges and emerging opportunities for governance and citizen participation presented by developments in the sphere of information technology.
The symposium goals included 1) identifying critical unanswered questions and information needed for future decision making and policy development in answer to the rapid developments of information technology, 2) developing an ambitious research program to addresses the needs identified by the attendees, and 3) providing a starting point for long-term research partnerships among participants. It is hoped that, ultimately, this effort will contribute to more efficient and productive decision making and more effective approaches and models for citizen-government interaction in the future.
The four sessions focused on 1) perspectives on citizen and government interaction: current and future trends, 2) emerging challenges of citizen and government interaction in the information age, 3) arenas for citizen and government interaction, and 4) identification and discussion of research and development needs. The overall objective of the first three sessions was to identify unanswered questions and information gaps in the field and other significant and researchable topics.
Topics that emerged during discussions were diverse, as might be expected in such a new area of inquiry. Nevertheless, themes recurred throughout the Symposium discussions, and we have tried to identify those, without losing the detail of the free-flowing discussions. Examples of the themes that recurred, regardless of the topic under discussion, include access and gate keeping, privacy and security, freedom and accountability, as well as issues associated with the rapidity of changes in information technology.
Complete lists of ideas and concerns generated by the small group discussions are also included in a symposium report, classified under some key categories for a meaningful presentation. Before the final or fourth session, participants were asked to prioritize the issues that had been generated during group sessions. In order to provide some structure for this final discussion of research topics, participants were asked to think in terms of standards, process, policy, models, management, role perception, and measurement. Given the breadth of many of the topics that emerged during the discussions, we believed that this categorization would contribute to more succinct and easily managed research project ideas.
