The objective of the forthcoming edition of the ePractice Journal (ninth edition) is to conduct an in-depth critical reflection on government 2.0, taking stock of the lessons learnt from the implementation so far and designing the emerging trends. The deadline for article submissions is 8 February 2010.

Journal article contributions are welcome on government 2.0 of both an empirical and theoretical nature, from a policy or technical perspective, from different disciplines, and particularly as relevant input in the definition of European policies on eGovernment.

By government 2.0 the Journal team does not refer only to the adoption of social tools (blog, wiki, social networks etc) in the government context, but to the overall change of values towards a more open and collaborative government. Relevant issues include transparency, re-use of public sector information, public decision-making, open innovation, social media adoption, collective intelligence, and user-generated public services. The application domains cover not only eParticipation, but all areas of government, including both back office and front-office, with particular emphasis on the role of citizens and civil servants.

The invited editor for the ninth edition of the ePractice Journal is David Osimo.

Since its emergence in 2004, web 2.0 has rapidly moved from a purely socialising tool to a key professional application. In the government context the so-called government 2.0 is now moving from a set of sparse bottom-up initiatives for opening up government from the outside, to a high priority in the government agenda. The victory of Barack Obama and the first actions of his administration made clear that government 2.0 can be a strong driver for government reform.

In the European context, this new emphasis is evident in the priority given to research funding in FP7 (ICT for governance and policy modelling) and in the eParticipation preparatory action. It will probably also be one priority of the forthcoming eGovernment Action Plan, in view of the emphasis given in the latest Ministerial Declaration in Malmö, which was accompanied by an Open Declaration.

But despite the progress made by government 2.0 in the policy agenda, much of the debate is still on the potential opportunities and risks, with government 2.0 evangelists emphasising the great benefits of crowdsourcing and leveraging collective intelligence, and skeptics pointing to the risks of wishful thinking, to the limits of transparency, and to the hype about its impact. It's due time therefore for an in-depth critical reflection on government 2.0.

 

Further information: 

• European Journal of ePractice - Call for papers: "Government 2.0: Hype, Hope, or Reality?"
• Article submission guidelines
• Contact for further information on article submission