The Virtual Public Servant

The Virtual Public Servant PDF

Author: Stephen Jeffares

Publisher:

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9783030540852

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With recent advances and investment in artificial intelligence, are we on the verge of introducing virtual public servants? Governments around the world are rapidly deploying robots and virtual agents in healthcare, education, local government, social care, and criminal justice. These advances not only promise unprecedented levels of control and convenience at a reduced cost but also claim to connect, to empathise, and to build trust. This book documents how-after decades of designing out costly face to face transactions, investment in call centres, and incentivising citizens to self-service-the tech industry is promising to re-humanise our frontline public services. It breaks out of disciplinary silos and moves us on from the polarised hype vs. fear discussion on the future of work. It does so through in-depth Q-methodology interviews with a wide range of frontline public servants, from doctors to librarians, from social workers to school receptionists, and from police officers to call handlers. The first of its kind, this book should be of interest across the social sciences and to anyone concerned with how recent measures to digitise and automate our services are paving the way for the development of full-blown AI in frontline work. Stephen Jeffares is Senior Lecturer, School of Government at the University of Birmingham, UK, where, as a director of doctoral research for social sciences and co-director of INLOGOV's Public Management and Leadership programme, he combines his interest in methods, technology and public service. His previous books are Hybrid Governance in European Cities(with Chris Skelcher and Helen Sullivan) and Interpreting Hashtag Politics. .

The Virtual Public Servant

The Virtual Public Servant PDF

Author: Stephen Jeffares

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-11-30

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 3030540847

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With recent advances and investment in artificial intelligence, are we on the verge of introducing virtual public servants? Governments around the world are rapidly deploying robots and virtual agents in healthcare, education, local government, social care, and criminal justice. These advances not only promise unprecedented levels of control and convenience at a reduced cost but also claim to connect, to empathise, and to build trust. This book documents how—after decades of designing out costly face to face transactions, investment in call centres, and incentivising citizens to self-service—the tech industry is promising to re-humanise our frontline public services. It breaks out of disciplinary silos and moves us on from the polarised hype vs. fear discussion on the future of work. It does so through in-depth Q-methodology interviews with a wide range of frontline public servants, from doctors to librarians, from social workers to school receptionists, and from police officers to call handlers. The first of its kind, this book should be of interest across the social sciences and to anyone concerned with how recent measures to digitise and automate our services are paving the way for the development of full-blown AI in frontline work.

Virtual Government

Virtual Government PDF

Author: Alex Constantine

Publisher: Feral House

Published: 2014-11-03

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1627310169

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In this follow-up to Psychic Dictatorship in the USA, researcher Alex Constantine explores the government's misinformation campaigns about its "black-ops."

Building the Virtual State

Building the Virtual State PDF

Author: Jane E. Fountain

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2004-05-28

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9780815798903

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The benefits of using technology to remake government seem almost infinite. The promise of such programs as user-friendly "virtual agencies" and portals where citizens can access all sections of government from a single website has excited international attention. The potential of a digital state cannot be realized, however, unless the rigid structures of the contemporary bureaucratic state change along with the times. Building the Virtual State explains how the American public sector must evolve and adapt to exploit the possibilities of digital governance fully and fairly. The book finds that many issues involved in integrating technology and government have not been adequately debated or even recognized. Drawing from a rich collection of case studies, the book argues that the real challenges lie not in achieving the technical capability of creating a government on the web, but rather in overcoming the entrenched organizational and political divisions within the state. Questions such as who pays for new government websites, which agencies will maintain the sites, and who will ensure that the privacy of citizens is respected reveal the extraordinary obstacles that confront efforts to create a virtual state. These political and structural battles will influence not only how the American state will be remade in the Information Age, but also who will be the winners and losers in a digital society.

Citizenville

Citizenville PDF

Author: Gavin Newsom

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2014-01-28

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0143124471

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“A fascinating case for a more engaged government, transformed to meet the challenges and possibilities of the twenty-first century.” —President William J. Clinton A rallying cry for revolutionizing democracy in the digital age, Citizenville reveals how ordinary Americans can reshape their government for the better. Gavin Newsom, the lieutenant governor of California, argues that today’s government is stuck in the last century while—in both the private sector and our personal lives—absolutely everything else has changed. Drawing on wide-ranging interviews with thinkers and politicians, Newsom shows how Americans can transform their government, taking matters into their own hands to dissolve political gridlock even as they produce tangible changes in the real world. Citizenville is a timely road map for restoring American prosperity and for reinventing citizenship in today’s networked age.

E-government for Public Managers

E-government for Public Managers PDF

Author: Robert A. Cropf

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781442261907

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This handy guide and supplemental text examines trends in information and communication technology (ICT) that impact the day-to-day operations of federal, state, and local government. It seeks to improve service delivery, human resource administration, political participation, education, and citizen input (e-democracy), while at the same time recognizes that with ICT's great promise comes great peril in the form of erosion of personal privacy (e-surveillance). Through the use of numerous examples and exercises, Robert Cropf helps students and practitioners alike explore the ways technological change shapes public policy, develop useful tools and skills for working in or with e-government, and understand the role that social media plays in helping to spark political, economic, and social change.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Powered Public Service Delivery in Estonia

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Powered Public Service Delivery in Estonia PDF

Author: Martin Ebers

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-01-14

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 3031196678

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This book gives a comprehensive overview of the state of Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially machine learning (ML) applications in public service delivery in Estonia, discussing the manifold ethical and legal issues that arise under both European and Estonian law. Final conclusions and recommendations set out and analyze various policy options for the public sector, taking into account recent developments at the European level – such as the AIA proposal – as well as the experience of countries that have issued principles and guidelines or even laws for the use of ML in the public sector. “For two reasons, this study is relevant not only for an audience which is interested in Estonian administrative law. First, the authors base their legal analysis primarily on EU law and provide a state of the art-analysis of the relevant secondary legislation. This makes the book a reference text for the European debate on public sector AI governance. Second, this study is part of a larger research project in which four specific use cases of public sector AI have been developed and tested. The practical insights gained in these projects have provided the authors with an excellent understanding of the opportunities and risks of the technology, which distinguishes this legal analysis from similar enterprises.” Excerpt from the foreword by Professor Thomas Wischmeyer (University of Bielefeld)

The Palgrave Handbook of the Public Servant

The Palgrave Handbook of the Public Servant PDF

Author: Helen Sullivan

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Published: 2021-06-01

Total Pages: 1737

ISBN-13: 9783030299798

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The Palgrave Handbook of the Public Servant examines what it means to be a public servant in today’s world(s) where globalisation and neoliberalism have proliferated the number of actors who contribute to the public purpose sector and created new spaces that public servants now operate in. It considers how different scholarly approaches can contribute to a better understanding of the identities, motivations, values, roles, skills, positions and futures for the public servant, and how scholarly knowledge can be informed by and translated into value for practice. The book combines academic contributions with those from practitioners so that key lessons may be synthesised and translated into the context of the public servant.

Solving Public Problems

Solving Public Problems PDF

Author: Beth Simone Noveck

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2021-06-22

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 030023015X

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How to take advantage of technology, data, and the collective wisdom in our communities to design powerful solutions to contemporary problems The challenges societies face today, from inequality to climate change to systemic racism, cannot be solved with yesterday's toolkit. Solving Public Problems shows how readers can take advantage of digital technology, data, and the collective wisdom of our communities to design and deliver powerful solutions to contemporary problems. Offering a radical rethinking of the role of the public servant and the skills of the public workforce, this book is about the vast gap between failing public institutions and the huge number of public entrepreneurs doing extraordinary things--and how to close that gap. Drawing on lessons learned from decades of advising global leaders and from original interviews and surveys of thousands of public problem solvers, Beth Simone Noveck provides a practical guide for public servants, community leaders, students, and activists to become more effective, equitable, and inclusive leaders and repair our troubled, twenty-first-century world.