Abstract
Governments around the world face are seeking to leverage digital technologies in order to improve operational and democratic governance: there are both promise and peril. The still nascent era of mobility, characterized by the expansion of cloud-computing platforms, social media venues, and smaller and more portable and powerful “smart” devices, challenges many of the traditional structures and values that have come to shape politics, public sector operations, and the changing interface between the two. Macro tensions between centralization and democratization, furthermore, are evident beyond the realm of government throughout much of the world.
Mobility? Think Mindset Not Handset.
Sue Norris
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- 1.
Sue Norris is a technology industry journalist in the UK. Though no year is specified, this quote is featured in a series of quotes provided online: http://img2.insight.com/graphics/uk/media/pdf/inquotes-mobility.pdf
- 2.
Indeed, an early tale of the tracing a lost smartphone in the opening to this book closely resembles the example referenced in the preface of this book.
- 3.
See http://www.gc.ca for the main Government of Canada homepage.
- 4.
For example, a 2011 Fleishman-Hillard public engagement survey “revealed that Canadians would be more engaged in conversations on government policy if there were ways to participate online. The same study also revealed that a third of Canadians have an improved view of elected officials who use social media to engage with constituents.”
- 5.
On a 2011 visit to China, for example, the Prime Minister tweeted of his encounter with a Panda Bear at a Chinese zoo (though somewhat unfairly antidotal, such an example is indicative of the sorts of tweets often coming from politicians seeking to increase familiarity and personal appeal with the public).
- 6.
This characterization is true through to the end of 2012: http://www.consultingcanadians.gc.ca/cpcPubHome.jsp?lang=en
- 7.
In 2011, Canada had the most social networking users in the world on a per capita basis, according to research firm eMarketer. About 47.4 % of Canadians were using social media at least once a month in 2011, compared to 47.2 % of Americans, 42.4 % of South Koreans, and 40.2 % of Australians. As noted, Canada is expected to be overtaken by the US in 2012 using this same measurement basis (Oliveira 2012).
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Roy, J. (2013). Introduction. In: From Machinery to Mobility. Public Administration and Information Technology, vol 2. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7221-6_1
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