Exploring digital tools for public administration: A case study of a GIS tool for a Costa Rican municipality
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School of Arts, Design and Architecture |
Master's thesis
Location:
P1 OPINNÄYTTEET D 2019 Vargas Contreras
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Authors
Date
2019
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Creative Sustainability
Language
en
Pages
51
Series
Abstract
Recent developments of digital technologies offer new opportunities for improving public administration with digital tools, and with the pressing hype for digitalization, governments are expected to follow this trend. Even though digital tools offer many novel possibilities, radical improvement of government through them is yet to be seen. The literature recognizes that improving public administration through digital technologies is more of an organizational challenge than a technical one, and it is recommended to have a deep contextual understanding as part of the process to effectively introduce digital tools in public organizations. This thesis studies the phenomenon of digital tools in public administration. The aim is to explore the introduction of a digital tool in a local government by presenting a case study involving a digital tool aimed at improving local government’s responsiveness to citizens’ needs. In particular, it studies the case of Yo Alcalde in the municipality of Curridabat, Costa Rica. Yo Alcalde allows citizens to report maintenance issues in the city directly to the municipal officials through a mobile application. Using a location-based system for making the reports, Yo Alcalde collects them as geographical data and visualises them in common map for all the users of the application. The intention with Yo Alcalde is to facilitate a new channel for communication with the municipality and over all improve operations for responding to their issues. The research is based on a collaboration done with the municipality of Curribat in 2016. Based on the field notes and interviews, this thesis explores Yo Alcalde within the municipal context. During the fieldwork it became evident that improving the municipality's responsiveness was far more complex than developing a digital interface for citizens’ to input their issues. Based on this preliminary insight, the research objective is to explore further the effects of introducing Yo Alcalde on the municipality. By reflecting on qualitative data gathered at the municipality, the analysis will provide a holistic perspective on the relationship between the municipality’s processes, people and structure, and the tool itself. While exploring the data, the thesis will map challenges, constraints and opportunities for the organization adopting Yo Alcalde with the aim to shed light on the complexity entailed in public sector digital projects.Description
Supervisor
Jalas, MikkoThesis advisor
Ferreira Litowtschenko, MariaKeywords
digital government, volunteered geographical information, public administration, local government administration, information systems, government-citizens communications