TAI and the MIT GovLab have come out with a method and tool for better evidence reviews for program design, specifying context and hypothesis. This is an essential step towards better evidence for better programming.
This is the last effort to round up *all the research*, and it’s packed with findings on participatory budgeting design, e-government transformation and the conditions for responsive and accountable government. You’ll also find meaty overviews of community contributions, methodological deep dives, useful research and a pile of case studies.
There's some changes coming to the snark. Research roundups will be topical and episodic rather than comprehensive and regular. This will open bandwidth for more research reviews and summaries by request, and more writing about the role of evidence in civic tech design. Lastly, some news and links to articles from my doctoral work on OGP.
This roundup dumps 3 months of links, with evidence that participation boosts, trust and policy satisfaction, but info might not empower communities as we like to think. Plus insights on boosting civic engagement, the state of ICT4D, and lots of useful research for designing open data and government crowdsourcing initiatives.
This month saw a series of research collections guides and databases, plus several assessments of open gov research, and research on what motivates citizens to take action, why M&E is broken, the demand side effects of R2I portals, and lessons from the civic tech graveyard.
Several studies came out in August with evidence for what works and what doesn't work in civic tech, especially regarding anti-corruption programming, open data and institutionalization. Plus there are several important of research collections, how-to methods guides, and oodles of case studies.
What is it?: Restoring Trust through Open Government: an analysis of open government initiatives across Latin American subnational cases (36 pg report presenting research findings from 9 cities, commissioned by OGP). Main Point: Online interaction is bringing municipal governments and publics closer together, building trust in government in the process. Where it’s coming from I read this as part...
This quick review presents conceptualization and measurement issues, the mixed evidence for civic tech's effect on trust, and suggests 10 points for understanding, expanding, and using existing evidence.
Evidence on the drivers of participation, legitimacy in government, social accountability impacts and more in this month of links and findings civic tech research.
Three weeks of civic tech research includes findings on NGOs digital vulnerabilities, why civic tech tools fail in the field and questions about whether there's any point to democracy. Plus, my skeptic's take on the Skeptic's Guide to Open Government.