Justin Longo
I am an assistant professor and the Cisco Research Chair in Digital Governance in the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Regina (Saskatchewan, Canada).
I've been interested in government use of computer technology for connecting citizens to governance processes since I was the guy who knew enough about web services and html in 1993 to create our department’s first web site. It seemed beautiful at the time, but I recognize now that it was supremely ugly (thankfully, no evidence of this claim can be found).
I completed my phd at the University of Victoria in 2012 and a two-year post-doc in the Center for Policy Informatics at Arizona State University where I worked as a researcher on the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Opening Governance.
Whether it’s inside processes of knowledge sharing and collaboration (open government), or outside processes of citizen and expert engagement (open governance), it never ceases to surprise me how much it’s not about the technology, but about the people.
My cv is at http://bit.ly/jlongocv and my contact info is at http://digitalgovernancelab/contact/
Supervisors: Rod Dobell (dissertation) and Erik Johnston (post-doc)
Phone: 306-585-4942
Address: Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina Campus
• UofR Physical Address: 110.9-2 Research Drive, Innovation Place, Regina, SK S4S7H9
• UofR Mailing Address: 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK S4S0A2
I've been interested in government use of computer technology for connecting citizens to governance processes since I was the guy who knew enough about web services and html in 1993 to create our department’s first web site. It seemed beautiful at the time, but I recognize now that it was supremely ugly (thankfully, no evidence of this claim can be found).
I completed my phd at the University of Victoria in 2012 and a two-year post-doc in the Center for Policy Informatics at Arizona State University where I worked as a researcher on the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Opening Governance.
Whether it’s inside processes of knowledge sharing and collaboration (open government), or outside processes of citizen and expert engagement (open governance), it never ceases to surprise me how much it’s not about the technology, but about the people.
My cv is at http://bit.ly/jlongocv and my contact info is at http://digitalgovernancelab/contact/
Supervisors: Rod Dobell (dissertation) and Erik Johnston (post-doc)
Phone: 306-585-4942
Address: Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina Campus
• UofR Physical Address: 110.9-2 Research Drive, Innovation Place, Regina, SK S4S7H9
• UofR Mailing Address: 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK S4S0A2
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Papers by Justin Longo
This research investigated how policy formulation processes in the government of the Canadian province of British Columbia are being affected by the adoption of Web 2.0 tools internally within the organization as a way to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration amongst government policy analysts. Semi-structured interviews with members of corporate policy units in the Government of British Columbia were conducted (n = 14), and an on-line questionnaire was completed by Government of British Columbia policy analysts (n = 129). These mixed methods form the basis for a triangulation approach to assessing the research questions.
Respondents conceptualized policy analysis as rooted in an apolitical synthesis of evidence and best practices from a variety of sources, leading to a recommendation designed to support decision-making. The diversity and reach of the policy analyst’s organizational social network is related to their length of service in the organization and is an important supplement to the analyst’s knowledge base. There was little evidence that technology networks generally, and Web 2.0 tools specifically, play a prominent role in facilitating the knowledge organization; in fact, policy analysts may refrain from sharing knowledge with colleagues using technology networks in order to avoid contributing to their colleagues' information overload. Following the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991), attitudes, followed by subjective norms, were the strongest and most consistent predictors of the policy analyst’s intention to collaborate and share knowledge with their colleagues. Perceived behavioural control was not a factor, leading to the possibility that while policy analysts may believe and be told that knowledge sharing and collaboration are advantageous, they may not feel they have the authority, latitude or ability to do so. A significant gender result was consistently revealed, that women were found to be less supportive of knowledge sharing and collaboration than men, a result possibly due to a culture dominated by masculine characteristics.
The findings have implications for public sector organizations seeking to provide support for knowledge workers to make effective use of the organizational social network, new collaboration technologies and organizational capacity to address complex public policy problems. Interested readers should consult http://jlphdcand.wordpress.com for updated versions of this research, and related work."
This research investigated how policy formulation processes in the government of the Canadian province of British Columbia are being affected by the adoption of Web 2.0 tools internally within the organization as a way to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration amongst government policy analysts. Semi-structured interviews with members of corporate policy units in the Government of British Columbia were conducted (n = 14), and an on-line questionnaire was completed by Government of British Columbia policy analysts (n = 129). These mixed methods form the basis for a triangulation approach to assessing the research questions.
Respondents conceptualized policy analysis as rooted in an apolitical synthesis of evidence and best practices from a variety of sources, leading to a recommendation designed to support decision-making. The diversity and reach of the policy analyst’s organizational social network is related to their length of service in the organization and is an important supplement to the analyst’s knowledge base. There was little evidence that technology networks generally, and Web 2.0 tools specifically, play a prominent role in facilitating the knowledge organization; in fact, policy analysts may refrain from sharing knowledge with colleagues using technology networks in order to avoid contributing to their colleagues' information overload. Following the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991), attitudes, followed by subjective norms, were the strongest and most consistent predictors of the policy analyst’s intention to collaborate and share knowledge with their colleagues. Perceived behavioural control was not a factor, leading to the possibility that while policy analysts may believe and be told that knowledge sharing and collaboration are advantageous, they may not feel they have the authority, latitude or ability to do so. A significant gender result was consistently revealed, that women were found to be less supportive of knowledge sharing and collaboration than men, a result possibly due to a culture dominated by masculine characteristics.
The findings have implications for public sector organizations seeking to provide support for knowledge workers to make effective use of the organizational social network, new collaboration technologies and organizational capacity to address complex public policy problems. Interested readers should consult http://jlphdcand.wordpress.com for updated versions of this research, and related work."