April Heyward - DPA Discussion Leader - 3rd Year DPA Student - PADM 7360 Planning and Implementing Electronic Government - Module 4 - Public Knowledge Access and Benefits - Week 4 - September 8-14, 2020

1. PADM 7360 PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING
ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT
Module 4 - Public Knowledge: Access and Benefits
Week 4 - September 8-14, 2020
April Heyward
DPA Discussion Leader
3rd Year DPA Student

2. MODULE 4 INFORMATION
 Module 4 contributes to course expected outcome 4 - Describe at Least Five Ways
the Internet Can Help a Government or Nonprofit Organization’s Responsiveness to
Its Constituents
 Text: Public Knowledge: Access and Benefits Edited by Miriam Drake and Donald
Hawkins
 Assigned Reading: Chapter 1 – “The Relationship Between Citizen Information
Literacy and Public Information Use” by Forest “Woody” Horton, Jr.
 Discussion Response due Monday, September 14, 2020

3. PUBLIC INFORMATION
 Creating and disseminating public information serves as a nod to the Social
Contract Theory by John Locke as the government operates on behalf of citizens
(Heyward, 2018).
 Disseminating public information has multiple purposes such as citizen
engagement and requesting feedback.
 Governance is legitimate when a process is facilitated to allow citizens and
stakeholders to provide feedback on public information (Fung, 2015).
 Public information use is perceived successful when problems are solved and
informed decisions are made.

4. MECHANISMS OF DISSEMINATING INFORMATION
 Social Media
 Newsletters
 Subscriptions
 Books
 Magazines
 Journals
 Downloads
 Electronic Publications
 RSS Feeds

5. PUBLIC INFORMATION CHALLENGES
 Numerous methods and mechanisms employed for its access, management, and
dissemination.
 Citizen’s capacity to explore, examine, and process for their intended purpose.
 Presenting public information that is comprehended by all literacy levels.
 Dependable mechanism of measuring information usefulness and worth as
compared to the costs accrued to secure it.

6. CHALLENGES TO INCREASE INFORMATION USEFULNESS
 Technology advancements impacting how public information is created, housed,
managed, facilitated, explored, examined, and disseminated in numerous
mechanisms.
 Diverse literacy levels in education, technology, mediums, and information.
 Absence of a centralized public information government entity to evaluate, plan,
organize, and manage governmentwide public information programs.
 Rapidly increasing availability of knowledge, information, and data resources.

7. CITIZEN CHALLENGES WITH PUBLIC INFORMATION
 Availability of public information that is perceived useful and valuable.
 Knowledge of government agencies creating public information.
 Ability to locate, explore, and examine public information.
 Ability to process and package public information for intended purpose.

8. BENEFITS AND VALUE OF PUBLIC INFORMATION
 Time savings
 Cost savings
 Problem solving
 Informed decision making
 Increase information literacy

9. COSTS AND BURDENS OF PUBLIC INFORMATION
 Time lost
 Costs accrued
 Unsuccessful problem solving
 Inability to make decisions
 Information literacy deficit

10. LEGISLATED PUBLIC INFORMATION AGENCIES
 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
 United States Department of Commerce
 National Technical Information Service (NTIS)

11. COMPARATIVE APPROACH TO PUBLIC INFORMATION
 What is the state of public information in other countries?
 How do governments in other countries create and disseminate public
information?
 What are differences in public information policies employed in other countries as
compared to the United States?
 How does public information literacy in other countries compare to the United
States?

12. COMPARATIVE APPROACH CONSIDERATIONS
 Public Expectations
 Information and Communication Culture
 Public Interest
 Agency Missions
 Open Access
 Information Literacy

13. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
 Describe an experience when you had to access public information from a
government website. Did you perceive the information beneficial and valuable or
was it costly and burdensome? Did the information help you achieve your
intended purpose? What is one recommendation you would make to improve
public information delivery?

14. REFERENCES
 Fung, A. (2015). Putting the Public Back into Governance: The Challenges of
Citizen Participation and Its Future. Public Administration Review, 75(4), 513-522.
 Heyward, A. (2018). Locke, Hobbes, and Social Contract Theory [Unpublished
manuscript]. Department of Political Science, Valdosta State University.
 Horton, F. (2016). The Relationship Between Citizen Information Literacy and
Public Information Use. In Drake, M., Hawkins, T. (Eds.), Public Knowledge: Access
and Benefits (pp. 1-20). Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc.