A Multi-Level Framework for ICT-Enabled Governance: Assessing the Non-Technical Dimensions of "Government Openness"

This paper proposes an interpretative framework which aims to provide a systemic perspective and an instrument to elicit the links between Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and governance, outlining the various challenges that this poses . In particular, it discusses the multiple dimensions of governance and identifies the public value drivers underpinning the conceptual and measurement framework proposed. In doing so the paper focuses on the 'openness' of governance mechanisms through it s interoperability dimension. It considers state‑of‑the‑art contributions at both academic and practitioner level and it also looks at how the proposed framework can be applied to the evaluation of two case studies at cross‑border, and national‑city level in Europe. Interoperability in fact is predominantly seen as an instrument for enabling cross‑border collaboration between public administrations within and between different Member States. Many initiatives and projects have been promoted and carried out during the last decade resulting in a growing number of potentially reusable best practices and benchmarks. Nevertheless, the complexity and volume of resulting project outcomes represent a challenge for effective exploitation of the results in other ini tiatives and intervention contexts. Moreover, despite the recognition of interoperability as a multi‑faceted concept (i.e. technological, organizational, and semantic), it seems to be mainly the technological aspects of interoperability that emerge from the available project results. The paper concludes outlining indications for future research and in particular on interoperability as a key driver for ICT‑enabled governance. Interoperability is found to play a strategic role in the delivery of e‑Governm ent services to local and national communities within the EU. Moreover, its significance is expected to increase over the next few years, especially in terms of how it supports emerging city governance models and acts as the backbone of communications at a pan‑European, national and local level