Exploring end-user participation in the design of digital public services: an empirical study of discourse and practice

Abstract

The public sector is intensifying the employment of digital solutions in providing public services based on promises of efficiency and improving citizens' experiences. This thesis explores how the participation of end-users - citizens and frontline workers - is approached when designing and developing digital solutions for use in services provided by the local government. The Scandinavian countries have shown a particular interest in promoting democracy and participation in Information and Communication Technology projects. However, this does not exempt them from encountering significant issues in designing and implementing new systems, ranging from low user acceptance, a lack of digital competence among citizens and government officials, and regulatory and organizational blockages. Additionally, public services are increasingly designed to be accessed online, shifting more of the work onto the citizen, potentially leading to increased digital exclusion of marginalized and vulnerable people. Considering these emerging issues stemming from the increased digitalization of public services, understanding the repercussions of how participation is viewed and enacted by government officials in ongoing projects is important for practitioners and researchers.

This thesis is the culmination of 4 years of work investigating how a Norwegian municipality includes end-users in the design and development of digital services. The research is based on two case studies: a pilot study of municipal efforts to create a database of recreational activities and a large-scale effort to create a case management system and digital interface to facilitate communication between caseworkers and citizens in contact with Child Welfare Services. The thesis expands the understanding of participation in public service development by zooming in on what impacts the characteristics of participation, specifically the socio-technical context and underlying goals, motivations, and regulations.

Challenges: The lack of clear descriptions of how to approach the facilitation participation of citizen-users often leads to municipal workers advocating based on their user groups and little direct participation in projects. In addition, decision-making in large collaborative projects was fragmented based on local government organization and where the funding from projects came from. Though citizen-users voiced their opinions directly to project management, their needs, and opinions were filtered through project management when discussing directly with IT developers and steering groups who decide much of the framework for the project. Opportunities: Interdisciplinary teams consisting of municipality workers and IT experts that worked together through the entire lifecycle of a project established mutual understanding for both the technical limitations and the practices that new systems had to support. Other implications: Though public officials see the benefit of end-user participation, the decision-making power in multidisciplinary, collaborative projects remains so fragmented that what one participates in and how one can impact the outcome is difficult to decipher.

The research in this thesis is based on using Participatory Design as a framework for viewing participation, power, and politics in public organizations. However, reflecting on how participation was envisioned in different ways, I investigated what participation can mean locally and in complex constellations consisting of different public organizations, stakeholders, professions, and end-user groups. I drew on the tradition of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work in viewing the work practices that impacted end-user participation and Information Systems to address issues related to scale and the socio-technical infrastructure digitalization projects contend with.

With this thesis, I contribute to a broader understanding of end-user participation in public service projects through produced materials and constellations of people collaborating in decision-making while drawing attention to opportunities and challenges in the design work. I also contribute to theoretical discussions of participation in design within the confines of an existing infrastructure.