Publications

 Social media is one of Web 2.0 tools that governments are adopting for interacting with citizens. Through their use, citizens are able to share their views, react to issues of their concern and form opinion. However, despite the infusion of such tools in citizens’ lives, governments face several challenges to fully benefit from their adoption. One technical challenge is the lack of automated intelligent tools for processing citizens’ opinion in government social media. This paper presents a project - DECIDE 2.0, focusing on the provision of a framework, including a software tool, for overcoming such challenge.  The aim of the project is to combine context-based search and argumentation in a collaborative framework for managing (retrieving and publishing) service- and policy-related information in government-use social media tools. For developing the framework, the research work is underpinned by artificial intelligence and software engineering techniques. The developed framework will be applied for the qualitative and quantitative assessment of citizens’ opinion on a specific policy issue. A pilot test of the framework is planned to be carried out in collaboration with a local government. The project is executed by two universities in Argentina and Mexico.

Information sharing is a key capability required for one-stop and networked government. The capability enables sharing service-related information between government agencies involved in the delivery of one-stop seamless services, sharing resource-related information to facilitate whole-of-government response to emergencies, etc. As this capability is not common in traditional public administration and management, information sharing initiatives must overcome a range of technical, organizational, cultural and other barriers, which are generally difficult to overcome by individual agencies. Instead, information sharing is best addressed through the whole-of-government approach, driven by explicit information sharing policies and strategies in government. However, defining such policies is challenging. While information sharing theories identify multiple dimensions of the problem - technical, intra- and inter-organizational and political, the practice of information sharing focuses on principles, barriers, enablers, information lifecycles, organizational roles and other elements of information sharing agreements between agencies, most of which cut across different dimensions of the problem. This paper proposes a conceptual model to describe government information sharing initiatives. By integrating theoretical frameworks (e.g. multiple dimensions) and the information sharing practice (e.g. cross-agency agreements), the model provides a holistic view on the problem and highlights the main areas for policy intervention.

The paper presents the development of a dependable messaging infrastructure for Electronic Government. Based on a few simple concepts like messages, members and channels, the infrastructure was developed to facilitate the exchange of messages by government agencies in a dependable and automated way. The dependability requirement was addressed on various levels: design, development and application. Considering design, the infrastructure comprises a small core offering plain messaging services, a repository of extensions to provide additional services, and a development framework to rigorously specify, implement and verify messaging extensions. Considering development, the infrastructure was build through rigorous use of modeling and analysis in various development stages. Considering applications, government agencies can use the infrastructure to exchange messages through carefully managed logical communication channels and the prudent use of necessary extensions, including extensions to implement required security measures. The paper presents the development and explains why the outcome satisfies the dependability requirement.

 We present a service-oriented survey for government agencies and its applications to e-government planning. The survey documents for each agency its mission, structure, resources, on-line presence and perceptions about e-government. It considers all kinds of interactions within the agency (unit-to-unit), within the government (agency-to-agency) and between government and non-government entities (government-to-citizen, government-to-businesses, etc.) as services. We explore various uses of this survey such as: identifying key agencies and possible agency alliances, recognizing sharable resources for e-government, discovering opportunities for new e-services, formulating common infrastructure and staff training needs, and supporting the drafting of government-wide strategies for e-government. The survey has been applied and tested through a comprehensive analysis of the public administration system in Macao, China.

Effective Information Technology (IT) leadership is critical for achieving a good alignment between business needs and IT means of an organization. In the public sector, IT leadership is increasingly realized through the Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO) function, typically established by governments based on local circumstances and emerging needs. This makes peer-learning about the working of such systems and their transfer between different government contexts challenging. To address this concern, the authors introduced earlier a GCIO System - a set of inter-related activities to guide governments in gradually establishing, operating and sustaining the GCIO function. Based on a common conceptual model of the GCIO function, this paper defines a methodology for conducting the readiness assessment part of the GCIO System. The methodology comprises a set of assessment areas and a step-wise process to conduct assessment in these areas. The paper also shares the experience in applying this methodology in practice, and proposes how the assessment could inform the execution of other activities of the GCIO System.

 This paper reviews the nature and responsibilities of Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO) positions, defines competencies required to fulfill such responsibilities, and presents the results of a survey of 78 education programs from 21 countries to determine to what extent they build GCIO-relevant competencies and how much attention different programs pay to policy, design, implementation and operation aspects of the public sector Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The survey covers CIO, Electronic Government, Technology Management, Leadership, Public Administration, Development, Sustainable Development and ICT for Development programs, all analyzed using a single conceptual framework. The survey revealed, among others: that the programs are strongly oriented toward one discipline, that no program fulfills all competency needs expected from GCIO positions, that such needs can be fulfilled by combinations of existing programs, and that a truly international GCIO curriculum is yet to emerge.

 The paper presents the development of a dependable messaging infrastructure for Electronic Government. Based on a few simple concepts like messages, members and channels, the infrastructure was developed to facilitate the exchange of messages by government agencies in a dependable and automated way. The dependability requirement was addressed on various levels: design, development and application. Considering design, the infrastructure comprises a small core offering plain messaging services, a repository of extensions to provide additional services, and a development framework to rigorously specify, implement and verify messaging extensions. Considering development, the infrastructure was build through rigorous use of modeling and analysis in various development stages. Considering applications, government agencies can use the infrastructure to exchange messages through carefully managed logical communication channels and the prudent use of necessary extensions, including extensions to implement required security measures. The paper presents the development and explains why the outcome satisfies the dependability requirement.

Many public services require face-to-face interactions with government officials and their designated representatives. In order to improve the delivery and accessibility of such services, to standardize government processes and to avoid the duplication of efforts by government offices, on-line appointment scheduling (e-appointment) can be employed. The paper presents a complete solution for a one-stop e-appointment service, built upon software infrastructure for e-government. Offered through a one-stop government portal and relying on appointment-related information maintained by individual agencies, the service enables applicants to seamlessly arrange appointments for visiting government offices responsible for the delivery of various public services. The paper proceeds by: (1) identifying the challenges for delivering appointment services on-line, (2) describing existing solutions; (3) proposing a new solution for a one-stop e-appointment service including technical (software) and organizational (business process) aspects; and (4) validating this solution against the challenges and existing solutions. In particular, the paper describes step-by-step implementation of the business process and the development of software, from requirement and modeling, to design, implementation and deployment.

The paper presents some challenges to Seamless e-Government, and proposes a technical solution – Government-Enterprise Ecosystem Gateway (G-EEG)to address them. G-EEG is a framework through which multi-organizational processes and applications can dynamically build, apply and evolve complex communication structures to asynchronously exchange messages in specific application contexts, e.g. to deliver seamless public services. In addition to basic messaging, G-EEG supports high-level messaging functions through dynamically-enabled horizontal (process-independent) or vertical (process-dependent) extensions. A number of extensions are described as solutions to the challenges for seamless e-Government. Currently a research prototype, G-EEG is specified formally and implemented using open standards

Information sharing (IS) is a key capability required for one-stop and networked government, responding to a variety of intra-organizational, inter-organizational, or cross-national needs like sharing service-related information between parties involved in the delivery of seamless services, sharing information on available resources to enable whole-of-government response to emergencies, etc. Despite its importance, the IS capability is not common for governments due to various technical, organizational, cultural, and other barriers which are generally difficult to address by individual agencies. However, developing such capabilities is a challenging task which requires government-wide coordination, explicit policies and strategies, and concrete implementation frameworks. At the same time, reconciling existing theoretical frameworks with the IS practice can be difficult due to the differences in conceptions and abstraction levels. In order to address such difficulties, this chapter proposes a conceptual framework to guide the development of Government Information Sharing (GIS) policies, strategies, and implementations. By integrating theoretical frameworks and the GIS practice, the framework adopts a holistic view on the GIS problem, highlights the main areas for policy intervention, and provides policy makers and government managers with conceptual clarity on the GIS problem.

Electronic Governance for Sustainable Development (EGOV4SD) refers to the use of Information Technology (IT) to transform the working of government and its interaction with the public while advancing socio-economic development and protecting natural resources for future generations. Although significant efforts are dedicated to EGOV and SD individually, research at the intersection of both domains is scarce and a systematic EGOV4SD research framework is yet to emerge. In order to contribute to the development of such a framework and in particular to identify how EGOV initiatives contribute to the SD goals in the current government practice, this paper presents and analyzes ten case studies of existing EGOV initiatives with explicit SD objectives. Based on the EGOV4SD assessment framework, each case study is characterized by its context (who, where and when), problem (what), solution (how) and contribution – how the solution addresses the problem (why). The analysis identified the list of SD problems addressed by the case studies and the list of EGOV solutions applied to address such goals, and correlated both lists across the case studies to find out typical problem-solution patterns applied in the EGOV4SD practice today.      

 The paper presents some challenges to Seamless e-Government, and proposes a technical solution - Government-Enterprise Ecosystem Gateway (G-EEG) to address them. G-EEG is a framework through which multi-organizational processes and applications can dynamically build, apply and evolve complex communication structures to asynchronously exchange messages in specific application contexts, e.g. to deliver seamless public services. In addition to basic messaging, G-EEG supports high-level messaging functions through dynamically-enabled horizontal (process-independent) or vertical (process-dependent) extensions. A number of extensions are described as solutions to the challenges for seamless e-Government. Currently a research prototype, G-EEG is specified formally and implemented using open standards.

Seamless Government is a new paradigm for public administration that promotes collaboration and networking between government agencies and between public, private and voluntary sectors as a way to better respond to the needs of citizens, businesses and other arms of government. There are many benefits of collaboration in government. One is the delivery of Seamless Public Services, made available through one-stop access points, both electronic and traditional, according to the needs of customers and not the internal structure of government. Another is improved efficiency in government, aiming at eliminating duplicate efforts and making better use of scarce public resources. However, the paradigm presents numerous implementation challenges: (1) Legal - recognizing electronic processes as equivalent to paper-based processes; (2) Financial - funding multi-annual, cross-agency projects; (3) Social – building human capacity able to utilize new technologies; (4) Organizational - establishing processes that seamlessly cross organizational boundaries; and (5) Technological – building solutions that integrate software and processes across organizational and administrative boundaries, able to adapt to changing legal and organizational requirements.

This thesis presents the concept and foundations of Programmable Messaging – a paradigm for automated exchange of messages between collaborating entities to respond to diverse communication needs of complex and dynamic collaborative environments, such as the environments characterizing Seamless Government. It also presents a concrete realization of Programmable Messaging – Government-Enterprise Ecosystem Gateway (G-EEG). G-EEG is a high-level communication and coordination platform to support collaboration across multi-organizational processes and applications. The requirements for G-EEG were identified following two studies: on the nature of collaborations between agencies, following a survey of public administration system in Macao, and on available technical solutions to enable such collaborations. In order to implement these requirements, G-EEG comprises three components:

1) G-EEG-CORE - a run-time messaging framework that enables asynchronous exchange of messages between registered members along dynamically created and subscribed channels;

2) G-EEG-EXTEND - a repository of horizontal (process-independent) and vertical (process-dependent) extensions and a mechanism to dynamically enable such extensions on top of G-EEG-CORE; and

3) G-EEG-DEVELOP - a development framework to rigorously specify, design and verify messaging extensions, from the scratch or from existing extensions.

G-EEG was designed to be: minimalist – based on the smallest possible number of concepts; extensible – the rich functionality required by applications is available through extensions in the G-EEG-EXTEND repository or through the G-EEG-DEVELOP development framework; dynamic - communication structures can be dynamically created and modified at run-time; and reliable – parts of the framework are based on a formal model, enabling rigorous development of new extensions. G-EEG can be used by government agencies to exchange messages through carefully managed logical communication channels, with necessary extensions enabled over them. Based on G-EEG concepts, a research prototype was built through rigorous use of modelling and analysis in various development stages.

The main contributions of the thesis are: (1) the concept of Programmable Messaging, (2) the definition, formalization and implementation of G-EEG as a concrete realization of Programmable Messaging, (3) a formal model for XML and XML family of technologies resulting from the formalization effort; (4) a comprehensive survey of the concepts and challenges of Seamless Government, (5) rigorous assessment of G-EEG with respect to Seamless Government, and (6) a framework for assessing organizational, technological and foundational solutions to Seamless Government. 

We present a service-oriented survey for government agencies and its applications to e-government planning. The survey identifies for each agency its mission, structure, resources, on-line presence and perceptions about e-government, and considers all kinds of interactions taking place within the agency (unit-to-unit), within the government (agency-toagency) and between the government and the civil society (government-to-citizen, government-to-businesses, etc.) as services. We explore various uses of this survey such as: identifying key agencies and possible agency alliances, recognizing sharable resources, discovering opportunities for new e-services, formulating common infrastructure and staff training needs, and supporting the drafting of government-wide strategies for e-government. The survey has been applied and tested through the comprehensive analysis of the public administration system in Macao, China.

 Electronic Government offers citizens and businesses a single interface to all public services, implemented through cross-agency processes and applications. This paper presents a fragment of a software infrastructure that enables agencies to collaborate in the delivery of public services, responsible for automated, process-driven exchange of messages between applications. In addition to basic message exchange, the infrastructure supports high-level messaging through dynamically-enabled horizontal (process independent) and vertical (process dependent) extensions.

 Electronic Governance (EGOV) research studies the use of Information and Communication Technologies to improve governance processes. Sustainable Development (SD) research studies possible development routes that satisfy the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs. Despite substantial progress in advancing both domains independently, little research exists at their intersection – how to utilize EGOV in support of SD. We call this intersection Electronic Governance for Sustainable Development (EGOV4SD). This paper: 1) proposes a conceptual framework for EGOV4SD, 2) proposes EGOV4SD research assessment framework and 3) applies both frameworks to determine the state of EGOV4SD research. The main contribution of the paper is establishing a foundation for EGOV4SD research.

 Electronic Government offers a great potential for improving performance, increasing quality of services and reducing costs in the public sector. In order to gain these benefits, organizational changes and re-engineering of administrative processes within and between public agencies has to take place. This, in turn, requires strong government leadership. Countries considered the worldwide leaders in e-government have all created central coordination offices to lead, manage and promote e-government initiatives. In this paper, we present the experiences of Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Singapore and the United States in e-government coordination, as well as discuss the best practices in organizational structures for managing e-government. We also present some recommendations for establishing a central coordination office for Macao.

 Localizing the cause of an error in an error trace is one of the most time-consuming aspects of debugging. We develop a novel technique to automate this task. For this purpose, we introduce the concept of "error invariants". An error invariant for a position in an error trace is a formula over program variables that over-approximates the reachable states at the given position while only capturing states that will still produce the error, if execution of the trace is continued from that position. Error invariants can be used for slicing error traces and for obtaining concise error explanations. We present an algorithm that computes error invariants from Craig interpolants, which we construct from proofs of unsatisfiability of formulas that explain why an error trace violates a particular correctness assertion. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm by using it to localize faults in real-world programs.

We present a new interpolation based abstraction refinement algorithm for software model-checking. The refinement step uses interpolants computed from an error path to split the abstract states on this path. It incorporates the ideas of slicing abstraction and large block encoding. We run our model-checker on several benchmarks and show empirically that the presented algorithm terminates more often with a result than existing model checking techniques.

 This document is the first of a series of three recording the output of the second phase of UNU/IIST's MultiScript project. It explains the basic structure of multi-directional, multi-lingual documents and some related auxiliary concepts (including how locations within such a document can be determined) and gives a formal specification of this in the RAISE specification language, RSL. This modifies and extends the preliminary specification in the UNU/IIST report No 75. The other documents in this series cover the display and printing, UNU/IIST report No 112, and the creation and editing, UNU/IIST report No 113, of such documents.