Senior and Seminar Thesis | School of Design Strategies Design and Management | PUDM 4100 G

Section: Student Choice Faculty Scott Pobiner, Jeffrey Riman

Student Stephanie White

Domain | Area of Interest Governmental Reform Topic | Problem Statement I’m exploring the intersection between government, citizens, and technology.

Preliminary Findings | What I know already and drawing upon from D&M Citizens and politicians alike are calling for transparency in government—more accountability, participation, and collaboration. Both parties must be fully committed to open communication in order for the transparency movement to be successful. Lack of engagement is not due to a lack of interest, but that our systems are outdated. Web-based platforms are flexible, efficient, and cost-effective ways to bring citizens and government together. Research Plan | What I need to learn In government, I plan to explore organizational culture, reform movements, and how agencies have adapted to change in the past. Among citizens I will study voter apathy, urbanization movements, charter models, and social innovation. From a technology perspective, I will measure the effectiveness of various social networking, digital media, and application tools. I will look at the IT within government and obstacles developers are facing as they attempt to open up our government. I plan to research cases within American government (at all levels), as well as international examples. My ending focus, however, will be state and local government in the United States.

Project Opportunities | Diagram

Creating a visual language Linking agency websites Description Pick a system of governmental agencies [ex. link from “city.gov” or “state.gov”]. Refine the hierarchy of information. Consolidate data and communicate it visually, in consistent formats. Develop a portal feature to meet individual users’ needs.

Governmental Reform 1. Transparency 1.1 External - egovernment 1.1.1 Web 2.0 1.1.1.1 Digital Media 1.1.1.1.1 legitimate journalism? 1.1.1.2 Social Media 1.1.1.2.1 virtual/niche communities 1.1.1.3 Crowdsourcing 1.2 Internal - IT systems 1.2.1 inconsistencies across agencies 1.2.1.1 visual communication 1.2.2 expensive 1.2.3 outdated 1.2.4 poor data management 2. Accountability 2.1 Data Sharing 2.2 organizational performance 3. Collaboration 3.1 Design Thinking 3.1.1 majority rules? 3.1.2 human-centered 3.2 Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship 3.2.1 systems 3.2.2 services 3.3 Diverse Teams 3.4 Charter Systems 4. Participation 4.1 Voting Patterns 4.1.1 Vending Machine Government 4.2 Civic Engagement 4.2.1 Mobile Applications