Kristin R. Eschenfelder

Assessing U.S. federal government websites

Abstract The exponential growth of federal Websites is outpacing federal information management policy guidelines. Federal Websites are potentially rich information resources, and the Web may well become the preeminent channel for disseminating federal information. Legitimate policy issues associated with the use of this new information dissemination channel should be assessed. This article provides an overview of information policy issues which affect federal Websites and introduces assessment techniques which federal Website designers and administrators could use to evaluate the design and management of their Web-based information resources.

Behind the Web site: An inside look at the production of Web-based textual government information

This paper describes an exploratory, multisite case study of the production of textual content for state agency Web sites. The qualitative field study explored internal agency Web staff characterizations of textual Web content and staff perceptions of factors affecting the production of content. Study results suggest that staff characterize content in terms of its format, its style age, its rate of change, its degree of change, its owner, and the degree to which it is sensitive. Staff described nine factors affecting content production including information intensity, public education mission, public inquiry burden, top-down directives, existing maintenance burden, review and approval process, resources, management interest and goals, and support from other program staff. A better understanding of how internal agency staff perceive and treat content is important because staff play a large role in determining what content is produced and what characteristics the content contains. The inclusion or exclusion of certain characteristics in content has important implications for information usability, costs, citizen participation in agency policymaking, government transparency, and public trust in government.

The distribution of computing: the knowledge markets of distributed technical support specialists

Distributed computing environments place more computer power in the hands of the end‐user, and often demand increased technical support. In response, organizations may choose to move technical support personnel close to end‐users. This can isolate them from each other, and may limit their ability to share knowledge. Thus, the growth of distributed computing calls for increased ability to share knowledge across organizational boundaries. This paper presents the results of a case study investigating how distributed technologists share knowledge through knowledge markets. We argue that knowledge markets are cultural entities shaped by the underlying work culture of their participants, and that the cultural forces that define knowledge markets are powerful, deeply held and difficult to change. Thus, improving the effectiveness of any given knowledge market will have less to do with the installation of information technology than with the ability to create a facilitating work culture. This study’s identification of clique knowledge markets, operating efficiently in parallel to the public knowledge market, may provide a hint of the type of culture that will create fewer knowledge trade barriers.

Software as Protest: the Unexpected Resiliency of U.S. Based DeCSS Posting and Linking

This research tracked web sites posting or linking to software known as DeCSS over a 26-month period coinciding with a U.S. lawsuit that found posting and linking to the DeCSS software to be illegal. Results showed a decrease in the number of web pages posting the DeCSS software, and a decrease in the number of web pages linking to DeCSS. Seven web sites retained their DeCSS posting for the entire 26-month study period. An increasing number of sites posted nonexecutable forms of DeCSS, and results show a large percentage of web sites contained political speech. The persistence of DeCSS linking and posting was surprising given the prohibition on linking and posting within the United States and given the obsolescence of DeCSS as a DVD decrypter. We suggest that DeCSS linking and posting persists primarily as a political symbol of protest.

Examining the role of Web site information in facilitating different citizen–government relationships: A case study of state Chronic Wasting Disease Web sites

Abstract This paper develops a framework to assess the text-based public information provided on program level government agency Web sites. The framework informs the larger e-government question of how, or whether, state administrative agencies are using Web sites in a transformative capacity—to change relationships between citizens and government. It focuses on assessing the degree to which text information provided on government Web sites could facilitate various relationships between government agencies and citizens. The framework incorporates four views of government information obligations stemming from different assumptions about citizen–government relationships in a democracy: the private citizen view, the attentive citizen view, the deliberative citizen view, and the citizen–publisher view. Each view suggests inclusion of different types of information on government agency web sites. The framework is employed to assess state Web sites containing information about chronic wasting disease, a disease effecting deer and elk in numerous U.S. states and Canada.

Coporate IT skill needs: a case study of BigCo.

This paper reports on a case study of the IT skills and needs at one site. The data is organized by assessing the members of BigCos Corporate IT group regarding their present IT skill levels and the perception of skill needs both now and three years in the future. This work relies on a categorization drawn from both academic and professional literature regarding skill needs for IT professionals. In doing this work we draw on surveys, interviews, focus groups and archival documents to build a rich and detailed perspective on skill needs for the IT professionals at BigCos Corporate IT group. Findings show that there is an implicit set of conceptual IT skills that IT professionals are expected to have. Further, the non-IT skill needs are presently very important and are expected to become even more important. Finally, there are important department-level, experience, and gender variations in the responses suggesting that IT roles are growing both more numerous and more specialized.

IT skills in the context of BigCo.

1. ALIwlR4CT This study &he IT skills and needs of BigCo, hc, Corporate IT grcmp assesses both the present IT skill levels and the perception of skill mxds now and three years in the fnture. In the pursuit cbf data to reflect on this qwstbn9 this paper reports on a case study of the IT skills and needs at one site. This work reties on a catep-ization drawn from both academic am3 professional literature regarding skiii needs for IT professionals. In doing this work we draw on sm-veys, interviews, focus grcmps amI archival docments to build a rich and detailed perspective on skiil needs for the IET professiona& at BigCo’s Corporate IT groupFindings sbow that there is an implicit set of conceptual IT skiils that are expected of IT professiom&. The non-IT skill needs are presently very important and are expected to grow to be even more important. I%x3.liy, there are important department-level, experience, and genrEer variations in these responses that suggest that IT’ roles are growing both more numerous and more speciaiized. 1.1

Who posts DeCSS and why?: a content analysis of web sites posting DVD circumvention software

This study explored why Web authors post the DVD decryption software known as DeCSS--specifically whether authors post DeCSS to protest changes in copyright law. Data are drawn from content analysis of Web sites posting the software. Most DeCSS posters did not include any content explaining why they posted DeCSS; however, no authors presented DeCSS as a piracy tool. Of sites containing explanatory content, many argued that DeCSS is a legitimate tool to play DVDs on free/open source computers. Other sites asserted that current copyright law is unjust, and that DVD-related corporations are engaging in undesirable behaviors. Based on the data, and theorizing from rhetoric and the collective action literatures, we assert that much DeCSS posting is protest, but it may not be copyright protest--numerous posters protest related issues such as freedom of speech. More research is needed to determine the significance of DeCSS posting to broader copyright policy debates including its relation to off-line protest, and the development of shared identities and cognitive frames. Also, the complexities of circumvention issues raise concerns about whether policy debate will be limited to elites. Finally, data point to the need to understand both international and local laws, norms, and events when studying copyright protest activity.

Managing the Data Commons: Controlled Sharing of Scholarly Data

This paper describes the range and variation in access and use control policies and tools used by 24 web‐based data repositories across a variety of fields. It also describes the rationale provided by repositories for their decisions to control data or provide means for depositors to do so. Using a purposive exploratory sample, we employed content analysis of repository website documentation, a web survey of repository managers, and selected follow‐up interviews to generate data. Our results describe the range and variation in access and use control policies and tools employed, identifying both commonalities and distinctions across repositories. Using concepts from commons theory as a guiding theoretical framework, our analysis describes the following five dimensions of repository rules, or data commons boundaries: locus of decision making (depositor vs. repository), degree of variation in terms of use within the repository, the mission of the repository in relation to its scholarly field, what use means in relation to specific sorts of data, and types of exclusion.

The importance of articulation work to agency content management: balancing publication and control

This paper describes the initial results of a qualitative field study of the work required to review and approve the content on government agency Web sites. The study analyzes content management work in terms of Strausss conceptualization of articulation. The analysis describes examples of high and low level articulation in content review and approval including using paper, personal contact, and surveillance. Study results suggest that the articulation work present in non-software based review and approval processes helps to balance conflicting agency goals of publishing content and achieving absolute oversight over published content. It also suggests that software based content management systems may prove helpful for the management of some types of content in some situations, but it hypothesizes that actors will choose paper and face to face communication mechanisms to review and approve large amounts of new content and sensitive content.