The Tool That Has to Build Itself: The Case of Dutch Geo-Data

Walter T. de Vries, Gianluca Miscione

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterAcademicpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Standardisation is one of tools of Electronic Government (EGov). It refers to the development where individuals and organizations develop and/or adhere to standard IT solutions and associated work processes. Studies on standardization in information technology (IT) emphasize either only the technical side of standard construction (the ‘what’ and ‘how’), or the socio-organizational side of the contextual processes in which standards emerge (the ‘who’ and ‘when’). Our article has an alternative, socio-technical, approach, which emphasizes ‘where’ standards crystallize. Our empirical field to find where crystallization occurs concerns the geoIT sector. Through a qualitative approach, the data show that standard crystallization occurs at the hubs of inter-organizational relations, rather than at the top or the bottom of formal organizations. This claim is important because it contradicts the common strategy of standardization, which is largely centralized. Even though government has centralized the creation and distribution of geoIT standards, their actual creation and crystallization occurs at a more decentralized level: across municipalities. The conclusion is that bringing the standardization discussion to a point of where standardization actually happens, provides a better understanding of the socio-technical dynamic of governance of inter-organizational IT.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationElectronic Government
Subtitle of host publication 11th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference, EGOV 2012, Kristiansand, Norway, September 3-6, 2012 : Proceedings
EditorsH.J. Scholl, M. Janssen, M.A. Wimmer, C.E. Moe, L.S. Flak
Place of PublicationBerlin
PublisherSpringer
Pages137-148
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-642-33489-4
ISBN (Print)978-3-642-33488-7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012
Event11th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference on Electronic Government, EGOV 2012 - Kristiansand, Norway
Duration: 3 Sept 20126 Sept 2012
Conference number: 11

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science
PublisherSpringer
Number7443
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference11th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference on Electronic Government, EGOV 2012
Abbreviated titleEGOV
Country/TerritoryNorway
CityKristiansand
Period3/09/126/09/12

Keywords

  • n/a OA procedure

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