Do-it-yourself services and work-like chores: on civic duties and digital public services

Abstract

Doing civic duties is neither paid work nor leisure: it is a private, work-like activity. Digital services enrol customers in doing work tasks. Also digital public services delegate work to citizens, but there are important differences between automation for citizens doing their civic duties and services that customers choose to use. In this paper, we discuss how digitally automated services remove some tasks but also introduce new work tasks for citizens and how citizens handle these. We present a study of citizens' calls to a public service provider (the tax authorities) requesting help carrying out their civic duties. The analysis of citizens' problems with doing their taxes is a basis for suggesting an alternative design of digital tax services that can increase citizens' mastery and autonomy when doing their taxes. We suggest an approach for designing coherent tasks for the citizen, and how doing one's civic duties can be seen as work--and as a part of life. We argue that designing for automated public services need to apply a citizen-centric perspective in order to maintain a basis for citizens to participate in democratic processes in society.