Evolution of co-production in the information age: crowdsourcing as a model of web-based co-production in Korea

M Jae Moon

doi:10.1080/14494035.2017.1376475

Abstract

Revisiting the concept and typology of co-production, this study discusses web-based co-production and crowdsourcing of public services, in particular, how information communication technology changes the nature of co-production and how citizens and governments collaborate in designing and producing public services. With the advent of social media and continued development of web technologies, for example, open government initiatives taken by many countries facilitate web-based interaction between citizens and governments. Linking traditional co-production with web-based co-production, we propose and discuss four different types of web-based co-production characterized by the roles of citizens and governments in the design and delivery of public services. We provide illustrations of each type through selected cases and then discuss policy implications.

Highlights

Co-production has been presented as a new model for public-service provision as governments are faced with various challenges of efficiency, quality of public service, participation and so forth
This study examines crowdsourcing as a model of web-based co-production in the age of information and investigates how individual citizens contribute to the design and delivery of public services by reporting public-service needs, offering policy ideas and developing public-service apps based on public data provided by governments
As an extension of the typology of co-production presented in Table 1, we propose four different types of web-based co-production based on the actors and their roles in the design and delivery stages

Summary

Introduction

Co-production has been presented as a new model for public-service provision as governments are faced with various challenges of efficiency, quality of public service, participation and so forth. Co-production refers to any forms or processes in which citizens (as individuals, groups or crowds) and public-service providers (i.e. public organizations, professionals of non-profits or private organizations) collaborate in planning and delivering public services It is presented as an alternative mode of public-service production to traditional public administration (a bureaucracy orientation with government as a monopoly) or to new public management programmes (market orientation, contracting out and other market-based management styles) (Sicilia et al, 2015). Governments often develop their own apps for public services or enable and encourage individual citizens to develop public apps using public information and data This web-based co-production allows the public to play more proactive and extensive roles in both the design and delivery stages of public services. 6E-government is often broadly defined by including back-office applications and front-office applications of ICTs as well as e-participation, while e-participation refers to online citizen participation in various stages of public policy-making processes

Design Delivery

Conclusions

Notes on contributor