From eParticipation to mobile participation: Designing a service platform and business model for mobile participation

Abstract

In an attempt to bring citizens closer to governments, electronic participation is increasingly receiving attention. Despite technological advances regarding smartphones and mobile Internet, mobile extensions to eParticipation solutions are still largely lacking. In this paper, we describe the design of a generic service platform that enables citizens to report incidents and interact with government agencies while on the move. Our service platform utilizes state-of-the-art mobile technologies, georeferencing and wiki concepts. The open and flexible service platform can be used by various government agencies to develop a range of service concepts in an efficient manner. Using a business model approach, we identify critical technological, organizational and financial design issues that government agencies need to deal with before implementing the proposed service platform. Most crucial questions are which agency should govern the service platform, how open the platform should be for other government agencies and how investments should be divided. The paper illustrates how to move from eParticipation to mobile participation, but also how a business model approach can contribute to designing viable mobile government services.