User Involvement and Engagement on Municipal ICT Platforms : A case study on the municipality of Kalmar

Abstract: Information and communication platforms are used by cities and municipality for government-citizen communication. Previous research has shown difficulties in purpose and use, as well as in implementation of ICT platforms. The use and satisfaction of ICT platforms by citizens have also been shown to differ, depending on user motives, city size or population. In order to study the concept of governmental ICT platforms on a regional level, the authors investigated ICT platforms in the municipality of Kalmar, Sweden. The purpose was to identify how the different platforms are used to involve and engage citizens. Furthermore, the purpose was to see how a platform can be designed to improve citizen involvement and engagement. Municipal workers within communication departments, as well as citizens of the municipality were interviewed in order to identify the current situation of ICT platforms. Moreover, the attitudes and use from a citizen perspective was also identified. Through categorizing and cross-examining the collected data, it could be argued that ICT platforms provided by the municipality of Kalmar exist, though due to internal and external communication problems, are unknown and not frequently used by the citizens. The collected data also provided a base for the design of a mobile application platform that encourages citizens to communicate with the municipality. By creating indictments for the citizens to use the platform, as well as creating an inviting environment and a community feeling, citizens felt more encouraged to engage in government-citizen communication. Using a user engagement model as a basis for design was also shown to be beneficial in creating a forum for user involvement and engagement.