Design Thinking and Storytelling in e‐Government: The Case of ThinkData. ch
Olivier Glassey 1 and Jean‐Henry Morin 2
1 Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration( IDHEAP), Lausanne, Switzerland 2 Institute of Service Science( IIS), University of Geneva, Switzerland
olivier. glassey @ idheap. unil. ch jean‐henry. morin @ unige. ch
Abstract: ThinkData is an interactive service for raising awareness on data protection and transparency in the organisational context. Originating from a study carried out by an interdisciplinary work group as part of a think tank on services science and innovation( ThinkServices). ThinkData allows its users to become familiar with the concepts of data protection and transparency through short stories, situations involving employees, managers, HR managers and information systems professionals. In this paper we present the design thinking approach used to develop ThinkData. ch and we describe the main features of the service. In the analytical part of the paper we discuss the main challenges and issues brought about by the tentative generalization of our approach, particularly in terms of modelling the multijurisdictional aspects of data protection and transparency.
Keywords: design thinking, data protection, transparency, storytelling, reuse, multi‐jurisdiction
1. Introduction
Many political processes involve solving wicked problems, such as environmental or socio‐economic issues. This paper deals with such problems, where for example public and semi‐public organizations have to find a balance between data protection and transparency legal requirements. Oftentimes these legal requirements are very difficult to understand for people who are not legal experts but still have to implement services required to be compliant with legal frameworks, e. g. human resources managers handling employee data or IT specialists dealing with employee emails or mobile devices. We argue, based on a concrete case, that design thinking, co‐creation and innovation games can be valid and valuable approaches to address such wicked problems. However, we have found that the use of such techniques is not very frequent( or at least not much documented in the literature).
In this paper we therefore investigate how design thinking and innovation games approaches can be used, based on the concrete case of Thinkdata. ch. Moreover, in this specific case we report on, we also show the value of using storytelling in raising awareness on complex problems. In the first part of the paper we present the design thinking approach that led to the development of ThinkData. ch and we discuss the main features of the service. In the analytical part of the paper we provide an assessment of ThinkData by applying a framework derived from previous work of the authors and initially inspired by the Technology Acceptance Model( TAM) of Davis. Finally we discuss the main challenges and issues brought about by the tentative generalization of our approach, particularly in terms of modeling the multi‐jurisdictional aspects of data protection and transparency. We conclude by discussing the hypothesis of the value of Design Thinking and Storytelling as key factors for designing global people‐centric awareness services on complex legal and public policy frameworks.
2. Design thinking and gaming approaches
Governments generally support participation in order to improve the efficiency, acceptance, and legitimacy of political processes( Sanford and Rose 2007). As any political process deals with solving wicked problems, governments have to find innovative ways of encouraging participation. Indeed wicked problems are“ those that defy conventional approaches to understanding, planning, design, implementation and execution because:( i) The stakeholder interests are so diverse and divisive;( ii) Interdependencies are so complex and so little understood;( iii) Behaviors are so dynamic and chaotic( unpredictable)”( Newman and Gall 2010). Hybrid thinking is one approach proposed by Newman and Gall( 2010) to address such issues: it is based amongst others on design thinking and co‐creation. One such example is VoiceS research project( Holzner et al. 2009) that uses serious games to foster eParticipation and make“ complex EU co‐decision procedure accessible to a large audience( especially among younger citizens), thus providing necessary understanding and enabling them to contribute actively to the platform”. Holzner et al.( 2009) define gaming“ as a structured or semi‐structured activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes also used as an educational tool. Key components
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