Public Lectures and Workshops

20th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research

20th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research

The Digital Government Society (DGS) will hold the 20th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research – DGO 2019, with a theme “Governance in the Age of Artificial Intelligence“.  DGO 2019 will be hosted by the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government (formerly the Dubai School of Government), Dubai, United Arab Emirates on 18-20 June, 2019.  The DGO conferences are an established forum for presentation, discussion, and demonstration of interdisciplinary research on digital government, political participation, civic engagement, technology innovation, applications, and practice. Each year the conference brings together scholars recognized for the interdisciplinary and innovative nature of their work, their contributions to theory (rigor) and practice (relevance), their focus on important and timely topics and the quality of their writing.

THEME & TRACK TOPICS:

The 20th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research will feature the main theme of “Governance in the Age of Artificial Intelligence“. The growing applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) are triggering numerous opportunities—as well as challenges and dilemmas—for governments worldwide. Traditional forms of service provisioning, policy-making and enforcement are changing due to the inclusion AI algorithms, mechanisms and techniques. The growing digitization of government operations, the universal datafication of societal activities, behaviors and sentiments, as well as the maturity and feasibility of big data techniques and applications have collectively laid down solid foundations for industrial-scale operationalization of AI across most governments and societal sectors. This year’s timely theme, builds on the DGO 2018 conference which focused on governance in the data age. The rapid growth of the data-driven economy and the use of intelligent mechanisms result in rapid digitalization of government operations and the emergence of new governance structures. This datafication and AI revolution is boosted by growing smart cities applications, Internet of Things (IoT), social media, mobile apps, among other sources of big data.

Governments still face limited understanding of the multifaceted changes brought about by the advent of AI in governance. An increasing number of governments, international organizations, leading research centers, think tanks and global private sector corporations are coming together to explore these changes. However, there is a dearth of thought-leadership in the areas of policy, development and societal implications of AI. This knowledge gap is a key developmental barrier as many governments wrangle with the societal, economic, political and ethical implications of these transformations.

During the past two decades, the dg.o conference has been at the helm of the digital governance transformations. In its 20th anniversary, the DGO 2019 conference will build in past themes to explore the fast maturing artificial intelligence drive embraced by an increasing number of governments and businesses worldwide.

 Finally, the DGO 2019 will be held at the MBR School of Government in Dubai, UAE. The UAE government has officially acknowledged the importance of AI in government operations, economic and societal development. For example, on the strategic level, the UAE government has issued the national “UAE Artificial Intelligence Strategy”. On the organizational level, it has also appointed a “Minister of State of Artificial Intelligence”, a global first, who is tasked with coordinating the government’s AI efforts and driving the government’s AI agenda. On the global level, the UAE is also proactively contributing to the global agenda addressing the multi-faceted implications of these transformations. For example, the government has recently introduced its “Fourth Industrial Revolution” agenda and took the lead on putting together a council to address the manifestations of the fourth industrial revolution and its impact on society and economy, it is leading a global blockchain council, while convening a global AI expert group of practitioners and thought-leaders. These developments align well with the conference theme, and will increase the impact of the knowledge created during the conference on policy, whether through the tracks, workshops, submission, and discussions.

SPONSORS:

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE 

Conference Chairs

• Fadi Salem, Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government, Dubai, UAE
• Marijn Janssen, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Program Chairs

• Yu-Che Chen, University of Nebraska at Omaha, US
• Anneke Zuiderwijk, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Track Chairs

• Adeyinka Adewale, Henley Business School, UK
• Michael Ahn, University of Massachusetts — Boston, US
• Leonidas Anthopoulos, University of Applied Sciences (TEI) of Thessaly, Greece
• Zach Bastick, European School of Political and Social Sciences, France
• Flavia Bernardini, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Brazil
• Manuel Pedro Rodríguez Bolívar, University of Granada, Spain
• Claudia Cappelli, Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Lemuria Carter, University of New South Wales, Australia
• Akemi Takeoka Chatfield, University of Wollongong, Australia
• Soon Ae Chun, City University of New York, US
• Robert J. Domanski, City University of New York, US
• Elsa Estevez, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina
• Ramzi El-Haddadeh, Qatar University, Qatar,
• Teresa M. Harrison, University at Albany, US
• Mila Gasco Hernandez, University at Albany, State University of New York, US
• Marijn Janssen, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
• Tomasz Janowski, Danube University Krems, Austria
• Andrea Kavanaugh, Virginia Tech, US
• Dongwook Kim, Seoul National University, South-Korea
• Yushim Kim, Arizona State University, USA
• Cristiano Maciel, Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso, Brazil
• Agnes Mainka, Department of Information Science, Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf, Germany
• Sehl Mellouli, Laval University, Canada
• Adegboyega Ojo, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland
• Svein Ølnes, Western Norway Research Institute, Norway
• Peter Parycek, Donau-Universität Krems, Austria
• Alois Paulin, Faculty of Organisation Studies, Slovenia
• Gabriel Puron-Cid,  Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, A.C. (CIDE), Aguascalientes, Mexico
• Chris G. Reddick, the University of Texas at San Antonio, U.S
• Rodrigo Sandoval-Almazan, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Mexico
• Hans Jochen School, the Information School, University of Washington, USA
• Tobias Siebenlist, Department of Information Science, Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf, Germany
• Evgeny Styrin, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russia
• Iryna Susha, Örebro University, Sweden
• Efthimios Tambouris, University of Macedonia, Greece
• Jolien Ubacht, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands
• Fatemeh Ahmadi Zeleti, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland
• Jing Zhang, Clark University, US
• Lei Zheng, Fudan University, China

Panels Chair

• Jolien Ubacht, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Workshops and Tutorials Chairs

• Luis F. Luna-Reyes, University at Albany
• Sarah Shaer, MBR School of Government, Dubai, UAE
• Bram Klievink, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands

Posters and Demos Chairs

• Lama Zakzak, MBR School of Government, Dubai, UAE

Doctoral Colloquium Chairs

• Ramon Gil-Garcia, Center for Technology in Government, University at Albany, SUNY, US
• Sharon Dawes, Center for Technology in Government, University at Albany, SUNY, US
• Ida Lindgren, Linköping University, Sweden

Publicity and Web Chairs

• Engy Osman, MBR School of Government, Dubai, UAE
• Amal Anwar, MBR School of Government, Dubai, UAE

Liaison and Outreach Chairs

• Marijn Janssen, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands

Registration Chairs

• Lukasz Porwol, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland
• Catherine Dumas, University at Albany, US

Finance Chair

• Andrea Kavanaugh, Virginia Tech, US

For more information, please visit: http://dgsoc.org/dgo-2019/