Issue title: Open government and public participation:
Issues and challenges in creating public value
Article type: Research Article
Authors: Munson, Sean A.a; * | Avrahami, Danielb; c | Consolvo, Sunnyd | Fogarty, Jamese | Friedman, Batyac | Smith, Ianf
Affiliations:
[a] School of Information, University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, MI, USA |
[b] Intel, Santa Clara, CA, USA |
[c] The Information School, University of Washington,
Seattle, WA, USA |
[d] Human Centered Design and Engineering, University of
Washington, Seattle, WA, USA |
[e] Computer Science and Engineering, University of
Washington, Seattle, WA, USA |
[f] Everbread Ltd., London, UK | Fundacion Universidad de las Americas Puebla, Business
School, anta Catarina Martir, San Andres Cholula, Puebla, Mexico | City University of New York, Staten Island, NY,
USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Sean A. Munson, School of Information, 105
S State Street, North Quad 4370N, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
E-mail: samunson@umich.edu
Abstract: Many have enthusiastically greeted the ability to search and view
public records online as a great advance for transparency and accountability.
Such ability, however, also creates value tensions with privacy and other
important human values. In this paper, we report findings from a survey of 134
residents of the US Pacific Northwest on their awareness of and attitudes
towards online access to political campaign records and real estate transaction
histories, bringing to light some of the social implications of technological
changes that increase ease of access to public records. We show that, while
respondents often understood the reason behind making these records public,
considerable concern about the current accessibility of these records exists,
along with a precautionary indication that such open access may reduce public
participation for some individuals.
Keywords: Public records, privacy, access, transparency, value tensions, value sensitive design, political campaign contributions, real estate records
DOI: 10.3233/IP-2012-0267
Journal: Information Polity, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 99-114, 2012
