Digital Government

Since its inception the Digital Government Track at HICSS has presented innovative research at the vanguard of digital government research and practice. T he HICSS 57 Digital Government Track received 99 completed research submissions across nine mini tracks including a pre conference doctoral consortium.

Over the years, the Track has sought to maintain a balance between providing a venue for new and emerging topics with those that are mature with well defined parameters. Typically, the acceptance rate for more mature topical mini tracks is lower (20 30%), while the acceptance rate for emerging topics is higher around 50 in order to promote the growth of scholarship in new areas. Overall, the Digital Government Track seeks an acceptance rate of below 50%, which was the case this year as well.

The high number of s ubmissions and the overall acceptance rate reaffirms the interest in Digital Government, which was brought to the forefront during the global COVID 19 pandemic and has continued post pandemic with many physical government services having moved online. In a ddition, the ranking of the HICSS Digital Government Track h as shown to be a prominent conference outlet in the field offer ing the opportunity to explore cutting edge research through its mini tracks:

• AI in Government
• Cybersecurity and Privacy in Government
• Digital Government Theory: Development and Application
• Design, Implementation, and Management of Digital Government Policies and Strategies
• Disaster Information, Resilience, for Emergency and Crisis Technologies
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Digital Government: Narrowing the Divides
• Emerging Topics in Digital Government
• Policies and Strategies for Digital Government
• Smart and Connected Cities and Communities

The breadth and scope of the topics explored through the mini tracks is a reflection of the continued growth of Digital Government as a field of study as well as the evolution of global government engagement with digital technologies As maintained through the Digital Government Reference Library v. 1 9 0 https://faculty.washington.edu/jscholl/dgrl/ there are over 1 8 6 00 e ntries of peer reviewed publications in the English language. Digital Government research con tinues to thriv e both in numbers and in quality, and the HICSS conference is a reflection of that trajectory

While the current topics in the T rack will maintain continued interest and attract attention, we anticipate that future editions of the Digital Government Track at HICSS will give rise to new topics as the field continues to evolve and grow. We look forward to the continued exploration of est ablished and emerging Digital Government research at the HICSS conference.

Mila Gasco Hernandez
University at Albany, SUNY
mgasco@albany.edu

Christian Schaupp
West Virginia University
Christian.Schaupp@mail.wvu.edu