Digital Government

Since its inception, the Digital Government Track at HICSS has presented innovative research at the vanguard of digital government research and practice. This year is no different, despite our entering a third year of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Once again, the Digital Government Track received a triple-digit number of completed research submissions.

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 (50-60%) in order to promote the growth of scholarship in new areas. Overall, the Digital Government Track seeks an acceptance rate of between 40% and 50%, which we achieved this year as well. The high number of submissions and the overall acceptance rate reaffirms the interest in Digital Government, the importance of Digital Government particularly in a global pandemic context in which many physical government services ceased, and the ranking of the Digital Government Track as a prominent conference outlet in the field of Digital Government.

Though we will miss coming together as a community again this year, the Digital Government Track will offer the opportunity to explore cutting edge research through its 13 mini-tracks:

• Cyber Deception and Cyber Psychology for Defense;
• Cybersecurity and Privacy in Government;
• Digital and Hyperconnected Supply Chain Systems;
• Digital Government and AI;
• Digital Government and Business Process Management (BPM);
• Digital Government Theory: Development and Application;
• Disaster Information, Resilience, for Emergency and Crisis Technologies;
• Emerging Topics in Digital Government;
• Engaging Governance;
• Inclusion and Digital Government: Narrowing the Divides;
• Policies and Strategies for Digital Government;
• Smart and Connected Cities and Communities; and
• The Impact of ICT on Citizens’ Well-Being and the Right to the City/Community.

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. 17.0 (http://tinyurl.com/p5w8vv), there are over 15,000 entries of peer-reviewed publications in the English language. Digital Government research continues to thrive both in numbers and in quality, and the HICSS conference is a reflection of that trajectory.

While the current topics in the track 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 established and emerging Digital Government research at the HICSS conference.

John Carlo Bertot
University of Maryland, College Park
jbertot@umd.edu

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