This course is about gaining knowledge about various digitalization activities in the public sector. Digitalization in public sector is different than that in a private company. A major difference is the concept of value creation. In a private company, increased market and stakeholder value is the only important outcome for digitalization. In the public sector the picture is much more complex, with many stakeholders demanding many types of values. In this course we will try to use a value framework called public value (Moore 1995).
Learning activity
You will be asked to look into the proposed literature, choose a topic, and write a 4-page (IEEE format) essay about the topic. The topic can be both conceptual and empirical. Some examples are: 1) analysis of a specific digital public service (e.g. taxes, sick leave pay), 2) analysis of a public organization (e.g. Skatteetaten, NAV, NRK), 3) a specific technology used in public sector (e.g. AI, chatbots, platforms), or 4) a conceptual topic relevant to public sector digitalization (e.g. algorithmic discretion, agile methods in public sector, government as a platform).
You will be asked to represent your idea for the essay in a course meeting (date to be decided). You will receive feedback on your idea from the students and the teacher. Later you will be asked to submit a draft of your essay (date to be decided later). You essay will go through peer review by the student group and the teacher, where each essay will get a number of review reports.
Assessment
Your final essay and your review reports will be the deliverable for the course and will be graded. The main assessment criteria will be the level of your engagement with the literature in your chosen field, your critical review of the literature, and the clarity of your idea and presentation.