公民科技社群在地方公私協力創新過程中的不同面向與角色－以Code for America 和 In Visible Cities為例

Abstract

隨著資訊科技與網路的日益發展，加上公民意識不斷地高漲下，出現一種新興的公民參與方式－「公民科技(Civic Technology)」，即公民開始利用資訊科技技術的方式來參與公共事務、幫助社會解決問題，而這些善用公民科技的人們相互協作並逐漸發展成了具影響力的社群與組織，更成為近年來地方政府積極尋求協力創新的對象，期望透過公民科技協作帶來更好的公共創新服務。 本研究以國外案例－Code for America與美國加州政府協作改善食物券申請流程，以及國內案例－In Visible Cities與臺北市政府協作打造臺北大數據中心，兩個不同的公民科技協作案例作為研究個案，在研究方法上，採用個案研究法與深度訪談法，並以Agger 與 Hedensted (2017)提出的公民創新架構進行分析，並透過該架構的五大面向：制度框架、認同感、創新的貢獻、公民的屬性以及資源，以及分析個案中公民科技社群組織所擔任的公民創新角色，並藉由探討不同的公民創新的面相與角色，去了解公民科技社群組織與地方政府進行協力創新所產生的影響。 研究結果發現公民創新的角色是多重的，即在公民科技協作中往往難以將公民創新的性質區分為單一的角色。這些參與者願意進行協作的動機，大多由於這些參與的成員們對於公共事務與社會議題保有熱忱。這些公民協作者並不僅限於科技背景的人員才能夠參與。而公民科技社群在與地方政府進行協力創新的過程中，會帶來多元的創新貢獻：公共服務上的經驗、協作的經驗、政策面上的專業建議、幫助政府進行政策擴散，把自身的專業技術留在市府內部中，帶給政府內部許多嶄新的思維與作法，更為公部門帶來相當多額外的、間接的正面影響與改變。 最後針對研究結果給予反思，本研究認為需要去思考公民科技協作的延續性、不同公民科技社群擁有創新資源的差異，以及政府進行協力創新的困難與公民社群與政府行事風格的落差，並針對我國的情況近一步提出建議，認為應提升臺北大數據中心的編制地位、培養整體社會公民參與協作的風氣與提升機關首長對於公民科技社群的接受度，並完善公民科技協作的機制。

With the increasing development of information technology and the Internet, an emerging form of civic engagement - "Civic Technology" - has emerged, along with the rising civic awareness. Citizens then begin to use information technology to participate in public affairs and help society to solve its problem. These people collaborated and developed into influential communities and organizations, and in recent years, local governments have actively sought to collaborate and innovate to bring better public innovation services through civic technology collaboration. In this study, I have introduced two different cases of civic technology collaboration as case studies. They are, the collaboration between Code for America and the California government to improve on food stamp application process, and the Taiwanese case of In Visible Cities collaborating with Taipei city government to build Taipei Urban Intelligence Center respectively. Throughout the research, I have utilized case studies method and in-depth interviews to analyze the civic innovation role played by civic technology community organizations through five major aspects of the civic innovation framework proposed by Agger and Hedensted (2017). These aspects are institutional framework, identity, contribution to innovation, citizen selection, and resources respectively. By discussing different dimensions and roles of civic innovation in order to understand the influence of collaboration between civic-tech community and local government. The study then concludes that the roles of civic innovation are multi-dimensional. It is difficult to distinguish the nature of civic innovation in civic technology collaboration into a single role. I have observed that the willingness of these participants to collaborate is mostly motivated by their enthusiasm for public affairs and social issues. Moreover, civic collaborators are not only limited to those with technical backgrounds. In terms of the process of collaborative innovation with local governments, I have found that the civic tech community brings a variety of innovative contributions. They includes experience in public service, experience in collaboration, professional advice on policy, assistance in policy diffusion, transferring their expertise within the city government, bringing many new ideas and practices within the government, and to bring additional, indirect positive impacts to the public sector. Finally, to reflect on the research findings, this study proposed the following policy implications. They are to consider the necessity of the continuity of civic technology collaboration, to consider the differences in innovation resources owned by various civic technology communities, and the differences in working styles between civic communities and government. This study also propose improving the acceptance of civic technology by government officials, in order to further improve the mechanism of civic technology collaboration.