Keywords

citizen participation; technology use, technologies for public administration; participatory decision-making

Abstract

Technology-enabled processes are prevalent in various domains of public administration. The integration of technologies is to bring substantial improvement into public processes, including public participation. For this, the government and advocates of deliberation strive to adopt digital means for citizen participation to attain effectiveness that the conventional participatory processes fail to achieve. Low-cost air quality sensors are emerging technologies that reinforce participatory decision-making, leveraging collective intelligence through information sharing. Nevertheless, it requires a careful evaluation of their association with citizen participation to determine how much attention stakeholders of public processes should spare.

Scientists at the University of Central Florida developed and implemented Secure and Trustworthy Air Quality (STAIR) networks as part of interdisciplinary community-engaged research. The network consists of more than 100 affordable air quality sensors installed across the Greater Orlando area. It provides near real-time air quality data for individual and collective decision-making. This study reports on the relationship between technology use and citizen participation, evaluating the use of data from the STAIR air quality networks and other air quality monitoring technologies available in the geographical area. The study also assesses the interacting effect of trust in local government on this relationship. The main research question is: Does the use of air quality networks affect citizen participation in the state of trust in local government?

The study employs a cross-sectional research design to evaluate survey data collected from random residents of communities throughout much of the Orlando area and adjacent cities. The results of the regression model infer that there is a positive relationship between air quality network use and citizen participation, and trust in the local government positively affects this relationship.

The study contributes to the literature, providing further empirical perspectives on technologies for citizen participation.

Completion Date

2024

Semester

Summer

Committee Chair

Bryer, Thomas

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Community Innovation and Education

Department

School of Public Administration

Degree Program

Public Affairs

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

DP0028606

URL

https://purls.library.ucf.edu/go/DP0028606

Language

English

Rights

In copyright

Release Date

August 2029

Length of Campus-only Access

5 years

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Campus-only Access)

Campus Location

UCF Downtown

Accessibility Status

Meets minimum standards for ETDs/HUTs

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Restricted to the UCF community until August 2029; it will then be open access.

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