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Top1. Introduction
Over the past 15 years, developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have created new possibilities for improvement as well as complex and rapidly changing challenges for governments and public administrations (Aichholzer & Schmutzer, 2000; Bingham et al., 2005; Coleman, 2004; Dawes, 2008; Macintosh & Whyte, 2008; Orihuela & Obi, 2007; Snellen & van de Donk, 2002; Shin, 2013). New technologies have enabled public administrations to communicate and interact with citizens in new ways (Ganapati & Reddick, 2014; Ke & Wei, 2004; Macintosh & Whyte, 2008). Moreover, developments in ICT, such as cloud computing and open data services, have provided previously impossible opportunities to enhance existing services and provide new public services (Contini & Lanzara, 2008; Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Tsohou et. al., 2014). However, these developments have also led citizens to become more demanding and to shift their public service consumption behavior (Bellamy, 2009; Clarke et. al., 2007; Kampen et al., 2006). It is important for public administrations to be aware of these developments to create services of superior service quality and to adapt existing services in line with citizens’ demands (Chatfield & AlAnazi, 2013; Eriksson et. al., 2005; Gupta et al., 2008).
One result of these developments is that public administrations began to coproduce their services with citizens and external experts (Bovaird, 2007; Vigoda, 2002). An increasing number of services are no longer provided by administrations in a top-down manner but rather developed in collaboration with citizens and service consumers (Bovaird, 2007; King, 2007; Lowndes et al., 2001). Therefore, public participation services are an important area for ICT developments (Frewer & Rowe, 2005; Macintosh & Whyte, 2008; Pähle, 2008). Open data and social media applications or online-based public participation tools enable public administrations to create enhanced public participation services (AlAnazi & Chatfield, 2012; Kubicek & Westholm, 2005). Vigoda (2002) and Bovaird (2007) identified an increasing number of coproduced public services. Ideally, this could lead to citizen participation in policy formation and implementation, which is currently utopian but may be implemented in the future (Anderson, 2014; Brandt & Svendsen, 2013; Irvin & Stansbury, 2004; Zavattaro & Sementelli, 2014). Nevertheless, to date, most public services continue to be developed and implemented by public experts without knowing citizens’ demands (Joshi & Moore, 2003; Vigoda, 2002; Vigoda, 2000). Researchers in this area must distinguish these demands and provide information to public administrations in the future (Scholl, 2012).