Abstract
Crowdsourcing is a form of citizen participation in which an institution has a question submits to citizens via the internet in order to get citizens to think about innovative solutions to the problem. Several municipalities around the world have already used this means, but it has not yet been clear exactly how they can use it and which preconditions play a role in this. Thus, this chapter argued the concept of citizen involvement in the age of ICT by emphasizing the two related terms e-government and e-local government, then secondly the chapter underlined the importance of the necessity of citizen participation in the policymaking process. In the third section of this chapter, it has been argued the crowdsourcing concept as a tool of participation in the age of ICT. Then finally the paper outlined a model for local governments that may use the crowdsourcing approach in the decision-making process.
TopStates, especially the executive, legislative, and judicial powers that make up the public administration system; has gradually expanded the use of technology in all public institutions and organizations, provincial organizations and almost all technical and administrative processes in local governments (Liu & Yuan, 2015: 140). The main purpose of the states in the use of technology is to make their internal operations more efficient, as well as to provide better service to all actors/stakeholders of the public administration system, such as their citizens, private sector companies, non-governmental organizations and international organizations they serve (Danziger & Andersen, 2002). Citizens are preferring more and more electronic channels to get faster, cheaper, easier and citizen-oriented services, instead of going to the building of the institution, while taking service from both central government (Ministries and provincial organizations) and local administrations (especially municipalities) (Venkatesh et.al., 2012). In this context, in developed countries since the 1990s, while in developing countries such as Turkey, it is observed that the electronic government applications become widespread since the 2000s (Çarıkçı, 2010).
Key Terms in this Chapter
E-Government: This term ca be defined as the use of ICTs to more effectively and efficiently deliver government services to citizens and businesses. It is the application of ICT in government operations, achieving public ends by digital means.
Citizen Involvement: This term refers to involvement of the citizens in decision making by governments. There are several alternative terms include public participation, citizen participation and public involvement. This is a process which provides individuals a chance to inspiration policy makers’ decisions and has long been an element of the democratic decision-making process.
Crowdsourcing: Crowdsourcing is a type of participative online activity in which an individual, an institution, a non-profit organization, or company proposes to a group of individuals of varying knowledge, heterogeneity, and number, via a flexible open call, the voluntary undertaking of a task (Estellés-Arolas and González-Ladrón-de-Guevara, 2012, p. 197).
ICT: Information and communication technologies (ICT) states technologies that provide access to information through telecommunications. It is similar to Information Technology (IT), but focuses primarily on communication technologies. This includes the Internet, wireless networks, cell phones, and other communication mediums.