Electronic data safes as an infrastructure for transformational government? A case study

Abstract

This article introduces and explores the potential of an active electronic data safe (AEDS) serving as an infrastructure to achieve transformational government. An AEDS connects individuals and organizations from the private and the public sector to exchange information items related to business processes following the user-managed access paradigm. To realize the transformational government’s vision of user-centricity, fundamental changes in the service provision and collaboration of public and private sector organizations are needed. Findings of a user study with a prototype of an AEDS are used to identify four barriers for the adoption of an AEDS in the light of transformational government: (1) offering citizens unfamiliar services having the character of experience-goods; (2) failing to fulfil common service expectations of the customers; (3) failing to establish contextual integrity for data sharing, and, (4) failing to establish and run an AEDS as a multi-sided platform providing an attractive business model.