"Digital States": how it all began
Illustration: Jean Granville PD
Consulting company Deloitte at the end of 2017 released a report on technologies in the international public sector. The main trend for 2018 is what the researchers call the symphonic enterprise. This concept implies the achievement of a cumulative effect from the introduction by the state and business of such technologies as, for example, the blockchain and artificial intelligence systems. The goal is to increase the efficiency of the entire “digital state” - from the interaction of citizens, government agencies and businesses to the implementation of basic tasks on electronic document management.
Today we will describe how the concept of a “digital state” (TG) appeared, let's talk about the first examples of individual systems and the possibilities for their integration.
The theme of the state, in which technology put forward in the first place, occupies a special position in the literature. The flying island of Laputa from Jonathan Swift's “Gulliver's Travels” is one of the first theoretical models of the state of the future, in which technology plays a major role. By the way, in the work itself it didn’t lead to anything good - the inhabitants of the island did not cope with life, despite all the advances in the scientific field, and power was concentrated in the hands of one ruler.
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Elements of the digital state can be found in almost all classic dystopias: “O Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley, “We” by Yevgeny Zamyatin, “1984” by George Orwell. Most writers stopped at the means of tracking citizens and exaggerated their negative impact on freedom in all its manifestations.
The novel “The House of a Thousand Floors” by Jan Weiss was released in 1929. Like other dystopias, he considered relevant at the time of writing the problem through the prism of a possible future. A single center from which a huge skyscraper-house is managed can be compared with a platform or command center for managing services in a modern digital state, for example, in Singapore .
Utopias have always been close to anti-utopias - books about the wonderful technological world of the future. With the advent of the first computers, more and more authors began to appear, seeing in computerization and robotization, if not a boon for humanity, then at least a norm. These writers include dozens of classics of the science fiction genre - for example, Isaac Asimov (and his first law of robotics).
The popularity of art books and the work of theoretical philosophers helped society to begin an active understanding of the various possibilities offered by new technologies and the risks associated with them. In parallel with them, a theoretical base and practical work began to emerge that solved specific tasks and could not yet take into account and embody the full scope of the concept of a “digital state”.
One cannot say that the theoretical basis of the concept of a digital state was developed and deliberately conceived as a single direction. On the contrary, it acquires such characteristics only now, absorbing the knowledge and experience of a number of individual theories and disciplines. They did not appear a couple of years ago and have traveled quite a long way before it was decided to use them for the digitalization of states.
For example, cybernetics, known to us today in the form proposed by Norbert Wiener in 1948, was previously meant as a discipline in charge of managing the state - this was the vision of a term introduced in the 1830s by Andre-Marie Ampère , a French physicist, mathematician and naturalist. The development of cybernetics went along with the comprehension of what the “ information society ” is - this concept originated in the 1940s. It is associated with such scientists as Claude Shannon, John von Neumann, Alan Turing, and other eminent representatives of the beginning of the informatization era.
One of the possible prototypes of the digital state in the USSR was the concept of the first Unified State Network of Computing Centers. Its author is Anatoly Kitov. In 1956, his book Electronic Digital Machines was published, which was then translated and published in many countries, including the United States. In 1959, Kitov proposed the creation of a single automated management system for the armed forces and the national economy, but the authorities did not support the idea.
/ Flickr / Seattle Munici-pal Archives / CC
In the 1960s, the first scientific papers on electronic records management and projects on the introduction of computer systems in the work of state structures began to appear in the United States. An article by an employee of one of the US Treasury divisions, Horvard Gammon (W. Howard Gammon), “ Automating Workflow in an Enterprise, ” dated 1954, is considered one of the first works that can be conditionally attributed to the direction of digitalization of public services.
In the early 1970s, one of the first major research groups on the introduction of automated control systems in municipal and state institutions was formed at the University of California, Irvine (California, USA). It was called URBIS (Urban Information Systems), and scientists who were in this group ( KL Kraemer , G. Howe and others) are considered to be among the first theorists in the field of digital state.
At this time (early 70s), the first European research groups appeared. Here, Germany and Austria took the lead - other leading European countries joined them only in the 80s. More information about the history of scientific papers on the topic - in this article - "Information Technology and Government Research: A Brief History".
With the development of network technologies, new thematic areas began to emerge that were related to the solution of individual digitalization tasks. For example, with the filing of tax returns. This direction is called "efile" or "electronic filing". His story began with an experiment in 1986. Attending 5 declaration preparation specialists from Cincinnati (a city in southwestern Ohio, USA), Raleigh (the capital of North Carolina) and Phoenix (the capital and largest city of Arizona).
In the course of the experiment, they were able to process 25,000 declarations, as well as save time and resources on sending documents in hard copy - and as early as next 1987 the number of specialists participating in the project increased to 66 people. In 1990, efile processed 4.2 million tax returns. In 2013 - more than 122 million.
In the USSR, the introduction of electronic document management systems (EDMS) and office automation began in the 1980s in the apparatus of the CPSU Central Committee. The first systems had very modest possibilities - the secretary could enter registration-but-control cards, search for them and keep a register of documents. Only 8-10 years after that, the first EDS at enterprises began to appear, and the full-fledged market of EDS in Russia began in the 90s. Subsequently, the electronic document flow covered the sphere of knowledge management and business processes and became a significant component of the digital state, which began to form at the intersection of different areas.
Today, to discuss the topic of universal digitalization, several concepts close in meaning are used at once, for example, “digital state” (TG) and “e-government” (EP). In fact, TG and ES are not synonymous. This is a more general and particular concept. The first (CG) implies the inclusion of the second (EP), but not vice versa.
The question of what exactly is part of e-government is a matter of debate even among the scientific community. For example, a number of participants in the thematic forum on the Research Gate platform put forward the hypothesis that there are four areas in e-government:
One of the most important tasks of e-government is to form completely new methods and approaches that citizens and entrepreneurs could use to effectively interact with government agencies. Such innovations should be built on the principles of openness and have a beneficial effect on the economic situation and the state of social relations in the country. This often requires a complete revision of the interaction processes at all levels, the principles for the selection of specialists and the development of technological solutions.
For example, the Austrian government formed the Digital Austria platform. She coordinates the work of the government, regional authorities and municipalities in the format of a special commission responsible for 4 areas:
Digital state (TG) is a more general concept. Many will remember Estonia and will be right. Estonia is one of the examples of the TG, which is in the process of formation and construction. In the following parts of our “serial” about TG, we will return to the terminology and consider TG through the prism of digital platforms, which are one of the foundations for the development of the public services sector and the digital state as a whole.
Consulting company Deloitte at the end of 2017 released a report on technologies in the international public sector. The main trend for 2018 is what the researchers call the symphonic enterprise. This concept implies the achievement of a cumulative effect from the introduction by the state and business of such technologies as, for example, the blockchain and artificial intelligence systems. The goal is to increase the efficiency of the entire “digital state” - from the interaction of citizens, government agencies and businesses to the implementation of basic tasks on electronic document management.Today we will describe how the concept of a “digital state” (TG) appeared, let's talk about the first examples of individual systems and the possibilities for their integration.
Cultural origins of the "digital state"
The theme of the state, in which technology put forward in the first place, occupies a special position in the literature. The flying island of Laputa from Jonathan Swift's “Gulliver's Travels” is one of the first theoretical models of the state of the future, in which technology plays a major role. By the way, in the work itself it didn’t lead to anything good - the inhabitants of the island did not cope with life, despite all the advances in the scientific field, and power was concentrated in the hands of one ruler.
')
Elements of the digital state can be found in almost all classic dystopias: “O Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley, “We” by Yevgeny Zamyatin, “1984” by George Orwell. Most writers stopped at the means of tracking citizens and exaggerated their negative impact on freedom in all its manifestations.
The novel “The House of a Thousand Floors” by Jan Weiss was released in 1929. Like other dystopias, he considered relevant at the time of writing the problem through the prism of a possible future. A single center from which a huge skyscraper-house is managed can be compared with a platform or command center for managing services in a modern digital state, for example, in Singapore .
Utopias have always been close to anti-utopias - books about the wonderful technological world of the future. With the advent of the first computers, more and more authors began to appear, seeing in computerization and robotization, if not a boon for humanity, then at least a norm. These writers include dozens of classics of the science fiction genre - for example, Isaac Asimov (and his first law of robotics).
The popularity of art books and the work of theoretical philosophers helped society to begin an active understanding of the various possibilities offered by new technologies and the risks associated with them. In parallel with them, a theoretical base and practical work began to emerge that solved specific tasks and could not yet take into account and embody the full scope of the concept of a “digital state”.
From concepts to real systems
One cannot say that the theoretical basis of the concept of a digital state was developed and deliberately conceived as a single direction. On the contrary, it acquires such characteristics only now, absorbing the knowledge and experience of a number of individual theories and disciplines. They did not appear a couple of years ago and have traveled quite a long way before it was decided to use them for the digitalization of states.
For example, cybernetics, known to us today in the form proposed by Norbert Wiener in 1948, was previously meant as a discipline in charge of managing the state - this was the vision of a term introduced in the 1830s by Andre-Marie Ampère , a French physicist, mathematician and naturalist. The development of cybernetics went along with the comprehension of what the “ information society ” is - this concept originated in the 1940s. It is associated with such scientists as Claude Shannon, John von Neumann, Alan Turing, and other eminent representatives of the beginning of the informatization era.
One of the possible prototypes of the digital state in the USSR was the concept of the first Unified State Network of Computing Centers. Its author is Anatoly Kitov. In 1956, his book Electronic Digital Machines was published, which was then translated and published in many countries, including the United States. In 1959, Kitov proposed the creation of a single automated management system for the armed forces and the national economy, but the authorities did not support the idea.
/ Flickr / Seattle Munici-pal Archives / CC
In the 1960s, the first scientific papers on electronic records management and projects on the introduction of computer systems in the work of state structures began to appear in the United States. An article by an employee of one of the US Treasury divisions, Horvard Gammon (W. Howard Gammon), “ Automating Workflow in an Enterprise, ” dated 1954, is considered one of the first works that can be conditionally attributed to the direction of digitalization of public services.
In the early 1970s, one of the first major research groups on the introduction of automated control systems in municipal and state institutions was formed at the University of California, Irvine (California, USA). It was called URBIS (Urban Information Systems), and scientists who were in this group ( KL Kraemer , G. Howe and others) are considered to be among the first theorists in the field of digital state.
At this time (early 70s), the first European research groups appeared. Here, Germany and Austria took the lead - other leading European countries joined them only in the 80s. More information about the history of scientific papers on the topic - in this article - "Information Technology and Government Research: A Brief History".
With the development of network technologies, new thematic areas began to emerge that were related to the solution of individual digitalization tasks. For example, with the filing of tax returns. This direction is called "efile" or "electronic filing". His story began with an experiment in 1986. Attending 5 declaration preparation specialists from Cincinnati (a city in southwestern Ohio, USA), Raleigh (the capital of North Carolina) and Phoenix (the capital and largest city of Arizona).
In the course of the experiment, they were able to process 25,000 declarations, as well as save time and resources on sending documents in hard copy - and as early as next 1987 the number of specialists participating in the project increased to 66 people. In 1990, efile processed 4.2 million tax returns. In 2013 - more than 122 million.
In the USSR, the introduction of electronic document management systems (EDMS) and office automation began in the 1980s in the apparatus of the CPSU Central Committee. The first systems had very modest possibilities - the secretary could enter registration-but-control cards, search for them and keep a register of documents. Only 8-10 years after that, the first EDS at enterprises began to appear, and the full-fledged market of EDS in Russia began in the 90s. Subsequently, the electronic document flow covered the sphere of knowledge management and business processes and became a significant component of the digital state, which began to form at the intersection of different areas.
Finish off with a minute of terminology.
Today, to discuss the topic of universal digitalization, several concepts close in meaning are used at once, for example, “digital state” (TG) and “e-government” (EP). In fact, TG and ES are not synonymous. This is a more general and particular concept. The first (CG) implies the inclusion of the second (EP), but not vice versa.
The question of what exactly is part of e-government is a matter of debate even among the scientific community. For example, a number of participants in the thematic forum on the Research Gate platform put forward the hypothesis that there are four areas in e-government:
- administration - ICT in the processes associated with the state. management;
- the provision of public services - services for citizens in electronic form;
- the involvement of citizens in the management decision-making process;
- algorithmization of interaction between government agencies, businesses and citizens.
One of the most important tasks of e-government is to form completely new methods and approaches that citizens and entrepreneurs could use to effectively interact with government agencies. Such innovations should be built on the principles of openness and have a beneficial effect on the economic situation and the state of social relations in the country. This often requires a complete revision of the interaction processes at all levels, the principles for the selection of specialists and the development of technological solutions.
For example, the Austrian government formed the Digital Austria platform. She coordinates the work of the government, regional authorities and municipalities in the format of a special commission responsible for 4 areas:
- informational - providing general access to information from government agencies;
- communication - ensuring the exchange of information with the state;
- transactional - the implementation of public services and electronic document management;
- personalization direction - content targeting according to citizens' tasks.
Digital state (TG) is a more general concept. Many will remember Estonia and will be right. Estonia is one of the examples of the TG, which is in the process of formation and construction. In the following parts of our “serial” about TG, we will return to the terminology and consider TG through the prism of digital platforms, which are one of the foundations for the development of the public services sector and the digital state as a whole.
Some fresh materials from the corporate blog 1cloud:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/349902/
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