Research Catalog

Title

Surveillance, transparency, and democracy : public administration in the information age / Akhlaque Haque.

Author

Haque, Akhlaque.

Publication

Tuscaloosa : University Alabama Press, [2015]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvi, 153 pages; 24 cm

Summary

• "In this well-informed yet anxious age, public administrators have constructed vast cisterns that collect and interpret a meteoric shower of facts. In Surveillance, Transparency, and Democracy, Akhlaque Haque demonstrates that this pervasive use and increasing dependence on information technology (IT) enables sophisticated and well-intentioned public services that nevertheless risk deforming public policy decision-making. Haque sees the contradiction at the core of a public that seeks services that require a level of data collection that triggers fears of a tyrannical police state. Haque begins by explaining that information has become a vital resource, offering a theoretical framework for its analysis. He then shows that an organization's information-gathering skill is reflected in its IT sophistication, but warns that successful IT strategies can by stunted by symbolic but shallow gestures such as the appointment of a "Chief Information Officer." He further outlines how the dependence on IT can create a reflex for IT solutions that fail to reflect the values of the citizenry they're intended to serve. Haque posits that IT's potential as a tool for human development depends on how civil servants and citizens actively engage in identifying desired outcomes, map IT solutions to those outcomes, and routinize the applications of those solutions. This leads to his call for the development of entrepreneurs who generate innovative solutions to critical human needs and problems. In his powerful summary, Haque recaps possible answers to the question: "What is the best way a public institution can apply technology to improving the human condition?" Haque masterfully flexes between crisp logical arguments and a deep empathy for human values. He finds apt metaphors that bring multifaceted scenarios into clear focus for experts and laymen alike. Engrossing, challenging, and important, Surveillance, Transparency, and Democracy is essential reading for both policy makers as well as the great majority of readers and citizens engaged in contemporary arguments about the role of government, public health and security, individual privacy, data collection, and surveillance."--
• "The End of Surveillance investigates public administration's increasing dependence on technology and how its pervasive use in complex and interrelated socioeconomic and political affairs has outstripped the ability of many public administrators and the public to grasp the consequences of their choices. Akhlaque Haque sees the contradiction at the core of a public that seeks services that require a level of data collection that triggers fears of a tyrannical police state"--

Series Statement

Public administration : criticism & creativity

Uniform Title

Public administration, criticism & creativity.

Subjects

• Public administration > Information resources management
• Transparency in government
• Internet in public administration
• Offentliga sektorn
• Electronic government information
• POLITICAL SCIENCE > Public Affairs & Administration
• POLITICAL SCIENCE > Government > General
• TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING > Social Aspects
• Elektroniska informationsresurser
• Transparens (politik)
• Offentliga elektroniska tjänster

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Call Number

JFE 16-4428

ISBN

• 9780817318772
• 0817318771

LCCN

2015002771

OCLC

908838508

Author

Haque, Akhlaque.

Title

Surveillance, transparency, and democracy : public administration in the information age / Akhlaque Haque.

Publisher

Tuscaloosa : University Alabama Press, [2015]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Public administration : criticism & creativity

Public administration, criticism & creativity.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Research Call Number

JFE 16-4428