Vision: Integrating Information and Institutions for Social Good

Government and civil society have been in a period of deep transformation since the early 1990s, heralded by developments in information and communication technologies. The outcomes of fundamentally new modes of coordination, control, and communication in government offer potentially great benefit but also pose potentially great peril. Researchers and practitioners have a deep obligation to examine, articulate and communicate the range of possible effects of ubiquitous computing in government and to influence its development through research, education, dialogue, and practical activities. Since its inception in 2002, NCDG has functioned in three primary ways: as a clearinghouse for digital government research, practice, and innovation; a convener of social, policy, computer and information science researchers, government practitioners and related private sector actors; a means to advance human development through workshops for cross-sectoral groups, education for graduate and executive students, and development of teaching tools and resources; and the advancement of knowledge through all of these attributes as well as longitudinal, cross-disciplinary, problem-oriented research. Successive waves of technological developments from the Internet and Web, to the rise of social media, and, more recently, the advancement of artificial intelligence and machine learning reshape the focus but not the overall vision of NCDG.