Mid Sweden University

The study investigated how three agencies in Sweden were pursuing the implementation of an electronic archive (e-archive). The e-archive was seen by the Swedish National archives as a pre-requisite to the effective management of government information and would help the agencies to comply with the Swedish Public Sector Information (PSI) law which requires them to publish open data. It was also seen as an important component of an efficient e-government. The study further had two objectives: to establish whether the common specifications were being used and how the implementation of the PSI-law was being pursued. Interviews and a literature review were used as data gathering techniques. The Records Continuum Model (RCM) was applied to enhance an understanding of how the agencies were dealing with the publication of open data. Two of the agencies had implemented an e-archive but the third agency lacked one. All the three were publishing open data. The agency that did not have an e-archive was publishing open data that suited its existing information management infrastructure. This has implications since the PSI-law requires full publication of all PSI which has no restrictions. The common specifications were not being used by the agencies.

This paper investigates the extent to which the documentation that was generated by the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (SATRC) is being used to promote the healing of a post-apartheid society. Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs) are considered a primary human rights tool for post-conflict reconciliation and reconstruction. They investigate gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, uncover the truth, and promote forgiveness. In this regard, TRCs use restorative justice which focuses on the rehabilitation of perpetrators through reconciliation with victims. They offer a platform for victims and perpetrators to share their experiences in an endeavor to repair the social fabric damaged by violent or structural conflict. TRCs are expected to help post-conflict societies transition from a past of human rights violations to a democratic and peaceful post-conflict society where human rights are respected. TRCs, through the documentation they produce, make it hard for the perpetrators to deny the truth.

This article presents preliminary results of a study that explores the management of information critical to the follow-up process of the placement of children and young people in residential care homes in two municipalities in Sweden. The placement of children and young people is regulated by a stringent legal framework to protect their integrity. However, there is need to effectively capture, manage, use and re-use information for follow-up purposes. An effective follow-up is of paramount importance to the wellbeing of the placed individuals and to improve service delivery which can be innovatively pursued through the development of e-services. The study applied Participatory Action Research (PAR) and it also used an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) model with a focus on the Life Cycle Management of Information. The research findings confirmed lack of effective ways of managing information for the followup process, which makes the development of e-services more difficult.

Good governance and inclusive development require governments to make their information flows accessible to all citizens. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 advocates the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies, with the emphasis being placed on access to government information. Apart from this Sustainable Development Goal, globally, several open-data initiatives and advocates of freedom of information are pushing governments to open up their data flows. Open data are seen as a driver of public service innovation that generates new knowledge and enables the creation of new electronic services. The narrative about open data assumes that the data are within reach of the citizens to explore and to develop new electronic services based on, for example, statistical, mobility, meteorological, judicial and court data to boost national innovation. However, research shows the contrary that open data are still concentrated in the hands of a few people such as politicians, journalists, system developers and data miners. This raises questions about the openness of the data. In Sweden, most of the interactions that citizens have are with the municipalities because they offer a broad range of public services. This is why the researcher argues that to promote awareness and open data usage by ordinary citizens, the Swedish government should work with the municipalities to create platforms for the exploitation of the data and to facilitate the development of technical expertise. If open data are to be inclusive, the data will require the involvement of citizens in the current open-data developments.

Projektet har varit ett samverkansprojekt mellan Forum för digitalisering/MIUN och kommunerna Örnsköldsvik och Härnösand. Syftet med projektet var att kartlägga informationsbehoven vid uppföljning av Hem för vård eller boende (HVB) för barn och ungdomar, samt tillsammans med involverade aktörer arbeta fram ett förslag till en modell som kan leda till en effektivare informationsförsörjning. Med informationsförsörjning avsågs att olika målgrupper skulle ha tillgång till den information som de behöver. Det innefattar också de krav på hantering, organisation, informationssäkerhet, lagring, återvinning och förmedling av information som krävs för att det ska vara möjligt (eSam, 2018). Projektet förhöll sig till ett redan påbörjat, länsgemensamt arbete gällande uppföljning av HVB för barn och ungdomar. Det länsgemensamma arbetet tog avstamp i ett uppdrag åt FoU Västernorrland, som handlade om att skapa förståelse för kommunernas processer för uppföljning av avtal med upphandlade HVB (se Blomberg & Wadell, 2017:3). I uppdraget identifierades bland annat behovet av länsgemensam informationshantering och uppföljning av HVB-placeringar. För att kunna få till en bra uppföljning av HVB behöver man fånga och hantera den information som uppstår, på ett effektivt och innovativt sätt. Utgångspunkten för projektet har varit att identifiera vad som behövs för att kunna skapa processorienterat arbetssätt som möjliggör uppföljning i syfte att lära och förbättra verksamheten. Projektet föreslår en modell för effektivare informationsförsörjning som skapats tillsammans med studiens deltagare.

This article is based on a pilot study that investigated the Swedish people’s awareness of the Swedish Public Sector Information (PSI) directive, their understanding of the difference between the PSI-directive and the Public Access Act and whether they had the prerequisite skills required for the use of the Public Sector Information (PSI). Sweden has a long tradition of readily access to official documents which could have delayed the implementation of the European PSI-directive that was enacted in 2003. Sweden implemented its Public-Sector Information (PSI) directive in 2010. The Directive focuses on the commercialization of government information to create an information market and to promote innovation. In Sweden, the PSI directive is intrinsically linked to the e-Government development policy. The study applied a literature review and interviews as data collecting techniques. Sixteen interviews were conducted with varying occupations such as students, a personnel manager, a head of a unit, a doctoral student, a pensioner, a clinical research associate, a workers’ union employee, a web designer, two archivists, a head of an archival institution, an associate professor, a receptionist, and two shoemakers. The conclusion is that there is a need to create awareness about the PSI directive, offer training, and to create an IT infrastructure and projects to promote information about the PSI to avoid a societal a digital divide. The reviewed literature confirmed that PSI usage is still concentrated in the hands of a few citizens that is, those that are already digitally empowered. The study had limitations since it based on a limited number of respondents which means that the results cannot be generalized. 

Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs) are established to document violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in post-conflict societies. The intent is to excavate the truth to avoid political speculations and create an understanding of the nature of the conflict. The documentation hence results in a common narrative which aims to facilitate reconciliation to avoid regression to conflict. TRCs therefore do a tremendous job and create compound documentation that includes written statements, interviews, live public testimonies of witnesses and they also publish final reports based on the accumulated materials. At the end of their mission, TRCs recommend the optimal use of their documentation since it is of paramount importance to the reconciliation process. Despite this ambition, the TRCs’ documentation is often politicized and out of reach for the victims and the post-conflict societies at large. The TRCs’ documentation is instead poorly diffused into the post conflict societies and their findings are not effectively disseminated and used.

The right to access government information has been a key element of sustainable development since the 1992 Rio Declaration. It is further recognized in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Therefore, governments are through open government initiatives making information available to the citizens. This is based on a supposition that everyone is information literate and yet this is not the case. Information literacy is defined as the ability to be able to act on the information that is provided to us citizens. Being able to locate, evaluate, and ethically use information is an ability that is crucial to the citizens' participation in society. It requires individuals to be in possession of a set of skills that can enable them to recognize when information is needed to be able to locate, evaluate, and use it effectively. Information institutions have been the gateways to knowledge, and hence, their resources and services have been crucial to the development of information literate, creative, and innovative societies. This study sought to establish how the information institutions in Sweden were promoting information literacy in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal 16 amidst the post-truth era. The author has applied a qualitative research methodology where interviews have been used as a data collecting technique.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the archivists’ understanding of New Public Management (NPM) and its impact on their role as gatekeepers of government information. The paper therefore presents the views of the archivists who traditionally manage the creation, capture and organisation of information at the Swedish Transport Board (STB). Government information is key to institutional transparency and hence the stringent legal framework that governs it. Sweden is considered a highly transparent country and through its Press Act, which dates as far back as the 1766, all its citizens enjoy the right to access government information. This way, citizens can follow and scrutinise the government processes, which increases openness and trust in government institutions. However, this image of Sweden as open and transparent was challenged by the “Transportgate IT scandal,” which put it in the limelight of both national and international media. The scandal was due to outsourcing. Global governments these days operate under increased financial constraints, demands for efficiency and environmentally sustainable solutions and are therefore engaged in the outsourcing of government functions. Outsourcing is a strategy within New Public Management and is regarded as a solution to the above-mentioned constraints. Outsourcing is being done within the growing popularity of NPM, which is the adoption of methods and best practice from the private sector. However, among the challenges that outsourcing poses is data/information security. Yet, one of the building stones of trust in government institutions is secure and trustworthy government information. As the “Transportgate IT scandal” unfolded, the focus was on IT security and there was a total lack of discussion on the information contained in the systems. This paper used a case study as a method to explore the above issues. It applied a literature review and interviews as data gathering techniques. The results confirmed that the archivists had a full understanding of NPM and its impact on the management of government information. They are supposed to play a key role in the management of government information, but they were not at all involved in the outsourcing process. There is a danger that this development might impact the trust citizens have in government institutions since access to government information might be compromised. Therefore, outsourcing of government information should involve all the stakeholders and there should be well-formulated clauses to protect it.

Purpose: Using a case study method, the article investigates the impact New Public Management (NPM), through outsourcing has had on the management of government information at the Swedish Transport Agency. In April 2015 the Agency outsourced its IT-operations to IBM company. Some of the IBM sub-contractors had not been cleared by the Swedish Security Service. This exposed the Agency’s information to risk. By outsourcing the IT operations, the General Director of the Agency deviated from the laws governing government information such as the Swedish Security Protection Act, the Personal Data Act and the Publicity and Secrecy Act. Design/methodology/approach: The researcher has applied a case study method as the investigation focuses on a phenomenon in a real-life setting. The case study method entails the use of past studies, which facilitates the exploration and understanding of a complex issue. The phenomenon under investigation is NPM’s impact, through outsourcing, on the management of public information at the Swedish Transportation Agency. Findings: Outsourcing should be foregone by well-formulated contracts that should put into consideration the management of government information and the involvement of all stakeholders such as records managers/archivists, IT personnel, heads of departments, lawyers and business analysts. Outsourcing risks to compromise the two tenets of democracy that is, accountability and transparency which are central to Swedish public administrations’ operations. Research limitations/implications: The study is limited by the fact that it only presents the views of the archivists. This was, however, purposely done because their voice was missing during the discussions that followed after the data breach scandal had become public knowledge. Additionally, archivists are supposed to play a major role in the management of government information at Swedish institutions. Further research that will involve different categories of employees might give a deeper and better understanding of the impact that NPM, through outsourcing, is having on the management of government information and what implications this might have on issues of trust, transparency and accountability. Practical implications: The study demonstrates the need for well-formulated outsourcing contracts that will include information management clauses. It is of crucial importance in a democratic society that access to government information is not compromised as institutions endeavor to achieve efficiency and high-quality service delivery. Social implications: It is government information that gives citizens knowledge about the various processes of government institutions. It is therefore of paramount importance that government information is not left in the hands of unauthorized companies that are involved in the outsourcing activity but should be securely managed and guarded, as the opposite might pose privacy and national security challenges and hence undermine the trust that citizens have in government institutions. Originality/value: The search that the author conducted confirmed paucity in research that discusses issues related to NPM, outsourcing and the management of government information. This paper is therefore a contribution to the discourse from an archives and information management perspective.