Engaging Citizens in Co-Creation in Public Services: Lessons Learned and Best PracticesThis report continues the IBM Center's interest in the concept of public service co-creation and co-delivery. The report, Beyond Citizen Engagement: Involving the Public in Co-Delivering Government Services, by P.K. Kannan and Ai-Mei Chang, provided a guide for introducing and implementing a co-delivery initiative. Taken together, these two reports are on the forefront of increased insight into how governments can improve services through co-creation and co-delivery.... a broader set of imperatives has taken hold for governments at all levels to redefine their relationships and nature of engagement with citizens in problem-solving: * Fiscal austerity has made it difficult to continue with some of the existing resource-intensive business models and problem-solving modes in government. * The increasing complexity of the problems to be addressed demands collaborative approaches, not just among the government units but with external entities as well, particularly with citizens (who are often closest to and possess unique knowledge about problems). * Finally, the availability of new technologies (e.g., social media) has radically lowered the cost of collaboration and the distance between government agencies and the citizens they serve. The confluence of these three issues has set the context for redefining the citizen’s role in public services -- a shift from that of a passive service beneficiary to that of an active informed partner, or co-creator, in public service innovation and problem-solving.IBM Center for the Business of GovernmentIBMCBG_72cb262c-2d89-11df-af31-14177a64ea2aSatish NambisanCo-Author -- Professor of Entrepreneurship & Technology Management, Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business; Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, College of Engineering & Applied Science, University of Wisconsin-MilwaukeePriya NambisanCo-Author -- Assistant Professor, Department of Health Informatics & Administration, College of Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin-MilwaukeeDaniel J. ChenokExecutive Director, IBM Center for The Business of Government chenokd@us.ibm.comLisa K. YarbroughAssociate Partner, Strategy & Innovation; IBM Global Business Services lisay@us.ibm.comCompaniesIn the private sector, there is a rich history of companies partnering with customers or product/service users in innovation and value creation... In some cases, companies have depended solely on user-contributed ideas for designing their products Lead UsersCertain types of users -- referred to as lead users -- have undertaken a more active role in innovation, often designing or developing a new or derivative product. CustomersIt has become possible for customers to get engaged in all the phases of innovation -- from ideation to design and development to implementation and product support.CitizensThe role of citizens in public service innovation has a less well known, albeit equally rich history. Many social innovations (e.g., the environmental movement and Earth Day) have originated from ideas and suggestions offered by individuals outside the government. Often, it has taken a group of citizens or community-based movements to spur government agencies to act on such ideas. What has changed in recent years is the ability of individual citizens to not only develop innovative solutions to problems, but to play a more active role in discovering or identifying the root problems and in developing and/or implementing solutions. A large part of this can be attributed to new technologies that facilitate easier access to public data, enhance government transparency, and reduce the distance between the citizen innovator and the government agency. Four Roles for Citizens in Co-Creation -- Based on the innovation (or problem-solving) process, this report identifies four distinct roles for citizens in public service co-creation: as explorer, ideator, designer, and diffuser. Broadly, these four roles relate to the four primary innovation phases: * Identifying, discovering, or defining a problem (explorer) * Conceptualizing a solution (ideator) * Designing and developing the solution (designer) * Implementing the solution (diffuser)Citizen Co-Creation in Public Services ID-4e2b8800-6294-4673-943b-9b2d873becd7To present a framework for "co-creation" of public services by citizens in partnership with governments ID-4eed1061-87fc-477e-a4a9-1921fbea826cTransparencyThere are three types of transparency that government agencies should pursue ... role transparency, process transparency, and outcome transparency.Role TransparencyRole transparency clarifies citizens' perceptions about the specific role (or roles) they will play in the problem-solving context. Are they going to provide ideas for solutions, or be involved in further development of those ideas? Enhancing role transparency requires making explicit the problem-solving activities citizen will be involved in, the skills and capabilities they will need in order to participate, and the type of ideas/inputs that citizens will need to provide. Process TransparencyProcess transparency clarifies the innovation or problem-solving processes and activities -- the nature of the processes/activities, who will be involved, the nature of interactions required, the duration and timing of the activities, and how the processes will relate to the organization's (government agency's) other activities. Another aspect of process transparency relates to the incentives, or rewards, and the "rights" associated with citizen engagement. If there are incentives, what will be the process to distribute or provide those incentives? Further, if citizens offer innovative ideas and solutions, how will the intellectual property rights associated with those ideas be managed? For example, will the government "own" those ideas or will the government allow private companies to act upon those ideas and profit from it? Outcome TransparencyOutcome transparency clarifies the outputs associated with the problem-solving process. Enhancing such transparency requires the government agency to keep citizens informed about what is happening with their contributions; i.e., what did the agency do (or plan to do) with their ideas? What will be the time frame for acting upon citizen ideas? How will citizens be able to see or experience the outcomes once they are implemented? Such transparency helps to close the loop in problem-solving and ensures the future engagement of citizens in similar efforts. ClarityClarity about citizen roles, innovation and co-creation processes, and outcomes can reduce the potential for misplaced customer expectations regarding involvement, leading to a more positive citizen experience. Private companies have adopted several strategies to enhance such transparency in customer innovation. Such practices are equally relevant to public citizen innovation. For example, some companies have tried to enhance clarity by making customer roles and processes explicit through published policies and guidelines. Open discussions with the customer community about involvement have also helped to clarify perceptions and expectations. Maintaining archives of customer interactions in earlier problem-solving initiatives is another useful practice. Still another is periodically reporting to customers on the status of product improvement ideas. Intellectual Property RightsSimilarly, making explicit the organization’s policies regarding intellectual property rights is critical for enhancing outcome transparency. Microsoft, for example, has instituted a Community Solutions Content program that allows Microsoft MVPs (customers) to author product support content that is hosted within the customer community as part of the company’s product knowledge base, but owned by the community. The underlying principle is to bring clarity to "who owns what" with regard to intellectual assets and to communicate that effectively to the citizen community prior to their engagement. Co-CreationThese and other strategies and practices from the private sector apply equally well in the public sector context to enhance the transparency of citizen co-creation. Citizen EngagementFor example, government agencies may make explicit all the rules, policies, and guidelines for citizen engagement in an innovation context. CommunicationSimilarly, agencies may institute new mechanisms to communicate frequently to citizen innovators about the progress in idea development and implementation.ExplorationDiscover and identify problems ID-c3bcef4c-248f-44dd-a5be-6c82c86948d41 Citizens Citizen as explorer: The first role reflects citizens' ability to discover or identify problems that are either invisible or unknown to government agencies. It also involves articulating problems in ways that would lead to practical solutions. It is widely accepted that citizens, being "closest to the ground," are likely to be aware of current or emerging civic problems well before their (local or regional) government is. Two things have changed in recent years that enable citizens to act on such information and thereby enhance their role as explorer. First, through expanding technological connectivity, it has become possible for citizens to share knowledge about potential problems more rapidly and efficiently. And it has become possible for citizens to share their perceptions about the problem with peers, thereby developing and articulating a more shared and comprehensive understanding of the problem. Second, higher levels of government openness and transparency, and the ensuing access to public data, have enabled certain citizens to mine open databases and discover potential problems (even those beyond their immediate context -- for example, local environmental pollution). All of this has positioned citizens to assume a more proactive role in identifying and articulating problems in the public space. Explorer to discover or identify problems that are either invisible or unknown to government agencies. Problems are unlikely to be solved if they are not discovered or identified in the first place... Three possible approaches for citizens as explorers are: * Identifying and reporting on problems * Contributing data on potential problem areas and issues * Analyzing data and discovering a problem (or patterns of a problem)Data TransparencyEnhance data transparency in high-impact problem areas.Recommendation OneCitizens with data analysis skills and capabilities are a limited resource. Rather than diffusing such a resource among a broad set of problems, government agencies should make judicious use of it by identifying high-impact problem areas where citizen-led data investigation would be most feasible, productive, and valuable. In addition, often data in those high-impact areas may come from multiple parts of the government and/or be in different formats. Thus, to reduce the burden on citizen data analysts, government agencies will need to put together such data and publish them in a common standard conducive to analysis. In short, the lead agency should ensure that public data on potential high-impact problem areas (e.g., health, disaster recovery, education) are made available to citizens and other interested groups in ways and formats that would enable or fuel problem discovery.Online CommunitiesSustain online citizen communities focused on problem identification. ID-f8fe2b00-e827-4f03-a074-c2862d38e7e9Recommendation TwoOften problem discovery calls for multiple data points and multiple perspectives, indicating the significance of building a community of citizen explorers. Sharing of problem perspectives in such citizen communities contributes to a shared worldview of the problem context and more comprehensive understanding of the problem. Different citizen explorers may also demand different types of incentives for their engagement (different strokes for different folks). As such, agencies will need to establish incentive systems that reflect the diversity of their citizen explorers. In short, the lead agency should establish and sustain online citizen communities focused on problem identification by providing citizens with visibility into peer citizen submissions (thereby enhancing their shared worldview) and by creating varied community-based reward systems (e.g., reputational rewards).Problem-Solving LoopClose the problem-solving loop. ID-9b159b8e-bb79-4c20-9ecb-f03d60d19a56Recommendation ThreeSustaining the long-term interest of citizen explorers requires citizens to derive meaning from their engagement in problem discovery. This in turn calls for government agencies to readily share with citizens information on the actions taken to address the problems they identified (in other words, what happened and/or what were the outcomes). In certain instances, this might be done by bringing together the problem identifier (citizen) and the problem-solver (government employee). In other instances, it might just mean providing a greater level of transparency to the agency's internal problem-solving process. In short, the lead agency should ensure that the citizen’s role as explorer is made more meaningful by closing the problem-solving loop whenever possible.IdeationConceptualize solutions to problems ID-d4c5012f-6759-4c52-b6ff-4ebdfa6499482 Citizens Citizen as ideator: The second role reflects the capability of citizens (users of government service offerings) to bring knowledge about their unique needs and usage context to improve existing services or envision innovative solutions to civic problems. In the private sector, this has been the most common role for customer innovators -- generating ideas for improving existing products or developing new products. Often, the existing offering (product or service) provides the basis for customers to innovate, as their primary focus is on adapting that product to meet a new need and in the process, generate ideas to improve the product. This applies in the civic context also. Citizens may combine their innate creativity and unique knowledge about a service or problem context to conceptualize innovative solutions. Ideator to bring knowledge about ... unique needs and usage context to improve existing services or envision innovative solutions to civic problems. The citizen’s role as ideator involves conceptualizing solutions to fairly well-defined problems. The focus is not on specifying the details of the solution. The ideator comes up with an innovative idea to solve a known problem, even if the idea itself needs further refinement and development... Two approaches for citizens as ideators are: * Conceptualizing solutions for narrow, well-defined problems * Conceptualizing solutions for broader problemsFramingFrame the problem in a way that users can understand. ID-07a1122c-134d-4321-a105-6c05fbe23c66Recommendation FourA problem can be solved only if it is well understood. Experience in the private sector shows that solutions can be successfully sought from external entities only when the problems are articulated in ways that are devoid of organization-specific terminologies and meanings. Thus, the test for the government agency seeking the solution would be: can a citizen with limited understanding of the internal workings of the agency interpret and understand the problem? The agency can only expect a useful solution if the answer is yes. In short, the lead agency should ensure that the problem is articulated and communicated in terms that citizen innovators can understand and relate to.DiversityCast a wide net to generate ideas from a large and diverse set of citizens ID-84f65b00-1fdc-4390-a679-f7bd34f109e3Recommendation FiveThe broader the problem, the wider the net. Research informs us that the more complex the problem, the more diverse the knowledge required to solve it. And the best way to ensure the application of diverse knowledge and perspectives is to engage with a diverse set of solvers (citizens). Thus, the lead agency should cast a wide net to generate ideas from a large and diverse set of citizens who can provide different perspectives to generate solutions for broad-scope problems.TechnologyUse technologies to diverge and converge. ID-ff51a8b6-9523-4566-9d99-2c5f4b3635e0Recommendation SixAs noted previously, there is much to be gained from engaging with a large and diverse set of citizen ideators. At the same time, it holds the risk of attracting a large set of seemingly conflicting ideas that don't lead to a workable solution in a timely manner. New technologies can help agencies in addressing both these issues. Online contests and online brainstorming techniques help ensure a global pool of participants (i.e., to diverge the solution seeking process). Online idea voting and ranking tools, text-analysis tools, and other qualitative analytical tools could help agencies to process and formulate solutions from a diverse set of ideas and suggestions (i.e., to converge the solution process). In short, the lead agency should adopt new technologies to both broaden the participant base and converge upon a set of relevant solutions and ideas.SolutionsSolve known problems. ID-1eea3166-9e29-4bd5-a72f-6cdc008819dd3 Citizens Citizen as designer: The third role reflects the capability of citizens to go beyond merely suggesting ideas or solutions and instead take an active part in developing or designing the solution, i.e., getting into the details of the solution and translating that into an actual service. This might require citizens to have deeper knowledge or expertise in some aspects of the problem-solving context (for example, coding skills to develop a mobile app, in-depth understanding of peer citizens’ or community needs, knowledge about how a government agency operates, etc.). Further, in certain instances where the problem context is complex, individual citizens may contribute design components that address part of the problem or help customize a more general service to their particular community or local context. Designer To take an active part in developing or designing solutions, getting into the details of the solution and translating that into an actual service. Citizen contributions can go beyond new ideas or concepts to solve a known problem. Citizens can also participate in and contribute to the fuller development of those innovative ideas or concepts into practical, implementable solutions. This is a relatively new role largely enabled by the advance of new IT-based tools that support knowledge sharing, visualization and virtual prototyping, and collaborative idea building. Examples from the private sector, where customers have assumed a more active role in the actual design and development of new products and services, illustrate the potential for the citizen’s role as designer. Three approaches for citizens as designers are: * Virtual design and prototyping tools * Data mashups * Participatory design workshopsDesign & PrototypingFacilitate virtual design and prototyping. ID-408f6f00-611a-492d-bb8a-9b2373e9817cRecommendation SevenVisualization and testing are critical for a community of citizens to interactively co-design solutions. It allows them to share their designs, test and critique them, and build on another's ideas. The availability of new technologies enables organizations to offer such virtual prototyping facilities in a cost-effective manner. Thus, where appropriate, the lead agency should provide web-based tools for citizen co-designers to prototype and visualize their solutions.ForumsHave forums for community-based co-design initiatives. ID-2289b32c-ef32-4de7-a66e-53773021e3eeRecommendation EightA good design calls for viewing the solution from the perspective of diverse stakeholders. Such an approach allows making the right design trade-offs and decisions. It is thus imperative that government agencies bring together citizens as well as other community-based stakeholders in the design process. In short, the lead agency should fund and/or promote forums to host community-based co-design initiatives that would bring together citizen co-designers, community leaders, nonprofits, etc., to design and solve local civic problems.MashupsPromote data-based mashups. ID-93571d04-a037-409c-8161-46976f053cddRecommendation NineThe widespread adoption of mobile devices has made them the best avenue for government agencies to provide citizens with access to data-based services. At the same time, new programming tools and standardized interfaces have made it easier for citizen designers to develop innovative data mashups for such mobile devices. The only potential barrier is the ready availability of public data; government agencies can play a key role in identifying, standardizing, integrating, and publishing appropriate public databases. In short, the lead agency should promote mashups that serve the public good by providing access to data in ways and formats amenable to app development. Diffusion[Act as] a peer change agent / catalyst for the adoption of new government services. ID-8a61059b-76e2-4c49-b8a2-493c4a3d5ca44 Citizens Citizen as diffuser: The fourth role underlines the contributions that citizens can make in helping their peers adopt (or use) new services. It parallels the role customers have played in helping companies get the word out about new products and services and in facilitating the launch and diffusion of new products. For example, in the online and offline customer communities of companies such as Microsoft, Apple, and Harley-Davidson, individual customers assume the role of a product evangelist and influence peers' perceptions of new products, thereby facilitating their rapid diffusion. Such a role is increasingly relevant for citizens in diffusing public sector innovation. The basic mechanism is the same -- leverage individual citizens' knowledge about the innovation and their reputation in the community to influence peer adoption decisions regarding that innovation or service. Diffuser to help peers adopt (or use) new services. The fourth citizen role -- as diffuser of innovation -- relates to the individual citizen's potential to be a change agent or catalyst in enhancing the adoption of a new government service by peers. It has been well documented that innovation adoption is a social process whereby the adoption decisions of potential adopters are influenced by the evaluations of the opinion leaders in the same community (here, peer citizens)... Two approaches for citizens as diffusers are: * Participating in online citizen communities * Participating in virtual innovation experience centersOnline CommuntiesPromote theme-focused online citizen communities. ID-b1b68cc5-6f9d-4c16-939b-9c94b06e96d0Recommendation TenAs noted previously, to play the role as innovation diffuser, citizens need to interact and share knowledge with peers, build their reputation in the community, and thereby influence adoption decisions. This calls for a forum or an online community that can host such interactions and knowledge sharing. At the same time, unless there is a common theme or focus to bind the citizen community, such online forums are unlikely to be sustainable. Government agencies can fund, provide the infrastructure, or extend other types of support to establish and sustain online citizen communities. Government agencies may also need to provide additional innovation-related information to complement citizens’ knowledge base and set up incentives and reward systems to promote interactions and acknowledge citizen contributions. In short, the lead agency should promote online citizen communities focused on specific innovation themes (for example, health insurance, disaster recovery) that facilitate peer citizen interactions and knowledge sharing and support the citizen’s role as innovation diffuser. TrialabilityEnhance the “trialability” of government innovation. ID-9256b5f1-d34a-426f-9064-e627603b8335Recommendation ElevenThe more citizens can try out new government services, the easier it would be for them to make adoption decisions. Given the advances in information technologies, it has become easier and cost-effective to build virtual prototypes that would enable citizens to experience new services. In building such virtual innovation experience centers, agencies should focus on helping citizens answer the following questions about the new service or innovation: * How would I interact with the new service? * What information would I need to provide? * What would be the service outcome? * How much time would it take to deliver? * What specific benefits would I get? * Are there any risks associated with the new service? In short, the lead agency should explore and adopt measures (for example, establish web-based virtual innovation experience centers) that would enhance the trialability of its innovations and help citizens experience them so as to make informed adoption decisions.Engagement & Co-CreationPromote citizen engagement and co-creation ID-5d26edff-c8c6-4db9-9c75-a2a9cd9fa9655The four roles described here reflect varied types of citizen contributions to solving problems in the civic context. Importantly, they also reflect different phases of problem-solving and imply different types of enabling structures, mechanisms, and incentives -- i.e., different environments to promote citizen innovation. Four strategies, in association with the broader innovation environment, promote citizen engagement and co-creation: ContextFit the Approach to the Innovation Context ID-727b015f-dc77-43b5-acd1-7569111fee5aStrategy OneMechanisms that can be employed for enabling citizen innovation or co-creation can be placed broadly into the following groups: * Contests and competitions * Workshops and brainstorming sessions * Data collection * Data access and virtual tools * Dedicated communitiesApproachSelect the citizen engagement approach to fit the context. ID-62f2d92d-7a7e-46b0-9c59-00b3a35745eaRecommendation TwelveThe lead agency should carefully select the mechanism (approach) to engage citizens in innovation and problem-solving by considering a range of factors related to the problem context, including the duration of citizen engagement, the mode of citizen engagement (individual or collective), the prerequisites for citizen engagement, and the ease of problem partitioning.ExpectationsManage Citizen Expectations ID-c9997dad-ffe7-41e6-bb7d-a817e3c49de7Strategy TwoIt is critical for government agencies to manage the expectations of citizen innovators with regard to their involvement in problem-solving. Managing such citizen expectations can not only ensure their continued involvement but also, importantly, minimize the potential negative outcomes. Citizen expectations can be on different aspects of their engagement with problem-solving: * Nature, extent, and duration of their involvement * Knowledge and skills they need to bring to the activities * The actions that will ensue from their involvement/inputs * The benefits they (individually or collectively) will reap from involvement The best way for government agencies to manage such expectations is to be open and transparent in every way possible. TransparencyAdopt measures to enhance transparency. ID-18680a7a-e3ab-45f8-8b49-ac1243a93476Recommendation ThirteenThe lead agency should adopt a set of measures to enhance role transparency, process transparency, and outcome transparency associated with citizen engagement in innovation and problem-solving.LinksLink the Internal with the External ID-28b320c5-5981-4369-89aa-a53ec7af8b5bStrategy ThreeThe best way for government agencies to benefit from the creativity of citizens is to ensure that they adopt strategies that would link the "internal" (the agency employees, structures, and processes) with the "external" (citizens and citizen communities). It ensures that the problems identified or solutions offered by citizens are acted upon by the agency and result in viable new services, policies, or offerings. Structures & ProcessesAdapt structures and processes to link the internal with the external. ID-20ba789b-6bb2-4473-a6df-9d22cc87eafcRecommendation FourteenThe lead agency should make appropriate changes to its internal structures (e.g., create new roles), processes (e.g., institute processes for project selection), and systems (e.g., establish new communication forums) to ensure that contributions made by external innovators (i.e., citizens) are acted upon by internal actors (i.e., government employees) and lead to concrete outcomes.Citizen EngagementEmbed Citizen Engagement in the Broader Context ID-a6cf4dae-6bdb-4894-b864-21039e065e3aStrategy FourThe final strategy relates to framing the citizen engagement initiative in the larger context of the government agency's core goals and objectives. This would allow the agency to look at the initiative not as a stand-alone activity (or as following a trend) but as an important ingredient of its overall approach towards fulfilling its agenda.Agency InitiativesEmbed citizen engagement as part of a broader agency initiative. ID-4eb681b9-8756-4df6-a78d-8e1deaea579aRecommendation FifteenThe lead agency should try to embed its citizen engagement efforts in a larger initiative associated with its core agenda and thereby make such efforts more meaningful to both the agency and the participants (citizens).2014-01-15http://www.businessofgovernment.org/sites/default/files/Engaging%20Citizens%20in%20Co-Creation%20in%20Public%20Service.pdfOwenAmburOwen.Ambur@verizon.net