Public Staff Empowerment in e-Government: A Human Work Interaction Design Approach

Human Work Interaction Design (HWID) studies the integration of work analysis and interaction design methods to foster new strategies aimed at designing systems that may effectively and efficiently change the way people work. Pervasive technologies and smart places deeply influence traditional physical boundaries and operational modes, leading to important changes in work practice. The goal of this paper is to provide the basis for an improved co-operation and mutual inspiration among public employees by using End-User Development (EUD). EUD in the e-Government context provides non-professional software developers with methods, techniques, and tools for configuring services that citizens can use to interact with public offices. The paper describes how, by using EUD-enabled tools, the work practice of the public staff changes, and how this transformation allows public employees with limited technical background to create services according to their expertise and expectations, and to share them.