Identifying Participants' Roles in Open Government Platforms and its Impact on Community Growth Giordano Koch University of Hamburg giordano.koch@hyve.de Katja Hutter University of Innsbruck katja.Hutter@uibk.ac.at Peter Decarli University of Innsbruck peter.decarli@gmx.net Dennis Hilgers University of Linz dennis.hilgers@jku.at Johann Füller University of Innsbruck johann.fueller@uibk.ac.at Abstract This paper is concerned with the theoretical deduc- tion and network based analysis of user roles in a public sector online participation project. In this exploratory study we investigate the heterogeneity of community participants, by deducing typical roles, the development over time and possible influences on the overall commu- nity building process. The more comprehensive under- standing of the underlying network structure will con- tribute to a better understanding of Open Government activities in general. We find different user roles to dif- fer in kind and quality of their contributions in creating, shaping, and disseminating Open Government activities. The communication and contribution behavior of indi- viduals as well as the identification of different user roles was analyzed by using social network analysis (SNA). 1. Introduction This research effort deals with the theoretical deduc- tion of user roles in a public sector online participation project. In this exploratory study we investigate the het- erogeneity of community participants, by deducing typi- cal roles, the development over time and possible influ- ences on the overall community building process. The more comprehensive understanding of the underlying network structure will contribute to a better understand- ing of Open Government activities in general, which will have the potential to anchor, strengthen, and further develop already existing democracies [1]. In opposite to the private sector, which has already recognized the im- portance of including the public in the formerly closed processes of innovation and new product development [2], [3], the public sector has just started to integrate citizens in a more systematic way [4]. Citizens are no longer seen as mere subordinates or taxpayers, but as customers [5], [6]. It seems no longer sufficient to perceive citizens as passive customers or value receivers [7]. Instead, they have to be treated as value generators or even co-creators [8], just as open innovation and especially crowdsourcing does with private sector users or consumers [9–11]. In this con- text, the phenomenon of online innovation communi- ties [12], [13] has become a subject of considerable interest in innovation research and practice [14], [15]. Companies detect and increasingly use the power of new information and communication technologies (ICT) for collaborative innovation. Pharmaceutical and chemical companies like BASF and Eli Lilly have suc- cessfully used the Innocentive (www.innocentive.com) platform to broadcast their problems to communities of experts all over the world in expectation of getting creative solutions for various problems [16]. Or, OSRAM, a leading lighting manufacturer, asking par- ticipants for new and consumer-oriented ideas relating to LED light [17]. However, the current discussion on open innova- tion and crowdsourcing in the private sector has hardly touched upon the public sector [4], [5] and also recent case examples on problem solving activities in the pub- lic sector undermine the need for more openness in governmental decision processes. To stay competitive, public administrations have to increase the possible ways of collaboration and co-operation with its citizens [6]. Today’s ICT-driven approach to Open Govern- ment takes this development into account by elevating citizens to a much more active level of participatory and deliberative inclusion [18]. Barack Obama, 2013 46th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 1530-1605/12 $26.00 © 2012 IEEE DOI 10.1109/HICSS.2013.254 1898 2013 46th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 1530-1605/12 $26.00 © 2012 IEEE DOI 10.1109/HICSS.2013.254 1900