Various extensive public sector reforms have been carried out across the world with the clear aim of making the services concerned more efficient and responsive to the needs of their users, such as the citizens, political authorities and administrative bodies covering other public administration fields. The ever advancing information technology has frequently been used to support such reforms. Over the last years, the public phenomenon of Web 2.0 has even attracted some attention within eGovernment because of its vast success in the general civic environment. The case investigates the possibilities of implementing such a Web 2.0 solution for the case of application of legislation and management of changes made into it through the example of the Slovenian General Administrative Procedure Act - a law that is subsidiarily used by practically all administrative bodies and therefore has to be applied in different fields, coping with sectoral legislation more or less coherent with it. To present the potential, patterns and risks (such as the limited role of public administration in interpreting law) of such activities of using Web 2.0, the so-called Administrative Consultation Wiki was set up. The project is run by the Slovenian Faculty of Administration and the Ministry of Public Administration of the Republic of Slovenia, providing approximately 15-20 new cases monthly, incorporating therefore in the beginning of 2011 around 600 articles (FQA).
Policy Context
Through the approach of identification of problems in administrative decision making and joint search for answers by a holder of power (the Ministry of Public Administration of the Republic of Slovenia), science (the Faculty of Administration, University of Ljubljana) and the interested public (in addition to public officers, clients as players), the public space is jointly created through the participation of the regulated in public management at the strategic and the operational level.
The AC-Wiki is a project, or approach, of presenting questions and searching for answers related to the practical application of the General Administrative Procedure Act through active participation of all interested parties regardless of the role of a user of the environment in which the AC-Wiki is set up. It is a Web solution worked out by Web 2.0 technology principles, and completely open (only limited, in accordance with the principles of agora, by the "procedural" editor). The expected main active users are public officers, who have to daily apply the GAPA in conducting administrative proceedings at their employer - a public administration body. It is a fact that it is public officers who are most frequently faced with the GAPA and the dilemmas of its application/interpretation that it brings along. This is confirmed by the formalised questions received from public officers by the Ministry of Public Administration as the sectoral ministry taking care of a consistent application of the law, and the Faculty of Administration as the expertise-providing player in the field and the provider of trainings - approximately 100-150 annually.
The purpose of the AC-Wiki is that it will operate as a forum and a knowledge base of all players interested in the interpretation of the GAPA, rather than be a substitute for the legislator's role in the mandatory explanation of a regulation, since such role is not within the scope even of powers delegated to the sectoral Ministry, yet alone the Faculty as a representative of civil society, although the two institutions have initiated the project. The AC-Wiki cannot and may not replace the jurisdiction of administrative bodies in determining rights, legal entitlements and obligations in particular administrative working fields in accordance with the sectoral and general legislation.
Description of target users and groups
Users are primarily officials, who run procedures facing complex situations that they cannot resolve by themselves due to unclear legislation or lack of experiences. Additionally, users are clients in the administrative procedures, claiming their rights. The AC-Wiki responds to a question with an answer that is, if possible, defined through applicable law, and that, at most, notifies the user of any possible open dilemmas, non-consistent administrative practices, judicial case law or different positions in academic literature. According to the analysis in 2011 ACW is used up to 90 % by officials from very different sectors/fields and type of institutions (ministries, inspections, municipalities, social institutes, general administrative units etc.). Based on this, the user can be more professionally competent in either adopting a decision in a given situation (if this is a public officer) or realising his or her legal entitlement (if a client). A lot of the users of ACW are also (mainly) postgraduate students, trying to understand the theory application in life events. Unlike in the mere discussion forums, however, the user may, through the wiki environment, co-create the predominant expert view of a particular problem.
From the view of active engagement we differtiate users who are passive from the viewpoint of the Web 2.0 principles. They contribute unintentionally by clicking on links, typing in search words, etc. The second level requires a more deliberate activity on the part of the users, since they participate by ranking or assessing information. They add comments, which again can be viewed and commented or ranked. The third level comprises the users who actively participate and co-create the contents. Through indirect collaboration, they improve them, share their knowledge and make impossible things possible.
Description of the way to implement the initiative
At the side of the existent case law and the academic literature as a knowledge-providing legal source, the purpose of the ACW is to provide concise answers to relatively simple or short questions or questions comprising a solution to a partial problem. The purpose of the AC-Wiki is thus to provide an answer to a concretely put question in accordance with the applicable diction of GAPA norms. It is not meant to define a particular client or particular circumstances of a case in concrete terms, but to define the facts providing the basis for the (non-)application of the GAPA, or the application of provisions in a certain order. Problems are not dealt with fully or with theoretical broadness but, if possible, through a maximally non-ambiguous interpretation. Answers to questions of that type are equally concise as the questions, but always formulated by way of references made to provisions of the GAPA (or other, related regulations). Each answer has a pre-determined standard form (template), whose elements are the matter comprising key words by which the user searches a certain question, the date of when the answer was prepared, the question itself, the answer and its categorisation.
The links in an answer can be internal - to legal acts directly incorporated into the Wiki -, or external - to websites of publications of legal acts, generally to the register of regulations or the official journal of the Republic of Slovenia. The purpose of creating internal links is that a link may be created directly to a certain article of an act, with the user simultaneously also seeing the neighbouring articles. As a general rule, the answer also cites an additional scholarly source, especially if case law related to a question is not consistent. This represents a basis for a public officer to decide more easily on how to act in the real situation (evidence-based decision making), but he or she is neither bound to follow the answer nor thereby released from the responsibility to correctly conduct a proceeding under his or her own jurisdiction. Both those participating as providers of questions and those in the roles of providers of answers and researchers for the needs of preparation of expert bases for a further systemic decision-making concerning procedural law solutions acquire through the AC-Wiki a synergic increase in their capacity for resolving urgent public management issues, their competence, understanding of each other, equality in the availability of public services and authoritative measures, opportunities for a higher level of legal protection. Finally, technical terminology is being consolidated and developed, as it is attempted that despite correctness of content, GAPA provisions are formulated and interpreted in a maximally clear manner (also to those not having studied law).
Operationally: A user (most frequently a civil servant) searches for help and explanations (contents) relevant for his or her current situation or a problem related with interpretation of a legal act. If he/she does not find a solution at the AC-Wiki, the person sends an email with the question and a description to a specific email address (a Web form could also be used). Email is employed because the message can include personal information, environment information, etc. that must not be published at the AC-Wiki, but helps to clarify the situation and the environment of the problem, facilitating its further discussion or suggesting the path toward a solution. A manager (legislative expert) receives the message and assesses how difficult the problem is. If an answer or a solution can immediately and easily be produced, he/she immediately publishes it (as a use-case) at the AC-Wiki, and email the link to the appropriate use-case article to the user concerned. If producing a solution is more complex, the manager selects an editor from a list of editors to be charged with particular assignments (editors are be selected from among the best students of the Faculty of Public Administration, but later the answers are checked by mentoring teachers). The editor then resolves the problem. Questions are generalised so as to cover broader problem sets to which the problem relates. The editor then sends the solution to the manager (a professor in a field of administrative law or public administration) to review it, either approving it or demanding an improvement. If the use-case is approved, it will be sent to the Ministry of Public Administration. They have to check it and agree upon the content while being enabled to edit and correct it. If the use-case is then agreed upon, it is published at the AC-Wiki and, as an expert opinion, immediately become available to all other users. If agreement on a position cannot be reached, all different possible interpretations are published. The manager informs the user who posed the question about the solution using email. In addition, editors have to regularly track changes made in the contents, comments and discussions, and help correct any mistakes or other irregularities that might emerge at the AC-Wiki. Editors are also be obliged to control the changes in the Wiki made by others.
Technology solution
The technology solution is an open source wiki software Mediawiki 1.15, one of the most popular wiki platforms, also used by Wikipedaia. Not only it is free, it has a wide support on the internet, enabling our administrator to solve different demands and errors. The platform is known to many users that understand the concept of wiki, it is easy to use and manage. It is also easy to administer and extend with different existing add-ons, developed by many developers in the world. It is also a great solution for a team work, since authorised users can easily cooperate, build content, add comments and mange structure.
Technology choice: Open source softwareMain results, benefits and impacts
Direct results are measured in the cases developed, over 600 in 2011, with about 150 new annually. The analysis of users also shows regularly increased number of readers/users. The results are therefore mainly in resolving dilemmas put forward from professional aspect (applying the right provisions of the legislation in appropriate situations) and by that helping users who have designed the questions, but mainly developing the broad data base to help others, officials and clients, in similar cases. There is also a base for development of understanding administrative procession law. On teh basis of interest even a professional monograph with selected cases has been published in 2010.
By such approach, the state also learns of the real situation of (non-)implementation of a regulation in praxis, which is indispensable in the administrative process for the regulatory feedback loop. We collect at the aggregate level, and thus immediately perceive, which institutes or dictions of provisions are problematical or interpreted in varied ways, and thus need an explanation, a definition through implementing acts under the responsibility of the Ministry, or additional or more extensive forms of training.
Approaches such as the Administrative Consultation Wiki thus represent an instrument of good governance, in which the agents of power share their jurisdiction over the creation of compulsory norms - and thereby the responsibility for their legitimacy and implementation - with the civil society. In this, method is of equal importance as are goal and content. In this regard, Web 2.0 approaches entail a big opportunity.
Return on investment
Return on investment: Not applicable / Not availableLessons learnt
The public space is jointly created through the participation of the regulated in public management at the strategic and the operational level. By such approach, the state learns of the real situation of (non-)implementation of a regulation in praxis, which is indispensable in the administrative process for the regulatory feedback loop to come full: if there are too many dilemmas, or answers cannot be unified solely by interpretation, the law must be changed.
It is in the interest of the Faculty and the Ministry, as the two most important national professional institutions for the implementation of administrative procedures, to collect at the aggregate level, and thus immediately perceive, which institutes or dictions of provisions are problematical or interpreted in varied ways, and thus need an explanation, a definition through implementing acts under the responsibility of the Ministry, or additional or more extensive forms of training. It may be even found for some norms that they are non-legitimate in a certain field or, due to their social inappropriateness in most administrative segments, need to be changed through an act amending the GAPA. The specific value of the Administrative Consultation Wiki for the Faculty of Administration as its originator and maintainer is primarily the following:
- In relation to the specialist and general public: The Faculty gets more firmly established as a recognised expert institution in the field of administrative procedural law as one of its basic disciplines.
- In relation to civil servants posing specialist questions pertaining to their actual work in a relevant field: The Faculty upgrades its reputation as an expert institution as earned by its pedagogical process and research work in the field. Through the AC-Wiki the civil servants - frequently the Faculty's graduates - are offered non-formal postgraduate education and aid, while at the same time the need for continued formal postgraduate studies is demonstrated to them. Thus, participation in the AC-Wiki is naturally free of charge for the users. By way of preparing answers and analysing open dilemmas, the situation in praxis is analysed for purposes of formulating forms of training and consultation suited to the public administration bodies with regard to their real needs.
- In relation to students: In the preparation of answers as well as the posing of questions, the Faculty provides its students with an opportunity to participate or realise themselves in resolving practical cases in fields of the administrative procedure, which entails a major acquisition of practical know-how and a professionally relevant experience advantageous for the student in looking for a job. Primarily in circumstances of an economic crisis and restrictions on the use of resources, employers look for staff who already began to practically apply their theoretical knowledge during their studies. By resolving practical cases, students get into contact with real life and actual questions that public officers are faced with in applying regulations from the field of administrative law.