BERKMAN CENTER FOR INTERNET & SOCIETY AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Upcoming events and digital media // July 21, 2010

[1] [TUESDAY 7/27] Berkman Center Luncheon Series: "The Tension between User-centered Design and E-government Services" with Nalini Kotamraju, University of Twente, Netherlands (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2010/07/kotamraju)


[TUESDAY] BERKMAN LUNCHEON SERIES on THE TENSION BETWEEN USER-CENTERED DESIGN AND E-GOVERNMENT SERVICES
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7/27/10, 12:30 PM ET, Berkman Center Conference Room @ 23 Everett St., Cambridge, MA
RSVP is required for those attending in person to Amar Ashar (ashar@cyber.law.harvard.edu)
This event will be webcast live

Topic: "The Tension between User-centered Design and E-government Services"
Guest: Nalini Kotamraju, University of Twente, Netherlands

E-government services throughout the world have been plagued by lower than expected rates of adoption by individuals and institutions. A lack of user centricity in e-government services design and development has been identified as a primary reason for this slow adoption. Even when governments involve users or potential users in their design process, the resulting e-government service is often not user-centered. Drawing on our involvement with PortNL, an integrated e-government service for expatriates in the Netherlands, we suggest that a fundamental tension between the needs of users and those of governments is at the core of governments difficulty in creating user-centered services. User-centered design prioritizes the needs of users, supporting their approach to tasks and information-seeking, as well as advocating for the importance of users needs even, when necessary, over the needs of service builders. In an e-government context, however, the service builders represent governments, not companies. And governments­ in their various forms­have their own needs and goals, which do not necessarily succumb easily to those of their users.

About Nalini:

Nalini is an Assistant Professor at the University of Twente in the Netherlands.

This event will be webcast live; for more information and a complete description, see the event web page: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2010/07/kotamraju


OTHER EVENTS OF NOTE
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[1] 7/24: Drumbeat Boston: Celebrating the Open Web // Cambridge Innovation Center (http://drumbeat-boston.eventbrite.com/)

[2] 7/26: Open Source Software and Copyright: Legal and Business Considerations for Government Use // Washington, DC. (http://cendievents.iiaweb.com/oss_workshop_0710/)

[3] 7/26: TEDxBoston: The Future of Search (http://tedxboston.org/pre-event-adventures/147-the-future-of-search)

[4] 7/29-30: Supernova Hub // University of Pennsylvania (http://supernovahub.com/)

[5] 8/12: Ignite Spatial: Boston // Microsoft Research (http://ignite.oreilly.com/2010/07/ignite-spatial-boston-2.html)

[6] 9/28: Access to Government Records in Massachusetts: Issues and Trends (http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e2ydlvtf9c7ca7...)

[7] 10/1-3: International Conference on Crisis Mapping // Harvard (http://www.crisismappers.net/page/iccm-2010-haiti-and-beyond)

Registration for the Open Video Conference is open: http://www.openvideoconference.org/2010/07/registration-for-open-video-c...

DIGITAL MEDIA: Watch and Listen
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Did you miss this week's luncheon talk? Catch up with Berkman videos, podcasts, pictures, and dig in to our archive at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive.

-Radio Berkman 157: Gaming Grief with LISA NAKAMURA and DAVID WEINBERGER (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/podcasts/radioberkman157)

-Radio Berkman 158: Thinking About Thinking About the Net with TIM HWANG and DAVID WEINBERGER (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/podcasts/radioberkman158)

-Berkman Luncheon Series with PATRICK MEIER on Crowdsourcing Crisis Mapping (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/events/luncheon/2010/07/meier)


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BERKMAN CALENDAR & UPCOMING EVENTS PREVIEW
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See our events calendar if you're curious about future luncheons, discussions, lectures, conferences, and more: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events. All of our events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.


ABOUT US
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The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University was founded to explore cyberspace, share in its study, and help pioneer its development. For more information, visit http://cyber.law.harvard.edu.