Justin Longo, phd

I’ve been interested in government use of computer technology for connecting citizens to governance processes since I was the guy who knew enough about web services and html in 1993 to create our department’s first web site (it is to my great fortune that any evidence of this site has been lost in the mists of time). It seemed beautiful back then, but I recognize now that it was supremely ugly (though I wasn’t alone in making ugly websites at the time). More recently, I completed my phd at the University of Victoria where I turned that perspective inward to look at the use of Facebook-like platforms inside government policy analysis settings. In my post-doctoral life, I keep a foot in two adjacent camps: open governance and open government. Interactions amongst citizens, between citizens and governing institutions and the emergence of new governance configurations—open governance—continue to be shaped by rapidly changing technology and evolving norms and expectations. But advancing technology and changing norms are also influencing interactions within the walls of governments, having an impact on procedural and administrative efficiencies and providing a platform for the sharing of knowledge and facilitating collaboration amongst public servants, where non-hierarchical, collaborative knowledge organizations—open governments—might be realized.

My academic background detail can be found on my CV, and my professional resume is best viewed through LinkedIn.

Some (admittedly an eclectic collection) of my previous work is in my Portfolio.

Current

• I took up the position of Cisco Systems Research Chair in Digital Governance and Assistant Professor in the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina in July 2015. I am now an associate professor there.
• I direct the Digital Governance Lab in Johnson Shoyama, and I’m an associate member of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Opening Governance.
• Current research is focused on:
  • the use of GitHub in public administration in Canada
  • gender disparities in the policy analysis environment
  • the use of collaborative spaces in alternative governance
  • revealing the digitally invisible in big data
  • addressing the fact/opinion dichotomy in public decision making

Recent (2013-2015)

• I was the post-doctoral fellow in open governance at the Center for Policy Informatics at Arizona State University (2013-2015). I was on secondment to The GovLab at NYU during the summer of 2013.
• I was a visiting summer fellow in the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria (2012-2014).