William Webster
Biographic Data
| ID | 1006955 |
|---|---|
| NAME | William Webster |
| GIVEN NAMES | William |
| FAMILY NAME | Webster |
| SIGNATURE | WEBSTER W |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Stirling |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1211-6898 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 104 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 26 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1927 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
An Explosion of Submissions: Is Artificial Intelligence the Culprit
The Ontological Shift in Surveillance: Revisiting the “Surveillant Assemblage” in the Age of Facial Recognition
It has been twenty-five years since Haggerty and Ericson’s (2000) seminal article on the “surveillant assemblage” was published and since then reshaped surveillance studies, offering a conceptual framework that moved beyond Orwellian and Foucauldian metaphors towards the rhizomatic, hybrid qualities of emerging surveillance systems. Their theory remains profoundly influential. Yet the surveillance landscape has since undergone an ontological disr…
In Memoriam: Miriam Lips (1967–2024): An Appreciation of Her Life
Policy Review: The Evolving Governance of Surveillance Cameras in the UK1
First paragraph: This policy review explores developments in governance arrangements surrounding the use of surveillance cameras in the UK. It makes specific reference to provisions within the Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill22 (the Bill) introduced into the UK Parliament in spring 2023 and which proposes the abolition of the office of the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner (BSCC).33 The underlying argument, is tha…
The academic and societal value of research
The academic and societal value of research For academic papers, we traditionally distinguish two audiences: scholars and practitioners.This is especially the case in the field of eGovernment where research is often closely aligned to governmental practice.This issue of Information Polity is a case in point.It touches upon topics as diverse as: robots in the public sector, designing a digital index, social media engagement, digital government in …
Predatory journals and the use and abuse of special issues
Citizen participation in the smart city: Findings From an International Comparative Study
This article focuses on understanding the dynamics of citizen participation in smart city initiatives. With different degrees of emphases, the literature identifies citizens as key actors in smart cities. At the same time, our understanding of their roles and influence is underdeveloped. Using modes of urban governance to provide contextual depth, alongside the literature on citizen participation in smart cities, this article conducts an in-depth…
The unsung heroes of Information Polity
First paragraph: Dear readers of Information Polity. We hope you are well and keeping safe as the second wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic sweeps the world. We have all made significant sacrifices and adjustments to our professional and personal lives over the last year, and hopefully as 2021 progresses we will be able to get back to some sort of normality
The Covid-19-crisis and the information polity: An overview of responses and discussions in twenty-one countries from six continents
Governments around the world are utilizing data and information systems to manage the COVID-19-crisis. To obtain an overview of all these efforts, this global report presents the expert reports of 21 countries regarding the relation between the COVID-19-crisis and the information polity. A comparative analysis of these reports highlights that governments focus on strengthening six functions: management of information for crisis management, publis…
The value of Big Data in government: The case of 'smart cities
The emergence of Big Data has added a new aspect to conceptualizing the use of digital technologies in the delivery of public services and for realizing digital governance. This article explores, via the ‘value-chain’ approach, the evolution of digital governance research, and aligns it with current developments associated with data analytics, often referred to as ‘Big Data’. In many ways, the current discourse around Big Data reiterates and repe…
Big Data and surveillance: Hype, commercial logics and new intimate spheres
Big Data Analytics promises to help companies and public sector service providers anticipate consumer and service user behaviours so that they can be targeted in greater depth. The attempts made by these organisations to connect analytically with users raise questions about whether surveillance, and its associated ethical and rights-based concerns, are intensified. The articles in this special themed issue explore this question from both organisa…
Governing Smart Cities: Why Do Academics Need to Study Trendy Concepts
In this issue of Information Polity we are delighted to present a set of thought-provoking papers on governing smart cities.These papers present a range of theoretical and empirical analyses of new emerging relations between new digital technologies and urban governance.A critical observer might question the choice of subject matter -why is it of interest to read a set of papers focused on a trendy concept like smart cities? Why don't we focus on…
The crucial link between academic conferences and journals
The crucial link between academic conferences and journals Academic researchers attend conferences in order to discuss their ideas and research, and to obtain valuable feedback.Conferences are the places where research communities are built and maintainedthrough presentations, discussion, and informal social interaction.Strong vibrant conferences are crucial to the quality and longevity of a research field.For this reason, we are delighted that t…
Searching for the real sustainable smart city
The emergence of ‘Smart Cities’ is a contemporary global phenomenon which is closely aligned to a vision of modern technologically advanced sustainable urban environments. However, public policy and academic discourses differ about what constitutes a city that is either ‘smart’ or ‘sustainable’, and assumptions are frequently made about the positive impact of technology and its potential benefit to the environment. Whilst a smart city is not nece…
Surveillance and Democracy in Europe
Delivering Smart Governance in a Future City: The Case of Glasgow
In 2013, Glasgow City Council received significant funding to develop innovative smart city applications, including the delivery of new electronic public services and the co-production of governance. This case study examines the processes that underpin the ways in which the ‘Future City Glasgow programme’ delivered ‘smart governance’, in the context of a regenerating post-industrial city. We assess the contribution of smart city technologies and …
Smart governance: Opportunities for technologically-mediated citizen co-production
Citizens increasingly contribute directly to the evolution of sustainable cities, in particular where new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) promise to transform urban governance into ‘Smart city governance’ and where ICTs are integrated in strategies for citizen participation and the co-production of public services and policy. This article provides a multi-disciplinary understanding of Smart city governance, including new insight…
The Sale of Edited Electoral Registers in Scotland: Implications for Privacy, Data Protection and Citizenship
This article provides an assessment of the recent phenomenon in Scotland and the United Kingdom of selling edited electoral registers to third parties, and reflects on the implications of this practice for privacy, data protection and citizen-state relations. Drawing on the results of the National Survey of Electoral Registration Officers in Scotland, information is presented on the sale of edited registers, the types of organisation purchasing r…
Revisiting the surveillance camera revolution: Issues of governance and public policy. Introduction to part two of the Special Issue
This collection of articles forms the second part of a double Special Issue of Information Polity devoted to the subject of surveillance cameras and systems, often referred to here as CCTV (Closed Circuit Television). Part One was previously published as Volume 16, Number 4, in 2011. Part Two features two articles, three case studies and two surveillance-themed book reviews. Studying a diversity of CCTV systems in Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany…
Surveillance as X-ray
This article reflects on an emerging academic perspective of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) which places a consideration of 'surveillance' at the heart of its analysis. It is argued, that a new 'surveillance perspective' is becoming more prominent and that this perspective offers new and different insights into comprehending the nature of new and emergent technologies and their application in governmental and public service set…
Living in Surveillance Societies: The Normalisation of Surveillance in Europe and the Threat of Britain’s Bad Example
This article argues that surveillance is becoming increasingly normalised across Europe and that this is altering the landscape of liberty and security. It identifies this normalisation as a product of the globalisation of surveillance, the domestication of security, the desire of the European Union (EU) to create a distinct leading role in security, and the influence of the 'bad example' of the United Kingdom (UK). The article uses the two very …
Interconnections between technological and policy innovation: Re-evaluating the evidence-base supporting the provision of CCTV in the UK
This article critically examines developments in CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) policy and provision in the UK, with specific reference to the 'evidence-based' approach to policy-making and service provision. The main features of the CCTV revolution are examined from a policy perspective, so that intertwined changes in purpose and technological configuration are illuminated. The underlying premise of evidence-based policy is that a robust and r…
Policy innovation, convergence and divergence: Considering the policy transfer regulating privacy and data protection in three European countries
This article examines policy activity surrounding the implementation of privacy regulations in three European countries, Denmark, Sweden and the UK, following the ratification of the 1995 European Union Directive on Data Protection. It highlights the convergence and divergence of policy embedded in the policy transfer process and stresses not only the complexity of policy transfer, but also the degree to which policy innovation is shaped by exist…
The emergent ICT culture of parliamentarians: The case of the Scottish Parliament
This article explores the ways in which information and communications technologies (ICTs) have become embedded within the activities of parliamentarians, by examining the experiences of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). The article presents an overview of exiting research in this area and suggests that many authors do not take into account the full range of functions and activities undertaken by a modern parliamentarian and consequently…
Wars and Rumours of Wars: Questions of Authenticity in German Patriotic Poetry 1870–1
Franz von Ditfurth's Historische Volks‐ und volksthümliche Lieder des Krieges von 1870–1871 presents contemporary ‘popular’ patriotic poetry as a counterpoint to the overwhelming mass of ‘educated’ verse published during the Franco‐Prussian War. The distinctions drawn between ‘Kunstpoesie’ and ‘Volksdichtung’ are called into question by Ditfurth's somewhat problematic choice of material, but the questions he raises were important enough to have b…
Smart governance: Opportunities for technologically-mediated citizen co-production
Citizens increasingly contribute directly to the evolution of sustainable cities, in particular where new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) promise to transform urban governance into ‘Smart city governance’ and where ICTs are integrated in strategies for citizen participation and the co-production of public services and policy. This article provides a multi-disciplinary understanding of Smart city governance, including new insight…
The Covid-19-crisis and the information polity: An overview of responses and discussions in twenty-one countries from six continents
Governments around the world are utilizing data and information systems to manage the COVID-19-crisis. To obtain an overview of all these efforts, this global report presents the expert reports of 21 countries regarding the relation between the COVID-19-crisis and the information polity. A comparative analysis of these reports highlights that governments focus on strengthening six functions: management of information for crisis management, publis…
Citizen participation in the smart city: Findings From an International Comparative Study
This article focuses on understanding the dynamics of citizen participation in smart city initiatives. With different degrees of emphases, the literature identifies citizens as key actors in smart cities. At the same time, our understanding of their roles and influence is underdeveloped. Using modes of urban governance to provide contextual depth, alongside the literature on citizen participation in smart cities, this article conducts an in-depth…
Living in Surveillance Societies: The Normalisation of Surveillance in Europe and the Threat of Britain’s Bad Example
This article argues that surveillance is becoming increasingly normalised across Europe and that this is altering the landscape of liberty and security. It identifies this normalisation as a product of the globalisation of surveillance, the domestication of security, the desire of the European Union (EU) to create a distinct leading role in security, and the influence of the 'bad example' of the United Kingdom (UK). The article uses the two very …
Surveillance as X-ray
This article reflects on an emerging academic perspective of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) which places a consideration of 'surveillance' at the heart of its analysis. It is argued, that a new 'surveillance perspective' is becoming more prominent and that this perspective offers new and different insights into comprehending the nature of new and emergent technologies and their application in governmental and public service set…
Big Data and surveillance: Hype, commercial logics and new intimate spheres
Big Data Analytics promises to help companies and public sector service providers anticipate consumer and service user behaviours so that they can be targeted in greater depth. The attempts made by these organisations to connect analytically with users raise questions about whether surveillance, and its associated ethical and rights-based concerns, are intensified. The articles in this special themed issue explore this question from both organisa…
Searching for the real sustainable smart city
The emergence of ‘Smart Cities’ is a contemporary global phenomenon which is closely aligned to a vision of modern technologically advanced sustainable urban environments. However, public policy and academic discourses differ about what constitutes a city that is either ‘smart’ or ‘sustainable’, and assumptions are frequently made about the positive impact of technology and its potential benefit to the environment. Whilst a smart city is not nece…
The value of Big Data in government: The case of 'smart cities
The emergence of Big Data has added a new aspect to conceptualizing the use of digital technologies in the delivery of public services and for realizing digital governance. This article explores, via the ‘value-chain’ approach, the evolution of digital governance research, and aligns it with current developments associated with data analytics, often referred to as ‘Big Data’. In many ways, the current discourse around Big Data reiterates and repe…
Revisiting the surveillance camera revolution: Issues of governance and public policy. Introduction to part two of the Special Issue
This collection of articles forms the second part of a double Special Issue of Information Polity devoted to the subject of surveillance cameras and systems, often referred to here as CCTV (Closed Circuit Television). Part One was previously published as Volume 16, Number 4, in 2011. Part Two features two articles, three case studies and two surveillance-themed book reviews. Studying a diversity of CCTV systems in Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany…
Policy innovation, convergence and divergence: Considering the policy transfer regulating privacy and data protection in three European countries
This article examines policy activity surrounding the implementation of privacy regulations in three European countries, Denmark, Sweden and the UK, following the ratification of the 1995 European Union Directive on Data Protection. It highlights the convergence and divergence of policy embedded in the policy transfer process and stresses not only the complexity of policy transfer, but also the degree to which policy innovation is shaped by exist…
Members of the Scottish Parliament on the Net
The creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 presented a unique opportunity to integrate new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) into a new democratic body. The design of the parliament and democratic practice was informed by the capabilities offered by these new technologies and, consequently, it is of interest to explore the response of parliamentarians to this new setting. This article presents research undertaken into the use…
Music and the Sacred Seven
Members of the Scottish Parliament on the Net
The creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 presented a unique opportunity to integrate new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) into a new democratic body. The design of the parliament and democratic practice was informed by the capabilities offered by these new technologies and, consequently, it is of interest to explore the response of parliamentarians to this new setting. This article presents research undertaken into the use…
Wars and Rumours of Wars: Questions of Authenticity in German Patriotic Poetry 1870–1
Franz von Ditfurth's Historische Volks‐ und volksthümliche Lieder des Krieges von 1870–1871 presents contemporary ‘popular’ patriotic poetry as a counterpoint to the overwhelming mass of ‘educated’ verse published during the Franco‐Prussian War. The distinctions drawn between ‘Kunstpoesie’ and ‘Volksdichtung’ are called into question by Ditfurth's somewhat problematic choice of material, but the questions he raises were important enough to have b…
The emergent ICT culture of parliamentarians: The case of the Scottish Parliament
This article explores the ways in which information and communications technologies (ICTs) have become embedded within the activities of parliamentarians, by examining the experiences of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). The article presents an overview of exiting research in this area and suggests that many authors do not take into account the full range of functions and activities undertaken by a modern parliamentarian and consequently…
Living in Surveillance Societies: The Normalisation of Surveillance in Europe and the Threat of Britain’s Bad Example
This article argues that surveillance is becoming increasingly normalised across Europe and that this is altering the landscape of liberty and security. It identifies this normalisation as a product of the globalisation of surveillance, the domestication of security, the desire of the European Union (EU) to create a distinct leading role in security, and the influence of the 'bad example' of the United Kingdom (UK). The article uses the two very …
Interconnections between technological and policy innovation: Re-evaluating the evidence-base supporting the provision of CCTV in the UK
This article critically examines developments in CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) policy and provision in the UK, with specific reference to the 'evidence-based' approach to policy-making and service provision. The main features of the CCTV revolution are examined from a policy perspective, so that intertwined changes in purpose and technological configuration are illuminated. The underlying premise of evidence-based policy is that a robust and r…
Policy innovation, convergence and divergence: Considering the policy transfer regulating privacy and data protection in three European countries
This article examines policy activity surrounding the implementation of privacy regulations in three European countries, Denmark, Sweden and the UK, following the ratification of the 1995 European Union Directive on Data Protection. It highlights the convergence and divergence of policy embedded in the policy transfer process and stresses not only the complexity of policy transfer, but also the degree to which policy innovation is shaped by exist…
Revisiting the surveillance camera revolution: Issues of governance and public policy. Introduction to part two of the Special Issue
This collection of articles forms the second part of a double Special Issue of Information Polity devoted to the subject of surveillance cameras and systems, often referred to here as CCTV (Closed Circuit Television). Part One was previously published as Volume 16, Number 4, in 2011. Part Two features two articles, three case studies and two surveillance-themed book reviews. Studying a diversity of CCTV systems in Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany…
Surveillance as X-ray
This article reflects on an emerging academic perspective of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) which places a consideration of 'surveillance' at the heart of its analysis. It is argued, that a new 'surveillance perspective' is becoming more prominent and that this perspective offers new and different insights into comprehending the nature of new and emergent technologies and their application in governmental and public service set…
The Sale of Edited Electoral Registers in Scotland: Implications for Privacy, Data Protection and Citizenship
This article provides an assessment of the recent phenomenon in Scotland and the United Kingdom of selling edited electoral registers to third parties, and reflects on the implications of this practice for privacy, data protection and citizen-state relations. Drawing on the results of the National Survey of Electoral Registration Officers in Scotland, information is presented on the sale of edited registers, the types of organisation purchasing r…
Surveillance and Democracy in Europe
Delivering Smart Governance in a Future City: The Case of Glasgow
In 2013, Glasgow City Council received significant funding to develop innovative smart city applications, including the delivery of new electronic public services and the co-production of governance. This case study examines the processes that underpin the ways in which the ‘Future City Glasgow programme’ delivered ‘smart governance’, in the context of a regenerating post-industrial city. We assess the contribution of smart city technologies and …
Smart governance: Opportunities for technologically-mediated citizen co-production
Citizens increasingly contribute directly to the evolution of sustainable cities, in particular where new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) promise to transform urban governance into ‘Smart city governance’ and where ICTs are integrated in strategies for citizen participation and the co-production of public services and policy. This article provides a multi-disciplinary understanding of Smart city governance, including new insight…
Governing Smart Cities: Why Do Academics Need to Study Trendy Concepts
In this issue of Information Polity we are delighted to present a set of thought-provoking papers on governing smart cities.These papers present a range of theoretical and empirical analyses of new emerging relations between new digital technologies and urban governance.A critical observer might question the choice of subject matter -why is it of interest to read a set of papers focused on a trendy concept like smart cities? Why don't we focus on…
The crucial link between academic conferences and journals
The crucial link between academic conferences and journals Academic researchers attend conferences in order to discuss their ideas and research, and to obtain valuable feedback.Conferences are the places where research communities are built and maintainedthrough presentations, discussion, and informal social interaction.Strong vibrant conferences are crucial to the quality and longevity of a research field.For this reason, we are delighted that t…
Searching for the real sustainable smart city
The emergence of ‘Smart Cities’ is a contemporary global phenomenon which is closely aligned to a vision of modern technologically advanced sustainable urban environments. However, public policy and academic discourses differ about what constitutes a city that is either ‘smart’ or ‘sustainable’, and assumptions are frequently made about the positive impact of technology and its potential benefit to the environment. Whilst a smart city is not nece…
The unsung heroes of Information Polity
First paragraph: Dear readers of Information Polity. We hope you are well and keeping safe as the second wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic sweeps the world. We have all made significant sacrifices and adjustments to our professional and personal lives over the last year, and hopefully as 2021 progresses we will be able to get back to some sort of normality
The Covid-19-crisis and the information polity: An overview of responses and discussions in twenty-one countries from six continents
Governments around the world are utilizing data and information systems to manage the COVID-19-crisis. To obtain an overview of all these efforts, this global report presents the expert reports of 21 countries regarding the relation between the COVID-19-crisis and the information polity. A comparative analysis of these reports highlights that governments focus on strengthening six functions: management of information for crisis management, publis…
The value of Big Data in government: The case of 'smart cities
The emergence of Big Data has added a new aspect to conceptualizing the use of digital technologies in the delivery of public services and for realizing digital governance. This article explores, via the ‘value-chain’ approach, the evolution of digital governance research, and aligns it with current developments associated with data analytics, often referred to as ‘Big Data’. In many ways, the current discourse around Big Data reiterates and repe…
Big Data and surveillance: Hype, commercial logics and new intimate spheres
Big Data Analytics promises to help companies and public sector service providers anticipate consumer and service user behaviours so that they can be targeted in greater depth. The attempts made by these organisations to connect analytically with users raise questions about whether surveillance, and its associated ethical and rights-based concerns, are intensified. The articles in this special themed issue explore this question from both organisa…
The academic and societal value of research
The academic and societal value of research For academic papers, we traditionally distinguish two audiences: scholars and practitioners.This is especially the case in the field of eGovernment where research is often closely aligned to governmental practice.This issue of Information Polity is a case in point.It touches upon topics as diverse as: robots in the public sector, designing a digital index, social media engagement, digital government in …
Predatory journals and the use and abuse of special issues
Citizen participation in the smart city: Findings From an International Comparative Study
This article focuses on understanding the dynamics of citizen participation in smart city initiatives. With different degrees of emphases, the literature identifies citizens as key actors in smart cities. At the same time, our understanding of their roles and influence is underdeveloped. Using modes of urban governance to provide contextual depth, alongside the literature on citizen participation in smart cities, this article conducts an in-depth…
Policy Review: The Evolving Governance of Surveillance Cameras in the UK1
First paragraph: This policy review explores developments in governance arrangements surrounding the use of surveillance cameras in the UK. It makes specific reference to provisions within the Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill22 (the Bill) introduced into the UK Parliament in spring 2023 and which proposes the abolition of the office of the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner (BSCC).33 The underlying argument, is tha…
In Memoriam: Miriam Lips (1967–2024): An Appreciation of Her Life
Political science (21 works) · Business (12 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Computer Science (9 works) · Politics (9 works) · Public Administration (9 works) · Public relations (9 works) · Law (8 works) · E-Government and Public Services (7 works) · Law (7 works)