1. How is Montana Local Government Going Digital?
An e-Government Baseline Study
John Smith
Masters of Public Administration Candidate, ‘18
University of Montana, Missoula

2. Inspired by Feeney & Grimmelikhuijsen, 2016
They researched “open government” in 500 US Cities ...
But only 1 was in Montana. Bllings.

3. What is open government?
Using technology to improve:
Transparency
Accessibility
Participation

4. Recent Open Government Milestones
President Obama’s first memo (2009) => OMB Open government directive (2009)
Global movement! 75 countries signed w/ Open Government Partnership (2011)
Widespread state and city efforts, collaborating with businesses and community

5. So, Here’s What I Did Differently
Confined to Montana only
Smaller study (30 municipalities instead of 500)
Included additional qualitative indicators for measuring social media development

6. Top 30 cities, in 2010 population
City 2010 Census Population
Glendive 4,935
Billings 104,170
Columbia Falls 4,688
Missoula 66,788
Polson 4,488
Great Falls 58,505
Hamilton 4,348
Bozeman 37,280
Dillon 4,134
Butte 33,535
Hardin 3,505
Helena 28,190
Shelby 3,376
Kalispell 19,927
Glasgow 3,250
Havre 9,310
Deer Lodge 3,111
Miles City 8,646
Cut Bank ,869
Belgrade 7,389
Libby 2,628
Livingston 7,044
Wolf Point 2,621
Laurel 6,718
Conrad 2,570
Whitefish 6,357
Colstrip 2,214
Lewiston 5,901
Red Lodge 2,125
Sidney 5,191

7. Indicators used to measure digital development
APP
LIVECHAT
SEARCHBAR
APPCONTACT
MAJORSPEECH
SEARCHPROVIDER
BLOG
MEETINGVIDEO
SITECONTRACT
CONTACTMAYOR
MOBILE
TEXTME
COUNCILAGENDA
NONENGLISH
TRANSACTIONS
DEPTDESCRIPTION
ONLINEJOBAPPS
TWITTER
DIRECTORY
ONLINEJOBLIST
TWITTERRATE
DISTRICTMAPS
OPENDATA
TWITTERRESPONSE
FACEBOOK
OPENUPDATE
VOTINGINFO
FACEBOOKRATE
PAGEDATE
VOTINGREGISTER
FACEBOOKRESPONSE
POLICEREPORT
YOUTUBE
FOIAMENTION
PRIVACY
YOUTUBERATE
LAWINDEX
RECONLINEREGISTER
YOUTUBERESPONSE
LISTSERVE
RSS

10. Stats:
R-Square: 33% “33% of change in openness could be attributed to change in pop”
P-Value: (statistical significance)
Average openness: 2.88
Standard deviation of openness: 1.39

11. Highlight #1: Red Lodge
Highest level of openness per capita in our study
All employee and councilmember’s names, roles, s, and phones
Advanced use of open calendars, Google Group, list serves, and social media

12. Highlight #2: Butte Overall highest openness value
Only city with an App for communication with citizens (via CivicPlus)
Advanced SMS and lists serves
“Community Voice” forum

13. Now what? Implications for municipal governance
1. Notice areas for improvement
2. Develop network of administrators and developers
3. Decide and promote design standards for e-gov in MT
4. Empower local businesses through open-source

14. Next Steps for my research:
Statewide survey of administrators, summer 2016
Share data, paper, and presentation online