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Master of Public Policy & Management
Campus Griebnitzsee
DFG-Research Training Group "WIPCAD"
University of Potsdam
Department of Economics
and Social Sciences
August-Bebel-Straße 89
14482 Potsdam, Germany
Office: Campus Griebnitzsee, House 7,
Room 3.07.211-15
"Big Data in Government: Discursive Proto-Institutionalization of Data-Driven Governance in European Metropolitan Governments"
Master of Arts »Public Policy & Management« at University of Potsdam
Bachelor of Arts »Political Science & Economics« at WWU Münster
Thesis »A Microfinance Revolution? – Microfinance and 1970s Development Banks compared«
visiting researcher – Chair for E-Governance & Innovation at Hertie School of Governance | Berlin/Germany
& Research Associate – European Research Center for Information Systems | Münster/Germany
e-government research, acquisition of funding, teaching
Business Trainee – German-Indonesian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (EKONID) | Jakarta/Indonesia
market analyses for renewable energy
research assistant – Chameleon Research Group, Institute for Ecological Economy Research | Berlin/Germany
research on adaptation to climate to climate change in the public utility sector
research consultant – AFOS Foundation for Entrepreneurial Development Cooperation | Cebu/Philippines
field study »Microfinance as a Chamber Service« (funded by an ASA scholarship)
intern – unit for »Sustainable Economic Development«, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) | Eschborn/Germany
Best Talk Award at Potsdam PhD
Valerie Gregg International Student Scholarship to attend Digital Government Conference 2015 in Phoenix/Arizona
Best Lightning Talk Award at Herrenhausen Conference »Big Data in Transdisciplinary Perspective« 2015
Junior Researcher Travel Grant by VolkswagenStiftung to attend Herrenhausen Conference »Big Data in Transdisciplinary Perspective« 2015 in Hannover/Germany
ICEGOV scholarship to attend International Conference on the Theory and Practice of Electronic Government 2013 in Seoul/Korea
PROMOS travel grant for three-month research stay in the Philippines in 2012
oikos Sustainability Thesis Award 2010 for Bachelor thesis on microfinance
Thapa, Basanta (2016) “Populist, Reformer oder Hardliner? Der neue Präsident auf den Philippinen”WeltTrends – Das außenpolitische Journal 117: 16-19.
Thapa, Basanta (2016) “An Ambivalent Civil Society in Democratic Consolidation – The Case of Local Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the Visayas and North Mindanao” ASIEN – The German Journal on Contemporary Asia 138: 70-88.
Thapa, Basanta (2015) „Silent Politics: How local chambers of commerce in the Philippines fail to foster democratisation”Pacific Geographies 44: 11-16.
Thapa, Basanta; Niehaves, Björn; Seidel, Claudius; Plattfaut, Ralf (2015) »Citizen Involvement in Public Sector Innovation: Government and Citizen Perspectives« Information Polity 20 (1), 3-17.
Kleibrink, Alexander; Niehaves, Björn; García, Pau Palop; Sörvik, Jens; Thapa, Basanta (2015) “Regional ICT Innovation in the European Union: Prioritization and Performance (2008–2012)” Journal of the Knowledge Economy.
Becker, Jörg; Heddier, Marcel; Hofmann, Sara; Jurisch, Marlen; Krcmar, Helmut; Niehaves, Björn; Räckers, Michael; Rauer, Hans Peter; Schilling, John; Scholta, Hendrik; Seidel, Claudius; Thapa, Basanta; Wolf, Petra; Zepic, Robert (2014) „Analyse des Potenzials des E-Government-Gesetzes“, NEGZ-Studie Nr. 1 (im Auftrag des Bundesministerium des Innern). Nationales E-Government Kompetenzzentrum, Berlin.
García, Pau Palop; Thapa, Basanta; Niehaves, Björn (2014) »Bridging the Digital Divide at the Regional Level? The Effect of Regional and National Policies on Broadband Access in Europe’s Regions«Electronic Government – Proceedings of the 13th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference (EGOV 2014), pp. 218-229
Seidel, Claudius; Thapa, Basanta; Plattfaut, Ralf; Niehaves, Björn (2013) »Selective Crowdsourcing for Open Process Innovation in the Public Sector – Are Expert Citizens Really Willing to Participate?«Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV 2013), pp. 64-72
Thapa, Basanta; Proske, Niels (2012) »Portal oder App? M-Government zwischen zwei Gestaltungsprinzipien«eGovernment Review Nr. 10, pp. 26-27
Thapa, Basanta (2012) »Mit internetbasierter bürgerschaftlicher Koproduktion zu einer neuen Partizipationskultur«. In: Burchert, Linn; Zoon Politikon – Werkstatt für Politik & Wirtschaft e.V. (2012) »Perspektiven für morgen. Gedanken zur Zukunft von Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft« Potsdam: Universitätsverlag Potsdam, pp. 82–92
Lehner, Sarah; Thapa, Basanta; Vester, Bernhard (2010) »Microfinance as a Chamber Service. Research Report & Workshop Documentation« Cebu City: Working for the Enhancement of the Chamber & Association Network in the Visayas and Caraga.
»Foreshadowing Data-driven Government: Citizen-Government Interaction in Visions of the Data-powered State« at the 24th World Congress of Political Science in Poznan/Poland, 23-28 July 2016
Proposal presentation »Big Data in Government: Of the Big Data Myth and Its Translations in Local Governments« at the Interdisciplinary International Graduate Summer School »Techno Science Societies: Between Myth Formation and Societal Structure« in Donostia-San Sebastián/Spain, 18-22 July 2016
Presentation »Big Data knows best? Datengetriebene Verwaltung zwischen Big Brother und rationalistischem Mythos« at the Potsdam PhDay 2016 in Potsdam/Germany, 7 July 2016
Paper presentation “Big Data is power? Potential knowledge political effects of Big Data Analytics in government” at the FoJuS Annual Conference 2016 [Forum of Young Public Administration and Policy Researchers] in Hannover, 11-12 February 2016
Proposal Presentation “Big Data in Government: Discursive Proto-Institutionalization in European Metropolitan Governments” at the 3rd COST-LocRef PhD-Training School in Spetses/Greece, 13–17 September 2015
Proposal Presentation “Big Data, Government & Wicked Problems: Shifting Knowledge Politics in Smart Cities” in the PhD Colloqium of the 16th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research (d.go 2015) in Phoenix/Arizona, 27–30 May 2015
Poster presentation “Big Data in Government: A Social Science Perspective” at the 2nd International WIPCAD Conference “Contested Public Organizations: Knowledge, Coordination, Strategy” in Potsdam, 4-6 December 2014
Paper presentation “Selective Crowdsourcing for Open Process Innovation in the Public Sector – Are Expert Citizens Really Willing to Participate?” at the 7th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV 2013) in Seoul/Republic of Korea, October 2013
Workshop “Inside the Brussels bubble – Lobbying EU institutions” (with Daniel Fritz & Jacob Müller) at Chemnitzer Politiktage 2012, TU Chemnitz, November 2012
Presentation “Through internet-based civic co-production to a new culture of participation” at the Long Night of Science 2012 at University of Potsdam, June 2012
Workshop & Report Presentation “Microfinance as a chamber service” in Cebu City/Philippines, November 2010
Big Data Analytics is considered a major technological innovation for government and public administrations, but there is substantial disagreement about the scope of its impact. In the theoretical perspective of new institutionalism, Big Data in government is a case of proto-institutionalization whose specific social construction or ‘theorization’ is subject to discursive struggles among actor constellations and processes of translation and editing that render it compatible to institutional legacies. Comparing the discursive dynamics of the theorizations of Big Data Analytics in three metropolitan European Smart Cities (Vienna, Amsterdam, and London) with qualitative data analysis and co-occurrence analysis, the patterns of theorization and the influence of actor constellations, contextual factors, and institutional legacies on the local understanding of Big Data in government are explored. The findings also shed light on the suggested emergence of a new digital public sector reform paradigm.
DFG-Research Training Group "WIPCAD"
University of Potsdam
Department of Economics and Social Sciences
August-Bebel-Straße 89
14482 Potsdam, Germany
Office: Campus Griebnitzsee, House 7, Room 211-215
E-Mail: coordinatorwipcad-potsdamde