User:Valdmaag/sandbox

Definition

Life event services is a service provision concept in development by countries with the most mature e-government. With life event services, public services are proactive and seamless, offered to the citizen via a single channel, preferably with a single interaction. As in most mature e-government countries (e.g. [|Digital Nations]), the state already has the information needed to decide if and when a certain citizen needs or is entitled to public service. Usually, the need for a public service arises due to an event in the citizens' lives, e.g. pregnancy, buying a home, and getting married. In most cases, there is more than one organization providing relating services. With life event services, all those services are offered jointly. Ideally, the services are delivered automatically, without any interactions, making the public services automatic and invisible. The provision of life event services aims to make the government to citizen interaction as simple and efficient as possible for the citizen.

The envisioned scenario in case of a pregnancy based on the Estonian approach would be as follows:

A soon-to-be mother attends a doctor's appointment, where pregnancy is ascertained. The fact and crucial information regarding the pregnancy are automatically shared with relevant public organizations, who then proactively inform the women what the next steps, the available services and benefits she is entitled to, and offer services that can be handled before the baby is born are. As the data is securely exchanged between government organizations, the childbearing mother does not need to hassle with applications to multiple organizations or even give the same information twice. The mother and the doctor can monitor the pregnancy, and suggestions are given regarding what to expect in a certain pregnancy phase. Once the child is borne, organization handling the child benefits and local government will proactively send personalized benefits offering only asking for consent for the transfer.

Based on the Estonian "Principles for Managing Services and Governing Information" regulation, "Life event service is a direct public service provided jointly by several institutions so that a person can fulfil all the obligations and use all the rights that arise due to one event or situation in personal life. Life event service consolidates several public services (event steps) related to the same event into one service for the user."

Life event services' realization requires several fundamental technological and policy layers to be in place before the state can launch such citizen-centred services.

Digital identity

The bedrock of many advanced e-government services is the mutually trusted digital identity, ensuring the online person is the same as the offline person. Estonia uses a personal identification number, combining digital and physical identity, a 10-digit number given to all citizens at birth. With this number, a physical card and two PIN codes are issued to identify oneself in the real world, and the PIN-codes, to identify in the digital realm.

Secure information sharing

Life event services and proactive services entail free flow of information, interoperable and securely managed. As the citizen should always be the one who owns the information that the state has on him or her, it's also the city to decide about the flow of information. In life event services, once the person has agreed that the information is shared with relevant organizations, sharing that information security is essential. In the Estonian case, public organizations, providing public services, only store information about a person as much it is crucial and needed to provide their services. General or out of domain information is shared via secure "information high-way" called the X-Road.

Examples of life event services based on the Estonian case:

Getting a drivers licence – information about the process and possible schooling providers; scheduling for a drivers test; handling of all necessary paperwork; paying fees for application; applying for a lost or outdated license. Buying or selling property – information about the situation regarding the real estate market and the process of buying property; all available information about a specific property that is gathered by the state; handling the paperwork and scheduling for a notary. Death of a close one – information about what to do in the first week; burial ceremony detailing; handling of inheritance. Attending military service – information about attending the service; doctors appointments for pre-screening; access and apply various in-service options; post-service applications and information. Getting married or divorcing – information regarding various aspects of marriage, Becoming unemployed – information regarding services or benefits available to the person; proactive offering of benefits; personalized suggestions for new job or training based on statistics. Having a child – personalized calculator for benefits based on the birth time for both parents; pregnancy information sharing with all relevant organizations to monitor pregnancy; proactive provision of benefits after real birth.

Considerations

As governance evolves and gets technically more sophisticated, there is a drive towards efficient public service provision – models predicting behaviours and results of the citizens based on big data are inevitable. The developed e-governments, the big data is being gathered in vast amounts, but the mentality for that data to be used without Machiavellian consequences, is still in development. Proactive services in digital nations are being designed to cut the cost for organizations and make communications easier for the citizens. Still, the potential is unlimited in terms of public service provision. Predictive policing is a great example, with some studies proven the system is twice as accurate as current practices. The system is also racially biased and prone to false positives based on facial recognition, not working properly. The Chinese government has taken a much darker turn with the Social Credit System, which, in essence, are also proactive services offered by the state. Still, in this case, the efficiency and citizens satisfaction is not the main goal, but, obedience, that is said is needed to fight crime. A step back from a total police state, proactive services could potentially intrude persons private life in a situation where this is unwanted, though potentially beneficial for the state and the citizen. One such case may be regarding jobs. Due to a shift in-person job life, the person may be eligible for support or service from the employment agency. And as the employment agency has modelled several routes for the person, based on statistics and the state of the economy, what would be beneficial for the state and the person, provides support following few of those paths. In this situation, the person's free will may be … as some choices are "right" in the eyes of the state, and some are wrong.