Context identification card

Published on: 16/10/2023 Last update: 30/11/2023 Document

The context identification tool helps adopters determine the general purpose of the disruptive technology adoption in the public administration and set up the assessment context and the team involved in the process. It helps adopters answer questions such as why adopt a disruptive technology in the first place, what will be the consequences (both positive and negative) and who are the best persons to involve during the adoption process.

Why is important to assess the context drivers

Will help to understand the different ethical, legal and societal implications and the types of impacts to consider, based on the context driver assessed.
Will help with the further assessment of the relevant principles and risks in the next phases.
Will help to better tailor the service in tune with the end-users’ needs.
Will help understand the cybersecurity needs and other development requirements based on the technology considered.


Stage of adoption	Roles	Methodology
Ante-adoption	Overseeing roles, Technical Roles, Engaging roles	Team: 8-10 members (with multi-disciplinary backgrounds) Duration: 30 – 45 minutes Materials: Template for context identification, A step-by-step example

Example of context identification table

**Step-by-step approach**Set up a multi-disciplinary team and appoint a team coordinator (e.g., the project manager is the team coordinator). This will help analyse the context from different perspectives, allowing a better understanding of the potential issues that might arise during the adoption process.A brainstorming session is organised with the team to discuss and assess different context drivers.Collect and organise the input of the session in a way that is helpful in the ethical principles and risk categories assessment (e.g., identify the most relevant ethical principles to consider during the adoption process, including the stages when they are the most relevant, identify the corresponding risks associated with the ethical principles, etc.).
Context Drivers	Examples of instances	Examples of questions to discuss during the assessment
Scope of application	Internal vs External service	Which service is considered for the DT adoption? Is the service provided only to the organisation adopting the DT or it also has external users?
The level of service provision	Local or national	Is the service provided at the local level only? Is the service considered provided at the regional or national level? If it is only local (regional), is there any possibility to be later expanded to a wider coverage? Which are the main stakeholders that use the service? What are the specific needs of the stakeholders using this service?
The class of the functions of government	Defence, Health, Education, etc. (see COFOG[1])	What are the main specificities of the service intending to adopt the DT? Which are the main stakeholders? How about end-users? Does the services deal with both internal and external stakeholders?
The service’s frequency of use	Daily, weekly, monthly, annually	How often is the service accessed currently? How many end-users access this service? How often is the service updated?
The stakeholders involved/impacted	Public servants, developers, users, society, regulatory bodies	Which are the most frequent types of stakeholders involved? How the adoption of the DT will impact these stakeholders? How will the DTA be received by the users?
The type of final user	Citizens, data scientists, researchers, public servants	The end-users are impacted differently, depending of the scope of application of the DTA and the class of the functions of government To understand the concerns and priorities of different end-users regarding the technology used and the service offered.
The type of DT adopted	AI, including chatbots, big open data analytics, autonomous devices (e.g. robots)	What are the main ethical risks associated with the DT planned to be adopted? How about the risks? How relevant these risks are for the proper function of the service What are the technological needs for the DT to adopt?

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glos…)

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