Global Digital Publics Network Seminar: David Brown, Anthropology Deakin, 3.00 pm 29 Sept

Global Digital Publics Network seminar

Digital Government: Trick or Treat?

David Brown, Anthropology Deakin

3.00 – 4.30pm Tuesday September 29, by zoom

Please register here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/digital-government-trick-or-treat-tickets-120943747003

There is an emerging form of governance centred around the reframing of government as a digital service, a move which exemplifies the inner machinery of the corporate state. A coalition of system-level bureaucrats, technology corporations, systems integrators and consultants is constructing a regime of surveillance and behaviour control that is flying under the radar of legislative and public oversight. Within the unexamined back rooms of administration, large transformation programs provide an opportunity for restructuring the techniques of government, luring bureaucrats with the promise of certainty and drawing corporations further into the heart of the state. A key strategy in this move is the use of modularity to decompose hierarchical functions and recompose them into profitable horizontal structures beyond the traditional mechanisms of public accountability and engagement. 

David Brown recently submitted his PhD in anthropology at Deakin University. Currently in the hands of examiners, the thesis argues that behind the façade of a “digital government” narrative, bureaucrats and corporations are building a new mode of public governance. Prior to embarking on his thesis, he was a ministerial innovation adviser with the Australian Government, before which he was an information management specialist in government and with a global professional services firm. 

Please see flyer attached for further information: digital govt GDPN flyer 9.20