Citizen Vocabularies Public Administration and Health
Linked Open Data and Semantic Web technology bridging systems-world of professionals and life-world of citizens
The development of the Internet led in the first decade to the linking of information (web 1.0: website development) and in the second to connecting people (web 2.0: the social web). Without the importance of these themes, the third decade of the Internet will be characterized by connecting knowledge (web 3.0: the semantic web). This is done by computer-readable metadata capture, the descriptive information of information. This commitment applies not only to the terms themselves, but also to their qualities, so that they become “entities” or “concepts” that can form the base for actual substantive editing by computers. For the usefulness of a digital citizen vocabulary, the development of the technology of the semantic web (linked open data) is essential.
Online information is formatted in a “one-size-fits-all” package. If the patient has a lack of understanding of technical terms, which is usually the case, this could lead to faulty associations or misinterpretations of important terms (Zeng & Tse, 2006). Smith (2011) interprets the obstacle described above from two viewpoints. On the one hand, there are patients who have difficulty understanding medical terminology. On the other hand, information systems designed specially to recognize, understand and process medical technical terms, have difficulty interpreting lay language, since patients are generally not involved in the creation of (medical) terminology. Citizens’ digital access to government information and decision-making is also seen as an important element for a vital society. The usefulness and necessity of a transparent and open government and its stimulant on citizens’ participation has been described extensively (Council for Public Management, 2010; Scientific Council of Government Policy, 2012), as its applicability (Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations, 2009; Bandringa & Van Engelenburg, 2016).
In an information society digital communication plays a central role in these developments, and the quality of that communication strongly influences the quality of the open and transparent government. Simply put, miscommunication can lead to an unworkable situation. Language style and terminology of the government differ from those of citizens (Koopman & Pinxten, 2016). It is the linguistic difference between the system world of professionals and the life world of the informal environment of citizens. In our own lives we speak our own language. We may suffer from a stroke but not call it CVA (ÔCerebro Vascular AccidentÕ) or TIA (ÔTransient Ischaemic AttackÕ). We talk about money and not ÔliquidityÕ. People use their own language, where professionals need more precise terminology to do their work. For digital solutions to work for citizens, they need to speak the language of people. For health providers in a country that will mean that they – in order to communicate consistently and interoperable with consumers – should use a standardized consumer health vocabulary, such as the one that was developed in the US some years ago. Facilitating the digital communication between citizens and government is therefore becoming increasingly important. One way to contribute to do this, is to have government and citizens participate together in the design of a citizen vocabulary.
The main objectives for this explorative research and development study is therefore to contribute bridging the gap between two ÔlanguagesÕ by introducing the concept of a citizen vocabulary in combination with semantic web technologies and Linked Open Data, allowing a computer-readable way connecting them to the equivalent terms of professionals.