With recent advances and investment in artificial intelligence, are we on the verge of introducing virtual public servants? Governments around the world are rapidly deploying robots and virtual agents in healthcare, education, local government, social care, and criminal justice. These advances not only promise unprecedented levels of control and convenience at a reduced cost but also claim to connect, to empathise, and to build trust. This book documents how―after decades of designing out costly face to face transactions, investment in call centres, and incentivising citizens to self-service―the tech industry is promising to re-humanise our frontline public services. It breaks out of disciplinary silos and moves us on from the polarised hype vs. fear discussion on the future of work. It does so through in-depth Q-methodology interviews with a wide range of frontline public servants, from doctors to librarians, from social workers to school receptionists, and from police officers to call handlers. The first of its kind, this book should be of interest across the social sciences and to anyone concerned with how recent measures to digitise and automate our services are paving the way for the development of full-blown AI in frontline work.
Author(s): Stephen Jeffares
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 274
City: Cham
Preface and Acknowledgements
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Boxes
Chapter 1: Artificial Intelligence and Frontline Public Service
References
Chapter 2: Control, Cost, Convenience and Connection, Four Problems for AI and Public Service
The Problem of Control
The Problem of Cost
The Problem of Convenience
The Problem of Connection
Conclusion
References
Chapter 3: AI, Public Service and Research Methodology
Documents
Online Reviews
B2G Marketing Materials
Cases and Extended Examples
International Examples
Public Servant Interviews
Police and Police Staff Interviews
Research Instruments
Research Instrument 1—Frontline Topic Guide
Research Instrument 2—Visual Cues
Research Instrument 3—Q-Set
Q-Set
Person Sample
Research Instrument 4—Police Topic Guide Police
Analysis
Analysis of Public Servant Interviews
Analysis of the Q-Methodology Data
Analysis of the Police Interviews
Ethics
References
Chapter 4: Position Closed: The Disappearance and Datafication of Face-to-Face Public Service
Face to Face
Health
Welfare
Criminal Justice
Local Government
Case of Local Authority Customer Service Centre
Conclusion
References
Chapter 5: Can I Speak to a Human? Automating Remote Contact in Frontline Public Service
Remote Contact Research
Emerging Technologies for Remote Contact
Beyond the Phone
SMS—Point of Contact/Distribution
Apps
Email
Videocalls
Chat
Interactive Voice Response
Hybrid Chat
Remote Contact Case Study
Training the Bots
Customer Expectations
Budget
Knowledge
The Missing Connection
Conclusion
References
Chapter 6: The Non-Public Encounter: Self-Service and the Ephemoralisation of Public Service
Online Self-service
Self-Completion Webforms
Symptom Checkers
Chatbots
Physical Self-Service: The Kiosk
The Case of the Self-Service Library
Cost and Control
Connection
Criticism of Self-Service Libraries
Conclusion
References
Chapter 7: The Management of Social Media in Frontline Public Service
An Overview of Social Media Platforms in Public Service
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Observing the Police Use of Social Media
The Help Desk
Public Service Broadcasting
The Digital Canteen
Police Interviews
Help Desk Traffic Cops
Public Service Broadcasters
The Canteen Cops
Observing the Police Communications Teams
Observed Publishing
Observed Engagement
Observed Monitoring
Observed Analysis
Observed Management
The Communication Officer Interviews
On Publishing
On Engaging
On Monitoring
On Analysis
Conclusion
References
Chapter 8: Robots and Virtual Agents in Frontline Public Service
Amplifying Public Servant Capabilities
Face Recognition
Lie Detection
Assessment and Feedback Tool
User Record Analytics
Enhancing Agent-Citizen Interaction
Humanoid Robot
Small Humanoid Robot
Carebot
Voice Assistant
Public Servant Embodiment
Power-Intensive Task Robot
Patrol Robot on the Beat
Conclusion
References
Chapter 9: The Virtual Public Servant Fantasy
The Case of Enfield’s Amelia
Views of the Frontline
Technical Challenges
Conclusion
References
Chapter 10: The Virtual Public Servant: Three Futures. A Q-Study
Viewpoint 1 “The Power of Interaction”
Viewpoint 2—Generation Now
Viewpoint 3—Human + Machine, Choice + Empowerment
From Viewpoints to Prescriptions
Conclusion
Appendix
References
Index
