Samenvatting

When governments use digital technologies, public values can come under pressure. This article presents an instrument for governments to identify actions aimed at safeguarding public values concerning digital governance through dialogue. In the current literature there is a discrepancy between abstract discussions about good digital governance and the practical safeguarding of public values. The Dutch Code of Good Public Digital Governance (CODIO in Dutch) offers a framework, but not a concrete approach for organisations. To fill this gap, we have developed the CODIO ‘From Principles to Actions’ (VPA in Dutch) instrument based on literature on public value considerations concerning digitalisation. Based on scenario-based design thinking (SBDT), the CODIO and ethical guidance, we developed and tested the CODIO VPA instrument in three iterations at two Dutch provinces and a Dutch municipality. With the instrument, consisting of preparation, a workshop and follow-up conversations, government organisations can enter into dialogue about public values and identify concrete actions to strengthen public values. This research therefore results in an administratively substantiated and practice-tested instrument that helps government organisations to ensure good digital governance.