What Did Lee Dong-jin, Dobong-gu Mayor, Say When Opening the 'Digital Mayor's Office'?

On the 2nd, Dobong-gu Digital Open Mayor's Office System Unveiled... Establishing a Smart Digital Environment to Understand Residents' Administrative Needs through Visualized Data... Real-Time Control Tower Role in Disaster Situations like COVID-19... Cost Reduction through In-House Development, Planning, Benchmarking Best Practices, Consulting, and Extensive Data Management Expertise

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] “Experiencing COVID-19 once again made me deeply realize that the integration and ultimately the fusion of data in disaster management is the beginning and end of accurate and swift decision-making” (Lee Dong-jin, Mayor of Dobong-gu)

Dobong-gu (Mayor Lee Dong-jin) officially launched the ‘Dobong-gu Digital Open Mayor’s Office System’ on Tuesday, the 2nd. Throughout the COVID-19 situation, the administrative virtues demanded were ‘quick situational awareness’ and ‘accurate decision-making.’ The Dobong-gu Open Mayor’s Office was created precisely to address these concerns. It aims to practice collaborative governance through data sharing and scientifically identify the needs of residents.

The Digital Open Mayor’s Office is literally a ‘small Dobong-gu.’ The original intent of the Digital Open Mayor’s Office is to organically connect administrative information directly related to residents’ lives by introducing the latest information and communication technology (ICT), creating a ‘digital administrative platform’ that allows real-time monitoring of information throughout the city.

The Open Mayor’s Office set up at Dobong-gu Office is also currently ‘displaying’ various Dobong-gu databases (DB) in real time. The main screen prioritizes ‘matters related to residents’ demands,’ reflecting the purpose of the system such as COVID-19 status, achievement of district administration indicators, and messages to the mayor.

Additionally, as needed, it displays media trends, urban flows and statuses such as population and traffic, allowing users to view detailed district administration materials including administrative indicators, related manifestos (pledges), and meeting documents, which can also be used as administrative indicators.

Advanced features such as voice and video recognition and touchscreens have been introduced to prepare for emergency operational meetings and institutional meetings like those required during COVID-19.

This Open Mayor’s Office construction project became tangible when Dobong-gu secured 1.2 billion KRW in 2020 from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s ‘Smart City Integrated Platform Construction’ contest.

The district started building the digital mayor’s office in August last year through self-planning, design, benchmarking other local governments, and consulting, completing it in January this year after five months. Compared to the average seven months taken by other districts, Dobong-gu completed it in a shorter period of five months.

Since 2013, Dobong-gu has been passionate about scientific administration and smart cities, progressing through data digitization and standardization of administrative information. These preparations not only resulted in a short construction period but also led to budget savings (Dobong-gu spent 180 million KRW compared to the average 400 million KRW in other districts).

In particular, Dobong-gu’s Open Digital Mayor’s Office differentiates itself by integrating accumulated data improvements and linking platforms that combine various urban data such as rivers, disasters, and economy, forming the foundation for proactive administration.

In fact, Dobong-gu is known as a ‘national leading local government’ in relation to ‘smart cities.’ Since establishing the ‘Data Fusion Team’ in January 2019, the district has introduced department-specific big data systems based on the basic plan for big data and smart city operations, conducting annual self-analyses. In the 2019 and 2020 government joint evaluations, it achieved the highest scores in the ‘big data analysis’ category.

Furthermore, in April 2020, Dobong-gu established the “Basic Plan for Scientific Administration and Smart City Operation,” built a mobile life map (DBDB Map) to open data to residents, and in the second half of the year, formed a close cooperation system with Seoul City by actively exchanging content, putting the smart mayor’s office on track.

The district plans to use the established Open Mayor’s Office as an integrated platform to exchange and fuse content among related institutions including Seoul City and affiliated organizations, and to conduct multilateral video conferences among city, district, and other institutions.

It will also actively utilize the platform for disaster response such as COVID-19 prevention, and serve as a ‘scientific administration control tower’ for ▲accurate establishment of district administrative indicators ▲simplification of unnecessary work procedures ▲effective policy formulation.

At the demonstration on the day, Mayor Lee Dong-jin said, “Although the COVID-19 virus is invisible, when reading COVID-19 related indicators, the direction of infection progression and symptomatic solutions become visualized. The key is not the information itself but understanding the direction in which the information flows and how to utilize it. Having created a space where information is visualized through this Open Mayor’s Office, I hope it becomes a platform for improving the quality of life of residents.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.