[Interview] Lee Dong-jin, Dobong District Mayor: "Digital Open Mayor's Office, a 'Digital Administrative Platform' for Real-Time Information Access Across the City"

Dobong-gu Digital Open Mayor's Office First Screen Reflecting COVID-19 Status and District Policy Achievement, 'Requests to the Mayor', Prioritizing Resident Convenience Such as Civil Complaints... Including Media Trends, Population, Traffic for Urban Flow and Status, Displaying District Policy Indicators, Manifesto (Pledges), Meeting Materials for Detailed Review and Work Instructions

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] "'Digital Open District Office' refers to a system that establishes a smart digital environment in the district office, supports scientific decision-making through visualized data, and functions as a control tower."

Dobong-gu Mayor Dongjin Lee explained the background of its introduction in an interview with this publication: "As society becomes more diversified and advanced, and residents' demands become more varied, Dobong-gu needed a platform that could immediately grasp and resolve such demands in real time."

The district expects the Digital Open District Office to act as a cooperative governance system through data sharing among departments, scientifically interpreting what residents want and proposing effective solutions.

In particular, the unprecedented situation of COVID-19 made the need for building a smart digital environment utilizing big data more apparent. During the COVID-19 situation, the administrative virtues required were 'quick situation awareness' and 'accurate decision-making.' Mayor Lee said, "Experiencing COVID-19, I deeply realized once again that data integration and, furthermore, convergence are the beginning and end of accurate and swift judgment in managing disaster situations."

The Digital Open District Office refers to a 'digital administrative platform' that organically connects administrative information directly related to residents' lives by introducing the latest information and communication technology (ICT), allowing real-time monitoring of information throughout the city. In other words, it can be called a 'hub of information accessible from all directions' where all information is gathered and extracted as needed.

The first screen of Dobong-gu's Digital Open District Office reflects the purpose of its establishment, prioritizing 'resident convenience matters such as civil complaints,' including COVID-19 status, district administration indicator achievement status, and messages to the mayor.

Additionally, as needed, it allows checking urban trends and status such as media trends, population, and traffic, displaying district administration indicators and related manifestos (pledges), meeting materials, etc., enabling detailed viewing and use for work instructions.

By introducing advanced functions such as voice and video recognition and touchscreens, it was thoroughly prepared for emergency working meetings and institutional meetings during the COVID-19 period. Mayor Lee stated, "Dobong-gu's Digital Open District Office is truly a 'small Dobong-gu.' The installed screens display various Dobong-gu databases (DB) in real time, allowing immediate confirmation of the latest information about Dobong-gu, which is highly useful in work reports and interdepartmental and inter-institutional meetings." He added, "The district's open digital district office integrates accumulated data and know-how, linking platforms that combine various urban data such as rivers, disasters, and economy. This foundation enables proactive administration, which differentiates it from other local government cases."

This open district 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' public contest.

The district started building the digital district office in August last year through self-planning, design, benchmarking other local governments, and consultation, completing it in January this year, five months later. Compared to the average seven months of other districts, Dobong-gu's completion in five months is notable. Mayor Lee emphasized, "It is important to create a working atmosphere in public administration by removing departmental barriers and promoting collaboration through joint use of data analyzed internally with other departments. Ultimately, the essence lies in contributing to 'improving residents' quality of life' by enhancing the timeliness and suitability of policies through scientific administration."

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