Analysis Of С2a Communications In The Digital Economy

The concept of the industrial revolution

It is impossible to deny the fact that the trends of recent decades associated with the development of information technology have made significant changes in the lives of ordinary households, which have received a large number of smart gadgets, and in more complex economic, political and social systems (Dolzhenko, 2014). Only the fact that high-tech companies are among the largest in the world in terms of capitalization, together with banks, insurance, oil and industrial enterprises, which, as the statistics of the first nine months of 2018 do not lose investment attractiveness even against the background of political risks and high uncertainty. That fact shows not only the prospects of this sector, but also the fact that it will serve as the basis for the transition to a new format of the economy (Kazakov, Lapidus, & Svetlov, 2016, Affan Alim et al., 2018, Malanov et al., 2016). Ideas about this format of economic relations have been actively developed since 2011 in conjunction with the concept of the fourth industrial revolution, called "industry 4.0".

The date of the official beginning of the formation of the digital economy in the Russian Federation can be considered July 28, 2017, when the government of the Russian Federation approved the program "Digital economy of the Russian Federation", prepared in accordance with the Strategy for the development of the information society in the Russian Federation for 2017-2030. Its goal is to create conditions for improving the quality of life of the population through the active and comprehensive use of modern information technologies (Lobova & Dolzhenko, 2016). Moreover, according to this concept, by 2030, radically different aspects of the functioning of economic systems and processes should be formed, which affects the interests of a wide range of stakeholders, which includes not only interests in the context of various social groups, but also business and government structures at various levels.

Levels of the digital economy in the Russian Federation

According to the concept, the successful development of the digital economy of the Russian Federation is based on the formation of a competent infrastructure consisting of three levels:

• environment - the institutional, regulatory and infrastructural basis for the functioning of the digital economy. It is intended to act as a fundamental basis for the development of the next level;

• platforms and technologies, middleware, necessary for the coherence of specific actors of the digital economy with the environment that is fundamental;

• markets and industries are places of interaction of the main participants of the digital economy, provided and supported by special platforms and technologies obtained through the formation of regulatory, institutional and infrastructure environments.

In the described transition from the general (environment) to the private (a particular market or sector of the economy), public authorities see their task in the formation of the first two, more general, but at the same time, the most significant levels: environment, platforms and technologies. At the same time, the creation of markets and industries allowed the implementation of private initiatives (Saxton, Onook, & Kishore, 2013).

However, there is a direction in which public authorities should form all three levels of the digital economy: the provision of public services to the population, which is also noted in the concept of digital economy in the Russian Federation. This stimulated the development of such areas of interaction between stakeholders as C2A (client-to-administration) and G2C (government-to-client), or the chain of interaction "population-public authorities" and "public authorities - population".

Features of the population and public authorities’ communication

The portals by means of which there is a communication of the population and public authorities, can be divided into two groups:

1. Informing or providing public services to the citizens without mandatory feedback (G2C) (Based, Tsay, & Mjølsnes, 2012). This form of communication ends when the population receives the requested service (information, reference, etc.) and does not imply further feedback. Examples illustrating this form of communication can serve as portals that provide public services: public services, personal account of the taxpayer, etc.;

2. Formation of communication channels of the population and public authorities (C2A). Actively developing the concept of mass involvement of the population in the process of solving a number of socio-economic tasks (crowdsourcing), implies an urgent need in the formation of channels for information transfer from the public to the authorized state structure and back, observing the key principles of openness, transparency and accessibility (Hazzaa, Kadry, & Zein, 2012). One example of C2A communications is Internet referendums, which are platforms that aggregate public initiatives and bring them to decision makers in public authorities.

However, it should be noted that the implementation of crowdsourcing projects is possible only with the use of modern information technologies, which are necessary to coordinate actions, collect information and accelerate the procedure of its processing, scaling the project, etc. (Gorcheva, 2016). A conservative approach to the organization of crowdsourcing projects seems inefficient and unprofitable: the organization of the voting process requires the cost of renting premises and sound equipment, organizing the protection of order, as well as the payment of maintenance personnel (Gubaydullina, 2013). However, the number of project participants is limited by the physical size of the leased area. As part of the use of information technology, the key costs are the creation of a crowdsourcing service (application, website) and its promotion (Golubev, 2014). Modern and popular Internet resource is able to provide simultaneous smooth operation of hundreds of thousands of users, thereby identifying the really important problems for the population (Hazzaa, Kadry, & Zein, 2012). In addition, information technology allows the population to participate in the crowdsourcing project at a convenient time and place, without feeling discomfort and embarrassment with a large number of people, to be more open and honest, which is also necessary for public authorities to make management decisions.

Procedures for solving problems using crowdsourcing technology and the expert method can be compared according to the parameters presented in table 01 .

As can be seen from table 1 , crowdsourcing technologies are not without drawbacks, but their application is still very promising. The difficulty of moderation crowdsourcing projects is indeed an important problem, whose solution is possible through the limitation of the possibility of submitting a detailed response (Malanov, Masanov, & Podsevatkin, 2016). Thus, the most common practice to overcome the described problem is to submit an initiative with several fixed answers, without the possibility to comment, add or change proposals and answers.

Electronic referendum as a way of communication between citizens and public authorities

The first electronic referendums as communication platforms of the C2A sector in the digital sphere began to appear after the publication of the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 04.03.2013 № 183, establishing the need to consider citizens ' initiatives submitted via Internet resources.

One of the first Internet resources in the C2A sector was the "Russian public initiative", the purpose of which, according to its official website, is the development and strengthening of civil society, the protection of human and civil rights, as well as the participation of the population in the management of the state.

This resource is an Internet portal where people can:

• publish their initiative;

• acquaint with the initiatives of other users;

• vote for the published initiatives ("for" or " against");

• check the status of the review and the realization of the initiative.

Any citizen of the Russian Federation older than 18 years, who has an access to the Internet (stationary or mobile device), registered on the website of public services can take part in an electronic referendum on the resource of the "Russian public initiative". Registration on the website of public services as an important element of the authorization system, ensuring fair use of the portal, as well as protection from technical intervention to increase the number of votes to lobbying of any initiative by a group of individuals with commercial or other interest.

The aim of initiatives to collect votes of members "for" its implementation. According to the rules of this portal, the minimum required number of votes "for" the initiative to be transferred to the appropriate expert group of the Federal, regional or municipal level (Okokpujie, Etinosa, John, & Joy, 2017).

Before the implementation process, the initiative passes three filters:

1. Primary moderation for compliance with the current legislation. Contractor-authorized non-profit organization;

2. The result of voting-the initiative should collect a set number of votes for its implementation. Performers-citizens of the Russian Federation who meet the rules of the portal usage;

3. The decision of the expert Commission is to highlight the results of the analysis and discussion of the initiative within the working group. Performers - members of the expert Committee (working group), created from the representatives of public authorities (Federal, regional or municipal level), deputies, representatives of the business community and public organizations.

The time from the moment of submission of a public initiative to the decision on its implementation (or refusal) is shown in figure 01 .

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Source: compiled by the authors on the basis of the requirements of the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 04.03.2013 № 183 "On consideration of public initiatives directed by citizens of the Russian Federation using the Internet resource "Russian public initiative".

Characteristics of the Internet resource "Russian public initiative"

The weak point of the current implementation of this portal, in our opinion, is the presentation of data in the form of a list, which can be ranked only by thematic sections. This significantly complicates the collection and analysis of information about initiatives, as well as areas of civil activity.

Nevertheless, it should be noted the positive aspects of C2A communication, which can be described in the context of the levels defined in the program "Digital economy of the Russian Federation" (table 02 ):

Analysis users’ activity in the Internet resource "Russian public initiative"

On August 8, 2018, 2108 initiatives were posted on the Internet resource "Russian public initiative". On the basis of the interactive map it is possible to identify the most initiative Federal districts of the Russian Federation (figure 02 ).

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Traditionally, the regions of the Central and North-Western Federal districts are the most active. This is due to the density of their settlement, as well as the fact that the residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg, as well as adjacent subjects of the Russian Federation have a higher standard of living, which allows them to actively use modern information technologies, to increase their level of development, to show civic responsibility and initiative.

Low motivation in the manifestation of the initiative of the far Eastern and Ural Federal districts is the result of insufficient computerization of the population and its low motivation, to which attention should be paid to the bodies responsible for the implementation of the program "Digital economy of the Russian Federation".

The almost complete absence of public initiatives of the North Caucasus Federal district is presumably characterized by the peculiarities of the social and political structure of the regions, as well as by the presence of other channels of communication between the population and the authorities.