Governmentality of new digital public feedback services: Technologies for motivating user behavior

Abstract

The article is devoted to the concept of “governmentality”, a term introduced by Michel Foucault, as well as the form of its implementation on feedback services implemented today in Russian regions within the framework of the national program “Digital economy of the Russian Federation”. The governmentality of regional portals is expressed in the structure of user motivation, the most powerful component of which, in terms of its impact on the audience, is the construction of an image of the future and the strengthening of the imbalance between the present and the future. Such a mechanism for artificially breaking time continuums is also used to strengthen the role and significance of citizens’ identity. In addition, new digital channels of participation actively encourage citizens to promote and interact with public authorities, i.e. to create or maintain declared institutions of interaction. Finally, portal motivation technologies are presented as a range of gamification methods that are also used to engage citizens. The described structure of motivation of regional portals is presented in the article as a “motivation funnel”. At the same time, the behavior of users is determined not so much by the structure of motivation presented on the portals, but by their consent to participate and trust in the communicant, i.e., in actors and institutions of power. The basic component of user engagement is agreement with at least one component of the governmentality of digital feedback services. Increasing user activity is possible by agreeing with the eco-urban theme of sites, as well as by increasing confidence in federal authorities, while increasing confidence in the authorities may occur due to trust in the “organizers” of new services — the actors responsible for the development, implementation and support of portals. The article presents a diagram of user behavior in the form of a graph and an epistemic matrix.