UTSA Public Administration Professor, Christopher Reddick, was recognized in the article, “Research collaboration and knowledge sharing in e-governance,” published in the journal Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, as one of the top 10 producers of researchers in the field of e-government. E-government is the concept of using digital methods to encourage citizen participation in government. Reddick is an expert in the field and has been cited almost 4,000 times for his research on public policy, participation and e-government on Google Scholar. He has published almost 100 journal articles and is the author and editor of 15 books.
“I teach in the College of Public Policy, and I research electronic government—or e-governance,” Reddick said. “E-governance is using technology for businesses and citizens to interact with government…It is basically using any digital technology to contact government.”
His most cited paper is one he wrote in 2004. “[The paper] looked at why and how citizens interact with their government,” Reddick said. “I was interested in what governments will expose to the public and what they will supply online. In the 1990s, the government was just putting information online, and with this new technology I wanted to see what the people wanted.”
Reddick is no stranger to honor and has had a long history of research at UTSA.
“I started at UTSA in 2001. I came to UTSA because I was inspired because it was a research university,” Reddick said. “I started this research and this was management information in the public sector and I like how it changes so much. Some research never changes, but technology is constantly changing and evolving.”
Reddick is honored to be recognized for publishing his studies of trends from 2000-2018.
“I was doing research before it became a big deal and found the next trend,” Reddick said. “The timing was good and I was interested in it. I was interested in technology. It’s nice to be recognized.”
He also thinks that the world of e-governance is expanding like never before.
“Websites would revolutionize the way we interact with government because the internet was really evolving,” Reddick said. “We can interact with people, and in the past the media was the bridge but now they can go to the public.”
Reddick believes that research is helping the world to evolve and grow. He offers advice to aspiring researchers.
“Be passionate about something, always work for your goal and make sure to take criticism and improve from it,” Reddick said. “You have to be able to take rejection because it makes you stronger. Now we have more [research] than when I was doing my Ph.D. I wanted to start publishing after I [started] researching. Young students shouldn’t be afraid to follow their dreams.”
