Digital technologies, especially internet, algorithms, artificial intelligence, and IoT, are transforming the world, modifying how we communicate, live and work. Digital technologies can be valuable tools to create better services, promote security, safety and economic prosperity that benefit society as a whole and in particular the most vulnerable groups. The difference between digital technologies that enhance society and the ones that weaken it is shaped by our capacity to create effective models of digital governance. As the development of the digital world expands and accelerates, it is crucial for stakeholders to gather from multiple sectors and multiple countries to understand how to evaluate the effectiveness of digital governance policies and strategies. Although many policies and principles have been proposed for digital governance, their effectiveness has rarely been systematically evaluated for expected outcomes. It is evident that there is a need for systemic mechanisms and performance criteria for assessing the governance structure of the digital world. The aim of this article is to examine elements that should be used to analyze the effectiveness of national, regional and global digital governance strategies.

The Nature of Digital Governance

Although there is not yet a strong consensus on how to define ‘digital governance’, the concept is generally used to describe a framework for establishing accountability, roles, and decision-making authority for governing the digital world. A digital governance framework should be able to align the main policies and strategies of the different governance systems, such as internet governance, digital platform governance, AI governance, IoT governance and cybersecurity governance. Like the internet governance process, the digital governance framework could be viewed as a distributed and coordinated ecosystem involving various organizations and fora. It must be inclusive, transparent, and accountable, and its structures and operations must follow an approach that enables the participation of all stakeholders in order to address the interests to the global society^[1].

Good governance aims at ensuring inclusive participation, making governing institutions (i.e., public and private) more effective, responsive, accountable, and respectful of the rule of law and international norms and principles^[2]. A set of key principles of good governance include accountability, transparency, participation and integrity. For example, the structure of the Internet governance ecosystem relies on democratic, multi-stakeholder processes, ensuring the meaningful and accountable participation of all stakeholders, including governments, the private sector, civil society, the technical community, the academic community, and users^[3]. Integrity means that actions and behaviors of the main players (e.g., tech industry and global platforms) of the digital world follow ethical principles and standards. Good digital governance should rely on legal frameworks that are enforced impartially, with equity and in a non- discriminatory way^[4].

Digital Governance Effectiveness

Before implementing a specific governance strategy or regulatory measure, governance bodies should analyze the choice between different alternatives. Three criteria commonly used^[5] are as follows.

1) Impact/Effectiveness. It indicates how much a specific policy will lead to improvements in specific conditions? For example, how much a given policy would minimize the impact of AI applications on human rights violations?

2) Cost-effectiveness. It indicates what would be the cost of implementing a specific governance policy. For example, what would be the cost of implementing a policy that requires some sort of certification for critical algorithms?

3) Net Benefits/Efficiency. It indicates how to compare alternative policies for solving a specific issue in the digital world. Which alternative will yield the highest net benefits? For example should content moderation practices be regulated by self-governed policies implemented by the global platforms or should they be regulated by national legislation?

The time has come to create frameworks and mechanisms to evaluate the effectiveness of digital governance strategies. We need empirical evidence on the performance and effectiveness of different governance strategies^[6]. We need appropriate studies to assess the effectiveness of regulatory measures. We need systemically oriented evaluation frameworks for governing the digital world at different levels, such as national, regional and international. We need to establish empirically justified governance strategies that can help to improve the process of governing the digital world with benefits for people, governments and private sector.

^[1] NETmundial Multistakeholder Statement of São Paulo, April 2014; http://netmun- dial.br/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/NET- mundial-Multistakeholder-Document.pdf

^[2] G. Wingqvist, O. Drakenberg, D. Slunge, M. Sjöstedt, and A. Ekbom: The role of governance for improved environmental outcomes’, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, June 2012.

^[3] V. Almeida: The Evolution of Internet Governance: Lessons Learned from NET- mundial, IEEE Internet Computing, vol. 18, no. 5, 2014, pp. 65 – 69.

^[4] G. Wingqvist, O. Drakenberg, D. Slunge, M. Sjöstedt, and A. Ekbom: The role of governance for improved environmental outcomes, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, June 2012.

^[5] C. Coglianese: Measuring Regulatory Performance: evaluating the impact of regulation and regulatory policy, OECD, Expert Paper No. 1, August 2012.

^[6] R. E. Kenward, et al.: Identifying governance strategies that effectively support ecosystem services, resource sustainability, and biodiversity, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), March 2011, 108 (13); Ruth Potts, et al.: Evaluating Governance Arrangements and Decision Making for Natural Resource Management Planning: An Empirical Application of the Governance Systems Analysis Framework, Society & Natural Resources, 29:11, 2016, pp. 1325 - 1341.