Parliamentary web presence: a comparative review

Parliamentary web presence is seen as a tool designed to buttress a range of key parliamentary functions operating within an overarching democratic framework. Many governments have embarked upon ambitious e-government programmes in the hope of increasing participation. However, there is now a growing realisation that e-government strategies have not achieved the hoped-for success and there is an increasing body of research concerned with analysing these problems. This paper seeks to add to this body of research and draws upon insights provided by usability studies developed to provide an analysis of various parliament websites. It also compares how parliaments of several countries use ICT to increase transparency and to facilitate participation of citizens. As such it is the first of its kind to undertake work of this nature. The paper concludes by arguing for a usability framework for analysing the effectiveness of e-parliaments. This could be used by e-government web designers and architects alike to identify weaknesses, within a specific area, of both the form and content of their parliament and other e-government websites

Challenges to e-government implementation in developing countries. Nigeria case Study

The rapid development in ICT industry and the increase in Internet usage around the world enabled some governments to provide e-services for citizens with the aim of improving service delivery, increasing citizen participation, and reduce cost of governance. E-government as a platform offers a large opportunity for improved service delivery. E-government promises lots of advantage in governance process but at the same time requires efforts for changing process, building infrastructures, capacity enhancement etc. Employing e-government to improve efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery in government structures is one facet of economic sustainability. However, the introduction of egovernment is about a radical change and reengineering within government agencies and the relationship between government and its citizens. Hence the implementation of e-government requires important political, cultural, organizational, technological and social issues which must be considered by any government considering its implementation. This paper presents an assessment of key factors that affect the implementation of e-government system in Nigeria using the Institutional Theory. Semi- structured interviews were conducted and used in this study to collect the data. The results of this study show that the most significant challenges and factors influencing the implementation of e- government services in Nigeria are related to corruption in public office, budgeting and financial costs, human expertise, resistance to change, technological issues, lack of IT professional in public offices, data privacy and security, the legal framework, lack of IT infrastructure, limited Power supply, administrative obstacles. Conclusions, recommendations and future work are stated at the end of the paper

Advances in e-Participation: A perspective of Last Years

[EN] The opinions of citizens are now being given ever-increasing consideration. Today, many government administrations have set up public participation processes as one more of the inputs required to make a decision on several aspects of governance. e-Participation initiatives make it easier for citizens to access such processes. At the present time, there is no clear and accepted field definition due to the wide diversity of theoretical proposals and the interdisciplinary nature of the initiatives, many of which have been developed ad-hoc. This paper reviews the present literature in the field of e-Participation by means of a systematic mapping of the research work carried out in the timeframe 2000¿2019, together with some earlier relevant proposals in the area, with the aim of obtaining a conceptual guide to e-Participation components. This review analyses the findings and clusters the results into a conceptual e-Participation framework, which we call eP fw . The results show the diversity of the conceptualizations of many authors (25% on average) in the identification of tools, areas and levels in the field of e-participation and the almost null incorporation of fundamental aspects like trust, security, or transparency. We also found a lack of systems development (13.3%) that would prove and allow the proposed theories to be put into practiceThe work of A. Santamaría-Philco was supported in part by the Secretariat of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (SENESCYT) Scholarship Program of the Republic of Ecuador, and in part by the Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí (ULEAM). The work of J. H. Canós and M. C. Penadés was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Government of Spain through the Project CALPE under Grant TIN2015-68608-R and Grant BS123456.Santamaria-Philco, AA.; Canos Cerda, JH.; Penades Gramage, MC. (2019). Advances in e-Participation: A perspective of Last Years. IEEE Access. 7:155894-155916. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2948810S155894155916

Country overview Brazil

The inclusion of social participation concerns in public policies in Brazil reflects a contemporary approach to democracy, according to which modern citizens should be able to contribute to the creation of laws and policies, as well as contribute with states in their implementation. This report aims to provide an overview of the normative and institutional state of art of ICT-mediated citizen participation in Brazil. The first section provides an overview of the political and civic liberties framework in Brazil. In the second section the landscape of ICT-mediated citizen engagement is mapped. In the third section, the report engages with implications of technology mediations for deliberative democracy and transformative citizenship. The study argues that the discussion around participation (and e-participation) has dimmed in the last few years in Brazil. It could be a consequence of the current crises in the democratic system that we face today, the diminishing presence of social movements as effective members of government and the lack of proper institutionalisation of forms of online participation. The study also states that existing literature on participation and ICT-mediated engagement in Brazil seems to point out that increasing participation will be a complex process involving not only political and cultural change, but the understanding that technology decisions are increasingly political decisions. Access to the Internet and its use and appropriation policies will be ever more connected to democracy.DFIDUSAIDSidaOmidyar Networ

Engagement of Citizens in e-Government, a Conceptual Framework Using Serious Gaming

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyThis study explores the challenge of low citizen engagement and participation in e-Government in terms of lack of knowledge, experience, trust in e-Services and government itself. The research addressed the issues of factors that influence citizens' acceptance and adoption of e-government services in Libya, how to overcome the barriers, and determine serious games can promote citizen usage. This study applied an integrated approach utilising the Technology Acceptance Model and Trustworthiness Model theoretical models in a focused framework of intention to use. This research applied mixed research methodology, with exploratory sequential case study (quantitative) and qualitative investigation of the Libyan e-Government project and barriers to its implementation by semi-structured interviews. Furthermore, a quantitative survey questionnaire was used to validate the proposed framework, and a post-test questionnaire was also used to evaluate the effectiveness of the serious game. A conceptual framework was developed for all factors that may affect users’ intention to use e-Services and determine the adoption needs: the two main factors are e-Government adoption issues (including citizen trust in government, e-Services and the internet) and knowledge and experience. Using serious games is of a great value in learning and expanding knowledge, practicing and training, building self-confidence, and increasing security and privacy mechanisms. It would build trust between users and agencies by experiencing e-Services’ reliability, dependability, efficiency and capability, thus promoting adoption and use

Engagement of Citizens in e-Government, a Conceptual Framework Using Serious Gaming

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyThis study explores the challenge of low citizen engagement and participation in e-Government in terms of lack of knowledge, experience, trust in e-Services and government itself. The research addressed the issues of factors that influence citizens' acceptance and adoption of e-government services in Libya, how to overcome the barriers, and determine serious games can promote citizen usage. This study applied an integrated approach utilising the Technology Acceptance Model and Trustworthiness Model theoretical models in a focused framework of intention to use. This research applied mixed research methodology, with exploratory sequential case study (quantitative) and qualitative investigation of the Libyan e-Government project and barriers to its implementation by semi-structured interviews. Furthermore, a quantitative survey questionnaire was used to validate the proposed framework, and a post-test questionnaire was also used to evaluate the effectiveness of the serious game. A conceptual framework was developed for all factors that may affect users’ intention to use e-Services and determine the adoption needs: the two main factors are e-Government adoption issues (including citizen trust in government, e-Services and the internet) and knowledge and experience. Using serious games is of a great value in learning and expanding knowledge, practicing and training, building self-confidence, and increasing security and privacy mechanisms. It would build trust between users and agencies by experiencing e-Services’ reliability, dependability, efficiency and capability, thus promoting adoption and use

`ICT Policy` for ICT service management - role of business organizations in national reforms agenda for services sector

Several governments around the world have made significant endeavours and allegiances to deliver new National Reforms Agenda (NRA) in order to drive sustained prosperity for their citizens e.g. the cases of Australian, Georgia, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) governments etc. In general, the rationale for transformation in NRA has been manifold such as: (a) healthier and more active the population, the stronger the economy; (b) the more skilled the population, the higher the productivity; (c) the greater the degree of social inclusion, the greater the workforce/stakeholder participation and (b) improving individual government’s investment climate and strengthening democratic and political institutions. Notwithstanding, in the present and coming decades nationals of different countries around the world are (to a greater extent due to the credit crunch) and further will be facing immense challenges, due to mounting competitiveness in the global economy. Some governments are highly aware of the magnitude and complexity of these challenges. Nevertheless, resolving these challenges is not merely within the jurisdiction of the national government – success will essentially hinge on a collaborative working relationship within all levels of governments (e.g. local, national, central) and business/trading stakeholders. As a result of this collaboration, formulating and consigning prosperity to citizens. The research carried out in this paper strives to exemplify the objectives of the national reforms in general. In addition, structural change of the reformation policy is presented to the business organisations for the purpose of enabling them by focusing on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) based participation and productivity in service management

The Political Economy Of Sanitation: How Can We Increase Investment and Improve Service For The Poor?

This report presents the results of a Global Economic and Sector Work (ESW) Study on the Political Economy of Sanitation in Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Senegal that was conducted by the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) and the World Bank. Its purpose is to help WSP and the World Bank -- through a better understanding of the political economy of sanitation -- in their efforts to support partner countries and development practitioners in the design, implementation, and effectiveness of operations that aim to provide pro-poor sanitation investments and services to improve health and hygiene outcomes