e-Government awareness among the techno-disadvantaged in the United States

This exploratory research focuses on awareness among techno-disadvantaged citizens in the United States. Specifically, we address whether awareness is associated with visitation and whether there are differences between those who are aware and those who are not aware. Following up on on a theory-based community initiative designed to improve computer literacy and access to information and communication technologies (ICT) for members of an underserved public housing community, a survey was undertaken. The results indicate that awareness is associated with visitation. Differences in demographic characterisitics, perceived ease of use (PEOU), and perceived access barriers between those who are aware of e-government websites, and those who are not, were found. While nearly half of the respondents are neither aware of nor have visited e-government websites, a slight majority is partaking of e-government services. We identify directions for future research and conclude by emphasizing the value of a theory-based community initiative to improve computer literacy, provide access to ICT, and advance e-government inclusion

The Prospects of E-government Implementation in Chaotic Environment – Government and Citizens’ Perspectives - Case Study of Libya

yesUsing compulsory e-government services is increasingly difficult and challenging given the impact of corruption, political instability, armed conflict, and a chaotic environment. Post the 2011 uprising, Libya experienced serious and deep-rooted conflicts. The chaos destabilized and dismantled government institutions throughout the country. Utilizing the lens of institutional theory, this paper presents the pressures experienced by the formal institutions in the absence of law and safety, to implement the necessary e-government services and provide it to citizens all over the country. In addition, to explore the role of informal institutions in providing and using the compulsory services offered by the government and to what extent alternative services could be made available. Two qualitative pilot studies, conducted in 2015 and 2016, explored the feasibility of implementing e-government from both the government officials and the citizens’ perspectives, respectively. From the e-services provided during this time period, only the E-passport and National Identity number were found to be the only successful. Critical Success Factors - CSF of e-government implementation were defined from conducting an in-depth literature review; these were compared with our findings. Both the government officials and the citizens found corruption, infrastructure and geographical nature to be influencing factors. The social collaboration between citizens was found to be the driving factor in the success of the e-passport, despite the difficult geographical nature and the limited infrastructure all over the country

LEVERAGING E-GOVERNMENT FOR CITY TRANSFORMATION: A CASE STUDY OF DIGITAL WUYI

Seeing the scarcity of successful e-government programs in developing countries while a high failure rate reported on the opposite, this study investigates the success of \u27Digital Wuyi\u27 program in China. This study exhibits its ten-year roadmap in which the e-government has been continuously upgraded at a municipal level, spanning from e-government infrastructure and platform development, community informatization with rural priority, e-commerce development for pillar industry, to Internet of Things development. Further, this study identifies the key success factors and reflects the corresponding practices that lead Wuyishan City to achieve the success in e-government development. We find that sustainable and dynamic strategic planning, mayor\u27s leadership with entrepreneurships spirits and action learning, public-private partnership and modular promotion contribute much to the success of this municipal e-government project in China. Implications of this study can be derived for the municipal government development in China and other developing countries

Understanding the digital divide: A literature survey and ways forward

The term digital divide was introduced in the mid-1990s and defined as the gap separating those who have access to new forms of information technology from those who do not. The digital divide remains an important public policy debate that encompasses social, economic and political issues. This paper presents a literature review and classification scheme for digital divide research. The review covers journal articles published between 2001 and 2010 in three types of journals: (1) Information technology & information systems, (2) Economics and business & management and (3) Social science. A classification of digital divide literature and a comprehensive list of references are provided. The results show that the digital divide is a multifaceted phenomenon, due to the many dimensions of determinant factors. Recent studies have included socio-economic, institutional and physiological factors in order to gain a greater understanding of the digital divide. Among other findings, they show that technological determinism is not sufficient to explain the emergence of the digital divide. Moreover, several types of technologies were investigated, both from empirical and conceptual standpoints. The Internet is the most commonly studied technology. The divide in access and usage are discussed at the global, social and democratic levels by employing a quantitative method, either a survey or data analysis, as the main method. However, there is less discussion in developing countries and at the level of the organization (i.e. SMEs, the private sector and the public sector). The qualitative research method could be seen as a complementary method to fill the gap in the current research. The choice of policies which have been recommended to the policy maker and national regulatory agency (NRA) are also presented and discussed at the end of this paper. Several initiatives made at the country and regional levels and by international organizations have also attempted to create a combined policy. This may suggest that the combined policy is the current trend among digital divide policies. Therefore, there is a need for future research to examine these determinants through the context of global, social and democratic divides. The results would provide some insight into how diverse people in different areas adopt ICTs. --Digital divide,Literature review,Future research

INTEGRATING ICT’s AND PUBLIC RECORDS MANAGEMENT, TOWARDS E-GOVERNMENT IMPLEMENTATION IN TANZANIA

This study aimed at assessing the usage of Information Communication Technologies in the management of public records as a part and parcel of e-government implementation in Tanzania. The study examine the use of ICT’s during the creation, maintenance, use and disposition of records, the existence or non-existence of electronic records management policies and procedures, as well as e- records security measures at ACC. A case study methodology was used and questionnaires were distributed to 37 officers selected from senior members of staff, IT staffs and records administrative personnel. Personal observations, documentary review were carried out and interviews were conducted to substantiate data gathered from the questionnaires. The study revealed that ACC lacks organization-wide policies and procedures for the creation, use, maintenance and disposition of digital born records resulting in uncoordinated procedures for managing its e-records and that most of the processes for managing records were manual. The study reiterate the call for collaboration between records staffs at the department and information communication technology (ICT) professionals in designing systems that take care of electronic records management requirements Furthermore the study recommends that ACC develops and implements Council-wide e- records management policies and procedures to ensure the creation and maintenance of authentic, reliable, complete and useable electronic records, capable of supporting e- governance implementation and other business functions and activities for as long as they are needed. Lastly the study concludes by calling upon the council to embrace e-records within an organisation by providing training to its records management staffs so as to impart them with the adequate knowledge and skills in e-records management

Framework for effective public digital records management in Uganda

This thesis examines the framework for effective management of digital records in Uganda, which was undertaken by a detailed study of the 23 ministries, which form the Uganda Public Service (UPS). Areas of research inquiry included establishing the current state of digital records in the UPS and revealing the factors impeding the managing of digital records. This raised many issues about the way in which digital records are created, maintained and used, including possible lines of action to resolve current digital records management (DRM) problems. It also considered how the DRM services and practices used elsewhere could be adopted to suit the UPS environment. The status of DRM and the factors affecting the creation, use, maintenance and disposition of digital records were critically reviewed and evaluated and, towards the end, the thesis recommends strategies and makes proposals that could contribute to the development of DRM services in the UPS. The study adopted a mixed methods research approach and drew on the ‘records continuum’ concept for its analytical framework. The study drew on data from primary and secondary (literature and research reports) sources. Data collection from primary sources was carried out using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, which made it possible to study the personal perspectives and experiences of those involved in the management of records and of digital systems in Uganda. The approach provided insight into the UPS ministries, where data was collected from senior and middle managers, ICT managers and records managers, through a total of 40 interviews. This approach was essential in so far as it focused on the importance of the meanings that emerged as respondents defined their DRM requirements through interpersonal interactions and it guided the data collection, analysis and reflection activities. The analysis of the findings of the study revealed that the problems with DRM are largely due to the absence of ICT facilities with recordkeeping functionality, a lack of clear policies, guidelines and procedures, and to the fact that the Uganda Records and Archives legislation is not fully implemented and not properly enforced. It is argued that the failure to fully implement the National Records and Archives Act has led to a lack of appropriate institutional and managerial structures. Other problems include the lack of a reliable power supply and of sufficient financial resources and human capacity. Although no UPS ministry has a complete Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS), the survey of many ministries provided comprehensive evidence of the dynamism in the use of ICT that led to the generation of digital records. The problems and challenges elaborated upon in the study have shown that a successful DRM service depends on a number of factors. While it is not strictly possible to generalise the findings from this purposive sample to the whole of the Government of Uganda, it is likely that the issues identified in this study will apply to the whole of the Uganda public sector and, to some extent, to other sub-Saharan African countries. The study concludes that in order to facilitate a DRM service in the UPS, the objective should be to enable increased creation and keeping of records by digital means. The proposed recommendations are categorised into four key factors: the need for formal legal infrastructure; the need to establish formal instruments in particular a national archives agency with appropriate policies, procedures and guidelines; and the development of both robust DRM infrastructure and of appropriately skilled human resource capacity. These factors are necessary and need to be addressed urgently, and specifically for Uganda, in order to ensure accountable government for the citizens of Uganda in the digital world

A methodology to institutionalise user experience in a South African provincial government

The number of citizens, who access e-Government websites, is growing significantly and their expectations for additional services are increasing. The Internet has become an essential instrument to distribute information to citizens. Poorly designed websites, however, can divide governments and its citizens. Consensus amongst researchers is that user experience (UX) is an important factor in designing websites specifically e-Government websites. Problems, experienced with website usability, prevent people from accessing and eventually adopting technology, such as e-Government. Countries, such as the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, have shown increased support for UX in e-Government websites. At present, a number of guidelines and design principles exists for e-Government website UX design; however, the effectiveness of the implementation of these guidelines and principles depends on the profiles of the individuals on a website development team and on an organisation’s understanding of UX. Despite the highlighted importance of UX, guidelines and principles are rarely adopted in South African e-Government websites. Usability and UX guidelines cannot be implemented; if there is no executive support; an inadequately trained staff; no routine UX practice; insufficient budget; inefficient use of usability methodologies and user-centred design (UCD) processes. The challenge at present in the UX design field is the institutionalisation of UX, specifically at government level. The goal of this research was to propose and evaluate a methodology to institutionalise UX in South African Provincial Governments (PGs), named the “Institutionalise UX in Government (IUXG) methodology”. The research used the Western Cape Government (WCG) in South Africa as a case study to evaluate the proposed methodology to institutionalise UX in a South African PG. The IUXG methodology (1.0) was proposed from five UX methodologies, as well as from best practices found in literature. The IUXG methodology (1.1) was updated, based on results of a survey to South African PGs, a survey to WCG employees, as well as literature from the WCG. The IUXG methodology (2.0) was updated a final time, based on the case study results and on a confirmation survey with WCG employees after the implementation of the case study. The research study made use of three surveys during this research. The first survey, incorporating UX maturity models, confirmed that understanding and buy-in of UX are limited and that UX maturity levels are low at South African PG level. The second and third surveys were administered to WCG e-Government website officials before and after the implementation of the IUXG methodology. The surveys measured the UX maturity level of the WCG in the component, e-Government for Citizens (e-G4C), responsible for the WCG e-Government website. The final survey results demonstrated that, after the implementation of the IUXG methodology, the WCG improved its level of UX maturity on the identified UX maturity models. Implementation of the IUXG methodology institutionalised UX in the WCG. UX activities became standard practice in the e-Government website environment after the systems development lifecycle (SDLC) incorporated UCD. UX policy, strategy and guidelines were documented for the WCG e-Government website. The WCG constructed the first usability testing facility for a South African PG and improvements to the WCG e-Government website were implemented. The proposed IUXG methodology institutionalised UX in the WCG e-Government website environment. This research is a major contribution, to addressing the current lack of UX practices in South African PGs. South African PGs can use the proposed IUXG methodology to institutionalise UX and it will assist PG officials to develop increased UX maturity levels. The advantage of the IUXG methodology is that it provides PG officials with a step-by-step method how to institutionalise UX in a PG by following the six phases of the IUXG methodology: startup, setup, organisation, method, standards and long-term. The IUXG methodology will assist South African PGs to establish UX practice as a norm. The IUXG methodology will assist PGs with the resources, methods and tools to enable them to implement UX guidelines, which will result in an improved, more usable and more user-centric PG e-Government website

Towards an Improved Framework of E-Government Implementation in Chaotic Environment; Proposed Social Collaboration Model: Case study of Libya

E-government is basically described as using all available electronic media to provide an online public services companies, agencies, citizens or persons in certain country or region. This provision can be provided by the government institutions, agencies, or organisation, in addition to public and private sectors subject to government policies and legislation. Political instability, armed conflict, corruption and chaotic situations are considered to be an obstacle confronting public services delivery and governance in some developing countries around the world. Therefore, Libya is selected a case study of this research. Post the 2011 ousting of the Gadhafi regime in Libya, the country has been experiencing a severe and deep-rooted environment of conflict and chaos, which has destabilised and in some cases dismantled government institutions throughout the country. Within this environment, the original aim of this study was to explore the possibility of implementing e-government services that can provide public services to citizens and, if so, how and what services could be utilised. An exploratory qualitative pilot study was conducted to investigate the feasibility of e-government implementation in Libya utilising the knowledge of government officials. The study found that, the Libyan government had recently and successfully implemented an online e-passport service. An extensive literature review carried out in relation to e-government implementation to help understanding lesions learned and factors behind such success then to utilise the knowledge for further services implementations. Critical success factors of e-government implementation were addressed but available ones are related to stable countries under normal situations. This research is aiming to investigate its implementation in chaotic environment where not much of research is available. During the chaotic environment and instability, different factors may emerge to drive the implementation and the usage of e-services such environment. From government perspectives, it is noticed that cases of corruption, lack of citizens’ safety and poor infrastructure were found to be drivers behind the success of existing government institutions and departments of implement e-passport system. Social collaboration and trust in government institutions’ commitment were emerged from the citizens’ perspectives as factors encouraged the citizens to use the e-passport system. Quantitative data analysed using structural equation modelling techniques using SmartPLS (3.2.7) together with the SPSS 23 were used to analyse the collected data. The outcome were used to propose a framework that can improve the implementation of public e-services while the country at unrest. Another contribution of this studies is the proposal of social collaboration model towards better e-services in such environment

Understanding the role of service integration in e-government implementation in Jordan

The general aim of this study is understanding the role of service integration in egovernment implementation in Jordan as a developing country. Mixed method approach was selected to achieve this aim through construction and validation of the proposed research model using semi-structured interviews as a qualitative research method and questionnaires as a quantitative research method. The main contribution of this study is developing a model towards understanding the role of service integration in e-government implementation in Jordan. This model is based on studying and analysing the critical factors affecting e-government service integration from the perspectives of providers and users of e-government services. Those factors are divided into managerial, cultural, social, political, legal, technological, and economic factors. The construction of our model took into consideration the overall objectives, benefits and challenges of e-government mentioned in the literature, as well as an original contribution regarding the evaluation of current situation of service integration in Jordan. This is a significant addition to the literature which is lacking empirical investigation considering service integration in general, and within the context of Jordan in particular. In this study, the analysis process is done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to examine the attitudes of respondents towards the role of service integration and the critical factors affecting that role, in addition to the other statistical analysis such as analysis of Means, Medians, Standard deviation, Chai squared and Mann Whitney U test. Investigating the attitude of respondents revealed an agreement between providers and users of e-government services regarding the critical factors affecting the role of service integration in e-government implementation in Jordan. They see neutral impacts of current situation, legal and technological factors on the role of service integration in e-government implementation in Jordan. However, they agree that managerial, social, and political factors have significant impacts while cultural and economic factors have insignificant impacts on the role of service integration in egovernment implementation in Jordan. Based on the results of the analysis, this study suggests a set of recommendations in order to reach the highest level of e-government maturity in Jordan, namely the e-government service integration

Is Web 2.0 a threat to representative democracy? A deliberation through the Australian carbon tax debate

The influence of social media is intensifying in global societies. As the technologies become cheaper and the acceptance of Web 2.0 becomes widespread, the power of social media on citizens, particularly the integrated influence of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs cannot be underestimated. In this paper, we attempt a deliberation through the lens of carbon tax debate in Australia where the influence of social media has perhaps begun to portend the role of elected representation in this representative democracy