"If they come they will build it" : managing and building e-democracy from the ground up

The possibilities for using online media to promote deliberative democracy and enhance civic participation have been identified by many. At the same time, the ‘e-democracy score card’ is decidedly mixed, with the tendency of established institutions in both government and the mainstream media to promote a ‘push’ model of communication and information provision, which fails to adapt to the decentralized, networked, interactive and many-to-many forms of communication enabled by the Internet. This paper will discuss the experience of the National Forum, which is building an Australian e-Democracy site of which is the first stage. It aims to be a combination of town-square, shopping centre of ideas, and producers’ co-operative which will allow citizens, talkers, agitators, researchers and legislators to interact with each other individually and through their organisations. Its aim will be to facilitate conversations, and where required, action. This project can be understood from a myriad of angles. At one level it is an open source journalism project, at another it deals with knowledge management. It can also be approached as a forum, an archive, an internet arketing initiative and an eCommerce resource for civil society. Central to the project is the development of feedback mechanisms so that participants can better understand the debates and where they stand in them as well as gauging the mood, desires and interests of the nation on a continuous basis. This paper deals with the practice, theories and economic models underlying the project, and considers the contribution of such sites to community formation and the development of social capital

Identifying the relevance of personal values to e-government portals' success: insights from a Delphi study

Most governments around the world have put considerable financial resources into the development of e-government systems. They have been making significant efforts to provide information and services online. However, previous research shows that the rate of adoption and success of e-government systems vary significantly across countries. It is argued here that culture can be an important factor affecting e- government success. This paper aims to explore the relevance of personal values to the e-government success from an individual user’s perspective. The ten basic values identified by Schwartz were used. A Delphi study was carried out with a group of experts to identify the most relevant personal values to the e-government success from an individual’s point of view. The findings suggest that four of the ten values, namely Self-direction, Security, Stimulation, and Tradition, most likely affect the success. The findings provide a basis for developing a comprehensive e-government evaluation framework to be validated using a large scale survey in Saudi Arabia

E-democracy: exploring the current stage of e-government

Governments around the world have been pressured to implement e-Government programs in order to improve the government-citizen dialogue. The authors of this article review prior literature on such efforts to find if they lead to increased democratic participation ("e-Democracy") for the affected citizens, with a focus on the key concepts of transparency, openness, and engagement. The authors find that such efforts are a starting point toward e-Democracy, but the journey is far from complete

Backend Challenges and Issues for Electronic Government

The term electronic government (also called e-government, or eGov) refers to multidisciplinary projects that are complex in nature. Since the beginning of the Internet revolution many countries have adopted e-government as a step toward enhancing the delivery of public or governmental services to citizens by what are called e-services. A typical request for a service is initiated and passes through an electronic service (“e-service”) portal, or a front office. The term front office application usually system can be defined as designates software seen and used directly by an end user. This software provides the capabilities needed to collect the user inputs and provides effective services. The main purpose of front end application in the egovernment is doing business with government easier by providing online access to a range of services. The user input or service request will be fulfilled by the back-office, which can be defined as the internal operations of an organization that that don’t interface with clients and citizens but can help manage and control users’ input and provide them the appropriate output. Although e-government has many benefits, including cost reduction, enhancing governmental organizations’ efficiency, assisting a government’s economic policy, and helping the environment by reducing air and noise pollutions, there are a variety of challenges which might be critical to successful implementation of an effective e-government system, like e-government design and development, users or targeted users, public organizations and citizens’ / customers’ readiness to use and implement the e-governments’ technologies, and finally security and infrastructure

HCI in e-Government and e-Democracy

This chapter introduces the application of HCI design processes and design principles in e-government and e-democracy. We elaborate on HCI design processes and six HCI design principles in the context of e-government and e-democracy, including citizen-centered design, usability, accessibility, access to information, transaction efficiency, and security and privacy. Then, we present two cases to demonstrate the value of applying the HCI processes and design principles in developing and deploying e-government and e-democracy. Finally, we highlight the challenges faced by e-government and e-democracy as well as the future trends. In conclusion, HCI can help the success of e-government and e-democracy and their future growth

Network Analysis of Disconnect in the Hollow State: The Case of eGovernment Service Portals

The use of network arrangement in the development and implementation of e-government service portals is on its increase. Yet, research on network arrangement in sourcing service portals still lags behind developments in practice. This paper uses a network analysis perspective to identify any disconnect in the network arrangement in the sourcing of e-government service portals. We analyzed the hyperlink information embedded within e-government service portals to map out the network cohesion between and among governmental agencies and third parties. The results of this study found that although government is harnessing both the private and social capital, private firms remain as the key providers whereas non-profit organizations tend to loose out in both technology and information sourcing

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF INDONESIAN LOCAL GOVENMENT WEBSITE ANALYSIS OF WEB CONTENT, TRAFFIC

Digital divide in the parameter occurrence of inbound links, a webpage or document richness, and web traffic on web governments in Java Out Java. Local web government have affected by the popularity of the web document richness not by inbound links, traffic or information richness

IT Mediated Customer Services in E-Government: A Citizen’s Perspective

Despite the vast amount of research conducted and knowledge accumulated to explain the adoption of electronic public services, the issue of how to design high quality e-government Web sites remains an unresolved and relatively understudied topic. This study aims to address this theoretical and pragmatic gap by differentiating service content from service delivery in prescribing technological solutions for enriching the service quality of e-government Web sites. Grounded in Ives and Learmonth’s [1984] Customer Service Lifecycle, this article explicates a series of functional specifications that may be superimposed onto basic government transactions to enhance the overall functionality of e-government Web sites. It also articulates six interface design principles that are pertinent to addressing citizens’ expectations associated with the delivery of public services via the Internet channel. Together, the resultant dimensions depict a comprehensive set of IT-enabled content functionalities and interface design principles that may direct future research into fully interactive and executable e-government services. Practitioners could also benefit from the utilization of these content and delivery dimensions both as a reflective mirror to isolate inadequacies in e-government Web site designs, and as a benchmarking mechanism to assess the level of maturity of existing public e-services as compared to other leading exemplars

E-governance for sustainable development in Ghana: Issues and prospects.

Electronic governance and sustainable development have attracted considerable scholarly attention in recent times. However, the relationship between the two concepts has not been sufficiently explored within the academic community in Ghana. This study explores the current state of e-governance and how it is perceived to be related to the concept of sustainable development and its application in Ghana. It brings to the forefront of the topical issue of sustainability and how it can be achieved through systems thinking. The aim of this study was to explore the nexus between e-governance and sustainable development, the contribution of e-governance to sustainable development and the measures to increase the adoption of e-governance in Ghana. This study employed a mixed-method research design to achieve its objectives. Focus group discussions and questionnaires were the principal data collection instruments alongside secondary data. Per the research findings, there is a strong relationship between e-governance and sustainable development. The study further established that the deployment of e-government projects have a direct impact on the three pillars of sustainable development; economic, social, and environment. From the study, e-governance ensures the delivery of services remotely, thereby reducing the economic, social and environmental costs associated with service delivery to the public. It cuts down on the use of resources and empowers consumers to seek and receive services around the clock. This study recommends that e-governance should be a vital tool for sustainable development and that for developing countries to realize the full benefits of e-governance, the two concepts should be pursued in simultaneity