Evaluating global e-government sites: A view using web diagnostics tools

This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2004 The AuthorsSeveral governments across the world have embraced the digital revolution and continue to take advantage of the information and communication facilities offered by the Internet to offer public services. Conversely, citizens’ awareness and expectations of Internet based online-public-services have also increased in recent times. Although the numbers of the different national e-Government web portals have rapidly increased in the last three years, the success of these portals will largely depend on their accessibility, quality and privacy. This paper reports the results of an evaluative study of a cross-section of e-Government portals from these three perspectives, using a common set of performance metrics and Web diagnostic engines. Results show that not only are there wide variations in the spectrum of information and services provided by these portals, but that significant work still needs to be undertaken in order to make the portals examples of ‘best practice’ e-Government services

Assigning Creative Commons Licenses to Research Metadata: Issues and Cases

This paper discusses the problem of lack of clear licensing and transparency of usage terms and conditions for research metadata. Making research data connected, discoverable and reusable are the key enablers of the new data revolution in research. We discuss how the lack of transparency hinders discovery of research data and make it disconnected from the publication and other trusted research outcomes. In addition, we discuss the application of Creative Commons licenses for research metadata, and provide some examples of the applicability of this approach to internationally known data infrastructures.Comment: 9 pages. Submitted to the 29th International Conference on Legal Knowledge and Information Systems (JURIX 2016), Nice (France) 14-16 December 201

Older Australians and the Internet

In late 2009, Sandra Haukka secured funding from the auDA Foundation to explore what older Australians who never or rarely use the Internet (referred to as ‘non-users’) know about the types of online products and services available to them, and how they might use these products and services to improve their daily life. This project aims to support current and future strategies and initiatives by: 1) exploring the extent to which non-users are aware of the types and benefits of online products and services, (such as e-shopping, e-banking, e-health, social networking, and general browsing and research) as well as their interest in them b) identifying how the Internet can improve the daily life of older Australians c) reviewing the effectiveness of support and services designed to educate and encourage older people to engage with the Internet d) recommending strategies that aim to raise non-user awareness of current and emerging online products and services, and provide non-users with the skills and knowledge needed to use those products and services that they believe can improve their daily life. The Productive Ageing Centre at National Seniors Australia, and Professor Trevor Barr from Swinburne University provided the project with in-kind support

Assessing web content accessibility of E-commerce websites for people with disabilities

In recent years online shopping has grown significantly. Due to the rapid growth of technology, companies also continuing to extend the functionality and design of their Business-to-Consumer (B2C) e-business websites. However, it is also important to adopt web accessibility such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines in B2C websites to increase the consumer's satisfaction of all ages and with disabilities. This study analyses 30 Australian B2C websites in accordance to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) using an automated web service. The result shows that B2C websites in Australia are not paying attention to web accessibility for people with disabilities. However, e-commerce will succeed in meeting WCAG 2.0 by making B2C e-commerce websites accessible to consumer of all ages and with disabilities. Recommendations are proposed in order to improve web accessibility for people with sensory (hearing and vision), motor (limited use of hands) and cognition (language and learning) disabilities in B2C e-commerce websites

Interactions on Government Facebook Pages: An Empirical Analysis

There is a growing body of research on government use of Facebook (FB) and citizen engagement; however there is a paucity of empirical research that identify the extent of agency and audience engagement on government FB pages. Little is known if different types of agencies engage differently in FB. Based on a large-scale world-first empirical analysis of over 145 federal government FB pages, this article presents insights on online participation in terms of government posts and citizen interactions observed over three years (2013-2016) across different types of agencies (i.e. operational, policy, regulatory and specialist). Preliminary findings show convincing agency and audience engagement on FB pages as a platform for sharing and communicating. However there are differences among the agencies in terms of audience and agency engagement relative to post activity and interactions. The findings have implications for federal government agencies, both from benchmarking and capability building perspectives

Website accessibility issues in Western Australian public libraries

Website accessibility is a very real and pressing issue for public libraries internationally. Tim Berners-Lee credited with founding the Web, states The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect. (Henry & McGee, 2010). There is wide-spread support for adherence to the Web Content Advisory Guidelines Version 1.0 and 2.0 (WCAG) throughout Federal, State and Local levels of government in Australia. The Guidelines have also been affirmed by the Australian Human Rights Commission, disability advocacy groups such as Vision Australia, and the Australian Library and Information Association. The Australian Government issued a press release in February 2010 which mandates conformance with WCAG 2.0 by 2015 for all government sites. In order to accommodate this, a new transition strategy has been provided by the Australian Government. While adherence to the Guidelines is clearly mandated, the level of adherence within the public libraries in Western Australia has not been tested until now. Public libraries, by their very nature, should be providing an equality of access to their collections and services. This research assesses the level of adherence to the Web Content Advisory Guidelines (Version 1.0 and 2.0) of public libraries within Western Australia. Through on-line website accessibility evaluation tools, manual checklists, surveys and interviews, this research identifies the level of compliance to these Guidelines as well as the implementation barriers and level of understanding within Western Australia. The assessment of the website accessibility of public libraries in Western Australia operated as a case study methodology incorporating both quantitative and qualitative assessment tools. An analysis of the research methods and findings is provided in this dissertation. The findings of the research demonstrate that at present no public library website in Western Australia with an on-line catalogue link, other than the State Library of Western Australia, conforms to the WCAG Version 1.0 or 2.0 at any level of compliance. Libraries identify a number of barriers to implementation of the guidelines including lack of understanding of the necessity of compliance, lack of understanding of the benefits of compliance, time and cost. The theoretical framework suggested in this research suggests that with increased understanding of the issues and increased support, libraries should be in a better position to work toward website accessibility

Blended learning internationalization from the commonwealth: An Australian and Canadian collaborative case study

This case depiction addresses the contentious issue of providing culturally and globally accessible teaching and learning to international students in universities in the Commonwealth nations of Australia and Canada. The chapter describes the university systems and cultures, the barriers to authentic higher education internationalization, and the problems frequently experienced by international students. Two university cases are presented and analysed to depict and detail blended learning approaches (face-toface combined with e-learning) as exemplars of culturally and globally accessible higher education and thereby ideologically grounded internationalization. Lessons learned are presented at the systems level and as teaching and learning solutions designed to address pedagogical problems frequently experienced by international students in the areas of communication, academic skills, teaching and learning conceptualization, and moving from rote learning to critical thinking. The blended learning solutions are analysed through the lens of critical theory