Local E-Government in Norway: Current Status and Emerging Issues

Recent studies indicate that e-government initiatives have not held their promise of improving government services. The majority of efforts to benchmark e-government have had central government as the unit of analysis. This study employs the MeGAP-3 (The Municipal E-Government Assessmen Project) assessment tool to assess the status of municipal e-government in the Agder region in southern Norway, an area with high Internet penetration and mature information and communication technology (ICT) use. MeGAP-3 proved effective in providing a relative positioning of these Norwegian municipalities, but we argue that country specific assessment indicators are needed to complement the tool and enable cross-country comparisons by relative scores. Surprisingly, the results show that the sophistication of local government web sites was fairly low. A series of qualitative interviews were conducted to explore the factors that shape the development of municipal egovernment. The evidence suggests that the dominant stakeholder in development is the bureaucratic administration rather than citizens or politicians. This group has a strong focus on internal efficiency and cost reduction. The majority of respondents report cost reduction as the major driver behind egovernment development. However we also identified a more citizen-centric approach that stresses the need for improving access and service quality for citizens. The study outlines a number of areas where further research will be needed to fully understand the development of e-government in Norway

Fremmere og hemmere for brukerinvolvering i utvikling av digitale tjenester : Brukerinvolvering i etkommunaltIT-prosjekt : En casestudie fra arbeid med innbyggerportalen Min Side

Masteroppgave informasjonssystemer IS501 - Universitetet i Agder 2018In this thesis I have studied what promotes or inhibits user involvement when developing digital services in the public sector, in this case an IT project in a municipality. Data collection took place during the concept phase, when a heterogeneous and representative user group from the municipality participated in workshopsto give feedback. Within this context, I have analysed factors that promotes or inhibits user involvement. Promoters are factors that facilitates successful user involvement.-For instance factors that promotes correct understanding of the presented task, and users who find an interest in participating and prioritize to attend the workshop. Inhibitors are factors that prevent successful user involvement.-For instance factors that prevents correct understanding of the task, leading to users who do not prioritize nor find interest in attending. I have chosen a triangular approachfor my inductive study. I studied previous research, did qualitative surveys with participants in workshops, interviews and observations. Raw data were analysed using a hermeneutical approach. The analysed statements resulted in a table listing promoters and inhibitors with similarities. It is possible to trace all statements to their origins. Parallel to this I have compared my findings with relevant studies. Similarly, I made a list of promoters and inhibitors found in literature in a table. In the end, I compiled the tables and divided them into time phases. During my analysis I realised that promoters in most cases has an inhibitor as an opposite, as in the example above. I have chosen to present my main findings in four time phases that are relevant to user involvement in a concept phase, when developing digital services in the public sector. Each of the main findings separately include important promotors that may turn into inhibitors, if not followed