Public Attitudes to the Sharing of Personal Information in the Course of Online Public Service Provision

The research focused on the following question: What are attitudes of different members of the New Zealand general public towards the collection, management, and sharing of personal information in the course of online public service provision? In order to find answers to this research question we used a qualitative research approach to empirically explore attitudes of a variety of New Zealanders in their service relationships with New Zealand public sector organisations. The research was conducted from March 2010 until August 2010, using the following research methods: • A review of international and New Zealand-based literature in the area of information sharing, privacy, and the management of citizen identity information in e-government service environments; • Semi-structured interviews with New Zealand public sector staff about the characteristics, conditions, and strategic developments in online integrated public service provision in the New Zealand public sector; • Ten focus groups with representatives of the New Zealand general public

E-Government: Transformation of Public Governance in New Zealand?

New information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been introduced in the government sector throughout the world in the past 10 - 20 years in an attempt to achieve greater operational efficiency and effectiveness. The benefits of ICTs include faster, streamlined administrative processing; lower transaction costs; better use of information resources; greater public access to government information and services; and more opportunities for public participation in democratic processes. These changes are often heralded by e-government commentators as "transformative'.This implies that technical innovation will deliver business benefits and produce radical change in the way that government agencies are organised to service parliament and the public. That is, a change in state sector governance arrangements. This thesis examines the concept of 'transformation' in the New Zealand state sector context with a view to determining the form and nature of governance changes that may occur as a consequence of e-government implementation. Two streams of empirical data gathering have been completed. These provide data on how e-government initiatives are currently being implemented in New Zealand, and the impact senior public officials and public management experts consider e-government will have in the future. A Weberian analytical framework is used to identify the nature of changes that occur as a consequence of e-government initiatives, and where changes may occur in the current public sector governance model. The empirical evidence suggests that e-government will have two transformational effects in New Zealand: instrumental and systemic. These effects will occur as public officials use ICTs to increase operational efficiency and effectiveness; develop broad-based collaboration and co-production working arrangements; and expand the resources available to government to address policy issues and delivery services. Adjustments to current governance arrangements are required to position public officials to use communication technologies effectively in the future. Initial reform efforts need to be made in the areas of accountability structures and leadership

Suffering development : indigenous knowledge and western education in Ladakh

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