Towards a ubiquitos government : the move to mobile services as perceived by the end user

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Information Technology.Mobile technologies, by virtue of their pervasive and powerful existence, are relentlessly transforming the way in which people work and play as people become contactable anytime anywhere. Mobile devices are becoming indispensable tools of verbal and data communication at present, and will be even more essential to the following generations. The use of mobile technologies offers governments the possibility to render their services to the end users (constituents) in a more effective and efficient fashion. There are numerous factors that influence the effectiveness of government mobile services. These factors can be viewed from a few perspectives such as financial, administrative, social and technological; this research thoroughly analyses the end users’ perspective towards the effectiveness of mobile government services. Mobile government services are those services rendered to end users, be they citizens or businesses, through the use of mobile communication technology within the government administration. The main research question is what does ‘successful government mobile service’ mean to the end user? Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies are employed to establish the answer to this question. In order for such answer to be accomplished, an extensive review of the available literature was performed to highlight the research problem as the first step in the research process. Subsequently, experts in the fields of mobile government and electronic government were consulted through a web-based survey that also worked as an online interview as several participants were willing to undertake further discussions on the survey findings. The findings of this survey were aligned and compared with the outcomes of the literature review resulting in a useful classification of the mobile service success factors as well as pinpointing the barriers to such success. The following step was devising two mobile service effectiveness evaluation models which employed those classified success factors as evaluation metrics. These models formed the theoretical basis for a real-world survey, through which end-users’ opinions about their needs for mobile service were collected and analysed. Once these needs are fulfilled by the mobile service, satisfaction is reached, and, accordingly, these needs are considered as real success factors for the mobile service from the end-users’ perspective. According to those two mobile service effectiveness evaluation models, these success factors must satisfy one perspective, which is the end-users’ (citizens & businesses), from four perspectives: Citizens & Businesses, Operational & Internal Business, Innovation & Learning and Financial & Economic, if a comprehensive effectiveness evaluation is required. In order to build a realistic picture about the practical rendering of effective mobile services by local governments, (if there were any), the researcher selected three local Sydney councils to conduct a case study. The literature review, the experts and users surveys, as well as case studies have all contributed to a practical framework that represents a checklist for government mobile service providers to adopt and adapt according to their mobile services provisions. Accordingly, this study contributes with its outcomes, such as mGovernment theoretical management framework, and the devised effectiveness evaluation tools, to enrich this novel field of work and research; the field of mobile government services

استطلاع آراء القطريين والوافدين حول استضافة كأس العالم لكرة القدم 2022

This report presents the results of The Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup survey of Qatari nationals and white-collar expatriates residing in Qatar. The study was conducted and funded by the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) at Qatar University in collaboration with the University of Florida. The data are intended to inform planners and decision makers, as well as the academic community. All those connected with this project are grateful to the hundreds of Qatari nationals and white-collar residents who gave their valuable time to participate in this survey. The successful completion of the survey was made possible through the contributions of many dedicated individuals who work at the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI), Qatar University, and at Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management, College of Health and Human Performance at the University of Florida. The Social & Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) is an independent research organization at Qatar University. Since its inception in 2008, it has developed a strong survey-based infrastructure in order to provide high quality survey data for planning and research in the social and economic sectors.الهدف من هذا المشروع هو تقييم مدى تأثير كأس العالم على تغيير نوعية حياة الأشخاص الذين يعيشون في دولة قطر من خلال تقييم تأثير الإعداد لهذا الحدث على البلد والمنطقة. وقد تم الإشارة إلى إرث الفعالية في كلمات رئيس لجنة ملف قطر 2022 ،الشيخ محمد بن حمد آل ثاني: "إن المنافع الاقتصادية ستكون كبيرة لكل بلد في منطقة الشرق الأوسط. وسيكون منصة كبيرة نحو تغيير نظرة العالم الإسلامي ومنطقة الشرق الأوسط للعالم الخارجي". أهداف الدراسة ذات شقين: أ) دراسة تأثيرات الفعالية على الاتجاهات العامة، ونوعية الحياة والتصورات و دعم كأس العالم في دولة قطر وعالقة ذلك مع نوعية حياة المقيمين من أجل تحديد آثار الفعالية على المواطنين و المقيمين في دولة قطر؛ ب) وضع بيانات مرجعية للمواطنين و للمقيمين في دولة قطر بشأن تأثيرات كأس العالم على المنطقة. تتمثل أهمية الدراسة في ثلاث جوانب: أولا توفر بيانات أساسية وتضع أساسا لنهج طولي لتقييم آثار الفعاليات الكبيرة، و هو ما ينقصنا حاليا في أدبيات الاطار النظري. ثانيا اقتراح نموذج لتقييم العوامل التي تؤثر على المواقف تجاه الفعالية، ونوعية الحياة ودعم الفعالية في دولة مثل قطر التي تمثل منطقة الشرق الأوسط والقيم الثقافية والحياتية المرتبطة بالبلد والمنطقة. ثالثا يسمح هذا التقييم بتشكيل وتنفيذ سياسة من شأنها أن تؤدي إلى تدخلات لتحسين نوعية حياة السكان والحصول على تأييدهم تجاه الفعالية من خلال مشاركتهم في عملية استضافة الحدث. بالإضافة إلى ذلك، ستوفر الدراسة لصناعة الرياضة في دولة قطر والمنظمات المرتبطة بكرة القدم، مثل اللجنة العليا للمشاريع والإرث، معلومات تساعد على صياغة استراتيجيات الاتصال ذات الصلة مع وسائل الإعلام وغيرها من الجهات المعنية (مثل، الهيئة العامة للسياحة) و يمكن أن تكون البيانات الأساسية أرضية للدارسين الذين يهدفون إلى مراقبة تصورات مشابهة للعمل/ البحث في المستقبل، و بالتالي إيجاد بصمة في المجال التعليمي. في مسح كأس العالم لكرة القدم 2022 في قطر، تم إجراء مقابلات مع عينة تمثل المواطنين القطريين و الوافدين أصحاب المهن المكتبية. بشكل عام، تم عقد 2163 مقابلة، منها1058))مع المواطنين القطريين و(1105) مع الوافدين من أصحاب المهن المكتبية. تم اختيار المواطنين القطريين و الوافدين أصحاب المهن المكتبية من أسر من جميع البلديات في دولة قطر وتم إجراء مقابلات شخصية باللغة العربية أو الإنجليزية اعتمادا على برنامج استخدام الحاسب. يوجد مزيد من التفاصيل عن منهجية البحث في القسم السابع. ملاحظة: تشير كلمة الوافدون/الوافدين في التقرير إلى أفراد العينة من غير القطريين والذين تم وصفهم في موجز المنهجية بأصحاب المهن المكتبية

Mobile user needs: Efficient transactions

Success or failure of any mGovernment mobile service project is decided by the effectiveness of the service itself. This paper is one of a series of four papers investigating mobile user needs in a current research project that endeavours to measure the effectiveness of mGovernment services. In order to achieve as precise a measurement as possible, mobile services are analysed from the perspective of the mGovernment users. Mobile-user-centric mGovernment makes satisfying citizen and business needs the centrepiece in its planning so as to create communities of networked users, not just portals, for individual users. Hence, this paper analyses part of a real-world opinion survey, extracting facts that are used as metrics to measure the effectiveness of existing or proposed mServices. © 2008 IEEE

Government as a mobile enterprise: Real-time, ubiquitous government

Mobile communication technologies include wireless broadband, 3G cellular networks, Near Field Communications whilst mobile devices such as 3G phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) now have the computing power equivalent to small laptops. Governments are considered candidates as mobile enterprises as they seek ways to interact with their constituents in a fast, efficient and effective manner, anywhere and in real time. However, these advances also present challenges, such as security, privacy and legal issues including theft and loss of these handheld devices, password cracking, data interception and viruses. This paper presents a modified model for real-time, ubiquitous Mobile Government adapted from the Stages of Growth Model and the Five (5) Stage Framework to take into account the rapid expansion and uptake of wireless technologies. © 2006 IEEE

Wireless community networks: Public assets for 21^st century society

The authors report on the results of an online survey on the motivations and effort involved in participating in Wireless Community Networks. The survey is part of a multinational survey that has been administered in Greece, Australia and the USA. This paper examines the Australian data and complements the quantitative findings with unsolicited, qualitative email statements from several Wireless Community Network members. © 2007 IEEE