The Evolution of Local Government Electronic Services in Victoria

There is an increasing interest amongst governments around the world in the potential for delivering government services on the WWW. While there are examples of substantial transition to electronic service delivery in some sectors in some countries, it is generally accepted that most government services have failed to evolve from enhanced information- based web pages. This is particularly true of the local government sector in Australia despite numerous policies and hopeful deadlines imposed by state and federal governments. This research in progress studied the current status of local government electronic service delivery. The results revealed little progress in the transition to electronic service delivery in most areas of local government. In an effort to enhance their websites, local governments have started to creep into the areas of e-Democracy and e-Governance suggesting that a linear maturity model of e-Service delivery may not be appropriate for the local government sector

Putting PS Into IS: Developing Professional Skills And Enhancing Employability Through Curriculum Initiatives In Information Systems

Debate about the content of Information Systems (IS) in undergraduate courses often involves balancing the individual skills-based components within a degree, the broader discipline-specific knowledge required and more generic IS skills. Curriculum discussions invariably concern the use of specific software packages, programming languages or development methodologies and seek to answer the question of how to prepare students for the exponential rate of technological change that make the IS profession both exciting and challenging. In recent times, another distinctive set of skills has dominated curriculum discussion – Professional Skills. The need for profession-specific employability skills has been influenced by changing funding models of the Commonwealth government to Australian universities. Australian universities are committed to both developing graduate capabilities and enhancing graduate transition to work and curriculum aims to reflect those aims. This paper reports on curriculum initiatives within the Bachelor of Business (Information Systems) at Victoria University, Melbourne, and focuses on one mandatory unit of study, BCO 1102 Information Systems for Business, to examine strategies for developing Professional Skills for IS students. The paper draws on student evaluations of the unit’s efforts to develop communication and team skills and concludes with some suggestions for future directions

Doing it Tough: Factors Impacting on Local e-Government Maturity

As growing numbers of citizens seek to use the Internet to do business, governments across the world have moved into the area of electronic service delivery. For the last decade significant advancements have been made in the area of e-Government. Today, e-Government is often assumed to be well-established. However, ongoing support is often missing, particularly at the local government level. The multi-level nature of government often means that citizens are frustrated when accessing services that span many levels of bureaucracy. This paper describes an empirical study which explores the factors influencing local e-government maturity and identifies the barriers, enablers, priorities and objectives that impact on local e-government maturity in Australia. It concludes by presenting a model that describes both the internal and external factors that impact on local government maturity

Attrition in Information Systems Courses: strategies from a new generation university

The Commonwealth Government has changed many of the funding models to universities in recent years. Additional funds from the Commonwealth Government are now tied to measures such as student outcomes particularly in areas such as teaching and learning, attrition and student progress. This has meant that many universities have been forced to reassess the way they teach and interact with undergraduate students. Moreover, in this climate of considerable change in the higher education sector, many schools of Information Systems are experiencing even more hardship compared to schools in other disciplines. The downturn in the local demand for IS courses has been exacerbated by external factors such as declining enrolments from overseas markets and a downturn in the employment market. This paper reports on the analysis of enrolment trends, student attrition and progress amongst IS undergraduates over a five year period at a New Generation University. It also reports on the measures that have been undertaken both at the university level and at the IS school level to address issues that have arisen from that analysis. The findings of the research provides some insight into the problems facing schools of IS within universities in the current climate and possible measures that can be undertaken to improve student retention

The Value of Local eGovernment : a study of electronic service delivery performance measurement

At the local government level, where a significant number of citizen-to-government transactions occur, eGovernment can be as much a barrier as it can be an enabler for citizen access to information and services. Municipal councils need to ensure that they are effective in delivering the services that are transferred to the electronic domain. As local governments increasingly turn to ESD, it is essential that they put in place performance measurement processes that ensure that they are effectively in achieving their desired aim. Public accountability particularly for more efficient and effective service delivery requires performance measures incorporating both financial and non-financial elements. The substantial reforms to the local government sector, however, brings with it a risk that councils will turn to eGovernment with the primary aim of reducing internal costs. This research examines the progress local governments in Victoria, Australia have made towards utilising the Internet to enhance the delivery of services and the methods they use to measure performance. Using a case study of two councils, the research found that councils concentrate more on the cost benefits of ESD rather than on the quality or effectiveness of the service. It also found that council staff do not incorporate on-going evaluative processes in changes to ESD. Moreover, it found that staff are often reluctant to undertake internally initiated reviews, and often rely on easily quantifiable measures such as hits or visits as justification for ESD

Victorian local government websites: tracking information provision and e-service maturity

Local and municipal governments worldwide are embracing and using the Internet to deliver services and therefore better value to their communities. Current research has identified the use made of the Internet by higher levels of government. There has been limited research, however, examining the lowest tier; local government’s approach to Internet use. This paper presents the results of a content analysis undertaken on Victorian local government Websites over four years and describes the results of usability testing also conducted on local government sites. The results identify the changes in e-service delivery over that time and the usefulness of the information and e-services to local communities

Carnivory in the Teasel Dipsacus fullonum — The Effect of Experimental Feeding on Growth and Seed Set

The teasel, Dipsacus fullonum is known to catch invertebrates in its water filled leaf bases, but experimental testing of reproductive benefits of this have been lacking. We report the effects of insect supplementation/removal and water removal during spring/summer on Dipsacus in two field populations. There were no significant treatment effects on biomass, but addition of dead dipteran larvae to leaf bases caused a 30% increase in seed set and the seed mass:biomass ratio. This study provides the first empirical evidence for reproductive benefit from carnivory in Dipsacus fullonum

From Dog Licenses to Democracy: Local Government Approcahes to eService Delivery in Australia

Municipal councils worldwide are recognizing the need and value of the Internet to deliver information and services. The move to e-Government in Australia and across the world has been prompted by factors such as government reform and the need to reduce cost, and to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery. Only recently, however, have there been more significant moves towards local e-Government in many countries. This research paper reports on the progress local governments in Victoria, Australia have made towards e-Government implementation. The paper provides a background to types of electronic information and services provided by local government and the stages of electronic maturity. The research identifies many of the internal and external pressures on local governments which are often different from those at higher levels of government. The result for local government is often a varied and at times confused approach to e- Government and electronic information and services which have a heavy focus on governance related issues

What to expect from an International System of Tradeable Permits for Carbon Emissions

We use an econometrically-estimated multi-region, multi-sector general equilibrium model of the world economy to examine the effects of using a system of internationally-tradable emissions permits to control world carbon dioxide emissions. We focus, in particular, on the effects of the system on flows of trade and international capital. Our results show that international trade and capital flows significantly alter projections of the domestic effects of emissions mitigation policy, compared with analyses that ignore international capital flows, and that under some systems of international permit trading the United States is likely to become a significant permit seller, the opposite of the conventional wisdom