bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
e-ASEAN and Regional Integration in South East Asia
Authors: Dai X.
Published: May 2011

As a relatively new feature of the digital revolution in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), e-ASEAN was initiated by the ASEAN economic ministers in September 1999 and endorsed by ASEAN leaders at their summit in Manila in November the same year, when the e-ASEAN Task Force was also set up (ASEAN Secretariat, 2003). At the Fourth ASEAN Informal Summit in Singapore in November 2000, a Framework Agreement was signed to serve as the legal foundation for the e-ASEAN initiative. To ensure success, the Senior Economic Officials Meeting (SEOM) was tasked to supervise, coordinate, and review the implementation of the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement. As stipulated in the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement, the SEOM reports to the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) and assists the AEM in all matters concerning this Agreement (ASEAN, 2000, Article 13). While there is no lack of literature discussing trade liberalisation and transborder cooperation in the ASEAN region, the impact of new information and communications technologies (ICTs) on the development of regionalism, and vice versa, remains a rather neglected area of study (Dai, 2003). The purpose of this article is to investigate the implications of the e-ASEAN initiative for regional cooperation and integration in South East Asia in the information age. In particular, the key challenges to achieving the objectives of the e-ASEAN initiative will be analysed.
Ecology of E-Governance
Authors: Sharma S.
Published: May 2011

The concept of e-governance in the modern times refocuses on the fundamental role of government as the institution of transformation of society. To understand the intricacies of e- governance it will be pertinent to examine the concept from an ecological perspective. The system of governance in order to meet the challenges must equip itself with the mechanisms of managing the pressures generated from different subsystems. The interrelationship and interdependence of these subsystems explain the operational reality of bureaucratic systems in relation to societal transformation. In last few decades, the history of humankind has seen the enormous growth of technology and its utilization for creating a better global society, by disseminating the knowledge down to common person and transcending the geographical boundaries. The accessibility of knowledge is not confined to any nation. Thus, the whole world has to acquire a bigger vision of coexistence with divergent societal patterns in future, because it is the source of developing shared visions. The present analysis focuses on the normative aspects of e-connectivity, specifically, 1. It proposes a conceptual framework to understand the futuristic operational dynamics of ecology of e-governance; 2. It proposes how the interactions of various components of e-governance, can help in evolving a universal society with ethical axis to create a better world; 3. It suggests that the whole world eventually has to move in the direction of evolving a global society by inculcating universal values of coexistence with divergent ethos. Hence, the need to transform the society cannot be subdued; and 4. It focuses on striving a balance between technological and human aspects by bringing out philosophical core at the centre to evolve global society.
E-Democracy and Local Government - Dashed Expectations
Authors: Smith P. J.
Published: May 2011

This article examines the impact of information and communications technologies (ICTs) on electronic democracy at the local government level. It concentrates on measures taken by local governments in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom to transform their relationship to citizens by means of e-democracy. The emphasis on democracy is particularly important in an era when governments at all levels are said to be facing a democratic deficit (Hale, Musso, & Weare, 1999; Juillet & Paquet, 2001). Yet, as this article argues by means of an examination of the available evidence in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, e-democracy has failed to deepen democracy at the local level, this at a time when local government is said to be becoming more important in people’s lives (Mälkiä & Savolainen, 2004). The first part of the article briefly summarizes the arguments on behalf of the growing importance of the city as a major locus of economic and political activity. It then discusses how e-democracy relates to e-government in general. Next, it discusses the normative relationship between two models of democracy and ICTs. The article then reviews the evidence to date of e-democracy at the local level of government in the aforementioned countries. Finally, it discusses why e-democracy has not lived up to expectations highlighting the dominance of neo-liberalism.
E-Government and Political Communication in the North American Context
Authors: Christiansen J.
Published: May 2011

This article will introduce the concept of e-government, provide a model and background, and discuss emerging issues. Canadian examples will be drawn into the discussion as the country recognized as the leader in e-government (Accenture, 2004). E-government (electronic government) is a component of e-governance (electronic governance). The context of e-governance includes such components as e-government, e-democracy, e-representation, e-consultation, and e-participation. E-government refers to those aspects of government in which information and communications technologies are or can be utilized and in which basic functions are to increase efficiency in administrative processes, to guarantee easy access to information for all, to provide quality e-services, and to enhance democracy with the help of new technological mediation tools (Anttiroiko, 2005). It can be seen to describe all of the processes (administrative and democratic) that combine to constitute public sector operations, as broadly defined by Grönlund (2002). E-government is defined as “the use of ICTs [information and communication technologies], and particularly the Internet, as a tool to achieve better government” (OECD, 2003). E-government involves goals of enhanced operational efficiency and enhanced effectiveness. Effectiveness gains are attributed to “a better quality of services and increased and better quality citizen participation in democratic processes” (Grönlund, 2002). E-government relates to how the government delivers information, services, and programs. It relates to who provides services and how the services are delivered (Lenihan, 2002). At the core of e-government is the provision of information. E-government tasks include who and how, while e-democracy deliberates on what is to be delivered. Determining what services are to be delivered is a function of policy deliberation. The ability to research policy issues is an important element of a democracy. Stakeholders can share in the responsibility for developing the policy agenda, policy outcomes, and policy effectiveness. Public participation in this process will be discussed under the topics of e-democracy, e-representation, e-consultation, and e-participation.
E-Government Development in the Caribbean
Authors: Ubaldi B.
Published: May 2011

While in theory, the benefits of e-government are numerous, global experience to date indicates that in reality they remain much more elusive. Given e-government’s high impact on good governance and on the promotion of progress in developing countries, in order to better enable communities to benefit from e-government, it is important that the most adequate approach to the transition of a country or of a number of countries to the information society be identified in order for key issues to be addressed expeditiously, correctly, and effectively for an e-government that is at once as comprehensive as possible but also sustainable and meaningful. This is particularly true for a region such as the Caribbean, which already came late to the assimilation of the industrial age paradigm and which still has to determine its role in the global information society as well as its digital age. While it is common belief that for the majority of countries e-government development is more efficiently and more effectively targeted through national programs tailored to specific needs and characteristics, this is not considered to be the case for countries in the Caribbean region. Over the last five years, an unprecedented international cooperation for administrative reform and e-government capacity building has taken place in the Caribbean region (i.e., Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts, Nevis, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad, Tobago, Turks, and Caicos Islands). Such an effort has involved many regional and international organizations (e.g., the United Nations, the European Union, the World Bank, the Interamerican Development Bank, the OAS, etc.); a lot of work has been accomplished to assist countries in enhancing the application of ICT to government functions in order to advance public sector reform, improve government services, enhance knowledge management and decision making, and promote economic and social development. This international cooperation was carried out through a rich mix of ministerial consultations, working group meetings, meetings of experts, informal consultations, research and development, and country surveys. The rationale behind this kind of intervention was the conviction shared within the international community that a regional approach would permit dealing with the various issues related to e-government development more efficiently and more effectively.
E-Government, Service Transformation, and Procurement Reform in Canada
Authors: Langford J.
Published: May 2011

New organizational arrangements are required to underpin emerging public sector service transformation initiatives with a substantial electronic government (e-government) dimension. These arrangements are both internal to government, involving new collaborative relationships among service delivery agencies and reform of procurement processes, and external, involving the formation and management of strategic relationships between private sector information technology (IT) vendors and public service providers. This article explores the relational context of service transformation by first examining some current initiatives in Canada—at both provincial and federal levels. These case studies reveal the nexus between digital technologies, internal organizational change, and public–private sector interactions. They also reveal the emergence of new collaborative mechanisms between both sectors, especially in the initial phase of relationships where the IT-enabled service transformation is being mutually defined. This heightened level of collaboration also represents a significant departure from traditional government procurement models—where inputs are defined by public authorities and then secured in the marketplace from qualified vendors. E-government—and service transformation initiatives in particular—are consequently driving a rethinking of the role and purpose of procurement mechanisms in an increasingly digital and interdependent environment. Many political and administrative quandaries remain, however, as governments struggle to achieve a balance between traditional public interest principles such as probity, transparency, and accountability, and the rising importance of strategic collaboration. Building on the case studies and a review of current efforts at procurement reform, this article offers and assessment of how this interrelationship between service transformation and public–private collaboration is likely to shape future e-government-based service transformation efforts in Canada.
E-Learning through HCI
Authors: Ghaoui C.
Published: May 2011

E-government is using electronic technology to streamline and/or to improve the business of government and, as a result, to improve its citizens’ personal services; for example, patient hospital appointment booking systems, electronic voting, and the development of e-education. E-education and, from this, e-learning depend not only on the quality of the content but also on that of the human-computer interaction (HCI) generated by designers and implementers of a system. HCI is a cross-discipline subject that covers a wide area of topics, many of which need to be considered in e-learning, that directly affect the student, the tutor, or the administrator. HCI delivering e-learning includes issues such as psychology, sociology, cognitive science, ergonomics, computer science, software engineering, users, design, usability evaluation, learning styles, teaching styles, communication preference, personality types, neurolinguistic programming language patterns, and so forth. This article considers interpersonal communication and the effective transfer of knowledge from one human to another (e.g., a teacher to a learner) in the real world; it then postulates on their replication in distance/e-learning. The article focuses on the factors required for effective e-learning in the field of HCI for education. In particular, it introduces the concept of using communication preference (CP) and learning styles/personality types (LS) in an intuitive interactive tutorial system (in TS). The development of WISDeM (Web Intuitive/interactive student distance education model) by the authors significantly exemplifies this in its evaluation results.
E-Voting in the United States
Authors: Moynihan D. P.
Published: May 2011

Many aspects of government have seen improvements in reliability, customer interface, speed, and cost as a result of digital innovations. In some jurisdictions, the most antiquated aspects of government are the voting technologies used during elections. Such technologies are expensive and used infrequently, which discourages public investment in updates. However, in close elections, any unreliability in these technologies can have a major impact on who takes control of government. The 2000 U.S. Presidential election hinged on the state of Florida, where antiquated punch-card voting machines, combined with poorly designed ballots and unclear recounting standards, were blamed for a high degree of uncertainty during a drawn-out recount process. This chapter looks at the growing adoption of e-voting in the form of direct recording electronic (DRE) machines in the U.S. following the 2000 election. Lawmakers enthusiastically endorsed the concept of e-voting with only a limited understanding of the risks involved. E-voting can be implemented in a number of ways—with or without a printed paper ballot, with open or proprietary software—that affect some of the risks associated with it. But some theorists of complex systems and many computer security specialists warn that any complex technology like e-voting machines are prone to failure and should not be trusted to count votes. A loosely coordinated online protest movement offered the argument that election reformers were moving too fast. E-voting since has received negative press coverage, which, in some cases, has slowed down the adoption of or led to additional requirements on the use of DREs.
Foundation for Citizen-Oriented E-Governance Models
Authors: Keskinen A. , Kuosa T.
Published: May 2011

The present knowledge era needs new democratic practices. The use of information and communications technology (ICT) has been considered the potential tool for rethinking democracy and political action. Working with research and development (R&D) on this potential means whole new sets of concepts, and practical solutions need to be innovated. This article describes and compares several new ICT-aided models—tested, in use, or under research—that emphasize citizens’ needs as the fundamental approach to societal decision making and that regard citizens as collaborative decision makers. The new citizen-oriented approach is fundamentally transformative and calls for new innovative approaches in order to employ ICT for governance and empowerment of citizens. E-governance is considered to be an integrative concept for governance and democracy, while the focus of this article is on e-democracy.
ICT as an Example of Industrial Policy in EU
Authors: Falch M.
Published: May 2011

A substantial part of the economic growth that has taken place within the past 2 decades is related to information and communication technology (ICT). First, the ICT sector itself has achieved very high growth rates. Second, productivity gains in other sectors have been achieved, to a large extent, through implementation of ICT-related innovations. It is, therefore, no surprise that ICT plays an important role in virtually all industrial policy programs. Policies stimulating e-government are one of the ingredients in such programs. In 2000, the leaders of the European Union (EU) adopted the Lisbon strategy to make the EU the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world (CEC, 2000). ICT was seen as a key component in achieving these goals1, and a special program—eEurope—has been designed to realize the Lisbon goals in the ICT area. This program is, however, also a continuation of a wide range of ICT initiatives taken by the EU Commission since 1984.
Immigration and Digital Government
Authors: Passaris C. E.
Published: May 2011

The information age of the 21st century has transformed the economic, social, and political landscape in a profound and indelible manner. It also has changed the role and functions of government and redefined the scope and substance of good governance. Never before in human history has the pace of structural change been more pervasive, rapid, and global in its context. The information age has precipitated profound structural changes in the economic landscape and has given birth to the new economy. The new global economy is composed of a trilogy of interactive forces that include globalization, trade liberalization, and the information technology and communications revolution. Globalization has melted national borders, free trade has enhanced economic integration, and the information and communications revolution has made geography and time irrelevant (Passaris, 2001). Immigration has taken on a new perspective in the context of globalization. There is no denying that the spread of Internet-based technologies throughout society has become the dominant economic reality of the 21st century. E-economy—the use of information and communication technologies for product and process innovation across all sectors of the economy—has emerged as the primary engine of productivity and growth for the global economy. In large part due to advances in information and communications technologies, the role of international borders in this globalized economy has been transformed from the traditional geographical frontiers to virtual economic communities. Innovations in transportation and information and communications technology also has impacted immigration flows and made the world, in the phrase coined by Marshall McLuhan (1988), truly a “global village”. Borders have become less relevant for digital content communications and transactions. Cyberspace has no natural demarcations or border patrols. Indeed, knowledge-based products, such as software, games, and music, cross borders without impediment and with relative ease (Passaris, 2003). The advent of the information age has had a profound impact on the nature and scope of e-government and has given birth to the digital government of the 21st century. In particular, the interface between government and immigration management has been redesigned and restructured in terms of access to immigration information and application forms, the processing of immigration applicants for admission, enforcement of security measures and the prevention of terrorist infiltration, and the time line for adjudicating immigration applications, to name just a few of the significant changes to the contemporary process by which the governments of immigrant-receiving countries enforce their immigration policies.
Implications of FLOSS for Public Organizations
Authors: Koch S.
Published: May 2011

In the last years, free and open source software (also sometimes termed libre software) has gathered increasing interest, both from the business and academic worlds. As some projects in different application domains like most notably the operating system Linux together with the suite of GNU utilities, the office suites GNOME and KDE, Apache, sendmail, bind, and several programming languages have achieved huge success in their respective markets, both the adoption by commercial companies, and also the development of new business models by corporations both small and large like Netscape or IBM have increased. Given this situation, it did not take a long time for the discussion surrounding this new phenomenon to reach public organizations. Especially the most prominent example, the choice between a free operating system like GNU/Linux or a commercial system like Microsoft Windows has sparked interest in this new form of software, its legal and economic implications, and its new model of software development. In this article, these implications will be explored, explicitly not focusing solely on the Linux vs. Microsoft debate. To this end, an introduction to free/libre/open source software (FLOSS) and its concepts will be given, then different aspects of the relationship between FLOSS and public organizations, especially e-government, together with future trends will be discussed.
Information in Electronic Government
Authors: Corsi M.
Published: May 2011

Information and communications technology (ICT) is radically changing productive processes in both the private and public sectors. Institutions that are more efficient eliminate production diseconomies and enable a more functional market. Specifically, institutions can multiply the incentives for human capital accumulation both by reducing the endogenous uncertainty in social-economic relations and by providing additional input to human capital generation itself (think of schools, universities, and research institutes). Mainstream economic thinking generally accepts the argument according to which the transaction and information costs that are inherent to policy-making are largely greater than those incurred by the private sector (Dixit, 1996). If this is true, then public sector intervention is denied the possibility of achieving more efficient results than those obtained by the private sector (Holstrom & Milgrom,1991). Yet, ICT is radically transforming the way government entities perform their activities, which makes a timely debate on public sector information, in all its forms, all the more crucial. Public administrations are following the example of the private sector by harnessing the efficiency-boosting potential of these new technologies. This development goes under the name of “electronic government” (e-government) and it encompasses both the internal and external applications of ICT in the public sector. The importance of this development is increasingly evident in many countries of the world. Experiments are underway in Europe, at all levels of public administration (local, regional, national, and supranational), to improve the efficiency of public services and to increase interactions with the external world. ICT not only facilitates the inner workings of administrative machinery, it also eases communication between different branches of the administration and its interaction with citizens and businesses. This latter aspect is one of the main advantages of e-government, as it brings public sector entities, businesses, and citizens closer together, as well as improving the standard of public services. In September 2003, the European Commission issued a Communication on “The Role of E-government for Europe’s Future”: it stated that e-government “is an enabler to realise a better and more efficient public administration. It improves the development and implementation of public policies and helps the public sector to cope with the conflicting demands of delivering more and better services with fewer resources” (p. 7).
Information Systems Integration in E-Government
Authors: Lam W.
Published: May 2011

Through e-government, an increasing number of nations are making major commitments to modernize and reform government in an effort to achieve greater efficiency, broaden access to government services and improve service levels (Schware & Deane, 2003). Technology is seen as a key enabler for e-government (Elmagarmid & McIver, 2001). Ultimately, e-government seeks to centralize and make a cohesive and seamless set of government services available to end-users. Hence, the integration of information systems (IS), both within and between different government departments, will become a critical issue as e-government matures (Golden, Hughes, & Scott, 2003). As e-government matures, information systems (IS) integration will become critical to the ability to provide centralized and seamless online services. This article examines the different scenarios of IS integration, and discusses the critical success factors for IS integration. The architectures for achieving IS integration as also described. A roadmap for IS integration in e-government is proposed which provides a framework for more detailed project planning and technical decision-making.
Innovative Local E-Government through the PEOPLE Project
Authors: De Vivo R.
Published: May 2011

PEOPLE, one of the most important e-government projects in Italy, was created in 2002, when it was ranked first among almost 400 projects submitted to the Italian government according to its Piano di Azione per l’E-Government, literally, E-Government Action Plan, that is, the program to which the Italian government allocated around €120 million to finance various projects on e-government development. The financial contribution for each project did not exceed 50% of its total expected budget. The name of the project is the acronym for Progetto Enti Online Portali Locali E-Government, literally, Project Public Bodies Online Portals E-Government. The purpose of PEOPLE is “to innovate and to simplify the relationships between Local Public Administrations and citizens” through the online delivery of almost all the services provided by local bodies, leading to the fulfilment of 95% of individual and company requests. The project seeks to create a multichannel network system with a Web portal as the main method of access and interaction.
Intelligent Cities
Authors: Komninos N.
Published: May 2011

In the dawn of the 21st century, information and communication technologies have radically altered the construction of our physical environment. Instead of constructing spaces that intermediate between nature and man’s physical condition, a new orientation is emerging attempting to create spaces that increase man’s intellectual capacity and improve the ways in which we use the environment in order to learn, innovate, and reach new frontiers. Intelligent cities belong to this new orientation; they are part of an ongoing research project for creating environments that improve our cognitive skills, our ability to learn and innovate, to foresee and prevent. Intelligent cities combine two fundamental dimensions of our era: information technologies and innovation systems. …We use the term ‘intelligent city’ to characterize areas (communities, neighborhoods, districts, cities, regions) which have the ability to support learning, technological development, and innovation procedures on the one hand, with digital spaces and information processing, knowledge transfer and technology tools on the other hand. ….There are three basic components of an intelligent city: (1) the island of innovation formed by a community of people, production, exchange and other activities, (2) the virtual innovation system, which includes knowledge management tools and information technologies for online provision of information and innovation services, and (3) the connection between the physical and virtual innovation systems, in other words, the use of the latter by the island’s community. (Komninos, 2002, p. 198, 201). To date, many territories have adopted “intelligent city” strategies. Public authorities in Singapore, Taipei (Taiwan), Spokane (U.S.), Seoul and Songdo (Korea), and Cyberjaya and Putrajaya (Malaysia) have implemented plans to make their cities more “intelligent.” But, the most elaborated illustration of intelligent cities is to be found in the awards of the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), which assesses communities, cities, and regions with respect to five criteria of innovation performance and digital government. During the last five years, about 20 territories from all over the world were selected by the ICF as top intelligent cities (http://www.intelligent community.org).
Managing Information Exchange in E-Government Initiatives
Authors: Homburg V.
Published: May 2011

In the literature on e-government, the focus is predominantly on the organization of the front office and on the interaction among governmental agencies and citizens (Chadwick & May, 2003; Edmiston, 2003; Tat-Kei Ho, 2002). However, in order for e-government initiatives to be successful, back-office streamlining also has to be taken care of (Bekkers & Homburg, 2005; Homburg, 2005a). In a sense, back-office operations are the backbone of any form of e-government, and they may require information exchange and knowledge sharing among various units, departments, or organizations. The e-government phenomenon occasionally has paved the way for stirring rhetoric of technological and institutional change. For example, Wimmer, Traunmüller, and Lenk (2001) predict that “organizational boundaries will fade and give way to innovative organizational design. In this way, cooperation between administrative agencies will span wide: over distances, across organizational boundaries and even across hierarchical echelons” (p. 1). Actual e-government applications, however, show that the practice of e-government may not be as attractive as some of its benevolent proponents might claim. Back offices can be regarded as networks of organizations in which goals necessarily do not overlap and in which interests may collide. In practice, in these networks, information is the primary medium of value and exchange (Davenport, Eccles, & Prusak, 1992), and relatively uncontrolled sharing of such a powerful resource threatens information monopolies and may provide those organizations who receive information with significant power gains (Bekkers, 1998; Homburg, 1999, 2001; Homburg & Bekkers, 2002; Markus, 1983). Consequently, existing dependencies in organizational networks might be affected, and it can be expected that the exchange of information in back offices invokes a complex mixture of cooperation and conflict (Cunningham & Tynan, 1993; Homburg, 1999, 2001; Homburg & Bekkers, 2002; Knights & Murray, 1992; Kumar & van Dissel, 1996). In this article, I address the following research question: What does the nature and dynamics of interorganizational relations mean for the development and implementation of e-government information systems, and what methods and strategies are used to design and implement these systems? The focus in the analysis is on the interorganizational relations that are mobilized through the integration of various back-office systems (Bekkers & Homburg, 2005; Homburg & Bekkers, 2002). In the remainder of this article, I analyze existing e-government initiatives and, more specifically, information relations among various back offices, using a political economy view on information exchange (Homburg, 1999), and I explore methods and strategies of ICT process management in policy networks (de Bruijn, ten Heuvelhof, & In ’t Veld, 2002).
Natural Resource Information Management at State GovernmentLevel
Authors: Redlich L.
Published: May 2011

Spatial information management (SIM), which includes utilization of geographical information systems (GIS), is used in a wide variety of information resource applications. GIS applications have been able to make use of the extraordinary expansion in available data from remote sensing operations such as satellite imagery. SIM has been able to build upon these systems using software support for spatial databases and interactive mapping applications. Private sector applications tend to be specific to sectors of interest, whereas public sector systems have wide application across sectors. The information management that is applied has a technical dimension facilitated by GIS. It also has analytical and strategic dimensions that require detailed investigation and planning for the corporate context in which the SIM is undertaken. This contribution provides a brief overview of some of the contextual influences on SIM, and then details a case study of a particular application to natural resource information management in a government department.
New Media and Democratic Citizenship
Authors: Hardy B. W. , Scheufele D. A.
Published: May 2011

The issue of the civic potential of the Internet has been at the forefront of much scholarly discussion over the last 10 to 15 years. Before providing a comprehensive overview of the different schools of thought currently dominating this debate, it is necessary to briefly describe how researchers have defined the terms citizenship and new media. Across different literatures, two ways of examining citizenship emerge. The first approach examines citizenship broadly as citizen involvement in the political process. Scheufele and Nisbet (2002), for example, identified three dimensions of citizenship: feelings of efficacy, levels of information, and participation in the political process. The second approach taps citizenship much more narrowly as social capital (i.e., the more emotional and informal ties among citizens in a community) (Shah, Kwak, & Holbert, 2001). Depending on which definition of citizenship they followed, researchers also have been interested in different types of new media use with a primary focus on the Internet. Some have examined the Internet as a medium that functions in a top-down fashion similar to traditional mass media. These scholars mostly are concerned with how online information gathering differs from traditional media use, such as newspaper readership or TV viewing. More recently, scholars have begun to examine different dimensions of Internet use, including chatting online about politics, e-mail exchanges with candidates and other citizens, and online donations to campaigns.
Online Dispute Resolution
Authors: Tyler M. H.C.
Published: May 2011

Every community—whether physical or virtual—will inevitably experience conflict. New ways of interacting through information and communication technology has led to new conflicts, such as domain name or e-commerce disputes. At the same time, governments need to deal with the entire range of disputes in society, whether crimes, neighborhood disputes, ethnic conflict, or disputes with its own employees. A key role for government and for e-governance is providing mechanisms to help resolve these disputes. The emerging area of online dispute resolution (ODR) potentially offers a useful set of tools and techniques for resolving disputes. Capable of being used for both online and off-line disputes, ODR has already proved that it can provide effective resolution for at least some disputes: more than 1.5 million cases had been successfully resolved online to July 2004 (Conley Tyler, 2005). Governments and e-governance institutions around the world are adopting or considering the applicability of ODR as a tool for digital government.
Pension Portal where Users are the Focus
Authors: Jaaskelainen P.
Published: May 2011

The societal task of e-government services is to support the achievement of the aims of citizenship (i.e., participation in society and personal independence), that is, autonomy (cf. Barbalet, 1988, p. 68-69; Roche, 1992, p. 93-94). These aims require many different resources of citizens, including for instance societal information serving practical needs and the ability to obtain this information. Knowledge about one’s own social rights, such as pensions, is the type of information that citizens usually need at some point in their lives and also obtain through various means, using for instance their own “network competence” (see Jääskeläinen & Savolainen, 2003). Network competency stands for the knowledge of networked information sources and services plus their skilled utilization (Savolainen, 2002, p. 218). E-government, where the starting point is the verified needs of the citizens and which applies information technology to everyday life, promotes the realisation of citizenship. In order for public Internet services to fulfil this obligation, different sets of criteria have been created and competitions have been held. One such contest is the eEurope Awards. The Finnish Internet Portal for Pensions “Tyoelake.fi” was ranked among the first five in the category “Better Life for European People.” (www.e-europeawards.org/html/body_results) This article describes the features which explain why the Tyoelake.fi service is an example of an eGovernment service built through cooperation between many active parties and where the user viewpoint is crucial
A Prototype Study on Electronic Rulemaking
Authors: Lau G. T.
Published: May 2011

The making of government regulations represents an important communication between the government and citizens. During the process of rulemaking, government agencies are required to inform and to invite the public to review the proposed rules. Interested and affected citizens participate by submitting comments accordingly. Electronic rulemaking, or e-rulemaking in short, redefines this process of rule drafting and commenting to effectively involve the public in the making of regulations. The goal of the e-rulemaking initiative is to integrate agency operations and technology investments; for instance, the electronic media, such as the Internet, is used as the means to provide a better environment for the public to comment on proposed rules and regulations. Based on the review of the received public comments, government agencies revise the proposed rules. With the proliferation of the Internet, it becomes a growing problem for government agencies to handle the comments submitted by the public. Large amounts of electronic data (i.e., the public comments) are easily generated, and they need to be reviewed and analyzed along with the drafted rules. As such, part of e-rulemaking involves a non-trivial task of sorting through a massive volume of electronically submitted textual comments. For example, the Federal Register (2003) documented a recent case where the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) received over 14,000 comments in seven months, majority of which are e-mails, on a flavored malt beverages proposal. The call for public comments by the TTB included the following statement: All comments posted on our Web site will show the name of the commenter but will not show street addresses, telephone numbers, or e-mail addresses. (2003, p. 67388) However, due to the “unusually large number of comments received,” the Bureau announced later that it is difficult to remove all street addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses “in a timely manner” (2003, p. 67388). Instead, concerned individuals are asked to submit a request for removal of address information as opposed to the original statement posted in the call for comments. The example shows that an effortless electronic comment submission process has turned into a huge data processing problem for government agencies. Fortunately, the advance in information and communication technology (ICT) can help alleviate some of the barriers in e-rulemaking. This article will discuss a prototype of a comment analysis system, which classifies public comments according to related provisions in the drafted regulations. The automated relatedness analysis system can potentially save rule makers significant amount of time in reviewing public comments in regard to different provisions in the drafted regulations.
Public Sector E-Commerce
Authors: Reddick C. G.
Published: May 2011

Electronic commerce or e-commerce has the potential to streamline existing functions and services in the public sector by reducing transaction costs or the cost of doing business. This article provides an overview of some of the critical e-commerce issues for the public sector focusing on its impact on reducing transaction costs.
Revampting the Administrative Structure and Processes in India for Online Diplomacy
Authors: Jain R. B.
Published: May 2011

There is a talk of e-governance all over the world. India has also not remained oblivious of these developments. E-governance implies a smoother interface between government and citizen. Peoples’ expectations from e-government have gone up very high. They see the new technology as a panacea to improve their living conditions. With the application of IT initiatives in certain states of India and at the union level, there has been some overall improvement in the transparency and accountability of the government. However, it must be remembered that technology cannot deliver everything. It is only a tool and an enabler to accomplish certain objectives—perhaps more quickly. E-governance has both a narrow and a broad perspective. In a narrow sense, it is focused primarily on public service delivery through Web site and Internet, while in a broader sense, it stands for all kinds of ICT (information and communication technology) applications in different stages of policy making, formulation, implementation, and evaluation (Snellen, 2005). E-governance sometimes may also make it harder, rather than easier, to achieve more information-driven, boundary-crossing reform such as improved delivery of public services (Heeks, 2002).
The Role of E-Government in Rebuilding Bosnia-Herzegovina
Authors: Handzic M.
Published: May 2011

The world is currently experiencing a period of major change. The emerging new world is variously referred to as the third wave, the information age, the information society, or the knowledge-based economy. Regardless of the terminology used, what matters is that the new social, political, and economic world is globalized, based on the production, distribution, and use of knowledge, and is heavily reliant on information and communication technology (Handzic, 2004a). It is also characterized by increased complexity, uncertainty, and surprises. Some analysts like Raich (2000) think of it as a period of living in the centre of the “Bermuda Triangle” where individuals, organizations, and societies have to deal with the increasing turbulence and speed of change in order to progress. The rise of the information society has brought major changes in citizen and business expectations, as well as organizational structures, cultures, and work processes. To remain responsive to the changing needs of their constituents, governments increasingly have to adopt information society tools and working practices. Essentially, they have to use information and communication technology (ICT) as tools in private and public sector renewal, develop information industry, maintain high level of professional expertise in ICT, provide opportunities to use information society services and have information infrastructure capable of providing such services. The purpose of this article is to explore how these processes are helping in rebuilding Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Suppliers' E-Maturity for Public E-Procurement
Authors: Henriksen H. Z. , Anderson K. V.
Published: May 2011

Business transactions require involvement from both customers and suppliers. This is the case whether the transaction takes place on-line or off-line or whether the transaction is businesses to business (B2B), businesses to consumers (B2C), or businesses to administration (B2A). At the beginning of the e-commerce era attention focused mainly on business to business and business to consumer relations. Today attention has shifted and the possible commercial benefits resulting from e-commerce with the public sector are now also on the agenda (Andersen, 2004; Coulthard & Castleman, 2001). Regardless of whether e-commerce is performed in a private or a public context, it is commonly assumed that e-commerce can lead to shortening of transaction time, lowering of costs, increased transparency, improved sharing and maintenance of enterprise information, and an increased internal and external efficiency of the organization (Zwass, 2003). In this article we will focus on and use the term e-procurement to refer to the use of electronic means in purchasing processes. These processes include seeking information about goods and services and ordering and paying of goods (Andersen, 2004). A number of issues concerning e-procurement have been studied recently. Among these issues is the required architecture of e-procurement systems (Liao et al. 2003), the tendering process in e-procurement (Liao et al., 2002), and the possible economic gains achieved from public procurement portals (Henriksen & Mahnke, 2005. Common assumptions for these studies suggest a pool of suppliers willing to offer goods and services through e-procurement channels as well as a concurrent demand for goods and services in e-procurement channels among public sector institutions. In the Danish context there has been some reluctance to adopt e-procurement among the public sector institutions (Henriksen & Mahnke, 2005). Whether this reluctance to adopt e-procurement is caused by the classic problem of who is to embark the marketplace first: buyers or suppliers (Bakos, 1991) is still to be decided. In this article the focus is on the challenges that suppliers to public sector institutions face. In recognition of the broad scope of issues that suppliers have to consider when including e-procurement in their business activities, a model has been developed for assessing e-maturity. The model is designed to embrace two aspects of e-maturity: the technological aspect and the organizational aspect. Whereas this article is conceptual in nature, the proposed assessment model is empirical, estimated in earlier work by Henriksen, Kerstens and Andersen (2004b).
Voter Information Web Sites
Authors: Edwards A.
Published: May 2011

Several election studies observe that considerations regarding issues and policies have been gaining weight in voting decisions in Western countries, at the expense of previously existing class or partisan alignments (Denver, 2003). This development may imply that voters show more information-seeking behaviour. In the 1990s, various Web sites have emerged that are designed to support the voters in this job. These voter information Web sites are nonpartisan Web sites that provide the users with information on the election promises, issue positions or past performance of political parties or individual candidates. The term Web site should be understood as including various Internet-based resources and facilities, such as databases, decision-support systems, and discussion forums. In this article, we address the question what these voter information Web sites may offer in terms of their potential of enhancing the quality of voting decisions. The core of this exposition will centre on the Web site design features and on how the voters make use of the Web sites. In the next section, we will highlight the distinction between prospective and retrospective Web sites. The section titled “Voter Information Web Sites” provides an overview of the main design features of voter information Web sites. Some examples of prospective and retrospective Web sites will be discussed. In the Future Trends section, we point toward some future trends. Finally, a tentative assessment will be given of the significance of voter information Web sites for enhancing the functioning of representative democracy.