Electronic governmentA link collection
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The term "Electronic Government" in a broad sense describes the use of new information and communication technologies (ICT) to support the workings of governments and public administrations. Usually there are three main effects expected:
A basic distinction can be made between internal and external governmental processes. This information service is mainly concerned with the latter, that is the interaction between citizens or businesses and governments or public administrations. Electronic information (e.g. public service directory), communication (e.g. political discussion forum) and transaction (e.g. tax filing) services are regarded as important means to achieve the goal of bringing government and public administration closer to the citizens. The first section points to political initiatives undertaken by various countries or supranational bodies to foster the implementation of electronic government. The section on scientific research shortly describes some projects of investigating electronic government issues and provides links to project pages. Examples of electronic government services is a collection of links to different types of services (information, communication, transaction) on different levels of government (state, local). Political initiatives to implement electronic governmentThe
G8 Government Online
project involves the governments of over 20 countries working together to
promote on-line delivery of government services to citizens and businesses. In Austria the federal government has started an IT initiative which is connected to the program on innovation in public administration. In the UK the government published a green paper titled government.direct dealing with the electronic delivery of government services. The UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) produced a report on "Electronic Government" reviewing how information technology might be used to transform the relationships between government and the citizen. In Denmark the Ministry of Research and Technology published the white paper Authorities Heading for a Fall and a corresponding IT Policy Action Plan dealing with technical innovations in the interaction between citizens and public administration. Pilot projects on the implementation of digital signatures by public authorities (central government, county or municipal authorities) are funded with a total amount of 10 mio DKK. In Germany a working group of the Forum Info 2000 - which has been established by the federal government to promote the discussion of opportunities and dangers of the information society - deals with electronic government as an application field of multimedia in cities. The German federal Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Technology (BMBF) has started a competition for the development of digital signature applications in city administrations (total funding: 60 mio DM). Citizen services of public administrations are part of an action within the fifth framework programme of the European Union to support the development of a user friendly information society. Scientific research on electronic governmentThe study Government use of the Internet carried out by members of the G8 Government Online Group and the International Council for Information Technology in Government Administration (ICA) aims to provide a snapshot of the extent to which government administrations have already taken advantage of the business opportunities presented by the Internet, and how they are positioned to move forward. The European Digital Cities project is focusing on networking activities to foster the development and implementation of telematics applications serving the specific "urban demand". The research project City Information, Communication and Transaction Services carried out by the German Institute of Urban Affairs (Deutsches Institut für Urbanistik) examines current and future trends of IT applications in cities and tries to develop practical solutions. The research project Technology Assessment of electronic payment systems for digital products and services on the Internet carried out by the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis in Karlsruhe, Germany examines the field of electronic commerce under the perspective of payment systems and develops recommendations for funding in relation to the current situation in Germany. The research project Pathways Into the Information Society: Comparing German, EU and U.S. "Multimedia"-initiatives and their institutional embedding carried out by the Telecommunications Research Group at the University of Bremen examines in three application areas (public administration, education and training, and entertainment) which government instruments and policies regarding new communication technologies are the most successful in institutionalising new media. The Cyperspace Policy Research Group monitors the development of federal government agency websites worldwide. Websites are also continually evaluated according to openness and effectiveness. The Center for Technology in Government (CTG) at the University at Albany "pursues new ways to apply computing and communications technologies to the practical problems of information management and service delivery in the public sector." The research project Government & Politics on the Net carried out at the University of California, Santa Barbara "is aimed at understanding whether the technologies of the Net are altering patterns of political participation and public deliberation in the U.S." Some critical issues of electronic governmentThe Austrian Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA) has produced a background paper on "Bringing Administration Closer to the Citizens", which gives an overview of critical issues, provides examples and case studies of electronic government services and describes current developments in European Union member states. SecurityRAND corporation has produced a report on E-Mail Communication Between Government and Citizens especially covering security issues. The OECD has published Guidelines for Cryptography Policy and a corresponding Report on Background Issues of Cryptography Policy. The European Commission has proposed a directive on a common framework for electronic signatures. Information policyThe European Commisssion is currently preparing a green paper on Public Sector Information in the Information Society. The UK government has produced a white paper titled Your Right to Know proposing a Freedom of Information Act. Re-engineering of service deliveryIn the US a National Performance Review of the federal government was carried out in 1993 resulting in many concrete actions of re-engineering through information technology. In a 1996 status report called "Access America" progress is evaluated and further actions are suggested. The concept of one-stop service means re-engineering in the light of intensified customer orientation in service delivery. The Federal Benchmarking Consortium describes best practices in one-stop customer service in its report "Serving the American Public". Examples of electronic government servicesGovernment agency websitesEuropean Governments on the WWW is a "comprehensive database of governmental institutions on the World Wide Web: parliaments, ministries, offices, law courts, embassies, city councils, public broadcasting corporations, central banks, multi-national organisations etc." European Governments Online is a "starting point for those wishing to locate and explore citizen-oriented information disseminated by governments and other official institutions of European Union Member States." International Local Government is a "collection of community web pages from local governments around the world." Directory servicesDirectory services on federal level are usually realised as independent information services, while on regional or local level they are part of more general or comprehensive information services. A main distinction can be drawn between bare lists or indexes of government agencies (type I) on the one hand and directory information based on life events (type II) on the other hand. Type I directory servcies on federal level are often called "single entry point" to a national government which serve both the citizens as well as the external representation of a country.
Type II directory servcies provide added value in that the citizen do not have to know first which agency to contact but can start from his or her concrete situation.
Forms servicesDedicated forms services are usually realised on national or federal level. However, it is quite common that regional or city information services also offer specific governmental forms relevant to their local community.
Currently most forms services only support the download of governmental forms but do not allow citizens or businesses to actually submit data electronically. However the US Internal Revenue Service supports the electronic submission of tax forms via commercial providers like Securetax or TurboTax Online. Public databasesPublic databases containing information collected by organisations of the public sector are increasingly provided on the Internet. In some cases access to this information is offered free of charge, in other cases providers act on a commercial basis. The contents of public databases being available through electronic information services range from business and land registers or patent information to housing or job information.
Regional/city informations systemsAll over the world there can be found a great number of city information systems. But looking at the services offered there are big differences, e.g. the degree of interactivity (one-way information vs. transaction or communication services) or the target user group (citizens, business, tourists). Two well known pioneer projects are the Digital City of Amsterdam and the Public Electronic Network of Santa Monica, California. One striking feature of both projects is the strong promotion of access through public terminals. De Digitale Stad of Amsterdam has started in January 1994. It was developed by computer activists (Hacktic Netwerk) and a cultural center (de Balie) adapting the idea of Free Nets in America and Canada. The Public Electronic Network has been opened in 1989 by the city administration of Santa Monica, California. It is restricted to residents of the area and provides also transaction services like for example business licence tax renewal. Legal information servicesThere already exist a number of legal information services on the Internet, either provided free of charge by government agencies or by commercial providers.
Electronic democracy servicesPolitical information services have been established for example by Parliaments around the world, in some cases even including transaction services – like submitting a petition to the European parliament.
Electronic discussion platforms have been tested in several cases for support of deliberation processes. One can distinguish between synchronous (eg chats, online conferences) and asynchronous (eg mailinglists, newsgroups) communication.
Business-oriented servicesElectronic services offered by government agencies especially to businesses have already been known for some time as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) projects. One recent example using the Internet is the Austrian Finanz Online service. Additional information resourcesKabel Signposts to Government is a free information service providing a commented index to UK and worldwide public sector websites. Kabel Direct is a more extensive subscription service aiming at people concerned with public sector IT business. It contains weekly updated IS market research and a newsletter. The US Access America online magazine " features the stories of real people - federal workers and their customers - who are making the Vice President's vision of Access America come true." The Best Practices International Resource Center of the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham provides among others information on good examples of electronic public access to government information and services. The International Council for Information Technology in Government Administration (ICA) offers information on practices of using IT in government and public administration worldwide. |
