Lecture 8: e-Government
Lecture Outline
• Terminology - G2C, G2B, G2E
• Major areas of G2C activities
• Six stages to implementation
• Implementation Problems
• Current state in UK
• E-Government - Increasing Inequality?
• Addressing the Democratic Deficit
• eParticipation
• eGovernment in the Developing World – Sri Lanka
• eGovernment in Singapore
1(#total)

E-Government
The use of electronic technology by a government to:
 Deliver its services better
 Improve its efficiency and effectiveness (just like eCommerce)
 Less staff needed to serve people quicker/cheaper
 Make governments more transparent to citizens and businesses
 Access to more of the information generated by government
Government to citizens (G2C)
 Delivery of public services etc. (next slide)
Government-to-employees (G2E)
 Activities and services between government units and their employees
Government to Government (G2G)
 Intragovernmental activities
 Within a Government department and between Government bodies
2(#total)

E-Government
Government to business (G2B)
 E-Procurement – reverse auctions for MROs
 Group purchasing
• eFAST service (gsa.gov) conducts reverse auctions for aggregated orders
 E-Auctions
 government surpluses
 real estate
 seized goods
 Tax collection and management
 electronic filing of taxes is now available in over 100 countries
3(#total)

E-Government
Major areas of G2C activities: http://www.direct.gov.uk/Homepage/fs/en
 tourism and recreation
 research and education
 downloadable forms
 discovery of government services
 information about public policy
 advice about health and safety issues
 Pay tax & bills, receive documents and payments
 Nationwide Electronic benefit transfer (EBT) system in U.S. to deliver government benefits electronically
• deliver benefits to recipients’ bank accounts
• smart card system for those without bank accounts
 Makes government more transparent to citizens - access to information
 Greater opportunities to participate in democratic institutions
 Future: voting
Useful in solving constituents’ problems
 Track problems using CRM-type software
4(#total)

5(#total)

Six stages to implementation (most governments are at stage 1)
1. Information publishing/dissemination – services available, contact details
2. Two-way transactions
- Submit personal information, monetary transactions
3. Multipurpose portals
– in Australia: www.sa.gov.au
4. Portal personalisation
– must allow interfaces to be manipulated by user
5. Clustering of common services
– people see clusters of services rather than agencies
– reorganisation of government structure
6. Full integration and enterprise transformation
– full service centre personalised to customer
6(#total)

Implementation issues
 Transformation speed - usually slow:
 Resistance by employees
 Limited budget
 Legal environment
 G2B implementation
 Easier than G2C
 Can be outsourced (Hong Kong)
 Security and privacy issues
 Citizens’ data
 Especially healthcare
 Wireless applications
 E.g. wireless tourist service (Bergen)
7(#total)

Implementation issues
 Has reached the stage of two-way transactions with many sites
 Fast uptake of broadband in UK, but sparse use of online eGovernment services by citizens
 Few government employees have completed their first ECDL module
 800 Government bodies spawned 3000 sites (2003)
 Need for sites offering related services in one place
 Each distinct site needs to be clear and focused
 E.g. housing, transport, education, immigration
 Public will learn to associate that site with its particular services
 Fragmented view of a citizen
 Many different departments hold records
 Often Different formats
 Implementation of cross agency infrastructure lacking
8(#total)

Digital divide within UK:
 The haves – Broadband access from the home
 The have-nots – no Internet access
 Except in Public libraries perhaps
 May lack skills/education to use it effectively
 The elderly – may lack skills, and may not trust faceless interaction
Those on the wrong side of the digital divide may be even more excluded from participation in democracy
 Important information on candidates at election time
 Submission to ePetitions – for lobbying parliament
Solutions?
 Brazil offering half a million computers to citizens at low prices
 Credit schemes to assist citizens to buy
9(#total)

Voter turnout has dropped
10(#total)

(Many facts from essay by Robert Glasgow)
Voter turnout has dropped
 in the United States:
 70% of eligible population register to vote
 50% vote in presidential elections
 Western Europe: average 77% turnout
 UK: 60%
 Especially low among young, unemployed, ethnic minorities
 Latin America: 54%
 Decline almost wholly concentrated among young people
Membership in political parties:
 1950s – 3.5M
 2000s – 0.5M
Public Trust in:
 Politicians 18%
 Doctors 91%
11(#total)

Participation in new social movements has increased
 Campaign groups
 ~1M demonstrated against Iraq war
 NGOs (e.g. Amnesty International)
 Increasingly on the Internet
People disillusioned with traditional political system?
12(#total)

eRevolution?
 Top down benefits: Potential to make citizens
 More informed
• Streaming footage of debates
• Political information
 More engaged
• Webchats with elected representatives
• Online Voting (Estonia and Switzerland)
 More trusting
 Bottom up benefits: Potential for citizens to
 Contribute to policy making
• Online Questionnaires
• Discussion Forums
 Propose policies themselves
 Hold politicians to account
 Reach to young people
 30% of 15-24yr olds have engaged in online political activity (10% offline)
13(#total)

Criticisms:
 Unrealistic
 Ignores existing political process
 De-legitimises existing institutions
 Power devolved from elected representatives and placed in hands of administrative side
 Politicians may be unable to fulfil campaign promises
 Ignores problems in web technologies
 Easy to set up forum
 Hard to analyse and collate results – unrealistic software
 Too open to deception/malicious use
 Some politicians view public participation as a threat
14(#total)

“Big Conversation” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3245620.stm
 77-page document setting out challenges faced by Britain
 Website gives people a chance to air their views on policies
 Issues:
 Ban workplace smoking?
 Should rowdy city centre pubs contribute towards policing?
 Funding in further education and UK
 How important is the euro to locking in macroeconomic stability?
 Criticisms:
 Merely a publicity stunt
 Danger of pressure groups hijacking exercise
15(#total)

“Big Conversation”
- Guardian Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3245620.stm
 “For the duration of its life, the Big Conversation website carried not a single comment from a single voter on:
 Iraq
 Terrorism
 Blair's relationship with Bush
 “Working on this newspaper's Diary column at the time, I was contacted almost daily by people who had attempted to address one of the above issues in either an email or text message (price: 25p), but whose comments mysteriously never materialised on the site…”
 “As for those that made it through…
 "I am so proud to have voted Labour with my first ever vote a few years ago," read one comment. "Everywhere I look I see new cars, wealth, opportunities, investment and most favourable mortgage rates."
16(#total)

"About 99% of the benefits of having a PC come when you've provided reasonable health and literacy to the person who's going to sit down and use it".
Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft
17(#total)

18(#total)

19(#total)

Case study in Sri Lanka (by Geeth de Mel):
ICT Programme established in 2002
Aims:
 Improved delivery off social services
 Let people access information efficiently
 Improve inter organisation communication
 Reducing the vulnerabilities to natural disasters
 Example of existing problems:
 Tsunami of 2004 – still no accurate figures on affected people
 No mechanisms to support aid organisations in immediate aftermath
 Greater transparency
 Reduce corruption
 Increased social participation
 Empowerment off poor
 Further socio-economic development
20(#total)

Case study in Sri Lanka (by Geeth de Mel):
Example Failure/Success
 Ministry of Education went online with exam results
 System poorly planned and crashed
 Took department longer than old manual system
 Success story from same department in 2004
 Introduced new ICT curriculum
 Success due to Internet+television+radio (more accessible)
21(#total)

Case study in Sri Lanka (by Geeth de Mel):
Difficulties
 Lack cash flow – encourage assistance of 3 rd parties
 Vested Interest by 3 rd parties can change project goals
 Corruption by high ranking officials
 Schools starting to get computer labs
 But not all villages have electricity
 IT literacy
 City: 35%
 Rural: <10%
 Computer ownership
 Urban: 10%
 Rural: 3%
 Estate: 0.3%
22(#total)

http://www.ecitizen.gov.sg/ eCitizen can
 do passport application
 register as resident
 find jobs in government
 pay road tax
 donate to Charities
Government’s role changes from manager to service provider
Citizens become like customers
Dangers:
 Dependence on technology also brings vulnerability
 Hackers/terrorists
 easier than physical attacks on government
 privacy
23(#total)

• Terminology - G2C, G2B, G2E
• Major areas of G2C activities
• Six stages to implementation
• Implementation Problems
• Current state in UK
• E-Government - Increasing Inequality?
• Addressing the Democratic Deficit
• eParticipation
• eGovernment in the Developing World – Sri Lanka
• eGovernment in Singapore
24(#total)