The e-government movement concerns the use of information technology to exchange information and provide services from government organizations to citizens, businesses, and other branches of government. While initially used as a means of information dissemination, many government organizations at all levels are capitalizing on the use of technology to make interaction with government easier. The aim of e-government is to increase government efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, and to improve citizen-government interactions.

It is quite possible that many of you have had first-hand experience with e-government systems. Some of the more common e-government services often offered are the collection/payment of taxes and fees (state and federal taxes, parking tickets, utility bills, etc.), license and permit applications/renewals (driver license renewal, vanity plates, business license renewals and applications, etc), government job application submission, minor crime reporting, and general information gathering.

But the e-government movement is not just about avoiding lines at the motor vehicle department. E-government is about increasing transparency in government, about making government more cost effective and efficient, about enabling citizens to more easily and proactively participate in governance, and to allow for the resolution of social problems through collective action. The potential impact of the e-government movement is incredible, as governments big an small across the globe continue to advance into the information economy.

Current trends in the e-government movement have gone past simple information dissemination through web sites. As we have discussed, citizens can conduct a myriad of transactions and interactions through the Internet. But the limits of technology offer so much more potential for governments and their citizens. One of the largest progressive movements within the e-government phenomenon (and some might argue, apart from it) is e-democracy.

E-democracy can be thought of as citizen participation of governance through electronic systems and/or the Internet. The basic premise being that through information technology, citizens can more actively participate in the processes of government. For instance, this includes allowing for greater citizen involvement with policy formulation and outcomes, remote participation in public hearings, electronic/remote voting, political campaigning and fundraising, and policy discussions and debate.

By allowing the citizens an increased opportunity for participation in, say, policy formulation, governments can increase legitimacy and make more complete and appropriate decisions given citizen input. For example, let’s say that your city is holding a public hearing for the construction of a new police substation in your neighborhood. You would like to attend in order to ask questions or seek clarification on some issues, but tonight is your night to babysit your nephew! Fortunately for you, your city streams all public hearings live on the Internet and has an online question submission form so that you can actively participate while not being physically present. This would be a good example of delivering e-democracy through e-government.

E-democracy also extends to cover other issues of representative democracy like political party campaigning and fundraising. In this year’s presidential race, the Internet has been responsible for record setting fundraising amounts for both major political parties (though, by far the leader being Obama with hundreds of millions of dollars raised so far). The e-democracy movement has also served as a means of connecting individuals and spreading the word for grassroots causes like environmental protection, human rights issues (in Burma, China, Sudan, etc.), and government/corporate power abuses.

It is also important to note that e-government and e-democracy are not strictly limited to the Internet. Many cities also interact with citizens through other electronic means like SMS text messaging. In fact, there are a number of police departments that now accept SMS text messaging of crimes in progress; quite handy if you are unable to make a phone call.

Perhaps the most obvious non-Internet related technology is electronic voting. While there have been a number of problems reported with electronic voting systems (some of which will be covered later), the appearance of this medium to cast your ballot is a great example of e-democracy in work. Removing the need for as many paper ballots alleviates both cost in materials as well as manpower; the reusability of the voting systems also has impacts on the protection of the environment.
However, as with any great advance in society, there are always hurdles to overcome and challenges to face; e-government is no different. While there are a number of different issues, chief among the problems facing e-government are: accessibility, security, and cost.

A number of years ago, when the early adopters of e-government where developing the first systems of government-to-citizen (G2C) web sites and applications, there was concern over the issue of the “digital divide.” The digital divide was described as the gap between those with access to computers and hence the Internet, and those without. Primarily concerned with the cost of computer technology, the digital divide was seen as a major roadblock to greater acceptance of e-government. After all, if e-government services were only accessible to those who could afford them, there simply was little by way of justification for funding such class-conscious endeavors.

Yet, as the cost of computer technology has dwindled, the acquisition and availability of that technology has increased. In fact, adoption of the personal computer and Internet access has reached the point in that the digital divide (within America and most other developed countries) is now seen as more of a knowledge gap than a material one. While we may have done a good job in making the technology accessible, we have not done such a good job teaching people how to use it. Especially vulnerable to this are the poor and the elderly. This issue takes increased importance when you consider the vast number of baby-boomers reaching retirement age who may not be comfortable using newer technology.

Many people would agree that the services offered by the e-government movement are quite beneficial. Who really wants to take a day off and stand in line at the MVD to renew their registration? However, with the availability of online services also comes the inherent risk of the public’s private information falling into the wrong hands.

Computer and Internet technologies are very complicated. The web-based applications that collect credit card payments and update government records are difficult to code and even more difficult to secure. While every precaution is generally taken to ensure the sanctity of these e-government applications, there are a number of threats that can compromise the public’s data including: poor application design, poor data backup solutions, insecure servers and networks, internal threats like employee subversion, accidental information exposure/loss, and governmental misuse of private information. While generally beyond the technical domain of most public administrators, it is important to be aware of these and other threats to ensure the highest level of legitimacy possible for your organization.

Finally, perhaps the most influential constraint of e-government is cost. Despite the falling cost of computer hardware, custom-built applications that integrate with existing government record systems remain very expensive. Securing funding for these projects can be difficult in tough economic times. There also exists the very real dilemma of not having the in-house expertise to create the necessary e-government applications. This is especially true in smaller locals where funds and qualified personnel are often in short supply or in cities with decentralized IT departments.

If, however, a governmental organization has secured funding for an e-government initiative but they do not have the in-house expertise, many departments choose to outsource this service. While a frequent occurrence, outsourcing of e-government service creation to private entities still has a certain level of risk. There often exists a gap in the planning and scoping phases where, because of a lack of technical knowledge by the government agency representatives, proper translation of business processes into application processes is incomplete or insufficient. This results in a product that does not correctly replicate government business processes and thus does not meet the needs of the government. This is of course wasteful of both time and taxpayer money. According to the United Nations, the failure rate of e-government projects in developed countries averages about 60%!

As administrators, you should be aware of the great potential of e-government as a means of efficiency and legitimacy in government. Information technology, applied correctly, has the potential to increase citizen participation and satisfaction through a variety of e-democracy methods. Though, as administrators, it is also your job to safeguard the public against the potential hazards of these new government services.

Tags: campaigning, citizen, democracy, e-government, efficiency, governance, Internet, IT, legitimacy, participation, protection, technology, voting