Information Policy

Zimbabwe: New Technologies in Fight for Democracy

In countries such as Zimbabwe where media and political freedom is extremely restricted, new technologies have become powerful tools for political campaigning, communication, advocacy and mobilisation. Bloggers and civic organisations have resorted to using new tools and applications such as Flickr, Facebook, SMS text messages, YouTube and mashups to fight for democracy, media freedom and good governance.

http://blogs.reuters.com/global/2008/05/07/zimbabwe-new-technologies-in-fight-for-democracy/

EU Consumers: 50% of misleading airline websites corrected

EU Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva today published the mid term report on an EU wide enforcement investigation - involving 15 EU national authorities as well as Norway – against misleading advertising and unfair practices on airline ticket selling websites. The report shows that there are "serious and persistent consumer problems" throughout the airline industry as a whole. 1 in 3 websites surveyed (137 out of 386 originally checked by the 13 reporting countries) have had to be followed up with enforcement action over the last 7 months for breaches of EU consumer law. Over 50% of those websites have been corrected during this time.

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/722&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

Critical Factors in an Electronic Democracy: a Study of Municipal Managers

Tony Carrizales

Amid the growing research of e-government, prominent e-democracy practices have been regulated to sporadic, largely populated municipalities, throughout the world. This article examines the various factors that support and deter the practices of an electronic democracy. Factors which potentially challenge and support the progress of online democratic practices are explored. These factors include budgetary constraints, form of government, and ideological perspectives of municipal managers. Chief administrative officers were surveyed on their views of e-government, with specific focus on the function of e-democracy. The data reviews online practices of municipalities in New Jersey, and through ordinal regression it becomes evident what are some critical factors for the future potential of an e-democratic society.

The findings emphasize the role of e-democracy as more of an ideological innovation than as a functional innovation. Many of the predicted variables based on e-government research were found to be insignificant when it comes to e-democracy. e-Democracy becomes more a function of a manager’s view toward the practice of online democracy than as a function of resources, planning, size and having an IT department. This study was limited in scope, and has some generalizing limitations, but the findings are still able to highlight the unique nature of e-democracy in small-populated municipalities. Not all factors previously found significant in the study of e-government are critical in the study of e-democracy. This finding emphasizes the need for further research specific to the function of e-government. That is, e-democracy should be independently studied or categorized when doing large e-government studies so as to best understand the influential aspects. e-Democracy has its specific functions and ideological framework of utilizing technology for democratic purposes.

http://www.ejeg.com/volume-6/vol6-iss1/v6-i1-art3.htm

SI: New eDemocracy service involves citizens in legislative process

Slovenia’s national government portal eUprava has introduced a new eDemocracy service, which will allow citizens to follow closely the preparation and adoption of regulations, and co-operate in the elimination of administrative barriers.

The new service offers the public the opportunity to influence changes in existing legislation, by contributing their suggestions, comments and opinions. Citizens may electronically submit concrete proposals for change, and suggestions on how to help eliminate administrative barriers – which may often also involve changes in rules or regulations.

In addition, the portal provides a direct link to elected representatives, thus contributing to greater efficiency in the democratic process, and to improved communication between the general public and public administrations. The eDemocracy service is also intended to help citizens improve their understanding of the system and how it works, by providing general information on the public administration, democratic processes, and the adoption of laws and regulations at both national and EU level.

The eDemocracy service is broken down into four main parts: eliminating administrative barriers; contacting elected representatives; democratic processes, and legislation, legal rules in the EU, public information or elections.

http://www.epractice.eu/document/4600

HU: Hungarian city offers eGov services by SMS

Békéscsaba municipality, in south-eastern Hungary, has become the latest local authority to offer round-the-clock wireless eAdministration services.

The rate of penetration of the Internet in the Hungarian market is still relatively low and this acts as a major obstacle to using web-based eGovernment services. On the flip side, mobile phone penetration is close to 100 %, so this seems to be the real alternative to provide such services for the time being.

Following in the footsteps of early pioneering cities (such as Budaörs, Érd and Debrecen) where local authorities offer various SMS-based services, Békéscsaba, a county seat close to the Hungarian-Romanian border, also introduced such eGovernment service on 15 April 2008. Citizens do not need to be technologically savvy to use this cheap and user-friendly service. For the time being, services offered cover the document office (ID cards, addresses, driving licences, vehicle registration and number plates, etc.), taxation and social policy.

After sending the word ‘WAP’ – short for wireless application protocol – to a designated number, citizens can start browsing a menu system and read about requirements, necessary documents, stamp duties and fees. Once they are sure about what they need to do and how, they can make an appointment and only need to show up five minutes before the agreed time. In order to speed up the process, they can also provide data over the phone in advance. In case there is a need for a specific form, they can specify an eMail address to which the office can send the form. Completing the form in advance also saves time.

Using this new service, citizens can really enjoy a hassle-free, fast and “one-stop-shop” service at their municipality, even when they are on the go. The telecoms service provider already has plans to introduce this service in Budapest in the near future.

http://www.epractice.eu/document/4657

China refuses to guarantee open Internet during Olympics

China is refusing to guarantee that it will not censor the Internet during this summer's Olympic Games, but insists that the international media will still be able to function normally. Officials from China's Technology Ministry took a somewhat odd opportunity to speak about its censorship plans during a press conference after the Olympic torch relay crossed Mount Everest. They said that while the government would be able to "guarantee as much [access] as possible," there is no way that China would turn off the Great Firewall entirely during the Games.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080508-china-refuses-to-guarantee-open-internet-during-olympics.html

Microsoft e-gov tool free for governments

By John Rendleman

Microsoft is making its Citizen Services Platform for creating Web-based electronic government services available to local and regional governments. The platform is available without charge to municipal governments, but they will have to operate a Microsoft computing environment to run the platform.

The Citizen Services Platform includes eight ready-to-use templates for the most common types of transactions between municipal governments and residents, and it can be customized to offer the preferred level of sophistication. E-government services that municipalities and regional governments launch using the platform can, for example, range from simple, so-called presence offerings that provide static information to more complex transactional services incorporating live data streams or enabling online, real-time interactions between residents and government.

The platform includes the following templates:

E-Councilor template—A Windows Live Agent that allows messenger communication with a virtual government worker to ask questions.

Web TV template— Allows government and citizen video hosting in Web 2.0 style.

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 templates— A set of 40 templates to customize scenarios that address site and system administration needs.

Local government communications template— Sample portal with intranet and extranet templates.

Role-based My Site template— Designed for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and the My Site functionality.

Agenda Management template— Allows organizations to streamline processes.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM templates for municipal governments— Vertical templates, including reference data models, predefined work flows and role-based user experiences.

The Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Role-based My Site and Microsoft Dynamics CRM templates are available now; the others will be available later this summer.

“We’re interested in getting citizens out of line and online,” said James Osteen, assistant director of Miami’s information technology department. The city is giving input to Microsoft as it develops additional templates for the platform, Osteen said, including a template in the works for people applying for, documenting, paying for and tracking building permits in addition to a possible template incorporating Virtual Earth to give people localized, neighborhood-oriented services or access to information based on their geographical position.

http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/46237-1.html

WB loans $203 mln to Turkey's Cadastre Modernization

The World Bank (WB) approved a $203 mln loan to be used for the Cadastre Modernization Project for Turkey, WB said on Thursday. The project aims at contributing to public services by spreading and making effective e-government applications.

The term of repayment of the loan financed by International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) will be 23.5 years, with no repayments for the first five years, according to a statement posted on the official website of the World Bank.

The project aims to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the land registry and cadastre services.

"This objective will be achieved through renovating and updating cadastre maps to support digital cadastre and land registry information; making the digital land registry and cadastre information available to public and private entities; improving customer services in land registry and cadastre offices; improving human resources in the Turkish Land Registry and Cadastre Agency (TKGM); and developing policies and capacity to introduce in Turkey best international practices in property valuation." the statement said.

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/finance/8845032.asp?gid=231&sz=35481

New Deloitte Study Suggests to Governments: 'Customer-Centered Transformation Can Reduce Costs, Improve Effectiveness'

Governments Should Use Leading "Customer Experience" Practices to Improve the Delivery, Effectiveness of Public Services

Governments face growing pressure to improve the customer experience for citizens accessing public services, according to a new Deloitte report titled One Size Fits Few: Using Customer Insight to Transform Government.

Leading businesses have trained people to expect high quality, personalized services -- standards that citizens are now applying to government. At the same time, governments around the world are confronting significant short- and long-term fiscal pressures -- from managing rising health care costs to rebuilding public infrastructure. According to the Deloitte study, governments can both reduce costs and improve the level of service they offer to their consumers by adapting to the public sector some of the customer-centered reforms pioneered by leading companies.

http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/article/0,1002,sid%253D108843%2526cid%253D203219,00.html?WT.mc_id=dtthomeflash_CS_theme

Uganda Deal for up to 300,000 Laptops to Aid Civil Services

Edris Kisambira, IDG News Service An agreement with an international joint venture to supply up to 300,000 laptops mainly to civil-service employees will help the Ugandan government make its workers more efficient and facilitate the delivery of services, officials say.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/145014/uganda_deal_for_up_to_300000_laptops_to_aid_civil_services.html