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The purpose of this paper is to show that most, if not all RFID/biometric passports have clear technical and social problems in their intended use and that there are clear problems with the databases into which biometric data are being collected, due to use of this data for other (publicly), non‐intended uses.

The approach of this paper is both a meta‐study of the flaws in the technological specifications as well as the social implementation of RFID/biometric passports. Finland is used as a case, but the results extend beyond Finland in most, if not all the topics presented – not necessarily all results to all implementations, but all to some others.

The current implementations of RFID/biometric passports are lacking in both technical and social implementations and pose clear risks to their use, both due to lax implementation of the technology itself but specifically due to the social changes brought about. These problems cause both erosion of privacy and trust.

Further research into other potential social implications on a national level is required. The authors fear that the cases presented do not necessarily reflect all the potential problems, but just the most evident ones.

The problems with the technological implications can be averted by using the best technological solutions, and thus the best technological solutions should be used instead of the ones proven to be lacking.

The social implications should at least be brought forth for public discourse and acknowledged, which currently does not seem to happen.

The paper contributes to the understanding of problems with current RFID/biometric passport implementations as well as inherent social problems that are hard, if not impossible to avoid. The problems belong under the category of critical eGovernment applications, and similar issues are visible in other eGovernment applications.

This study aims to quantify sectoral energy and carbon intensity, revisit the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and explore the relationship between economic diversification and CO₂ emissions in Bahrain.

Three stages were followed to understand the linkages between sectoral economic growth, energy consumption and CO₂ emissions in Bahrain. Sectoral energy and carbon intensity were calculated, time series data trends were analyzed and two econometric models were built and analyzed using the autoregressive distributed lag method and time series data for the period 1980–2019.

The results of the analysis suggest that energy and carbon intensity in Bahrain’s industrial sector is higher than those of its services and agricultural sectors. The EKC was found to be invalid for Bahrain, where economic growth is still coupled with CO₂ emissions. Whereas CO₂ emissions have increased with growth in the manufacturing, and real estate subsectors, the emissions have decreased with growth in the hospitability, transportation and communications subsectors. These results indicate that economic diversification, specifically of the services sector, is aligned with Bahrain’s carbon neutrality target. However, less energy-intensive industries, such as recycling-based industries, are needed to counter the environmental impacts of economic growth.

The impacts of economic diversification on energy consumption and CO₂ emissions in the Gulf Cooperation Council petroleum countries have rarely been explored. Findings from this study contribute to informing economic and environment-related policymaking in Bahrain.

The purpose of this paper is to explain current processes which are part of the eGovernment agenda in Dutch governmental organizations: these processes are part of a transformation of government organizations and municipalities towards networked organizations (“infocracies”). The paper also aims to show which difficulties municipalities are faced with, and how an instrument for measuring information quality and management can help municipalities cope with these developments that come with the transformation.

The paper analyses current developments and the challenges that government organizations are confronted with, and shows how a measurement instrument can contribute in helping government organizations cope with these developments.

The findings show that IT is an enabler for government organizations to transform towards networked organizations. In a municipal setting, this has led to the creation of authentic registrations as a crucial element of the networked organization. The main challenges for municipalities with regard to the implementation of authentic registrations are not technical but organizational of nature: there is a need for information sharing and cooperation, process and chain orientation and an awareness of the interdependencies which are inherent to authentic registrations. The EGEM Thermometer makes the challenges and obstacles, which obstruct the successful implementation of authentic registrations visible, and provides municipalities with a base to start the implementation thereof.

The Thermometer is currently based on a pilot project and a project that was the start of the Thermometer, which is made up of six municipalities.

The use of the EGEM Thermometer helps municipalities by creating insight, awareness, sense‐of‐urgency and a basis for organizational development.

The paper illustrates how measurement and feedback sessions can help organizations cope with IT challenges in relation to cooperation, service delivery, enforcement and information management.

This paper aims to analyse extant literature on open data, distinguish and categorize the strands of public accountability research and use the results to provide better clarity in the concept of open data-driven public accountability.

Systematic review of 135 open data articles and 155 accountability articles from the e-government reference library. A multi-stage analysis results in 12 articles which are categorized using Bovens’ (2007) accountability theory of information, discussion and consequences. Conceptual development, using the literature analysis, forms the final section of the paper.

Research demonstrates that a range of open data topics has been advanced. However, just 12 articles exist that simultaneously address open data and accountability theory. Of the total 155 public accountability articles, the preponderant focus is on the information (N = 25) and discussion (N = 7) stages of the accountability process. Just one article focuses on the complete accountability process. To address this problem, the characterization of open (government) data-driven public accountability establishes conceptual crispness and clarity.

Public accountability theory on open government has become overshadowed by social and economic value perspectives. This paper clarifies and advances the open data-driven public accountability perspective. It takes stock of public accountability research, delimits the key issues and questions and highlights the next steps needed for developing scholarship.

The aim of this paper is to create the framework for sustainable eDemocracy development which is used as a guideline for building tools for supporting democracy system. To consolidate this framework, the quality model of eDemocracy system is constructed in order to support the efficient and effective eDemocracy.

This work begins with collecting and analyzing the existing approaches of eDemocracy development, especially the governance development standard called COBIT 4.1. Next, the principles of democracy based on United Nations Information Services and the Bureau of International Information Programs: IIP of the US Department of State's are studied. To support such principle, the intrinsic eDemocracy applications are explored. In addition, the quality model of an eDemocracy system is built by integrating the concepts of technology acceptance model (TAM) and the eGovernment web quality assessment model (eGovernment WebQAM).

The 4 + 1 main constructs of eDemocracy development framework is introduced. They are stakeholder and policy, information and communication technology, development methodology containing process management and project management, environment, and eDemocracy components. Such a framework is claimed to support sustainable development. Furthermore, the five basic eDemocracy applications which support democratic principles are illustrated. They are eInformation, eService, eVoting, eComplaint, and eForum. The quality aspects, i.e. knowledge quality, process quality, communication quality and TAM are embedded to consolidate the authors framework.

Most existing approaches of eDemocracy development emphasize different eDemocracy development aspect depending on their interests and constraints. No approaches support all issues related in the fundamental aspects of eDemocracy development. Therefore, a sustainable framework is then created. Additional key aspect that has been embedded to this work is the eDemocracy qualities introduce in order to achieve citizens' acceptance in eDemocracy development.

This paper presents the framework for sustainable eDemocracy development to support the desirable and workable eDemocracy system. The information system quality and TAM are embedded into the authors framework for building better eDemocracy that meets the citizens' needs and information technology standard.

This paper aims to examine major stakeholders’ communication preferences in eParticipation initiatives and discuss how this affects the public sphere. Despite the potential of social media, it has proven difficult to get people actively involved in the decision-making processes. There is a need for more research on how stakeholders manage and use social media to communicate.

The study was conducted as a qualitative case study. Data sources include interviews, social media content, document analysis and field notes.

Communication preferences of stakeholders vary according to their salience level. Stakeholders with higher salience are less likely to participate in social media, whereas those who are less salient will use every available medium to gain influence. This challenges the opportunity to create a traditional public sphere in social media.

The authors contribute to a better understanding of who participates in social media and why. Stakeholder salience analysis shows that in the case of citizen-initiated eParticipation, social media cannot be seen as a Habermasian public sphere.

The authors suggest two approaches for government officials’ handling of social media: to treat social media as a channel for input and knowledge about the concerns of citizen groups and to integrate social media in the formal processes of decision making to develop consultative statements on specific policy issues.

The study shows that power and urgency are the most important salience attributes. These findings indicate that social media may not be as inclusive as early research indicates, and less active social media users may have power and influence through other channels.

The findings extend current knowledge of the public sphere by adding the stakeholder perspective in addition to existing evaluative models of the public sphere.

This paper aims to put the focus on political disaffection that the voters may have and its impact on their resistance to the changes, thereby influencing intention to adopt Internet voting. This study also examines the impact of perceived risk and technological skills on the trust of the Internet technology and informal networks, such as social influence and media influence on the trust of the government.

To empirically test the model, an online survey is administered to 851 people who are eligible to vote.

The findings show that positive media influence and social influence also significantly impact trust in government but trust in government does not necessarily decrease resistance to change and positively impact intention to adopt eVoting. Also, the resistance to change was shown to significantly influence the intention to use Internet voting.

A primary potential limitation of this study is the use of convenience sampling, which may lead to self-selection bias that limits the generalization of our research to all citizens.

Government institutions, as well as political parties, can use the findings of this research to understand how political dissatisfaction such as apathy and cynicism can increase trust in technology and lead to higher participation in online voting.

While the focus on previous literature has been heavily on security and system requirements, this study expands existing research by exploring voting habits, political disaffection, the resistance of change and informal influence on intention to use online voting.

Technologies of measurement and self-monitoring of health data have become part of a metric everyday life in Denmark. As part of a change in Nordic Welfare society, Danish citizens are increasingly experiencing a digitisation of welfare services. This chapter explores the rationales behind the eGovernment strategy of Digital Welfare 2016–2020 in regard to health and discusses how this strategy encourages self-measurement and self-improvement through discourses of improvement at both state and citizen levels. By illustrating how performativity is embedded in current conceptions of health, this chapter emphasises how strategies of digitisation lean on a bio-citizenship where individuals with poor health capacities become dependent, not on a supporting welfare system, but paradoxically on their own self-management skills in order to receive health services. Based on the sociology of knowledge approach to discourse (SKAD) analysis, this chapter scrutinises central documents on the strategy of digital welfare. Our exploration provides a critical insight into the current digitisation of health care by illustrating how new virtues of citizenship are demanded in the digital era in relation to digital health, and furthermore represents a current challenge for Danish welfare in the schism between technology as empowering and a technocratic form of governance.