Search results

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.

The paper seeks to demonstrate the use of a range of perspectives and methods to evaluate eParticipation initiatives. It aims to argue that there is a need for coherent evaluation frameworks employing such perspectives and methods, the better to understand current eParticipation applications and learn from these experiences.

A case study of eParticipation evaluation for four local authority led projects from the “top down” stream of the UK Local e‐Democracy National Project is presented.

Applying the eParticipation framework resulted in an assessment that was considered fair by participants. However, the framework needs further development. More consideration needs to be placed on how and when to use tools in which contexts, also, on how to combine tools to enable inclusive engagement. The evaluation timescale meant important aspects of the framework were downplayed.

Further research is needed in two main areas; first, on the applicability of eParticipation tools to particular contexts, and second, to integrate fieldwork methods to assess social acceptance of eParticipation and represent the diversity of views obtained from citizens, community groups and other stakeholders.

The paper describes the application of the framework, demonstrates the importance of a multi‐method approach, and outlines some barriers to using it.

The described framework is a basis for further development since eParticipation evaluation is in its infancy despite strong advocacy of evaluation in e‐government research and practice literature.

The purpose of this paper is to assist in understanding that eGovernment is more than the implementation of IT. There are changes to the fundamental mechanisms of public governance including roles of citizens, organisations and government. This study explores the views, roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in promoting eGovernance, with a focus on countries that are in the early stages of developing their ICT strategies.

An exploratory case study approach is used based on the Malaysian experience. A combination of interviews and comments from questionnaires are used to examine government and citizens' viewpoints concerning eGovernment development.

While these are preliminary, the qualitative findings are intended for reflection, as well as, suggestions for action. They include: creating eCitizen partnerships; narrowing the digital divide; finding consensus on structures and roles in an eGovernment strategy. The discussion calls for collective stakeholder involvement of government and citizens as partners in order to promote social inclusion.

The study is exploratory and the findings cannot be considered as representative. However, they indicate areas for improvement. A second more robust empirical study is envisaged with more emphasis on application of stakeholder theory and techniques.

The debate is about collective social responsibility, arguing for social inclusion through the development of eGovernance for the national good which promotes concepts such as eDemocracy and eCommunity through stakeholder participation and partnership.

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.

This paper aims at providing an overview of different approaches toward identity management pertaining to citizen to government (C2G) eGovernment applications.

The paper adopts a comparative law methodology. It asks how different legal systems deal with the same problem. The different legal frameworks of Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and the Swiss Canton of Zug are analyzed and compared pertaining to identification and authentication. The process of comparison involves three phases: the descriptive phase (describing and analyzing the legislation to be compared), the identification phase (identifying the differences and similarities between the systems compared) and the explanatory phase (attempting to explain the resemblances and similarities between the systems).

Each of the four countries adopted different legal solutions. This is due to the different legal culture and the existing legal framework in which the legislator, in most cases, seeks to fit in the respective eGovernment solution, rather than adopting a completely new solution.

This study reveals different possibilities for legislatures to regulate electronic C2G procedures, ranging from a combination of electronic identity (eID) and electronic signature to pragmatic eID models in combination with further electronic authentication functionalities. The focus of the study is the legal framework and not the technical solution.

The purpose of this paper is, at first, to reveal the present concourse about barriers to coordination in government web then collect the dominant concourse about barriers to alignment along the web of governmental machinery from the perspective of Iranian practitioners and scholars. Strengthening the coordination of government machinery is one of the purposes of the Iranian Government, but one of the important influences on coordination in government is the attitudes and perceptions of governing elites.

This study combines the strengths of both the qualitative and quantitative research traditions. It entails a set of sequential steps which involve the generation of ideas about the research topics; a sample of statements representative of different views (dominant concourse) was selected from the 107 statements (present concourse) mentioned above based on a two-round Delphi technique.

The statements of this concourse are organized in two main categories: policy and administrative barriers. Researchers utilized the Delphi technique to identify the 73 most important statements concerning the diversity of opinion within the present concourse.

Generalization of findings is not a major concern of this study, and selection of the sample in this study is not based on random sampling.

The paper includes implications for improving coordination in the Iranian Government. The results of this study have implications for policymakers to reform the government machinery and design mechanism for better performance.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study solutions for removing barriers to coordination in government. It proposed e-government as one mechanism for removing these barriers and strengthening consensus in Iranian Government machinery.

The aim of this paper is to present the effectiveness of participatory information and communication technology (ICT) tools for urban planning, in particular, supporting bottom-up decision-making in urban management and governance.

This work begins with a presentation on the state of the art literature on the existing participatory approaches and their contribution to urban planning and the policymaking process. Furthermore, a case study, namely, the UrbanAPI project, is selected to identify new visualisation and simulation tools applied at different urban scales. These tools are applied in four different European cities – Vienna, Bologna, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Ruse – with the objective to identify the data needs for application development, commonalities in requirements of such participatory tools and their expected impact in policy and decision-making processes.

The case study presents three planning applications: three-dimensional Virtual Reality at neighbourhood scale, Public Motion Explorer at city-wide scale and Urban Growth Simulation at city-region scale. UrbanAPI applications indicate both active and passive participation secured by applying these tools at different urban scales and hence facilitate evidence-based urban planning decision-making. Structured engagement with the city administrations indicates commonalities in user needs and application requirements creating the potential for the development of generic features in these ICT tools which can be applied to many other cities throughout Europe.

This paper presents new ICT-enabled participatory urban planning tools at different urban scales to support collaborative decision-making and urban policy development. Various technologies are used for the development of these IT tools and applied to the real environment of four European cities.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a domain model for online community building and collaboration in e‐government and policy modelling.

The authors followed a structured approach including five distinct steps: define the domain to be investigated; collect domain knowledge from both existing online community building and collaboration platforms and domain experts; analyse the gathered knowledge; develop and evaluate the domain model.

A domain model was developed for community building and collaboration in eGovernment and policy modelling, including the domain definition, the domain lexicon and the conceptual models modelling its basic entities and functions of the domain. In particular, the UML class diagram was used for modelling the domain entities and the UML use cases diagram for modelling the domain functions.

A literature search revealed a lack of domain models for online community building and collaboration, not only in e‐government and policy modelling but also in general. The proposed model provides a better understanding of the domain. It can also be used in the development of relevant platforms, leading to the reduction of software development costs and delivery time, as well as the improvement of software quality and reliability, by minimising domain analysis errors.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the ways in which large‐scale e‐participation projects can be evaluated. It argues that existing evaluation approaches can be improved upon by taking a closer look at the characteristics of the users of such systems, by estimating their self‐efficacy.

Literature review is followed by the development of relevant research questions, and an assessment of points at which relevant and useful data can be collected in a petitioning process.

It is found that data relating to self‐efficacy, while not simple to collect, can add much to the evaluation process, and have the potential to result in more effective projects and systems.

The findings are specific to one project, EuroPetition, which will allow the co‐ordination and submission of cross‐border pan‐European petitions.

The paper represents the first attempt to integrate perspectives derived from social cognitive theory to the evaluation of a large e‐participation project. Self‐efficacy is discussed in terms of both computer self‐efficacy and political self‐efficacy.

As the society has long ago left the “industrial age” and entered the “information age”, people, enterprises and above all decision makers are constantly trying to get the best out of the opportunities and the technologies offered, for facilitating their life and their work. One of the most active and promising domains nowadays, is eParticipation, which is actively promoted by all stakeholders, as there is a great need of reconnecting citizens with the decision makers and re‐engaging them into the democratic procedures, especially as during the last years this gap is expanding, with the most convincing proof being the huge figure of voter turnout during the latest European elections. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.

A review of the most active and well‐known eParticipation action pilot projects funded in the European Union is presented, alongside with a methodological framework that has been followed for mapping, assessing and evaluating those projects, using a beyond the state‐of‐the‐art classification method.

Conclusions of the performed work are in a position to outline the current status quo of eParticipation in Europe, highlighting lessons learned and opportunities for future activities and research.

This paper includes valuable information towards practitioners, decision makers and administration officials, based not only on the established knowledge and on the experiences gained, but also on the identified gaps of the domain, aiming to support them in understanding the status quo of the domain and in the design process of future research roadmaps for eGovernace and policy modelling.