Analyzing e-governance mainstays on municipalities websites

ABSTRACT

E-Governance aims to provide citizens with a high quality of government. It covers services, information delivery and interactive community / government communication. This goal can be achieved by adopting the ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) tools in the government websites' design and content. This communication channel allows a redefinition of the traditional role played by each one of the actors in the relationship. The government as provider of: services, information, transparency and interactive communication. The citizens acting as active subjects with their government, using services, receiving information, controlling the government's decisions and returning feedback to them. This feedback includes opinions, complaints and suggestions delivered by the websites' interactive tools.

This paper analyses local government websites and verifies if the adoption of tools provided by ICTs regarding national and international rules of design and contents, contributes to achieve a high level of: e-democracy, e-services, e-transparency and active and passive communication. All of them key concepts and mainstays to improve e-governance quality.

REFERENCES

• 1: Castro Sardi Ximena and Mlikota Kristina. Overview On E-Governance. 2002. http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/6532/10391876090Overview_on_e-governance_working_paper.doc/Overview%2Bon%2Be-governance%2Bworking%2Bpaper.doc
• 2: Department of the Premier and Cabinet - Office of e-Government; Guidelines for State Government Websites Version 2.1; Australia; 2006. http://www.egov.dpc.wa.gov.au/documents/WebGuidelinesVersion2.1_final.doc
• 3: IC (Cultural Institute of Buenos Aires Province). Buenos Aires Urban Cone Map. http://www.ic.gba.gov.ar
• 4: INDEC (Statistics and Census National Institute). Censo Poblacional, 2001. Available at: http://www.indec.mecon.ar/
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• 6: Pompeu Fabra University; Usability Evaluation on municipalities' websites, development and analysis methodology; Barcelona; 2005. http://www.semanticaweb.net/archives/2005_evaluacion-municipales-isko.pdf
• 7: Pontifical Catholic University of Chile; e-Government Class; Municipalities websites e-Government Chile; 2006. http://www.cetiuc.cl/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/presentacion-estudio-municipalidades.pdf
• 8: State Services Commission; NZ Government Web Standards and Recommendations; Version 1.0; New Zeeland; 2007. http://www.e.govt.nz/standards/web-guidelines/web-standards-v1.0/web-standards-v1.0.rtf
• 9: Undersecretary of Regional Development and Administration, Ministry of Interior, Government of Chile; Second Municipality Technology Reality Survey Results; 2004.
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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  J. Computer Applications
  J.1 ADMINISTRATIVE DATA PROCESSING
      Subjects: Government

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.1 Multimedia Information Systems
          Subjects: Evaluation/methodology

General Terms:
Measurement, Reliability, Standardization, Verification

Keywords:
active and passive communicaton, e-democracy, e-governance, e-services, local government, municipality, transparency