-----Original Message-----From: CDT Email [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2002 7:24 PM
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Subject: Policy Post 8.02: Call For Best Practices, Cases Studies And
Papers For E-gov Toolkit
CDT POLICY POST Volume 8, Number 2, February 21, 2002
A BRIEFING ON PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES AFFECTING CIVIL
LIBERTIES ONLINE
from
THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY
CONTENTS:
(1) Call For Best Practices, Cases Studies And Papers For E-gov
Toolkit
(2) The Concept And Tools Of E-government
(3) The Elements Of Effective E-government
(4) The Challenges And Opportunities Of E-government
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(1) CALL FOR BEST PRACTICES, CASES STUDIES AND PAPERS
FOR E-GOV TOOLKIT
CDT, in association with the World Bank's InfoDev Program, is
looking for best practices, case studies and papers for inclusion in
a toolkit to guide the evolution of electronic government in
developing countries.
The toolkit is intended to be used by technology and policy leaders
in the developing world to design their own e-government projects.
Procedure: Send in your success stories, models, guides, etc,
through the online form at:
http://www.cdt.org/egov/submissions.shtml. Submissions for this
toolkit must be of practical value. We ask that you designate your
submission as either a best practice/case example or an
overview/paper.
* Best practices and case examples should highlight how e-gov
principles have been applied to specific projects in the developing
world. We are looking for examples that provide good models for
developing countries to follow.
* Overviews and papers should provide generalized guidance to
those who are embarking on e-government, providing advance
warnings of the pitfalls but also highlighting the opportunities and
cost savings available. We are looking for papers that include
accountability as part of the the e-government framework.
Submission deadline: March 31, 2002
Questions about the project, submission process, or outline should
be sent to [log in to unmask] [Submissions sent to this address
will be accepted, but we would prefer you to use the Web
submission system].
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(2) THE CONCEPT AND TOOLS OF E-GOVERNMENT
E-government is the application of information and communication
technology to transform the efficiency, effectiveness, transparency
and accountability of informational and transactional exchanges
within government, between governments and government
agencies at federal, municipal and local levels, citizens and
businesses; and to empower citizens through access and use
of information.
There are three phases of E-Government:
* The "PUBLISH" phase -- tools that facilitate broader access to
government information using information and communications
technologies.
* The "INTERACT" phase -- tools that promote broader public
involvement in participatory government.
* The "TRANSACT" phase -- tools that make government services
available using information and communication technologies.
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(3) THE ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE E-GOVERNMENT
E-government is much more than creating government Web sites.
In planning for the E-gov toolkit, CDT assembled an international
advisory board who identified a set of key issues that must be
addressed in order to make e-government successful.
* Process development: Critical to the success of e-government
transformation is the understanding that e-government is not just
about the automation of existing process and inefficiencies.
Conversely, it is about the creation of new processes and new
relationships between governed and governor.
* Leadership: In order to manage this change, leaders who
understand technology and policy goals will be needed at all
levels through government, from elected through to administrative
levels.
* Strategic investment: Governments will need to prioritize some
programs over others to maximize available funds in view of tightly
limited resources. This will necessitate a clear objective for
programs and a clear route to that objective.
* Public policy and law: New technologies have already thrown up
a minefield of legal and policy questions. If e-government and
e-commerce are to be successful, legislatures must be wary of
short-term solutions. They must also take proactive steps to
ensure that good intentions are backed up with policy commitment.
* Collaboration: Governments will have to explore new relationships
with the private sector and NGOs to ensure quality and delivery of
government services. Some agencies may also have to overcome
traditional reluctance to work with each other to maximize benefits
of scale in e-government projects.
* Civic engagement: E-government initiatives depend, to some
extent, on an engaged citizenry and to that end, efforts to foster
civic engagement are critical to the success of e-government
plans.
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(4) THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF E-GOVERNMENT
The process e-government tools and systems often means facing
new kinds of challenges. Developing countries, in particular, have
many barriers to overcome. Confronting these challenges directly
can be a means to turn these difficulties into new opportunities.
Our e-government toolkit is looking for responses to the following
concerns:
* Development: All countries implementing e-government have
struggled to develop a basic infrastructure to take advantage of
new technologies and communications tools. This often includes
problems of literacy and e-literacy.
* Accessibility: Governments must serve all members of society
irrespective of their physical capabilities. In many countries more
than one language or dialect will be prevalent -- setting appropriate
standards for accessibility will be difficult. New services will have
to be designed with appropriate interfaces -- this may have
significant cost implications. The "digital divide" and disability
issues are also continuing accessibility concerns.
* Privacy: Privacy is one of the fastest growing issue
internationally.
Governments are entrusted with huge amounts of personal
information and must be a responsible custodian.
* Security: Security is costly but security breaches shatter public
trust in government.
* Transparency: Government must be transparent in different ways
to the private sector. This will be reflected in their choice and
designs of ICT systems.
* Interoperability: Adding new systems on top of outmoded and
legacy systems has been problematic for the private sector and
will, in all likelihood, be problematic for the government sector.
* Records management: New technologies are being created to
help manage information. Governments have unique needs in
this field. Historical documentation is of special importance for
governments.
* Education and marketing: E-government services are only useful if
people know about them. Education and outreach programs will be
needed. As the boundaries of the state become blurrier, new rules
may be needed to govern the relationship of the public and private
sectors.
* Public/private competition/collaboration: Issues of public vs
private
collaboration and competition are already part of an international
debate on governance. E-government steps into a difficult area.
* Intergovernmentalism: Transforming government means
individuals should be served by the easiest and most efficient
means possible. But, this could raise serious constitutional and
political issues about the relationship between states/provinces,
federal government, (where applicable) local government, and the
international community.
* Workforce issues: Human resources planning needs to be
structured with the new goals in mind.
* Cost structures: Investment now, savings later. But planning and
budgeting in an unstable climate is difficult.
We are planning to compile the toolkit in online, CD and printed
versions, with indexing and searching capabilities that allow best
practices and other materials to be correlated to the foregoing
issues.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Policy Post 8.02 Copyright 2002 Center for Democracy and
Technology
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