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+++E-GOVERNMENT BULLETIN
- ISSUE 128, FRIDAY 10 JANUARY 2003.
The email newsletter on electronic government,
UK and worldwide.
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++CONTENTS.
01: US E-Government law is 'opportunity wasted'
- former policy maker speaks out.
02: Plug pulled on European database
- 'EUSlanD' abandoned.
03: Plans for open source database
- applications for everyone.
04: Fire authority e-government plans receive all-clear
- but 23 councils still await approval.
05: New funds for smartcard thinking
- multi-million pound boost.
News in brief: 06: Total web all councils online; 07: Yesterday's
news out-of-date sites; 08: AIDS awareness CD-ROM project.
Section two: Analysis - freedom of information.
- 09: Let the shredding commence: The New Year brings new
headaches for those implementing the UK's new Freedom of
Information laws. Derek Parkinson discovers some may be tempted to
take the easy route and dispose of information rather than digitise it.
Section three: Focus -APLAWS.
- 10: Open source, open-ended costs? A content management system
built to meet the needs of the public sector is set to go live on a number
of council sites. But despite the lack of a licence fee the solution may
not end up being the cheapest option, writes Phil Cain.
Section four - Opinion - political engagement.
- 11: The BBC and e-participation: The UK's state broadcaster is
planning to use its clout to persuade citizens to participate in the
political process online. Sian Kevill explains what it will try to achieve
and the pitfalls it will try to avoid.
[Contents ends.]
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++SECTION ONE: NEWS.
+01:US E-GOVERNMENT LAW IS 'OPPORTUNITY WASTED'.
New legislation that will shape US e-government over the next five
years is "badly drafted and confusing" and "an opportunity wasted", a
former architect of US information management policy told E-
Government Bulletin this week.
The E-Government Act, signed by President Bush in December 2002,
sets aside a total of 345 million dollars to establish a new Office of
Electronic Government to shape and support policy on the use of new
technologies in central government.
Overall policy on how federal information is managed will remain the
responsibility of the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a
split which is strongly condemned by consultant Timothy Sprehe, a
former senior policymaker at the OMB.
"The legislation will be ineffective. It has the wrong aims and scope,"
Sprehe told E-Government Bulletin. In Sprehe's view, the OMB failed
to implement government information policies effectively in the past.
To be successful, the bill needed to place responsibility for managing
both information and technology in the hands of a new, strong federal
agency, he says.
Last September Sprehe was invited to testify before a congressional
committee and urged Congress to reject the bill in its final form
(http://fastlink.headstar.com/sprehe).
The legislation had a difficult birth following numerous revisions and
delays. Originally expected to come into force in 2001, the legislation
was delayed by the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 after which
homeland security dominated the government agenda.
To see a copy of the act visit the Congress legislation service at
http://thomas.loc.gov and enter bill number HR.2458.ENR in the
relevant search box.
+02:PLUG PULLED ON EUROPEAN DATABASE.
The European Commission has pulled the plug on a project to create a
vast pan-European information exchange for local and regional
government, after it failed to produce a working prototype within an
acceptable period of time.
The 'EUSlanD' initiative (European system for local authorities'
networking domain - http://www.eusland.org) was initiated in January
2000 by a consortium of public and private bodies from Belgium,
Denmark, France, Italy and Poland (see E-Government Bulletin, issue
102, August 2001).
The three million euro programme was to be a multilingual index to
information sources and case studies, to help local authorities benefit
from the experience of others across Europe. There were five main
themes including the innovative use of information and
communications technology by local and regional governments; and an
inbuilt thesaurus system, 'Eurovoc', to set out standard vocabulary for
public sector activity to allow for automatic translation into all
European languages.
However, the project was hampered by a series of delays, and failed to
produce a working prototype acceptable to the commission despite
extensions to its original deadlines. Following a final investigation the
commission finally pulled the plug last month.
Part of the problem seems to be an overly-ambitious scope planned for
the prototype version, combined with a lack of urgency from some
consortium members.
+03:PLANS FOR OPEN SOURCE DATABASE.
A national database of open source software applications tailored for
public sector use is being planned by London Connects
(http://www.londonconnects.org.uk), the agency charged with co-
ordinating e-government projects across the capital.
As a first step the agency, which is part-owned by the Greater London
Authority and Association of London Government, has commissioned
a survey of open source applications currently being used for public
services in London. London Connects will then apply for money from
the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Local Government Online
partnership fund to build an online resource of information on
software, contact details for developers, and possibly trial versions of
applications.
"At the moment, there is loads of online information about open source
applications like 'SourceForge' (http://www.sourceforge.net) for
Linux," said London Connects programme manager Mark Brett. "But
there's not enough on applications that can be easily used by local
authorities." According to Brett, many more authorities would consider
open source if they knew more about what is available and how it can
be integrated with existing systems.
London Connects is also co-ordinating a project with developers of the
APLAWS open source e-government content management software
(http://www.aplaws.org.uk) to help make the technology compatible
with a wide range of Linux systems. For an overview of the APLAWS
project see section three, this issue.
+04:FIRE AUTHORITY PLANS RECEIVE THE ALL-CLEAR.
Ongoing pay disputes and early dissatisfaction with official guidance
have not prevented all 50 fire authorities in England, Wales and
Northern Ireland receiving the all-clear for their e-government
implementation plans, E-Government Bulletin has learned.
Fire authorities were required to submit so-called Implementing
Electronic Government statements to the Office of the Deputy Prime
Minister (ODPM) for the first time on 31 October last year, a
requirement first imposed on English and Welsh councils in October
2001. For fire and local authorities alike, approval means an additional
200,000 pounds in the coming financial year to carry the plans
forward.
The 100 per cent approval rate comes despite public criticism from the
Chief and Assistant Chief Fire Officers' Association (http://www.fire-
uk.org) just a few weeks before the statements' submission deadline. In
a letter of 2 October (http://fastlink.headstar.com/cacfoa) the
association said guidance from local government minister Nick
Raynsford was "not helpful in enabling brigades to undertake the initial
analysis and assessment required to define . . . programmes of
activity".
To rectify the problem the association issued its own template to help
prepare implementation statements
(http://fastlink.headstar.com/cacfoa1).
For their part, all local authorities managed to submit their e-
government statements on time in October, unlike in 2001 when two
were delivered late and one never turned up. But the government was
not entirely satisfied with them, returning 23 for revision. "Overall, the
analysis of this year's IEG statements showed a marked progress on
2001, with 39 per cent of services now being e-enabled," the ODPM
said.
+05:NEW FUNDS FOR SMARTCARD THINKING.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is to release four million
pounds from its Local Government Online fund to boost local
government smartcard projects across England and Wales, according to
Bracknell Forest Borough Council, which will take a lead role in co-
ordinating the project.
The fund will allow authorities with experience of procuring
technology and developing applications to help others who are starting
smartcard projects, by convening a series of working groups or
consortia. Alongside Bracknell Forest, other key players will include
regional pathfinders such as Cornwall
(http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/business/pathfinder), the North East
Regional Smartcard Consortium (http://www.nersc.org.uk) and
Southampton's 'Smartpath' project (http://www.smartpath.co.uk - see
E-Government Bulletin, issue 113, 03 May 2002).
"Things are moving on. With this funding we will have a more co-
ordinated national approach to projects," said Bracknell council leader
Paul Bettison. Bracknell will deploy its own smartcard to around
30,000 users of local public libraries this spring, and is procuring a
new management system that will allow residents to book leisure
services using the card (see http://www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/edge).
The council is already a driving force behind a national local
government smartcard networking forum
(http://www.smartcardforum.org.uk - see E-Government Bulletin, issue
103, September 2001).
Meanwhile the Scottish Executive has earmarked funds totalling 6
million pounds over the next two years to support 11 Scottish councils
developing smartcard applications for schools and public transport,
with libraries and leisure facilities likely to follow in future.
A leading member of the Scottish Consortium, Dundee Council, has
already deployed a smartcard system to local schools, allowing pupils
to pay for meals and access vending machines electronically. Within
the next two months, Dundee will also launch a smartcard service that
allows disabled residents to claim subsidised taxi journeys with their
cards.
++NEWS IN BRIEF:
+06:TOTAL WEB: After several months of delay, Bridgnorth council
in Shropshire has finally launched a web site, meaning every UK
council now has an online presence. Developed by PandaNET
(http://www.pandanet.co.uk), the site will be launched officially at the
end of January:
http://www.bridgnorth.gov.uk .
+07:YESTERDAY'S NEWS: A House of Commons public accounts
committee report on public sector web site published on 13 December
has stressed the importance of keeping information up to date, after
discovering various examples of incorrect, inaccurate and out-of-date
content. For example, on the UK online website,
(http://www.ukonline.gov.uk) the Budget was described a "hot topic"
two months after it had taken place:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/pac1 .
+08:AIDS AWARENESS: A CD-Rom 'computer book' on HIV/AIDS
prevention is to be developed by the US-based International Women's
Tribune Centre (IWTC), aimed at largely illiterate women in rural
Africa, who can click on pictures and hear information in local
languages. The move follows the success of a first resource on how to
start up small scale businesses (http://www.iwtc.org/files/3-35.html -
and see also http://www.uneca.org/aisi/ictstory1.htm). For more
information contact Ann Walker on:
[log in to unmask] .
[Section one ends.]
++SPECIAL NOTICE: CALLING ALL CASE STUDIES.
E-Government Bulletin is set to launch a new paid-for case study
listing service as one of its sponsored notice sections from the next
issue, where companies will be able to insert links to profiles of the e-
government partnerships of which they are most proud.
With almost 10,000 subscribers from both the public and private
sectors, the solutions to many e-government challenges lie within our
readers' experience.
Readers from the private sector are invited to contact us for more
details and the cost of insertion. Those from the public sector are
encouraged to nominate private sector partners who they believe may
be interested in gaining exposure. Please email John Webster on:
[log in to unmask]
[Special notice ends.]
++SECTION TWO: ANALYSIS
- FREEDOM OF INFORMATION.
+09:LET THE SHREDDING COMMENCE.
by Derek Parkinson [log in to unmask] .
Most people will have shaken off the headaches acquired on New
Year's Eve by now, but for local authority managers charged with
implementing the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(http://fastlink.headstar.com/act1), the sore heads may last longer.
On 31 December all local authorities in England and Wales were
required to submit a publication scheme to the Information
Commissioner(http://www.dataprotection.gov.uk), laying out all types
of information they will make available to the public under the new
rules, with Scottish councils due to follow later this year (see
http://fastlink.headstar.com/act2).
The timetable for implementing the changes is clear enough. All
councils are expected to adopt a publication scheme by February 2003,
and in January 2005, the act guarantees individual citizens access to all
information held by government, statutory bodies and health service
providers. The act replaces old public records laws, establishing access
as a general right, and shifts responsibility to public bodies to justify
why requested information cannot be released.
What is less clear however is the scope of the law. "In my view, the act
is lacking clear definitions of information", says Peter Hunter, a
consultant at council IT managers' body Socitm. "For example, what is
information and what does it mean to hold it?"
An early small-scale test of such issues came with a national project to
develop publication schemes run jointly last year by the Local
Government Association and the Information Commissioner. The
councils involved were Ashfield and North Cornwall district councils;
Bedfordshire, Staffordshire and West Sussex county councils;
Birmingham city council and the London borough of Barking &
Dagenham.
Despite publishing 'feedback and observations' from this work (see
http://fastlink.headstar.com/foi), the Information Commissioner has not
used the results to define benchmarks for good practice. Instead, it has
been left entirely to local authorities to decide what information to
include in their publication schemes and how to classify it.
If the pilot councils are anything to go by, we are likely to see a wide
variation in approaches. For example, North Cornwall used a broad-
brush classification, taking care not to swamp the user with detail
(http://fastlink.headstar.com/foi1), whereas West Sussex opted for a
much more detailed approach (http://fastlink.headstar.com/foi2).
Whatever the level of detail in these publication schemes, the lobby
group Campaign for Freedom of Information (CFoI -
http://www.cfoi.org.uk) is worried they may be seen as little more than
a cosmetic layer to existing e-government projects.
"A scheme which makes relatively inaccessible information widely
available - by putting on the internet material that previously had to be
inspected in person at the authority's premises - can certainly be of
value," the group said in a recent letter to the Information
Commissioner (http://www.cfoi.org.uk/pdf/icltr130902.pdf).
"But we cannot see the point in schemes consisting of information
moved from one part of the authority's web site to another."
The group's director Maurice Frankel expanded on this theme when he
told E-Government Bulletin last week: "We are hoping local
authorities will publish documents on their own internal workings
information that is not already available. For example, the Department
of International Development has started to publish the minutes of its
top level board meetings."
For its part the Information Commissioner says it will regulate the new
law, at least initially, with a light hand. "Our approach was set out by
the previous commissioner Liz France. She compared it to making sure
that everyone had an engine and four wheels before worrying about a
sunroof and air conditioning," a spokesperson said.
But without a clear grasp of the implications of the new regulations,
even a basic engine and four wheels may be a struggle for many
councils. "People haven't woken up to the issues this is one of the
biggest pieces of modernisation in local government," says North
Cornwall District Council chief executive David Brown. "It's about
becoming more streamlined and efficient yet more transparent and
accountable."
According to Brown, most councils will be forced to review their
entire document management policies, gearing them to public requests
rather than stockpiling paperwork for internal use only. Some may
even decided it is better to destroy what they legally can, rather than
digitise it. "In 2005, it will be possible for someone to ring a council
and ask to see every document on a particular subject. Between now
and then we're going to see a lot of systems overhauled and lots of
paper-shredding," he says.
But managing documents effectively is only part of the problem.
Councils will also have to juggle obligations to release information
with existing confidentiality laws and agreements. "If you requested a
council document that contained identifying information about a third
person, this could fall under the Data Protection Act and be exempt
from freedom of information requirements," says Rupert Battcock of
solicitors Nabarro Nathanson. According to Battcock the rise of
partnerships with private sector organisations could also pose problems
for councils. "Private sector partners could claim that information is
commercially confidential. Councils should resist confidentiality
agreements that are too broad," he says.
For the foreseeable future, local authorities are in the unenviable and
ironic position of having to deliver an information policy where one
resource they conspicuously lack is solid information on how to do it.
"We won't know the answers to some of these questions until they're
tested in the courts," says Socitm's Peter Hunter.
[Section two ends.]
* SPECIAL NOTICE: CLEAR PROFIT
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[Special notice ends.]
++SECTION THREE: FOCUS
- APLAWS.
+10:OPEN SOURCE, OPEN-ENDED COSTS?
by Phil Cain [log in to unmask] .
Few people become extremely excited on hearing the phrase 'content
management system'. As public sector web operations continue to
grow in size, however, the term is one which we are destined to hear
with increasing frequency.
Put simply, a content management system is a piece of software that
helps an organisation's staff co-ordinate and manage web site content.
Such systems can, for example, allow authorised non-technical users to
post up web pages and to publish or exchange data in a variety of
formats.
There are a large number of content systems commercially available,
many of which translate well to public sector use. Like all software
these can be expensive to purchase, however, so in an attempt to
introduce a cheaper alternative a 1.8 million pound local government
pathfinder project set out in 2001 to develop an 'open source' CMS.
The package, called Accessible and Personalised Local Authority
Websites (APLAWS - http://www.aplaws.org.uk), was developed by
Camden council with help from four other London boroughs - Harrow,
Bromley, Lewisham, and Newham alongside several technology
companies and charities for visually impaired and elderly people.
The system, which cost 1.8 million pounds and formally concluded its
development phase in March last year, complies with recognised
standards for navigation, metadata and accessibility. For example,
compliance with the XML-based e-Government Interoperability
Framework (eGIF) allows APLAWS users to deliver information to a
range of different devices such as mobile phones.
Although APLAWS is available for any local authority in the UK to
download for free from the project web site, Stoke-on-Trent is
currently the only council to have implemented the system, which it
did in late 2002 with the help of open source technology supplier Red
Hat (http://www.redhat.com). All five London boroughs involved in
APLAWS' development are expected to follow suit and implement the
system in due course, however, as is West Sussex council.
Camden has already added a few pages using the system but plans to
take a few months to introduce it across its whole web site. "Content
migration is a relatively small problem. Changing the way we do
things is what is taking the time," says Jeremy Tuck of Camden.
The main change comes because the user-friendliness of such systems
allows responsibility for publishing content to be handed down to
front-line managers and staff. "We wanted to put ownership of the site
into the hands of the service providers," says Sue Sales, manager of
Stoke's web site.
While this approach also promises cost savings in the future, in the
short term it means staff need to be trained in using the system and to
adapt to their new responsibilities. "It's a totally different mindset using
a devolved authoring system," says Angela Frodin, web site manager
of Gloucestershire County Council which chose to use a rival content
management system.
Despite the absence of a licence fee for the open source package, other
considerations mean the cost comparison between APLAWS and other
solutions is not straightforward. An evaluation of the project published
last May by consultants ECsoft (http://fastlink.headstar.com/apl)
concluded that "Large parts of the APLAWS solution are open source,
which implies a low acquisition cost but not necessarily a lower cost
solution."
As Frodin says, adopting APLAWS in practice requires a council to
hire a development company to do the necessary customisation for
them. Furthermore councils using the system are required to be active
participants in the APLAWS user group and commit funding or
development resources to future shared development projects," adding
further costs which are hard to quantify.
Sales says the council is happy with the content templates which come
with the system. These include a standardised information category list
for web sites such as 'health', 'housing' and 'jobs'; a format for listing
local events; and one for presenting council meeting minutes and
agendas. "[The templates] are pretty good but there are things that we
need which are more bespoke. There is some content customisation,
but we are looking for more training on that because it is not intuitive,"
she says.
Another of the disappointments for Stoke was that the system is not
fully accessible to people with disabilities using special access devices
such as screenreaders. "I was given to understand that the visual site
was more accessible than it is," says Sales. Tuck too admits that it is an
area in which the product could be improved. The RNIB is due to
assess the accessibility of the system early this year.
[Section three ends.]
++SECTION FOUR: OPINION
- POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT.
+11:THE BBC AND E-PARTICIPATION.
by Sian Kevill [log in to unmask] .
Research by the BBC has found that far from being apathetic towards
politics as is the common assumption, many younger people are
becoming more assertive about wanting political systems that are more
transparent. They have become a new group of people who can be
described as 'consumer citizens'.
It seems that people who now play an active part in securing their
rights in consumer life, are chafing at their lack of power over their
civic life. They want information which is not defined by party politics
but by the issues which interest them. They want to be able to judge
what a politician promises and, if they disagree, they want to register
this more than once every five years.
Interestingly the research also found a small but significant increase in
engagement with public life - for example, letter writing, consumer
boycotts and signing petitions - though this is not seen as 'politics'.
Further research was also conducted on internet-friendly groups which
showed that the two main reasons for passivity are that people don't
know where to start or believe they can't make a difference on their
own. The corporation hopes to enable people to overcome these
hurdles by engaging people in an interactive community where people
can make a difference in civic life.
The initial aim is to foster communities which connect people who are
interested in the same issues. They will be helped to attract and channel
support for their issues and achieve broadly defined outcomes, ranging
from making contact with people like themselves, to gaining coverage
on the BBC and even influencing legislation.
To help make civic life easier to navigate, we'll provide a database of
democracy which people can use to find out who they have to contact
on any given issue. We want to provide people with the opportunity
and means to participate in democracy, at local and national levels, not
simply observe it. This will be a service designed for action, not talk or
'chat'.
It will also be highly interactive with users being encouraged to shape
the website and its agenda by rating, voting and posting their own
material. There will also be link-ups with broadcast programmes which
will cover the most compelling stories that emerge from the site and
give people the chance to influence the broadcast agenda.
We believe the BBC is well placed to become a key facilitator in this
emerging e-democracy world using its strong, trusted brand combined
with its ability to attract audiences through both its online and
broadcast output.
But there are dangers which the corporation will need to avoid, not
least the absolute imperative of retaining our impartiality and not being
perceived as part of any given campaign. Also, for the project to work,
there need to be responding changes in other institutions. If larger
numbers are enticed into the civic arena through the net, those on the
receiving end need to be equipped with the right technology and
culture to cope.
At the BBC we recognise that opportunity comes with risk: In this case
a failure could mean we add to the cynicism of a generation which
already feels politics is unaccountable and out of touch, undermining
the democratic potential of the internet before it is even realised.
NOTE: Sian Kevill is head of the BBC New Politics Initiative. This
article first appeared in our sister publication on new technologies and
politics, VoxPolitics Bulletin (see http://www.voxpolitics.com).
[Section four ends.]
++END NOTES.
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+COPYRIGHT NOTICE.
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ISSN 1476-6310
+PERSONNEL
- EDITORIAL.
Editor - Dan Jellinek [log in to unmask]
Deputy editor - Phil Cain [log in to unmask]
Features editor - Derek Parkinson [log in to unmask]
Reporter - Mel Poluck [log in to unmask] .
- ADVERTISING.
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A searchable archive of our back-issues can be found on our web site:
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[Issue ends.]
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