Faculty Of Engineering

Software Engineering Department_ 3rd Stage

Open Source Technology

What is E-Government?

Abstract

The purpose of this report is to develop a framework through which effective and

efficient e-Governance can be done

The e-Gov. field (also called Electronic Government, Digital Government,

Electronic Governance, and similar names) emerged in the late 1990´s. Since

then it spurred several scientific conferences and journals. Because the field grew

considerably in size, both its contents and position with respect to other research fields

and disciplines need to be explained and discussed. [1]

Introduction

E-Government is a way for governments to use the new technologies to provide people

with more convenient, access to government information and services, to improve the

quality of the services and to provide greater opportunities to participate in our System

institutions and processes.

E-Government provides with some tremendous opportunities to move forward in the

21st century with better quality, cost-effective, government services and a better

relationship between citizens and their government. [1]

E-Government History

The term e-Government (e-Gov.) emerged in the late 1990s, but the history

of computing in government organizations can be traced back to the beginnings of

computer history. A literature on “IT in government” goes back at least to the

1970s ,This literature concerns IT use within government, while the recent

e-Gov. literature more often concerns external use, such as services to the citizens.

While some earlier e-Gov. computer issues, such as office automation, may not be

highly relevant to research today, many issues are, for example decision making, service

processes, and values. [1]

Essentially, the e-Government delivery models can be briefly summed up as [3]

G2C (Government to Citizens)

G2B (Government to Businesses)

G2E (Government to Employees)

G2G (Government to Governments)

C2G (Citizens to Governments)

Why E-Government?

Citizens increasingly expect the same level of services from government as they do from

other organizations. Businesses transforming their operations for the virtual world are

unwilling to go for form-filling and standing in line for government. The distinctions

between agencies of government, business and civil society – and the functions they

perform – are becoming blurred as power is distributed and the access costs to

connectivity fall. [2]

Benefits of e-Governance [2]

E-Governance offers a new way forward, helping improve government processes,

connect citizens, and build interactions with and within a civil society. What reform has

e-Governance in store? According to one school of thought, at root it provides three

basic change potentials for good governance for development:

Automation: Replacing current human-executed processes, which involve

accepting, storing, processing, outputting or transmitting information. For

example, the automation of existing clerical functions.

Informatisation: Supporting current human-executed information

processes. For example, supporting current processes of decision-making,

communication, and decision implementation.

Transformation: Supporting new human-executed information processes.

For example, creating new methods of public service delivery.

These change potentials, in turn, can bring – singly or in combination, five main benefits

to governance for development:

Governance that is cheaper: Producing the same outputs at lower total cost.

Governance that does more: Producing more outputs at the same total cost.

Governance that is quicker: Producing the same outputs at the same total cost in

less time.

Governance that works better: Producing the same outputs at the same total

cost in the same time, but to a higher quality standard.

Governance that is innovative: Producing new outputs.

Disadvantages

The main disadvantages concerning e-government is the lack of equality in public

access to the internet, reliability of information on the web, and hidden agendas of

government groups that could influence and bias public opinions. There are many

considerations and potential implications of implementing and designing e-government,

including disintermediation of the government and its citizens, impacts on economic,

social, and political factors, vulnerability to cyber-attacks, and disturbances to the status

quo in these areas.

Hyper-surveillance

Increased contact between government and its citizens goes both ways. Once e-

government begins to develop and become more sophisticated, citizens will be forced

to interact electronically with the government on a larger scale. This could potentially

lead to a lack of privacy for civilians as their government obtains more and more

information on them. In a worst case scenario, with so much information being passed

electronically between government and civilians, a totalitarian-like system could

develop. When the government has easy access to countless information on its citizens,

personal privacy is lost.

Cost

Although "a prodigious amount of money has been spent" on the development and

implementation of e-government, some say it has yielded only a mediocre product. The

outcomes and effects of trial Internet-based governments are often difficult to gauge or

unsatisfactory.[15] According to Gartner, Worldwide IT spending is estimated to total

$3.6 trillion in 2011 which is 5.1% increase from the year 2010 ($3.4 trillion).

Inaccessibility

An e-government site that provides web access and support often does not offer the

"potential to reach many users including those who live in remote areas, are

homebound, have low literacy levels, exist on poverty line incomes.

World e-Government Ranking [4]

Conclusion

In conclusion, we believe e-Gov. is a budding field that is interesting both as a new

research area for IS theories and methods and as a source for IS practitioner

contribution and use.

So beauty thing in E-Gov. is that each citizen can interacts with his government easily,

less cost, more transparency

References:

1. http://www.cips.org.in/public-sector-systems-government-

innovations/documents/Introducing_e_governance.pdf

2. http://www.e11online.com/pdf/e11_whitepaper2.pdf

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Government

4. http://www.waseda.jp/eng/news11/120224_egov.html