Comparative Perspectives on E‐government: Serving Today and Building for Tomorrow

Citation

Mason, D.D.M. (2006), "Comparative Perspectives on E‐government: Serving Today and Building for Tomorrow", The Electronic Library, Vol. 24 No. 6, pp. 864-865. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470610714279

E‐government is the application of information technologies to enhance citizen access to government information and to deliver Government services directly at national, regional and local levels. The principal technology used by governments currently is the Internet. Different governments display different levels of sophistication in their Internet services. Some sites are primarily pure information display, some provide services directly and some focus on e‐democracy. All are evolving and improving. This book is an edited collection of 17 articles reporting on the latest developments in research and analysis of government information policy and e‐government internationally.

The book is well written with copious examples taken from many countries and always uses the best evidence available. The overall style reflects a careful assembling of evidence and thoughtful analysis, reporting what is currently happening and avoids taking sides with any particular model of e‐government. Although the various chapters are written by a variety of authors the book has a coherent structure and forms an integrated body of knowledge. Its principal readership would appear to be graduate students in disciplines such as politics, informatics, development studies and social policy, as well as administrators and academics concerned with extending the technological reach of government. It answers the need for an international research based analysis of e‐government developments.

The book begins with a short introduction that outlines the scope of the topic, defines e‐government and presents a model for understanding the functions of e‐government. This is followed by an in‐depth assessment of the latest developments in five countries: the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Then it looks at issues affecting governments everywhere: trust, security and archiving and reports on a detailed investigation of the perceptions of government information as seen by the citizens of New Zealand. It examines the relationship that is building up between NZ citizens and their government, how they locate and access information, and how different sections of the community react to different e‐government initiatives. This leads to a section dealing with the design and effectiveness of government portals, comparing and contrasting the portals of several countries. The book concludes with chapters on how e‐government can tackle the digital divide and the effects that improved technology such as broadband access is likely to have in different countries; a comprehensive look at e‐government progress in smaller countries; and finishes with some predictions for the future or e‐government.

Any book on this subject will necessarily suffer as developments in technology will change the economics and possibilities of information delivery, but its emphasis on principles of e‐government should keep it relevant for some years to come. It might have benefited by having a wider pool of contributors, but having said that, the main contributors are leading academics and all have previously published in the area of e‐government.

The strength of the book is that it is research based, avoiding the common error of extrapolating technology trends by focussing on what is actually being done by leading governments today. The research throughout is up to date and uses the latest statistics available. While describing developments in the US, it also acknowledges that smaller countries are forging ahead independently and are contributing their ideas to best practice internationally. Overall, this is an outstanding contribution to a rapidly developing area of research.