David Fletcher: International eGovernment

Spains National ID Card

Fri, 10 Dec 2004 17:28:14 GMT

Spain expects to implement a new intelligent ID card system by the end of 2007

Carlos Guadian of Spain has developed an excellent e-government weblog. Carlos, who has some association with the University of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, has an interesting, academic approach to egov.

In a recent post, Carlos discusses Spain's recent initative to develop a new, intelligent national ID card which will facilitate a wide variety of personal and business transactions online. Budgeted at $100 million Euros, the project is due for completion at the end of 2007. The project is being directed by Spain's Interior Ministry which has had a national ID card in place for many years. Now the card will have added intelligence and functionality. Although many see the card as facilitative, there are many others who call it intrusive.

Spanish card manufacturer Kalysis has a grand vision for the use of its technology.

2004 Digital Government Awards

Mon, 11 Oct 2004 21:50:59 GMT

The Center for Digital Government has announced the winners of the 2004 Digital Government Achievement awards. Among the winners were the Utah Business Portal which placed second among Government to Business initiatives and the Utah Courts which placed fifth in the Government to Citizen category.

William Heath of Kablenet has created this interesting forum for discussing what the ideal government should look like.

The use of e-government services continues to grow in Italy:

2.1 million online business tax statements,
910,000 individual online tax statements filed,
45% of basic services now online

Here are the latest recommendations of the eEurope Advisory Group along with the R&D focus.

This new Catalunya portal really focuses on the needs of the citizen.

In Spain, Novell announced new services for supporting online government.

An here's an update on Europe's privacy initiative.

Washington's Digital Archives went live this week.

e-Government vs. the Real World

Mon, 05 Apr 2004 23:56:46 GMT

Almost 87 million people live in Guangdong province, one of the areas of greater technology concentration

Here's a great quote from the Renmin Ribao (Peoples' Daily) on the Chinese bureaucracy's acceptance of e-government:

The government staff still love to work in the real world despite mounting calls for e-government services.

I guess some people are still having a hard time making the connection between their cyber-world and everything else. Like many of the rest of us, the Chinese are having a hard time with adoption which is critical to justify more e-government investment. It is a priority here. By the end of 2005, the Chinese hope to have broadband to 150 million people, 11 percent of the population.

Chileans go online to file taxes

Mon, 01 Mar 2004 20:02:30 GMT

A few months ago, I mentioned the growing interest in Chile for eGovernment. Today, Forbes reports that 70% of Chileans file their taxes online. Furthermore, 37% of homes with computers have broadband service. Chile is increasingly urban, so expect these trends to continue.

Malaysia eGov

Tue, 20 Jan 2004 14:19:30 GMT

Roylim makes some comments about Malaysia's egov portals. Malaysia has been trying hard to situate itself as a high tech capital. They are situated right - sort of a bridge between the technology centers of Singapore / Hong Kong and the Muslim world. The country is opening up investment opportunities and launched other management reforms. Utah has discussed some joint online projects in the past through Utah State University contacts, but I think that has languished somewhat.

Summit of the Americas

Mon, 12 Jan 2004 15:06:49 GMT

The Summit of the Americas begins today in Monterrey, Mexico. The Summit has set up the Virtual Parliament of the Americas, an on-line tool facilitating the interaction of parliamentarians. There's some interesting stuff in the Summit Report, but relatively little on e-government and technology.

I'm a little underwhelmed with Monterrey's (the host city) municipal website. I know some great technologists who live in Monterrey. Find the latest news from Monterrey on Milenio.com.

Favorite City Series

Thu, 18 Dec 2003 16:01:53 GMT

I will be looking at some of my favorite cities from time to time (globally and in the U.S.) to see what ideas might be gleaned to improve our own websites.

Sevilla

Sevilla, in my mind is the most typical of all Spanish cities. Their municipal portal tries to portray a sense of being progressive with its use of flash in the introduction as well as the header and other visuals. Its use of frames could be a problem, especially when bookmarking and linking to specific pages beyond the portal itself. Content is up-to-date with features on the new metro (including online surveys, photos, etc.), the 2004 International Music Festival (featuring nine unique performances of Carmen), and the Christmas festivals (Sevilla is a party town -nothing beats April in Seville). The city has a dynamic online traffic information system, but it is not graphical - it just lists the streets (color coded to represent the traffic flow at a given time). Interactive services are very basic, but well designed.

Prague

Trying to figure out what is Prague's official site is difficult, Prague.cz?, Praha.cz? PIS.cz appears to be official, but it is the home of the Prague Information Service and is directed at tourists and outsiders. A-ZPrague.cz is of the same mold.

The Daily Summit and news from WSIS

Wed, 10 Dec 2003 17:17:53 GMT

David Steven of The Daily Summit team sent me the link to The Daily Summit, another source of information and perspectives on the World Summit on the Information Society. The Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic is now speaking to the summit following leaders from Latvia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, etc. Mugabe (president of Zimbabwe) was heavy with criticism of the U.S. and Britain, stating that they were using ICT to promote their world hegemony. There is a lot of rhetoric here, I'm not sure what specific things will result from these meetings.

Leonid Reiman of Russia is more focused on how ICT can be used to bring the world together. He mentions eRussia as a project that is extending into all aspects of Russian society. He also mentions concern over identity theft and support for e-commerce, a more positive perspective of technology than what we have heard from some of the developing country leaders.

Andy Oram provides some thoughts on the WSIS.

WSIS News

Wed, 10 Dec 2003 00:23:55 GMT

Practical.org has set up a nice aggregated site to cover the World Summit on the Information Society being held this week in Geneva. It officially begins tomorrow.

On the eve of the conference, an alternative agenda is proceding under the title of WSIS? We Seize! with the goal of presenting a different vision of the information society based on horizontal networks and grassroots communication.

eGov and Social Policy in Bio Bio

Mon, 01 Dec 2003 14:38:05 GMT

Some new interest and excitement on e-governance coming out of the Bio Bio region of Chile. Jane Fontain, author of Building the Virtual State, visited Chile on November 14th. I'm not sure if that is what initiated this new interest, but I hope it can launch Chile into the forefront of e-government thought and innovation. I would love to see that coming from Latin America. Concepcion, Chile's second largest city, is the regional capital.

Boris Carikeo has started a blog on technology, public policy, and society. Boris informs us that the IACD and OAS are sponsoring a course on the formulation of e-government strategies.

Karin Quiero has started an interesting blog on psychology and social policy. I am looking forward to some interesting content and ideas coming from these two sources.

The Association of Municipalities for Local Economic Development is an example of progressive use of the web for local government cooperation in the Bio Bio region.

Reykjavik wants to be the first city in the world with fiber to every home. They will have to compete with iProvo.

The US Embassy in Iceland

Internet in China

Fri, 21 Nov 2003 14:57:17 GMT

The Markle Foundation recently completed a study of the impact of the internet in China. According to Zoe Baird,

"China is second only to the U.S. in the number of Internet users, with the number of users growing rapidly. The Internet has the potential to contribute significantly to the future of the people of China."

The study was performed in 12 Chinese cities, with internet usage expectedly higher in coastal metropolises of Nanhai, Guangzhou, and Shanghai. I am assuming that they are talking Nanhai in Guangdong province since it is larger than Nanhai, Hebei, but I'm not sure, because when they refer to Nanhai, they refer to it as a smaller city so it could be Nanhai, Hebei.

This really is a fascinating study that sheds a lot of light on the differences between different areas of China and how technology is affecting them.

UN says E-Government is at a Crossroads

Fri, 07 Nov 2003 14:28:56 GMT

Article in Government Technology magazine reviews some of the details of the Utah.gov portal and its creation.

The UN's Global Forum on Re-Inventing Government, held this week in Mexico, makes recommendations for national governments to push forward with eGov initiatives. The UN released a new report at the conference entitled "E-Government at the Crossroads." The report states that security and privacy issues have discouraged many from using online government services which has resulted in low adoption rates. It also includes a ranking of nations based on e-readiness, defined as the provision of government services and products online, combined with extensive telecom infrastructure and public education. Here are the top 10:

United States
Sweden
Australia
Denmark
Britain
Canada
Norway
Switzerland
Germany
Finland

Korea is working hard to break into the top 10.

Mike Leavitt was sworn in as the EPA administrator yesterday. He "immediately began a vigorous schedule of meetings with agency staff and management, pledged to seek collaboration in the application of a "balanced set of environmental principles" to protect the nation's environment."

Duncan Smeed reports that shipments of Bluetooth products have now surpassed one million units per week. He also references Java Bluetooth, a resource for developing Bluetooth applications with Java.

News and Notes - Beijing Launches new eGov site

Wed, 05 Nov 2003 13:55:24 GMT

Election results for yesterday's municipal elections are found on the State Elections Office website.

The Salt Lake City Council has overturned Salt Lake Recorder Gary Ott and will respond to bulk record requests.

The Navy is evaluating the use of blogs for project management.

The city of Beijing has launched its first English-language eGov site. The site, entitled Beijing International, is oriented towards tourists and business people visiting the city. It comes on the 20th anniversary of a speech by Deng Xiaoping calling for China to embrace foreign expertise as a way to modernize China. You can learn a lot of important things on this site like:

"A foreigner, who owns an independent house and wants to purchase a small-sized dog as a pet, should submit an application to a local public security institution. The eligible applicant should purchase a pet dog in a legal pet market with a pet dog purchasing certificate issued by a district or county's public security authority together with a pet dog keeping permit."

France and Switzerland want progress on eGov

Mon, 29 Sep 2003 15:42:38 GMT

Switzerland is not happy about being ranked 15th among 18 European countries in the area of e-government. They launched a new initiative this morning aimed at enhancing their image as an internet-savvy nation.

France is not happy either. Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the French Prime Minister, is upset about the lack of ministerial cooperation on e-government and wants this to change immediately.

eGovernment News

Thu, 25 Sep 2003 17:20:40 GMT

Paul Ford writes about the use of XML in the federal government.

Uzbekistan is holding a summit on information and communications technology (ICT) and is setting e-government as a priority.

South Korea is mandating the use of a standard IT architecture for administrative agencies and public organizations.

South Africa is talking about e-governance at a national e-government summit in Johannesburg.

The National Press Club will be discussing the Future of Electronic Government next Tuesday.

The Indian government's blocking of Yahoo Groups is generating a lot of controversy.

GIS in the Rockies is scheduled for Oct. 1-3.

An article in Internet News talks about Microsoft as a potential national security threat.

The September 2003 issue of Capitol Connections is online.

News and Notes for September 24th

Wed, 24 Sep 2003 15:12:23 GMT

Georgia is considering joining Matrix while some states are having privacy concerns.

Directions Magazine writes about the merits of the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC).

The Indian state of Kerala offered a bid to outsource the management of its online lottery, but got no takers. I guess they're all too busy with outsourced projects from U.S. companies.

Some Chinese local governments are working to become more responsive. For example, the City of Shanghai is soliciting public input on municipal construction projects through its portal (here's the English version). They have some nice online maps.

Eight states are meeting in Dakota Dunes this morning to coordinate management of the Missouri River. The USGS maintains an excellent clearinghouse of information on the river. Indian tribes and federal officials will also be attending.

VOA News reports on the current status of the H1B visa debate.

CLASS, a primary information source for State Department counter-terrorism efforts was knocked offline yesterday by a virus.

California is joining other states in banning spam.

The GAO released a report yesterday on technologies to support wildland fire management. Also,l a report on Border and Transportation Security, including information on the US Visit system. The federal government is spending $380 million this year on US-Visit (through 2014, the estimated cost is over $7 billion). It will include information that is needed by the states to support their homeland security efforts. The GAO is calling for a governing board that will be accountable for the implementation of the system that includes stakeholders.

The Utah Departments of Health and Transportation will be announcing a new website this afternoon, part of a yearlong campaign focused on the benefits of walking.

And, a couple of blogs worth reading:

eGov News

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 15:31:48 GMT

Ho Chi Minh City is planning to invest more in e-government and GIS. They also plan to send 1,000 IT engineers to North America for training.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) has evaluated federal government websites for customer satisfaction based on their industry standard index. Several had very respectable scores, including FirstGov, the Dept. of Agriculture Economic Research Service, the National Women's Health Information Center, and NASA.

Microsoft has partnered with Accenture to release a new version of the Accenture eGovernment Accelerator. It will support enterprise level service integration and provide authentication and digital certification services. It's being marketed primarily in Europe.

Antonio Alabau, with the Politechnic University of Valencia, recently completed a comparative study of the e-government policies of the European Union with other supra-national organizations such as the OECD and the United Nations. Alabau's conclusions are similar to criticisms of many eGov efforts, that eGov is fragmented throughout the organization and that it addresses technology more than it does social need.

Europe and China talk eGov

Tue, 16 Sep 2003 14:49:44 GMT

In a speech to the China National School of Administration, Erkki Liikanen of the European Commission talks about the power of egovernment and its role in improving governance and enhancing the relationship between China and the EU.

The National Indicative Programme (2002-2004) agreed by the European Commission and the Government of the People's Republic of China in 2001, reflects the European Commission's willingness to contribute to the modernisation and liberalisation of the Chinese economy through its integration into the world Information Society. Support for China's efforts to participate in the Information Society is also a key feature in the context of WTO co-operation and for reducing the Digital Divide.

The World Summit on the Information Society is scheduled for December in Geneva. More than 40 heads of state have committed to attend. Global targets that will be considered:

All villages to be connected by 2010, with a community access point by 2015.
All universities to be connected by 2005, secondary schools by 2010 and primary schools by 2015.
All hospitals to be connected by 2005, and health centres by 2010.
All of the world's population to have access to domestic radio services by 2010 and domestic TV services by 2015.
The necessary technical conditions should be in place by 2010 to permit all world languages to be present and used on the Internet.

Iranian Censors

Mon, 15 Sep 2003 16:42:10 GMT

Iran's attempts to filter hundreds of sites from its users. It won't work. The Iranian blogger community is huge and with the U.S. government teaming with companies like Anonymizer to provide ways to bypass the censors, it will continue to grow and provide a venue for supporters of a more open Iran. For example, Hossein Derakhshan has over 2,000 Bloglet subscribers to his English language Iran blog.

Weblogs for Representatives

Wed, 03 Sep 2003 14:02:44 GMT

I missed this news item a couple of months ago. I think it's a great step forward for interactive democracy and provides legislators with a great tool to share their ideas and actions with their constituents:

The Portuguese parliament has approved the creation of ‘weblogs’ for all its representatives. A weblog (or ‘blog’) is a personal website that uses a dated log format and is updated on a daily or very frequent basis with new information about a particular subject or range of subjects. The information can be written by the site owner, gleaned from other websites or other sources, or contributed by users. From the next parliamentary term onwards, members of the Portuguese Assembly (Assembleia da República – AR) will have the option to create and host blogs as part of AR’s website. The proposal was approved unanimously shortly after Portugal’s State of the Union debate took place on 6/7/03.

According to its promoters, the blogging proposal will take advantage of AR’s infrastructure and allows each member of the Assembly to inform the public about their parliamentary activity. Plans are already being mooted for the creation of a style guide for the blogs.

Budget Diversification

Wed, 23 Jul 2003 18:47:41 GMT

A new report from the Western Rural Development Council, Fiscal Crisis in State Government, addresses the root causes of the recent budget crises in western states. The report suggests that revenue diversification is critical to weathering this type of crisis:

Diversification is a cornerstone of personal financial management. Most of us understand that by owning different kinds of assets we can increase financial stability. When stocks are down, bonds or real estate may be going up. By the same token, diversification in state and local fiscal structures can promote stability in tax receipts.

It's a simple thesis to a significantly more complex issue.

A new report from iSociety, SmartGov: Renewing Electronic Government for Improved Service Delivery, explores both sides of the UK's egov initiative. A quote:

"For e-Government to be credible, it must be used."

The report suggests the following barriers are inhibiting more widespread adoption of e-government services in the UK (read the report for more definition):

Social exclusion
Familiarity
Expectancy
Ease-of-use
Benefits
Costs
Solemnity

European Commitment to eGovernment

Mon, 21 Jul 2003 17:26:47 GMT

In a ministerial declaration proceeding from a European Union meeting in Como, Italy earlier this month, European leaders (my bold and italics):

Recognised the role of eGovernment in creating on-line applications and services for the users, favouring in the same time innovative technologies to the benefit of the Information Society.
Acknowledged the role of eGovernment as a driver for the modernization of the entire European public sector and as a key in increasing productivity and efficiency of Public Administration, thereby freeing resources and delivering more value for taxpayers money.
Underlined that European competitiveness can be strengthened by reducing administrative burden (i.e., red tape) on enterprises and costs for administrations.
Emphasised the importance of eGovernment as a means to improve efficiency and transparency in the public sector and the European institutions and thus increase attractiveness for investment.
Pointed out the role of eGovernment as a tool for enhancing the quality of life of European citizens through inclusive public services for all.
Recognised the relevance of using ICT to develop and enhance new forms of involvement and participation of the citizens in policy definition and decision-making processes.
Pointed out the role of eGovernment as a means to achieve a modern European administration through electronic cooperation between different levels of government and across national borders.
Recognised the need of close cooperation between European Commission and the European Countries in order to define pan-European standards and to identify and implement effective pan-European online services.
Recognised the World Summit on Information Society to be held in Geneva, December 2003 and Tunisia, November 2005, as a unique opportunity for all stakeholders to discuss at global level the establishment of a Global Information Society. Hence, Ministers recommended that due relevance be given to eGovernment in the Summit’s discussion and in the WSIS Action Plan.

The whole thing is a bit wordy, but certainly demonstrates an ongoing commitment by Europe's leaders to eGovernment. I am interested in their commitment to develop online services that extend across countries. Here in the US, there are a number of services that extend across states, but these still have much room for improvement and there are certainly more that can be added. Watching what the EU does with pan-European online services may provide some additional ideas. The ministers also properly recognize the need for a secure trust model that extends across the EU.

Linking-up Europe: the importance of interoperability for e-government services

Weblogs in Iran

Mon, 23 Jun 2003 21:10:35 GMT

I have been interested in the explosion of weblogs in Iran which are a major force in the developing social revolution. A year ago, the Iranian blogger was relatively alone. Currently, PersianBlog hosts thousands of new weblogs. Many more, such as Ayandegan are hosted on BlogSpot. According to the Christian Science Monitor, there are now 20,000 bloggers in Iran. It is also estimated that there are now 3 million internet users in the country, an increase of 90% from a year ago. Weblogs are quickly becoming the primary source of information and idea exchange in the country. I'll be watching closely to see how this develops.

More on Tracking Traffic in London

Fri, 13 Jun 2003 22:59:08 GMT

Now that London has cut traffic jams by 50% by issuing a congestion charge in the downtown area, some ambitious members of Parliament want to install satellite tracking devices in every vehicle so that they can charge you if you use drive during busier times. Obviously, some Londoners feel this is pretty intrusive.

Building the Information Society in Ireland

Wed, 14 May 2003 20:42:32 GMT

Yesterday, I mentioned Simon Moore's excellent report on trustworthy computing. Ireland's Information Society Commission produced a report several months ago entitled, "Building Trust through the Legal Framework." The suggestion is that government has an over-riding responsibility to create a trusted digital environment in order for a society to transform into a true "information society" which has become a major objective for the Irish. They would like to move from 27th into the top tier of European nations in areas like eGovernment. In order to build trust, they are suggesting measures like the creation of a "trust and confidence" mark that could be used by Irish electronic commerce providers and the appointment of "data protection commissioners." Another report, Building the Knowledge Society, more specifically addresses the issue of building eGovernment.

Ireland's Electric News Network has a regular column dedicated to eGovernment issues.