Public E-Service Conditions in Lithuania

E-governance projects improve the efficiency of administrative systems, lower the number of civil servants, and improve the quality of administration. The Lithuanian Concept on the Development of the Information Society seeks to modernise governance through the use of computerised information resources. This is important so as to develop electronic context, to encourage the provision of e-services, and to allow local residents and businesses to use those services. Lithuania has a public e-services portal, the purpose of which is a broad online access to information and public e-services provided by state institutions. The requirements for common European e- services enforcement in cyberspace influence the improvement of e-services in public administration in Lithuania. Lithuania has a legal system necessary for public e-services, but the actual implementation of services directives requires more specific statutes on services as well as corresponding secondary legislation. Basing on different studies, the authors examine the development and conditions of public e-services in Lithuania.

E-Government Challenges in European Countries

To what extent and in which direction does the recent so-called “shift from e-Government to e-Governance systems” take place in European governments? Much has been claimed and written about the influence of e-Government on the modernization and growth of public sector initiatives in Europe. Little is known, however, about how the shift from e-Government to e-Governance takes place in European governments. In particular, in this chapter, an overview of both challenges and advantages of implementing e-Governance strategies is presented, by examining how closely and critically intertwined e-Government and e-Governance are in European countries, with particular reference to the emerging ones. In fact, according to the European Commission indexes, European countries have been split in two groups: Pioneers (P) that are the “best-in-class” EU members, and Followers (F) that have only recently undertaken their path towards the ICT and e-government implementation and still have to foster the e-governance development. The authors judge this comparison as particular instructive in order to draw out some lessons that can be learnt by emerging countries about how to face these challenges.

New Technology Communication in American State Governments

This study examines the effects of states’ e-government efforts, more specifically the progress of e-service and e-democracy, on citizens’ general political engagement and electoral participation. Utilizing the combined data with the state level of West’s e-Government measures (2008) and the individual level of the 2008 American Election Study, this study finds a strong link between state sponsored efforts at e-Government and traditional forms of the public’s political participation. State sponsored digital services and outreach increase general political participation more than campaign activities, and the implementation of e-democracy has a greater effect on mobilization than e-service. The results imply that e-government has potential to ameliorate political exclusion by letting the politically disadvantaged access a higher quality of information with an equalized accessibility through state governments’ electronic systems.

Overlooking Organizational Culture

The growth of the information communication technologies (ICTs) has fostered the adoption of e-government across the globe. E-government offers many benefits to developing countries. However, these countries are often plagued with problems that inhibit the implementation of e-government initiatives. As a result, research in e-government has attempted to offer solutions by listing the factors that influence the success and failures of e-government initiatives. The argument is made here, however, that by failing to consider the internal complexities unique to developing countries, these factors only offer palliative solutions to problem. Furthermore, these factors overlook the role that organizational culture plays in influencing the success or failure of e-government initiatives. Following existing literature in e-government, this research will highlight some the major factors listed for e-government successes and failures in developing countries. It will also show how influential organizational culture is in understanding the organizational changes proposed by e-government programs as well as how it has been overlooked in much of the existing literature.

E-Government Issues in Developing Countries

Electronic government, or e-Government, is the practice of providing public services to citizens, businesses, and other government agencies where government services can be accessed through the Internet, mobile phone, fax, mail, telephone, and personal visits (MGAHA, 2005). Developing countries, utilizing the late comer advantage, are mimicking trends of paperless governments with the expectations to reap the same benefits enjoyed by developed countries. However, e-Government initiatives have not always been successful in developing countries. According to the study conducted by Heeks (2003), the rate of e-Government success in developing countries was only 15 percent. The authors believe that such failures are mainly due to certain unique social, economic, technological, and environmental challenges faced by e-Government in developing countries. For example, some major issues include digital divide, political instability, and skills-related issues. However, the research dealing with these problems is limited. Therefore, in this chapter, the authors discuss these challenges.

E-Democracy

In the 21st century, the ability of citizens to participate in online democracy is a key issue for governments in the developing nations because of its attendant benefits. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) facilities support the establishment of electronic interaction between citizens and the various organs of government. Towards this, a variety of efforts have been made, and many systems have been developed, but few attempts have been made to combine more than one mode of access for e-Democracy system. It is difficult for people with visual impairment to be involved in issues of governance and communicate with government representatives such as public office holders. For these people, having access to an electronic means of communicating with these representatives is necessary as a way of enhancing participatory democracy among the citizens. In this chapter, the authors propose an access method for e-Democracy system using Multimodal SMS, Voice and Web (Multi-SVW) system. The system was implemented using VoiceXML and PHP for the user interfaces and MySQL as the database. The system was evaluated using cognitive walkthrough strategy. The results of the usability evaluation suggest that the prototype Multi-SVW application presented in this chapter has “good usability” based on the total mean rating. The system provides accessibility options to citizens who are able-bodied and citizens who are blind or vision impaired as a way of promoting digital citizenship.

E-Government Strategy in Turkey

Market orientation strategies are now expected to be integrated and enacted by firms and governments alike. While private services will surely continue to take the lead in mobile strategy orientation, others such as government and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are also becoming prominent Mobile Players (m-Players). Enhanced data services through smart phones are raising expectations that governments will finally deliver services that are in line with a consumer ICT lifestyle. To date, it is not certain which form of technological standards will take the lead, e.g. enhanced m-services or traditional Internet-based applications. Yet, with the introduction of interactive applications and fully transactional services via 3G smart phones, the currently untapped segment of the population (without computers) have the potential to gain access to government services at a low cost.

E-Government in Syria

The information technology revolution has forced many governments to create new mechanisms for delivering services in order to reduce costs, increase the ease of administration, and overcome some of the economic and social problems. E-Government uses the methods of new technology to simplify administrative procedures and assist decision-makers in their operations. Using the survey method and interviews, this chapter investigates e-Government activities in Syria in order to explore the main barriers of e-Government. It focuses on how to utilize the necessary frameworks in policy, economics, administrative procedures, society, and technology, with the aim of showing the benefits of Enterprise Integration in e-Government. The chapter extensively reviews the literature on barriers to e-Government and Enterprise Integration technologies. Based on the investigation of barriers to current e-Government activities in Syria, the chapter proposes an e-Government Interoperability Framework that is designed to address effective implementation of e-Government in developing countries.

E-Documents and E-Signatures in Tanzania

This chapter analyses the use of e-Documents and e-Signatures in Tanzania with a view of establishing their legal status, applicability, and the future of such technologies in e-Government systems. That is important as Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is widely employed in Tanzania. Moreover, the development and application of information systems is influenced by law. Therefore, the problem investigated is twofold: First, legal status, validity, and admissibility of e-Documents and e-Signatures in evidence in Tanzania are questioned. Second, the challenges facing the establishment of e-Government in Tanzania are explored. The chapter is a qualitative study, i.e. library- and desk-based research. Various literatures focusing on e-Documents and e-Signatures are reviewed, analysed, and evaluated so as to draw a conclusion on the relevancy of e-Documents and e-Signatures in the e-Government projects in Tanzania. The literature analysis conducted found that there is a lack of legal framework to recognize e-Documents and e-Signatures compounded with poor ICT infrastructure in Tanzania. This scenario puts e-Government endeavours at risk. It is recommended that the government should enact the laws to recognise e-Documents and e-Signatures to boost e-Commerce as well as e-Government.

A Snapshot Overview of the Digital Divide

It can arguably be stated that the digital divide, e-Inclusion, and successful e-Government development are inseparable. The concept of e-Inclusion is an a priori phenomenon to understanding the concept of the digital divide. This chapter provides a theoretical background on the linkages of information access, the digital divide, e-Inclusion, and e-Government. This exploratory study aims to discuss the intricacies of the digital divide and present a snapshot discussion of initiatives taken in Zambia to bridge the divide in the context of e-Government. The discussion presents the likelihood of the realisation of e-Government inclusion in the Zambian context and how this can impact e-Government development in its totality. From the discussion, it is evident that e-Government depends on multi-dimensional factors (such as individual and institutional e-Readiness, relevance of e-Government applications, local culture, propensity to change, and managerial and technical capabilities) to succeed, and this entails that any robust e-Government strategy should incorporate a multivariate approach in its design.