‘Public eyes’: Direct accountability in an information age

First Monday ◽  
2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Meijer
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Information Age ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
Explorative Study ◽  
Government Web Sites ◽  
Sector Performance

The Internet creates interesting opportunities for citizens to call public organizations to account. Government Web sites provide information and facilitate debates on public sector performance. An explorative study in the Netherlands indicates that citizens make little use of the opportunities to call public organizations to account. Openness, however, does have a direct effect: ‘public eyes’ stimulate government organizations to score better on performance indicators and comply with formal rules.

User Help and Service Navigation Features in Government Web Sites

2011 ◽  
pp. 2643-2656
Author(s):  
Genie N.L. Stowers
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Web Site ◽  
Government Structure ◽  
The Public ◽  
Government Services ◽  
Government Web Sites ◽  
Web Developers ◽  
Lack Of Knowledge

This article examines the user help and service navigation features in government Web sites and compares them across levels of government. These features are critical to ensuring that users unfamiliar with government are able to successfully and easily access e-government services and information. The research finds clear patterns in the use of similar help and navigation features across governments, leading to a conclusion that these features are diffusing in the public sector Web development field. The article concludes by stating that Web developers should work to overcome a second digital divide, one of a lack of knowledge of Web site organization and government structure. Users need to be actively assisted to find information by Web developers.

Citizen Consultaions via Government Web Sites

2011 ◽  
pp. 163-168
Author(s):  
M. Holzer ◽  
R. W. Schwester
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Government Web Sites ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Traditional Structures

Cynicism toward government is largely a function of trust and social capital (Berman 1997; Putnam 2000). The relationship between government and its citizens has been strained. First, some citizens cynically feel as though government officials abuse their powers in the interest of self-aggrandizement; second, citizens often feel disconnected from government; third, government service delivery is frequently portrayed as inadequate. Administrative strategies to reverse these perceptions typically emphasize the benefits of government and improved service delivery. Some go further, offering individuals a means of influencing public policy and government decision-making, as opposed to traditional structures and cultures of policymaking that minimize citizen input. The Internet is a potentially powerful means for citizen consultation, and may help cultivate a governmental landscape in which information is more accessible, people feel more connected to government, and citizens are better able to participate in political and decision-making processes. This article examines the Internet as a consultative medium, whereby emphasis is placed on government efforts to use Web-based applications as a means of promoting meaningful citizen participation.

Citizen Consultaions via Government Web Sites

2011 ◽  
pp. 2867-2874
Author(s):  
Mark Holzer ◽  
Richard W. Schwester
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Government Web Sites ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Traditional Structures

Cynicism toward government is largely a function of trust and social capital (Berman 1997; Putnam 2000). The relationship between government and its citizens has been strained. First, some citizens cynically feel as though government officials abuse their powers in the interest of self-aggrandizement; second, citizens often feel disconnected from government; third, government service delivery is frequently portrayed as inadequate. Administrative strategies to reverse these perceptions typically emphasize the benefits of government and improved service delivery. Some go further, offering individuals a means of influencing public policy and government decision-making, as opposed to traditional structures and cultures of policymaking that minimize citizen input. The Internet is a potentially powerful means for citizen consultation, and may help cultivate a governmental landscape in which information is more accessible, people feel more connected to government, and citizens are better able to participate in political and decision-making processes. This article examines the Internet as a consultative medium, whereby emphasis is placed on government efforts to use Web-based applications as a means of promoting meaningful citizen participation.

User Help and Service Navigation Features in Government Web Sites

2008 ◽  
pp. 805-817
Author(s):  
Genie N.L. Stowers
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Web Site ◽  
Government Structure ◽  
The Public ◽  
Government Services ◽  
Government Web Sites ◽  
Web Developers ◽  
Lack Of Knowledge

This article examines the user help and service navigation features in government Web sites and compares them across levels of government. These features are critical to ensuring that users unfamiliar with government are able to successfully and easily access e-government services and information. The research finds clear patterns in the use of similar help and navigation features across governments, leading to a conclusion that these features are diffusing in the public sector Web development field. The article concludes by stating that Web developers should work to overcome a second digital divide, one of a lack of knowledge of Web site organization and government structure. Users need to be actively assisted to find information by Web developers.

Evaluation of E-Government Web Sites

2008 ◽  
pp. 699-710
Author(s):  
Michael Middleton
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Public Information ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Implementation Quality ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
Government Web Sites ◽  
Government Data

In recent times, the popularity of the Internet has led to e-government practices being widely recognized as an important option for service to the general public. In response, various tiers of government from national to local level have sought opportunities to engage the public through Web sites. Many governments now provide some level of access to government through Web interfaces, for example, through access to resources such as publications and government data. In some cases there are services provided that may be executed online. For example, users may provide personal information for licensing or to undertake payments. There continues to be a diversity of implementation quality and levels for such services. The facilitation of e-government has been characterized in various ways. For example, the European Union has seen it in terms of four main tasks: the development of Internet-based services to improve access to public information and services, the improvement of the transparency of public administration by using the Internet, the full exploitation of information technology within public administration, and the establishment of e-procurement (Strejcek & Theilb, 2003). More recently, the United Nations (UN), noting that ICTs may be used to transform its internal and external relationships, has also identified four similar but distinct areas: internal processes such as record keeping, electronic service delivery, virtual communities for digital democracy, and e-business opportunities such as procurement (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2005).

scholarly journals Web Maps for Risk Communication: Assessing Availability of Online Disaster Maps on Government Web Sites in Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Kartika Puspita Sari ◽  
Hidehiko Kanegae
Keyword(s):  
Risk Communication ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
National Level ◽  
Web Gis ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Communication Medium ◽  
Web Mapping ◽  
Government Web Sites ◽  
Municipal Level

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> The integration of Web 2.0 technologies into e-government applications and the adoption of Web GIS have revolutionized government Web sites into a sharing, socializing, and collaborating medium of government with its citizens. Many government Web sites adopted Web GIS and deliver various information to the public via web maps. Recently, web maps are not only limited to delivering local information on zoning, land use plan, property assessment, or demographic visualization. These digital cartographies are now also served as a two-way interactive communication medium and a decision support tool. In a context of disaster, web maps have been progressively utilized in emergency response, primarily to support collaboration among different agencies or jurisdictions. Online maps are also functioned as a risk communication medium as it can help to visualize hazards to increase one’s awareness of risks of natural hazards. Myriad spatial information about disasters are now available on the Internet, starts from a static type of maps or single-view maps with non-modifiable displays, up to interactive mapping that offers the user to select preferred features to display. Interestingly, many offer a simple user interface that requires no specialized knowledge to use, and that is accessible anywhere as long as the Internet is available. This study aims to identify the availability of disaster web maps provided by governments in each level (national, provincial, and municipal level) and to assess the features of this type of spatial information more detailed by using selected regions and municipalities. As our concern is on developing nations, we select Indonesia as an area of study since it could represent a country with fast-emerging Internet engaged citizens and also is characterized by a frequent disaster event and severity of catastrophic events. By making use of keyword searches and observing carefully, we search the maps primarily from official government Web sites (1 national site, 34 provincial sites, and 497 municipal sites are available) and their disaster management agency’s Web sites (2 national level sites, 24 provincial level sites, and 147 municipal level sites are available). We also collect data from the government’s geo-portals or Web GIS platforms, both those that have already linked to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (Ina-geoportal) and have not. We perform comparative content analysis and compare features, types of information displayed (hazards or damage assessment or report), and performances of available maps obtained in each level of the government Web site. Findings demonstrate that at the national level there are more wide-ranging features of disaster web maps, while at the provincial and municipal level this situation is limited to several regions, particularly those with historical records of high frequency or severity of disasters. In general, this study reveals that dissemination of disaster-themed web mapping in Indonesia on government Web sites is still limited to the static type ones.</p>

scholarly journals Bureaucrats' processing of organizational reputation signals

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Gilad ◽  
Pazit Ben-Nun Bloom ◽  
Michaela Assouline
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
Organizational Attachment ◽  
Organizational Reputation ◽  
Public Sector Employees ◽  
Public Sector Performance ◽  
Sector Performance ◽  
Employee Responses ◽  
Negative Reputation ◽  
Exogenous Signals

Notwithstanding the significance of a positive bureaucratic reputation, the average bureau functions amidst deep-rooted public hostility. Bureaucracy bashing presumably weakens public sector employees' commitment to their bureaus, which is known to undermine public sector performance. Motivated by these concerns, this paper investigates whether exogenous signals regarding a bureau's reputation affect the organizational attachment - identification and commitment - of its employees, and the variation in employee responses. Employing an experiment at an Israeli welfare bureaucracy, we show that the organizational attachment of employees who feel central and influential within the bureau is unshaken, and even reinforced, in response to negative reputation signals. Conversely, employees who feel marginal and powerless are receptive to both negative and positive reputation signals. The implications of these findings are that public organizations can buffer their employees from the detrimental effects of negative reputation signals, yet by so doing they may shut out justified scrutiny and demands for change.

Effectiveness of E-Government Online Services in Australia

2011 ◽  
pp. 2139-2162
Author(s):  
Xuetao Guo ◽  
Jie Lu
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Information Quality ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Online Services ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Government Web Sites ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Data Collections ◽  
User Perspectives

Electronic government (e-government) breaks down the barrier of distance and time, and offers the potential for government to better deliver its contents and services, and interact with citizens and businesses. Australia has been recognized as one of e-government leaders internationally. All the three levels (federal, state and local) of Australian government organizations have increasingly embraced e-government. With few years of e-government practices in Australia, it is critical to evaluate the current applications and explore more effective strategies for the next phase of e-government. This study aims to identify what factors affect the effectiveness of Australian e-government online services. In the study, a research model is proposed and data collections are completed based on two questionnaire-based surveys from internal and external users of Australian e-government Web sites respectively. Furthermore, data analyses are conducted to test proposed hypotheses. The findings show that Web presence quality and information quality influence effectiveness of e-government online services more than system quality from user perspectives. Several recommendations and future trends are also presented in the chapter.

Effectiveness of E-Government Online Services in Australia

2011 ◽  
pp. 214-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuetao Guo ◽  
Jie Lu
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Information Quality ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Online Services ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Government Web Sites ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Data Collections ◽  
User Perspectives

Electronic government (e-government) breaks down the barrier of distance and time, and offers the potential for government to better deliver its contents and services, and interact with citizens and businesses. Australia has been recognized as one of e-government leaders internationally. All the three levels (federal, state and local) of Australian government organizations have increasingly embraced e-government. With few years of e-government practices in Australia, it is critical to evaluate the current applications and explore more effective strategies for the next phase of e-government. This study aims to identify what factors affect the effectiveness of Australian e-government online services. In the study, a research model is proposed and data collections are completed based on two questionnaire-based surveys from internal and external users of Australian e-government Web sites respectively. Furthermore, data analyses are conducted to test proposed hypotheses. The findings show that Web presence quality and information quality influence effectiveness of e-government online services more than system quality from user perspectives. Several recommendations and future trends are also presented in the chapter.

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