M-Governance

iHub Research conducted a study on 896 citizens to establish whether citizens raise alarm when faced with problems related to water. The study aimed to ascertain the communication channels they use to forward complaints to relevant authorities and the level of satisfaction obtained by the citizens after their complaints have been received. The study found that 68% of the respondents had faced challenges while trying to access their main source of water and were not able to complain to anyone about the problems affecting them due to inexistence of appropriate communication channels. A lack of understanding with regards to whom or where to complain was cited as one of the major reasons as to why most respondents do not complain about the water service levels. Majority of the citizens interviewed use face-to-face communication to raise their water grievances. Levels of satisfaction were found to vary when it comes to rating the action taken on water complaints raised. This study opines that with the emergence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) this scenario is poised to change. The study participants revealed that they are motivated to utilise ICTs to air their complaints with regards to their levels of service satisfaction. Emerging ICT applications, especially those accessible on mobile devices, provide a lot of promise for enhancing water service delivery in Kenya because feedback on water/service quality can be received ubiquitously.

Geospatial Technology-Based E-Government Design for Environmental Protection and Emergency Response

Fast development of geospatial technologies has made it possible to integrate existing user operational information and value-added services in a single harmonized infrastructure. This has made it possible to utilize geospatial technologies in the e-Government context. The emerging technologies have made it possible for natural disaster monitoring and mitigation for early warning in order for effective actions under emergency situation, such as natural disaster and chemical accident, to be taken. Natural disasters may include fires, explosions, leakages, or releases of toxic or hazardous materials that can cause people illness, injury, disability, or death. With emerging geospatial technology capabilities and applications such as Google Earth, GIS, and GPS, computer modeling and simulation can provide the inverse identification of emission profile and location. The modeling result can further present the forward prediction of the likely impact of any disaster event. Therefore, the community can acquire the situation in time to form spontaneous emergency response planning, which will also help the other stakeholders such as government and responsible community team. This modeling tool can form a virtual e-Government solution requisite for effective monitoring and mitigation. This chapter highlights the current research trends and future prospects with regards to integrating technologies for managing spatio-temporal information with e-Government conceptualization.

A Semantic-Enabled Framework for E-Government Systems Development

The ultimate goal of e-Governance is to reach the stage of seamless service delivery in one-stop e-Government. This raises the engineering issues of integration, reusability, maintenance, and interoperability of autonomous e-Government systems of government departments and agencies. Therefore, appropriate methodologies that consistently address the aforementioned engineering issues throughout clearly defined e-Government development phases are needed. This chapter provides the design and specification, of a framework that amalgamates features from maturity models, software engineering and Semantic Web domains for semantic-enabled development of e-Government systems. Firstly, the methods and techniques used for the planning, design, and implementation of e-Government systems worldwide are investigated; a critical analysis is carried out to identify their advantages and disadvantages, as well as their contribution towards addressing the aforementioned engineering issues. Secondly, the proposed framework is drawn and specified. Finally, support tools including a business process model, an alignment matrix of stages and phases of development, and a weighting matrix of the intensity of semantic activities at various phases of development is drawn and described.

E-Procurement System as an E-Government Platform

This chapter introduces and analyzes the best practices and development methods for Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in South Korea in the realm of e-Government. To the present, national informatization in South Korea has focused on e-Government. This is because e-Government can lead to transformation in national information infrastructure and the public services sector, leading to increased efficiencies. Thus, firstly, this chapter focuses on defining the key concepts of e-Government. Secondly, it analyzes public document systems for the best practices of e-Government in South Korea in the following categories: Government for Citizens (G4C), Government e-Procurement Systems (GePS), the governance system, the On-Nara Business Process System, and the Home Tax Service (HTS). E-Government has reduced the number of documents and therefore reduced costs. In particular, the e-Procurement system has proven effective. This chapter explains the theoretical concepts of e-Government in South Korea via a literature review. Finally, this chapter analyzes instances of success and suggests avenues for future e-Government growth.

Anti-Corruption Capabilities of Public E-Procurement Technologies

Public procurement is an important area warranting further attention in government reform, as electronic systems for procurement have enormous potential to help reduce corruption. Public e-Procurement is the use of an Internet or Web-based system by government institutions for the acquisition of goods and services, which can improve transparency and accountability. This chapter discusses different types of e-Procurement technologies with case examples from different countries that demonstrate how the e-Procurement technologies have great potential as the anti-corruption technologies. The chapter reviews the Principal-Agent Theory and discusses other relevant theories including Transaction Cost Theory, Fraud Triangle Theory, Diffusion of Innovation Theory, and the Technology Acceptance Model. Following a discussion of the potential of e-Procurement systems in mitigating corruption, a theoretical research model is proposed for identifying public e-Procurement anti-corruption capabilities.

Designing E-Government Platforms using Systems Thinking Perspectives and Performance Measurement Frameworks

This chapter intends to present information systems philosophies on design of affluent e-Government platform design. The chapter looks at e-Government platform design in two ways. First, it looks at it as a prevailing concept and philosophy that emanate through the combination of literature in the academic disciplines of government and governance, ICT and information society, and e-Business. Hence, the chapter argues that these fields of study provided the theoretical basis influencing e-Government platform design. Second, the chapter proposes that if the philosophies embedded in the literature dealing with systems thinking and performance measurement are included as part of the theories for e-Government conceptualization, this may culminate into developing a new philosophy. This philosophy may be based on asking relevant and appropriate socio-cultural questions that may facilitate the design of better e-Government platforms. The chapter proposes a model for incorporating the said philosophical standpoints into actual e-Government design. The anticipation is that such a platform may culminate into e-Government platforms that may meet social requirements necessary for requisite e-Government platforms.

Critical Perspectives of E-Government in Developing World

This chapter utilizes extensive literature reviews to assess the different perspectives of e-Government development in developing world contexts. In order to do that, the chapter presents a case study from Jordan assessing the design and reality gaps of e-Government interventions using the ITPOSMO model. The chapter posits that e-Government for development is likely to grow only if there is deliberate cognisance of culture, real work practices, and of the broader technical and socio-political environment with which the e-Government projects are introduced and applied in the developing world.

E-Justice in Administrative Process

Social technologies are slowly occupying the central place of available and emerging solution for a variety of socio-economic problems. Although not a panacea, it cannot be overemphasized that social technologies have an influence on the social effects of humans, social groups, hierarchical social structures (such as public administrations, local authorities, non-governmental organizations, etc.), and behaviour. Of late, there has been an escalation in the use of social technologies in the legal fraternity. The Lithuanian government has started putting in place interventions that promote the utilization of social technologies into legal administrative processes. This came after the realization that Lithuanian citizens have the right to full and truthful information about administrative law and administrative processes. Using extensive literature reviews, this chapter probes the key success factors that need to be considered in the successful utilization of social technologies in legal administrative processes. The chapter posits that within the e-Government realm, the opportunities to be amassed from the use of Information and Communication Technologies are immense.

System Design and ICT Adoption in Agricultural Extension Services Delivery in Tanzania

The major purpose of this chapter is to explore the options of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to complement conventional agricultural extension services in Tanzania. Group discussions and meetings were conducted to investigate the role of ICTs in extension services delivery using CATWOE framework of Soft Systems Methodology. The findings of the study reveal that the use of SSM helped the researchers to understand easily the problematic areas of the current situation of agricultural extension services. In addition, it was easy to plan feasible actions to be taken to improve the situation. The framework for the conceptual model towards improving the agricultural extension services in Kilosa District of Tanzania was developed. These results have been used in the development of an ICT-based system (Web- and Mobile-Based Farmers’ Advisory Information Systems) to supplement the conventional agricultural extension system. The roadmap developed as the implementation plan for this research can be used in any e-Government project. The need to improve the way agricultural extension is done in Tanzania through integration of relevant and affordable ICTs is well researched. This book chapter presents how this can be done using SSM approach in an action and participatory research. This is the first presentation of SSM intervention in agricultural informatics in Tanzania. The approach used in this study can be adopted by researchers doing any e-Government research.

Government 2.0

E-Government and e-Democracy system development is enabled by Internet technology. The implementation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) accelerates the transformation of government institutions and their methods of operations. The use of ICTs at municipality institutions not only opens up possibilities for improving services to citizens and businesses, but also increases their involvement in local community governance. The general objective of this chapter is to reveal, at the municipality level, the opportunity for local community development and stronger citizen involvement in governing processes (e-Democracy). The chapter aims to present the new sources of knowledge, particularly through the involvement of individuals in local government development. The chapter aims to understand challenges in developing open information infrastructures that support municipality innovation and development. The chapter utilizes extensive literature reviews and the analysis of the content of selected e-Government portals to inform its positions.