Alfredo M.

Ronchi

e-Democracy
Toward a New Model
of (Inter)active Society
e-Democracy
Alfredo M. Ronchi

e-Democracy
Toward a New Model
of (Inter)active Society
Alfredo M. Ronchi
Politecnico di Milano
Milano, Italy

ISBN 978-3-030-01595-4 ISBN 978-3-030-01596-1 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01596-1

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Preface

This volume explores the main elements of e-Democracy, as is usually termed the
implementation of democratic government processes through electronic means. This
“e” approach was initiated some years ago, and it is still under development. Starting
from the middle of the 1990s, the rapid diffusion of online content and services
ignited a true revolution in many sectors, including the interaction between citizens
and their government.
The pervasive role of “cyber” technology is stimulating changes in the way most
people earn their incomes, varying the balance between our roles as consumers and
producers, changing the way we educate succeeding generations and train ourselves,
changing the fruition of the world’s cultural heritage, transforming the delivery of
health care, altering the way we govern ourselves, changing the way we form
communities, varying the way we obtain and communicate information, contributing
to bridge some cultural or physical gaps, modifying patterns of activity among the
elderly and perhaps contributing to a greener world. This is not a complete list of
changes, but highlights some of the most prominent and important effects of ICT on
our society.
This book is part of a collection of books devoted to the added value use of ICTs
for citizens; the first volume introduces the fundamentals of technology and human
factors in e-Citizenship; following volumes are devoted to a specific set of aspects
and services targeting citizens. They present a view of a society changing under the
influence of advanced information technology. Computers have been around for
about half a century, and their social effects have been described under many
headings.
The purpose of these books is to help in drawing and understanding a realistic
scenario of what we can term e-Citizenry even if, as stated many times, “prediction is
difficult, especially if it involves the future!1” Sometimes this term simply identifies
members of the network, Internet users. These books identify as “e-Citizen” a

1
Quote from Neils Bohr, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics.

v
vi Preface

Citizen surrounded by private or public administration’s digital services and the

transition from his traditional role and behaviour to the new ones.
The major part of the population has already started this journey from Citizens to
e-Citizens; they already ask and receive certificates online, book a medical service
and receive the feedbacks online or pay taxes and vote in this way. Anyway, this is a
critical process involving opportunities and threats, benefits and drawbacks. In
addition, there is still a gap to be bridged due to cultural behaviours, age and
education.
Starting from the first decade of the twenty-first century, a relevant number of
governmental agencies, institutions and private enterprises spread all over the world
in both industrialised and developing countries invested time and resources on
e-Services. We are now in a position to draw some conclusions about this prelim-
inary phase. Are such investments effectively useful and appreciated by citizens?
Apart from technology what are the most relevant factors influencing their success
or failure? Governments, institutions and citizens are ready and willing e-Services?
Are e-Services a real “tsunami” for governmental institutions and agencies? Are
citizens concerned about privacy issues and “cyber” security?
This volume provides an insight about the main technological and human issues
to governance, government, participation, inclusion, empowerment and procure-
ment, all of them not forgetting ethical and privacy issues. These last aspects are
undoubtedly relevant; everyone experienced in “ICT-based innovation” knows that
“it is not only a matter of technology”. The main aim of this work is to bridge the gap
between technological solutions and successful implementation and fruitful
utilisation of the main set of e-Services totally or partially care of governments.
Different parameters are actively influencing the success or failure of e-Services:
cultural aspects, organisational issues, bureaucracy and workflow, infrastructure and
technology in general, users’ habits, literacy, capacity or merely interaction design.
This includes having a significant population of citizens willing and able to adopt
and use online services and developing the managerial and technical capability to
implement applications to meet the needs of citizens. A selection of success stories
and failures, duly commented on, will help the reader in identifying the right
approach to innovation in governmental e-Services.
This volume is part of a collection of books; the first three volumes are e-Citizens:
Toward a New Model of (Inter)active Citizenry, e-Democracy: Toward a New
Model of (Inter)active Society and e-Services: Toward a New Model of (Inter)active
Community, all of them published by Springer International 2019.
Target Audience
Public authorities, decision-makers, stakeholders, solution developers, university
students.
Prerequisite Knowledge of Audience
Informed on e-Content and e-Services, basics on technology side.

Milano, Italy Alfredo M. Ronchi

Contents

1 Being Human in the Digital Age: e-Democracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.1 The Betrayed IT Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2 Governance and e-Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1 Governance and e-Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2 Governance and United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3 e-Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.3.1 Core Components of e-Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3.2 Models of e-Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3.3 Governance: The Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3.4 Network Neutrality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.3.5 Final Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3 e-Participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.1 e-Participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.2 e-Participation in Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.3 e-Participation in the United Nations Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.4 Direct Democracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4 e-Inclusion & e-Empowerment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.1 e-Inclusion and e-Empowerment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future
Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
5.2 What Do We Term e-Government? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
5.3 Stages of e-Government Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5.4 Connectivity as a Public Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5.5 Public Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
vii
viii Contents

5.6 Multi Channel and Cross Channels Access to the Services . . . . . . 109
5.7 Internet Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
5.8 Different Parameters Influencing e-Government Success
or Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.8.1 Cultural Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.8.2 Social Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
5.8.3 Bureaucracy and Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5.9 Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
5.10 Interoperability of Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
5.10.1 Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
5.11 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5.11.1 Security and Privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
5.12 Privacy and Personal Data Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
5.13 Measuring Performance and Ranking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
5.14 How to Rank ICT Development, e-Government Readiness
and Measure Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
5.14.1 ICT Indexes: DAI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
5.14.2 ICT Indexes: ICT-OI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
5.14.3 ICT Indexes: DOI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5.14.4 ICT Indexes: IDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
5.14.5 Benchmarking e-Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
5.15 e-Government Readiness Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
5.16 Unsuccessful Stories: Some Reasons Why . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
5.17 Some Recommendations and Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
5.18 e-Government in a Long-Term Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
5.19 The Rationale Behind Digital Preservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
5.20 Selection of Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
5.20.1 Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
5.20.2 e-Services Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
6 e-Procurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
6.1 Public Procurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
6.2 e-Procurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
6.3 e-Catalogues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
6.3.1 Tagging and Metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
6.4 e-Catalogues Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
6.5 UBL Universal Business Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
6.6 Cooperation Between OASIS and UN/CEFACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
6.7 UBL Key Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
6.8 c-Catalogue (UN/EDIFACT–eBESWorkshop) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
6.8.1 EEG1 : Procurement and Supply Chain Management . . . 217
6.9 Cross-Industry Catalogue Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
6.9.1 eBES Key Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Contents ix

6.10 Other Standards Relevant to e-Catalogues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

6.10.1 ebXML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
6.10.2 ebXML Key Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
6.11 The “Procurement” Effect of the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
6.12 e-Procurement in Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
6.12.1 The Scale of the Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
6.12.2 Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
6.12.3 Implementation/Contract Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
6.13 PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) . . . . . . . . . . 230
6.13.1 EU-Wide Interoperability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
6.13.2 PEPPOL Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
6.13.3 About OpenPEPPOL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
6.13.4 Long-Term Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
6.13.5 OpenPEPPOL to Guarantee High Level Governance
and Long-Term Sustainability of the PEPPOL
Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
6.14 Interoperability in the Field of e-Procurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
6.14.1 Public Procurement in the European Union . . . . . . . . . . 235
6.14.2 Directive on Services in the Internal Market . . . . . . . . . . 236
6.15 Some Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
List of Abbreviations

AAAA Addis Ababa Action Agenda

AfDB African Development Bank
App Software Applications
B-2-B Business to Business
B-2-C Business to Consumer
B-2-G Business to Government
BRS Business Requirements Specification
C-2-G Consumer to Government
CA Contracting authority
CARICOM Caribbean Community and Common Market
CBA Cost-Benefit Analysis
CCTS Core Data Technical Specification
CDO Chief Data Officer
CEN/ISSS European Committee for Standardisation/Information Society
Standardisation System
CIDX Chemical Industry Data eXchange
CIO Chief Information Officer
CPI Corruption Perceptions Index
CPV Common Procurement Vocabulary
CS Classification Scheme
DESA Department of Economic and Social Affairs
DPADM Division for Public Administration and Development Management
DPS Dynamic Purchasing System
DUNS Data Universal Numbering System
ebXML Electronic Business Extensible Markup Language
EC European Commission
ECCMA Electronic Commerce Code Management Association
EDIFACT Electronic Data Interchange For Administration, Commerce and
Transport
EEA European Economic Area

xi
xii List of Abbreviations

EEA European Environment Agency

EFTA European Free Trade Association
EGDI e-Government Development Index
EIA Environmental Impact Assessment
eOTD ECCMA Open Technical Dictionary
EPI e-Participation Index
ePDC electronic Product Description and Classification
ERP Enterprise Resource Planning
EU European Union
FA Framework Agreement
FOI Freedom of Information
FOIAs Freedom of Information Acts
G2G Government-to-Government
GCC Gulf Cooperation Council
GFW Global Forest Watch
GIS Geographic Information System
GLN Global Location Number
GNI Gross National Income
GODAN Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition
GPC Global Product Classification
GPS Global Positioning System
HCI Human Capital Index
HCI Human–Computer Interface
HTML Hypertext Markup Language
HTTP/HTTPS HyperText Transfer Protocol/HyperText Transfer Protocol (SSL)
ICT Information and Communication Technology
ICTs Information and Communication Technologies
ID Identification
IDRC International Development Research Centre
ILO International Labour Organization
INTOSAI International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions
IoT Internet of Things
ITU International Telecommunication Union
LCD Liquid Crystal Display
LDC Least Developed Country
LVL Latvia Lat
MAMA Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action
MDGs Millennium Development Goals
MEAT Most Economically Advantageous Tender
MENA Middle East and North America
METEP Measurement and Evaluation Tool for Engagement and
e-Participation
MFI Micro Finance Institutions
MYS Mean Years of Schooling
List of Abbreviations xiii

NEPAD New Partnership for Africa’s Development

NES Northern European UBL 2.0 Subset Working Group
NGO Non-governmental Organisation
OASIS Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information
Standards
ODETTE Organisation for Data Exchange by Tele Transmission in Europe
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
OGD Open Government Data
OSI Online Service Index
OSM Open Street Map
PPPP Public–Private–People Partnerships
PRICAT Price/Sales Catalogue
PRODAT Product Data
RFQ Request for Quotation
RSS Really Simple Syndication
SDGs Sustainable Development Goals
SIDS Small Island Developing States
SKU Stock Keeping Unit
SME Small and Medium Enterprise
SMS Short Message Service
SWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
TGEG Task Group on e-Government
TII Telecommunication Infrastructure Index
UBL Universal Business Language
UGC User-Generated Content
UML Unifying Modelling Language
UMM Universal Modelling Methodology
UN/CEFACT United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic
Business
UN/ECE or United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
UNECE
UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
UNDG United Nations Development Group
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNECA United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
UNECLAC United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean
UNEP United Nations Environment Programme
UNESCAP United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the
Pacific
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNESCWA United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western
Asia
xiv List of Abbreviations

UN-OHRLLS United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least
Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and
Small Island Developing States
UNPOG United Nations Project Office on Governance
UNSC United Nations Statistical Commission
UNSPSC United Nations/Standard Products and Services Codes
UNU-IAS United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of
Sustainability
URL Uniform Resource Locator
UTC Coordinated Universal Time
VAT Value Added Tax
VDA DA Verband der Automobilindustrie (German, translating to
“German Automotive Association”)
VIES VAT Information Exchange System
W3C World Wide Web Consortium
WOG Whole of Government
WRI World Resources Institute
WSIS World Summit on the Information Society
xCBL XML Common Business Library
XML eXtendable Markup Language
Chapter 1
Being Human in the Digital Age:
e-Democracy

Brill [Gene Hackman]: The government’s been in bed with the entire telecommuni-
cations industry since the forties. They’ve infected everything. They get into your
bank statements, computer files, email, listen to your phone calls. . . Every wire,
every airwave. The more technology used, the easier it is for them to keep tabs on
you. It’s a brave new world out there. At least it’d better be.
. . ...
Thomas Reynolds [Jon Voight]: Ten-year-olds go on the Net, downloading
encryption we can barely break, not to mention instructions on how to make a
low-yield nuclear device. Privacy’s been dead for years because we can’t risk it. The
only privacy that’s left is the inside of your head. Maybe that’s enough. You think
we’re the enemy of democracy, you and I? I think we’re democracy’s last hope.

[ENEMY OF THE STATE IS A 1998 AMERICAN CONSPIRACY-THRILLER FILM DIRECTED BY

TONY SCOTT AND STARRING GENE HACKMAN, WILL SMITH, AND JON VOIGHT.]

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 1

A. M. Ronchi, e-Democracy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01596-1_1
2 1 Being Human in the Digital Age: e-Democracy

This is one of the famous and quoted sentences kept from one of the American
conspiracy-thriller movies from the 1990s, The Enemy of the State. The leitmotiv of
the movie is the deep intrusion of technologies in our private life, the concept of
privacy is nowadays evaporating under the effects of digital technologies. Our
feeling is to live in a society very close to the one depicted by the movie. There
are a number of science and technology fiction-movies depicting our lifestyle, from
John Badham’s War Games (1983) to Daniel Caruso’s Eagle Eye (2008), passing
through The Net1 (1995). Why do we refer to fiction in order to introduce serious
topics like e-Citizenry? Because fiction sometimes anticipates a reasonable scenario
of future society and lifestyles.
“The Net” for instance draws a not completely unreal scenario of identity theft.
This movie outlines, if needed, the potential fragility of our identity-based services
and systems: police, banks, state archives, social security, ownership, personal data,
etc.; they all rely on digital technology and are in some way exposed to hackers.
As already outlined, the purpose of this book is to help in drawing and under-
standing a realistic scenario of what we can term e-Citizenry even if, as stated many
times, “prediction is difficult, especially if it involves the future!2” Sometimes this
term simply identifies members of the network, Internet users. This book identifies
as “e-Citizen” a Citizen surrounded by public administration’s digital services and
the transition from his traditional role and behaviour to the new ones. Of course, we
cannot forget the huge set of services provided by private organisations as the
completion of the scenario.
Anyway, this is a critical process involving opportunities and threats, benefits and
drawbacks. In addition, there is still a gap to be bridged due to cultural behaviours,
age and education.

1.1 The Betrayed IT Revolution3

As sometimes happens after revolutions, revolutionaries wonder if what they have

got is actually what they were hoping for. The original idea of computer scientists in
the “hippies” counterculture era was aimed to empower citizens and provide them
much freedom. Almost 50 years later, after the chimera of the “happy cyber-world”,
some of us have started thinking that the foreseen “19844” has simply come true

1
The Net directed by Irwin Winkler (Sandra Bullock, Jeremy Northam), Columbia Pictures
Industries Inc.
2
Quote from Neils Bohr, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
3
Ranjit Makkuni, Director, Sacred World Design Laboratory, Musician.
4
“1984” the famous novel by George Orwell, Eric Arthur Blair’s pen name, English novelist,
essayist, journalist, and critic. Most well-known novels: Animal Farm (1945), Nineteen Eighty-
Four (1949).
1.1 The Betrayed IT Revolution 3

10, 15 years later: globalisation, always on devices, position tracking systems,

CRMs and users’ profiles, CCTVs and IoT; are those technologies framing citizens?
Ranjit Makkuni, Director of the Sacred World Design Laboratory, decided to use
this title to express his feeling many years after his key activity at Xerox PARC in the
most fruitful period of computing. Quoting Makkuni he dedicates his paper “For
those of us who have missed the IT revolution, consider yourselves lucky, we may
not have missed a thing!”
Makkuni introduces his vision on the evolution of digital technology as follows:
“When the original vision of the Dynabook (later to become the laptop) was
conceived by Alan Kay’s team at Xerox PARC in the 1980s, computational tools
were envisioned as a tool for creativity and leisure. Indeed the first slides of the
Dynabook showed people freeing themselves from the shackles of their offices, lying
in sprawling natural landscapes, pursuing their artistic creativity.
Nearly 50 years later that vision has become a nightmare, with deep impacts on
society: at levels of connection, health, psychological well-being, and deep ques-
tions to privacy and fundamental freedoms and “Truth” loom and await answers.
While in the past decade, social media addressed the human being
re-“presented” as a collection of measurable and rapidly transportable artefacts
(i.e., “non material” computational files such as images, videos, text blurbs). But the
idea of deep connection, palpable localized connection, in situ connection still
haven’t been addressed or have been ignored.
Almost all of the world’s civilizations have discovered or invented, after 1000s of
years of “traditional” social media innovation, the recognition of concepts such as
site based power places, sacred geography, and places of geomantic power, places
of direct communion between Man and Natural forces.
Many 1000s of years of observation, reflection and creativity, reflections of solar
and lunar cycles, the motions of the planet earth around stars and its relative
position with respect to planets, gave rise to a rich space and experience of rituals,
fairs and festivals. The collective participation of physically present individuals in
groups, large and small, situated in “places” have never been addressed in modern
media, except through the homogenized, limited formats of “glass” computational
screens.
Indeed, social media forces people to disembody the world around themselves,
become dislocated in order to access the benefits of access to large amounts of
information.
However the benefits of Information access come at the risk of health and
psychological issues. Indeed one could summarize the energy invested in virtual
connection could be proportional to match the pain of societal alienation and ill
health that result from people’s primary communications with devices.
Contentment and calm have been replaced by anxiety and constant displacement!
With the rising power of evolving information technology, rapid changes that are
taking place (with changes in 30 years being equivalent to changes in 300 years and
more), smart cities exist with data-smart but emotionally un-smart, unhappy
citizens.
4 1 Being Human in the Digital Age: e-Democracy

With rise of robotics and intelligent thinking machines, nations which have
struggled with unemployment and poverty and who have just barely managed to
remove poverty are suddenly confronted with the challenges of new unemployment
resulting from automation, and confronted with new ways to reinvent themselves in
an era of unpredictability and never ending change. These nations feel short-
changed by the IT revolution because they have traded their ecological resources
and traditional social capital in terms of harmonious communities and eco systems,
in the promise of a “smartness” revolution that has never delivered.
The question for us, as humanity, is to ask, when can we catch our breath and
“just be?”
Add to this, governments in debt, honing the data powers of track individual’s
activities, widening tax nets by making banks into “sensors and retinas”, and the
resulting invasion of privacy, the resulting questions of private property in the era of
ubiquitous computing are open for reflection, discussion and new action. Funda-
mental questions on individual freedoms, that have been painstakingly achieved
through spilling of blood and revolution seems to have gone in vain, especially
considering that “freedom” has been snatched away under the guise of surveillance.
Amidst this new whirlwind of the IT revolution, new media, news, opinions
presented on homogenized devices that “occupy” peoples’ eyes, hands, homes
and offices, the minds of people can be easily manipulated. Not to mention the
links between new media communication and the clutter of advertisements that
occupy people’s subconscious minds.
Indeed we will need to rediscover Descartes’ notion of “I [need to re-] think,
[in order to be who] I am”.
My paper asks the question, despite the positive advances of technology that have
undoubtedly contributed to many dimensions in our lives, but, given the tremendous
negative impact of people’s health and well-being, and rooted-ness, are we at a
tipping point where we would need to rethink innovation afresh?
Just as, in the past, across many cultures, people returning back into the solitude
in the forests, connecting with local communities and sacred geography was an
important ritual for renewal, can we, as an information society, re-learn perennial
and fundamental values once again?” [Ranjit Makkuni, March 2018]
Chapter 2
Governance and e-Governance

Governance—In the sense of “set of principles, ways of procedures for the man-
agement and control of companies, institutions, or complex phenomena generating
significant social consequences”, it is more than evident that this term is one of the
keywords in e-Citizenry. Governance and e-Governance are in some way to be
embedded in Internet applications so we will find not only e-Governance in e-Gov-
ernment, e-Learning, e-Health but even Internet Governance.

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 5

A. M. Ronchi, e-Democracy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01596-1_2
6 2 Governance and e-Governance

2.1 Governance and e-Governance

At the time of ancient Greeks, who invented democracy «δημoκρατία

(dēmokratía)», the idea to govern the res publica thanks to the direct contribution
of citizens was the ultimate goal. The term democracy itself means people «δ~ ημoς
(démos)» and power «κράτoς (cràtos)» so the concept is to leave or give power to
the citizens, rule of the people. This was the ruling system in the Greek city-states,
like Athens, in the fifth century BC.
Since that time the idea to let the people govern the state represented one of the
potential ruling systems in contrast with monarchy,1 aristocracy,2 oligarchy3 and
many other ruling structures. Through the centuries, many centuries from the ancient
Greeks, people studied many different forms of implementation of democracy;
among them two major forms arose; direct democracy and representative democ-
racy. Of course, the ideal concept of a power structure ruled by citizens, direct
democracy, is hard to implement even in the Internet era; the usual way to solve the
problem is to elect a representative structure in order to mediate between citizens and
the political power. This structure is usually termed representative democracy. The
concept of representative democracy arose largely from ideas and institutions that
developed during the European Middle Ages, the Age of Enlightenment, and later on
was further developed during the French and American Revolutions.
More countries than ever before are working to build democratic governance.
Their challenge is to develop institutions and processes that are more responsive to
the needs of ordinary citizens, including the poor, and that promote development.
Nowadays a large number of states are ruled by representative democracy,
structured in different manners, always structured on different layers of representa-
tive bodies directly or indirectly elected by citizens: town government, regional or
county governments, etc. Sometimes this “interface” between citizens’ wills and
expectations and everyday life generates a bad feeling and sentiment about bureau-
cracy and government. Here comes the need to clarify what we mean with the term
governance and government.

Governance: the way that a city, company, etc., is controlled by the people who
run it (Merriam Webster Dictionary)
1) Lawful control over the affairs of a political unit (as a nation) <after World War
II, the four Allied nations shared the governance of the territory of postwar
Germany under the Allied Control Council>
2) The act or activity of looking after and making decisions about something <while
a financial advisor can be helpful, the governance of your family finances
ultimately rests with you>

1
μoνάρχης, monárkhēs—from monos, μóνoς, “one/singular,” and ἄρχω, árkhō, “to rule”.
2
ἀριστoκρατία “rule of an elite”.
3
ὀλιγαρχία (oligarkhía); from ὀλίγoς (olígos), meaning “a few”.
2.2 Governance and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 7

Definition of governance—noun [mass noun]

1) The action or manner of governing a state, organization, etc.: a more responsive
system of governance will be required
2) Archaic rule; control: what, shall King Henry be a pupil still, under the surly
Gloucester’s governance?
(Oxford Dictionaries)
In the following part of this chapter we term governance the decision-making
process that defines the guidelines of the government, we term government the
implementation of the decisions and guidelines and the infrastructure of interaction
with citizens.
We will explore the “e” side of governance; the use of ICT to support democratic
decision-making in order to enhance democratic institutions and democratic pro-
cesses is referred to as e-Democracy. e-Democracy encompasses several online
activities, such as e-Governance, e-Government, e-Parliament, e-Initiative, e-Vot-
ing, e-Campaigning, e-Participation and many more.
It is important to stress that e-Democracy “is not meant to replace tradi-
tional forms of representative democracy but rather to complement them
by adding elements of citizen empowerment and direct democracy4”. From this
point of view, e-Democracy is not meant to be something new; it simply means
that the use of ICT is expected to make democratic institutions more efficient
and productive.

2.2 Governance and United Nations Development

Programme (UNDP)

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)5 helps countries strengthen

electoral and legislative systems, improve access to justice and public administration
and develop a greater capacity to deliver basic services to those most in need.
Through its programmes, UNDP brings people together within nations and around
the world, fostering partnerships and sharing ways to promote participation, account-
ability and effectiveness at all levels. The organization aims to build effective and
capable states that are accountable and transparent, inclusive and responsive from
elections to participation of women, youth and the poor.

4
Elisa Bruno (2015), Co-Deciding with Citizens: Towards Digital Democracy at EU Level, ECAS.
Available at: http://www.ecas.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ECAS-Publication-online-version.
pdf, last accessed February 2019.
5
http://www.undp.org, last accessed February 2019.
8 2 Governance and e-Governance

Governance in the European Community

The study of the European Union (EU) has moved on from the (some-what
artificial) International Relations (IR) vs. comparative politics/comparative
public policy controversy of the early 1990s.6 But a general comparative
politics/public policy approach has not emerged as the new dominant
programme. A popular view is that comparative politics and IR need to be
combined to understand the ‘new governance’ of the EU.7 This label is not
directly attributable to any single scholar. Rather, it encompasses a variety of
perspectives that share some common conceptions, assumptions, and research
strategies.
From this new governance perspective, for example, the EU may be more
than an international organization, but it will not replicate a state. Governance
within this new polity is sui generis: through a unique set of multi-level,
non-hierarchical and regulatory institutions, and a hybrid mix of state and
non-state actors. Comparative politics/public policy is inadequate because it is
rooted in the study of domestic states. Instead of replacing IR with an “old
agenda”, therefore, the task is to develop a new theoretical and normative
programme. Echoing Dahl’s (1961) famous ‘epitaph to the successful protest’
by the behavioural school, this ‘new governance’ perspective welcomes the
comparativist critique of IR, but argues that it is time to sail on to new waters.

2.3 e-Governance8

What is e-Governance good for? The notion of e-Governance has its roots in
attempts in many countries to ‘modernise’ government in response to perceived
citizen dissatisfaction or disengagement. The manner of this disengagement varies,
but has been reflected in many countries in falling voter numbers, and particularly in
the ‘Anglo Saxon’ democracies, in a perception that public services are failing and of
poor quality. This can result in ‘opting out’ on the part of the more affluent in favour
of privately provided services including education and healthcare, with a consequent
fracturing of the social consensus on the provision of these services.
Although information and communications technologies (ICTs) have been used
in government for the last 50 years and technologies such as the Internet or the
world-wide web were both the result of work in publicly-funded or government
institutions, the notion of e-Governance is more recent. In the UK, the idea was born

6
E.g. Hix [2, 3], Rhodes and Mazey [4], and Risse-Kappen [5].
7
Hurrell and Menon [6] and Jachtenfuchs [7].
8
https://rm.coe.int/0900001680787a2d, last accessed February 2019.
2.3 e-Governance 9

out of work on ‘Modernising Government,’ which was associated with the New
Labour Administration,9 elected in 1997.
This notion of ‘modernisation’ was intimately connected with what was some-
times called ‘joined up’ or ‘holistic’ government. The benefits of this were felt to be
twofold: it was an attempt to reconstruct government in the interests of the citizens,
rather than the producers, moving away from ‘departments’ and ‘silos’ towards
‘personalization’ and ‘life events’. Secondly, there is widespread agreement that
many social problems, from crime to poor educational performance, are the result of
multiple interactions and the only way to tackle these issues more effectively is to
understand these interactions better. And this means ‘joining up’ the information that
we have—so that, for example, if we know that much petty crime is committed by
children who play truant from school, we can identify truants at an earlier stage
(or even the behaviour that leads to truancy) and hopefully prevent some crime.
This means having an integrated view of the information that is held on citizens, a
sort of social “knowledge management”, that was impossible before the advent of
widespread ICTs. This means basically a fully integrated information system
collecting data from different sources, including real-time information from sensors
and Internet of Things.
Another driver for e-Governance is the belief that the widespread adoption of
digital technologies is vital to national competitiveness in the future. Although the
evidence on this is surprisingly weak, all governments are concerned that if they
cannot get citizens to use new technology effectively and to develop the skills
increasingly required by employers then living standards will be threatened.
As stated by the Council of Europe there are four primary reasons why
e-Governance is important and has captured the imagination of many in government:
1) It encourages the take-up of digital technologies that are crucial to economic
competitiveness;
2) It allows government to redefine its role and become more citizen-focused;
3) It enables us to ‘join-up’ information and hence govern more effectively, and;
4) It can reduce the cost while not compromising the quality of public services.
All of these drivers are important, but a valid criticism of e-Governance so far is
that it remains supply-side driven, understanding of public demand in this area is
under-developed and there is a real danger that many countries will meet their
‘targets’ for online public services, yet this will be greeted with mass indifference.
If e-Governance is to succeed in transforming the citizens’ experience of both public
services and of decision-making it needs to pay greater attention to demand rather
than supply-side issues.

9
Gordon Brown, Prime Minister 2007–2010, New Labour because Britain deserves better—Britain
will be better with new Labour—“New Labour is a party of ideas and ideals but not of
outdated ideology. What counts is what works. The objectives are radical. The means will be modern.”
http://www.labour-party.org.uk/manifestos/1997/1997-labour-manifesto.shtml, last accessed February
2019.
10 2 Governance and e-Governance

ICTs can help public administrations and civil society engage more closely and
establish open dialogue, promote better interaction and strengthen networks and
networking to promote the achievement of internationally agreed development goals
and the enhancement of democratic governance. In a nutshell the e-Governance
approach has three main objectives:
• Increase the efficiency, transparency and accountability of public institutions;
• Enhance information access and provision of basic services to the overall popu-
lation, in particular the poor and most vulnerable;
• Promote citizen and stakeholder participation in decision- and policy-making
processes, particularly among the poor and marginalized, women and youth.

2.3.1 Core Components of e-Governance

e-Administration Public investment in ICTs to foster transparency and account-

ability within both national and local public institutions, to improve their functioning
and effectiveness;
e-Service Delivery Public investment in ICTs to foster the delivery of public
services to all;
e-Participation Public investment in ICTs to foster interaction between public
institutions and citizens to promote better policies, services and public operations.
e-Participation has three levels: information provision to citizens, consultation with
citizens, and dialogue between government and citizens. This component is usually
linked to voice and accountability, civil society strengthening, and parliamentary
development.
In the next section, we will look at the different models of e-Governance that
seem to be developing world-wide and at how they reflect citizens’ needs and
aspirations in different contexts.
Evidence for the impact of these changes is currently weak, partly because it is
fairly early in the process and partly because many governmental systems are more
adept at measuring internal processes than external effects. This aspect was already
pointed out in the paragraph devoted to the Council of Europe approach and focuses
mainly on the supply side.
We will look briefly at the notion of ‘e-Governance’, which we see as part of
broader efforts to modernise government. We use the terms ‘e-Governance,’ rather
than ‘e-Government’, to capture the notion of changed institutional relationships and
the involvement of partners, from both civil society and business, in e-Governance.
e-Government refers more narrowly to processes of national, local or regional
government. In the following paragraphs we will identify three ‘models’ of
e-Governance that are currently operating; nevertheless we accept that national
e-Governance efforts may combine elements from one or more models. We will
then look at examples of public service delivery and at how e-Governance is
2.3 e-Governance 11

changing, or has the potential to change, the democratic landscape. In conclusion, we

will look at the weaknesses in the current approach and at how it may change in
future.

2.3.2 Models of e-Governance

Just as ‘governance’ varies from place to place, so does e-Governance and we are
mistaken if we view the technology as ‘neutral’ or take too deterministic a view of
e-Governance.
e-Governance will be different in Australia, Italy or France or Malaysia, just as it
will be different at the local level—in Inner London or rural Scotland for example.
The technological processes may be similar, but the norms, assumptions, and
political drivers will vary hugely.
We can say that there are at least three main models of e-Governance currently
operating:
The ‘new economy’ model—this stresses the similarities between e-Government
and e-Business, is focused on delivering high-quality public services and on moving
to a more ‘self-service’ citizenship, which over time will shrink the size of the state.
e-Governance is seen as a response to the demands both of businesses and of citizens
used to dealing with e-Businesses and hence stresses convenience, 24-h access and
so on. It is also seen as a regional and local tool for economic development; the
development of e-Governance will help attract high-technology businesses to an area
perceived as technology-friendly. In this model, the development of infrastructure
tends to follow the market, with a consequent ‘digital divide’.
The US is the best example of this, but other countries such as New Zealand or the
UK have adopted elements of this model.
The ‘e-Community model’—more favoured in continental European societies,
particularly those such as the Netherlands or Scandinavias which have a strong
tradition of civil society and freedom of information, high levels of education and
technology penetration and a relatively even distribution of wealth. Civic networks
and public access have always been of importance in this model and where digital
divides exist, there is often local-level public intervention to mitigate the worst
aspects. This model stresses potential social innovations resulting from widespread
access and the role of citizens as co-producers of services.
The planned economy model—used in countries such as Singapore or Malaysia,
which traditionally use interventionist public sector tools to drive and shape private
sector activity and investment. As in the ‘new economy’ model, economic develop-
ment is very much a driver, but the development of infrastructure and the skills to use
it seen as a government responsibility, with heavy subsidies for the construction of
(particularly broadband) networks.
As commented earlier, national models do not fall neatly into these categories and
the UK for example contains elements of all three. The early rhetoric was very much
about the ‘new economy’ model, but the dotcom bust and subsequent scepticism
12 2 Governance and e-Governance

about new technology hype has led to a redressing of this rhetoric. A good example
of this can be seen in the 2005 targets, initiated by Prime Minister Tony Blair. These
have been widely criticised for measuring availability, rather than take-up or bene-
fits, and later on, attempts have been made to switch the focus of these targets to
those services which will have a measurable social or economic benefit. In addition,
while broadband deployment had been left largely to the market, concerns about
slow take-up and uneven economic development have prompted moves for public
intervention in broadband deployment.
Although the models vary widely, all three can perhaps be criticised for some-
times being too ‘top down’ or supplier-driven. The first model responds to the needs
of businesses, but not those of less affluent citizens. The third is paternalistic “you
will have access to technology, because it’s good for you!” And even the second,
which develops from a stronger ‘community’ model, privileges some types of
communities (those that want to get involved) over others (those that want to be
left alone).
Impact analysis is vital if e-Governance is to make real differences to people and
succeed in being anything more than just a collection of government websites and
portals. Despite the plethora of e-Governance systems, at both local and national
levels across the world, many of the results available so far point to improved
administrative processes rather than to the impacts on the citizens or places. In
other words, it is easy to find examples of how social services in a particular area
have moved to using a handful of forms, rather than 200, to process a claim but much
harder to find out the impact of this on the clients of the social services department.
In the next section, we will turn to examples of e-Governance both in public
service delivery and in citizens’ engagement and will hope to determine what such
impacts might be and how beneficial impacts can be created.

2.3.3 Governance: The Story

As noted earlier, the promise of e-Governance is really that of “joined up” gover-
nance and the major payoffs will come when technology makes possible the linking
of disparate sets of information; the sharing of information and policy processes with
citizens; and the increased activity of citizens as producers, not just passive con-
sumers of services. So far, most of the activity we have seen, in the UK and to
varying degrees elsewhere, has been about the automation of certain services and the
greater provision of information via websites such as open data and so on. These
activities should not be derided. Very few citizens may want to read the minutes of
council meetings online, but the provision of more government information is often
vital to NGOs, advocacy organisations and so on. And the improvement in internal
government processes—stopping civil servants in the Inland Revenue from having
to type in every tax return, for example, should free up resources for more value-
added activities.
2.3 e-Governance 13

e-Government in Bahrain
Shura Council’s Website; the name of this application in Arabic is
‫ﺍﻟﺸ ﻮ ﺭﻯ ﻟﻤﺠﻠ ﺲ ﺍ ﻹﻟﻜ ﺘﺮ ﻭﻧﻲ ﺍﻟﻤ ﻮﻗﻊ‬.
Shura Council’s Website (1997) is a window for the rest of the world to
understand the legislative system in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The website
gives a variety of information about the Council as well as its members; it also
posts the latest news about the Council and its current activities. It is updated
daily and provides a great electronic medium that serves the community by
introducing detailed information about how the Council works, the draft laws
that are being discussed, as well as a historic background of the Council. The
website also provides plenty of information about the members and their
biographical details, as well as several methods of contacting them.
The website enables the Shura Council to achieve better performance,
coupled with efficiency, transparency and a shift from the prevailing typical
image.
The website serves the legislative function in the sense of providing
premium quality services in terms of: efficient performance, accuracy, mini-
mization of the time required to obtain information, attaining the highest
degree of quality, integration and synergy with the various government
agencies.
The website serves as a good source of information and documentation and
can be regarded as the premium reference for the Council members, civil
society organizations and researchers.
The website successfully achieves its objectives by virtue of the abundant
supply and display of contents in an interesting manner that is easy to browse.
Browsing the contents is easy and smooth and the information is easily
accessible at the fingertips.
The website always takes into consideration the visitors’ opinions and
impressions which all contribute to giving the visitor as much as possible a
pleasurable and beneficial experience.
The website strives to attain excellence, quality control and ongoing
improvement and aspires to meet the needs and expectations of the public
and consequently earn their confidence, support and commitment for the
success of the initiatives which aim at improving the performance of the
legislative authority in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The website has a facility to publish all the reading materials in Braille
script for the benefit of the visually-challenged individuals.
The impact that the website had on the nature of the legislative business at
the Shura Council is that it opened up to the public the ability to view the
process of drafting laws to both Arabic and English native speakers, being the
first amongst other GCC parliamentary websites to do such.

(continued)
14 2 Governance and e-Governance

Key features 1—Each parliament member has a username and a password

to log in and browse information that s/he is authorized to see, such as the
following information that needs login access includes, but is not limited to:
a) The agenda for next session’s meeting;
b) Research Request form (to be filled by the member who needs the General
Secretariat to obtain researches);
c) Ability to search database for the previous studies;
d) Minutes for the most recent—not yet approved—meetings, available in
MS Word documents (or .pdf);
e) The member’s private page (or blog) and the ability to add/edit/view posts
on it;
f) Latest committee news, relevant to the committee(s) that s/he’s
involved in;
g) Committee reports, for the committee(s) s/he is a member in.
Key features 2—A database for the approved minutes of meeting, search-
able by date, content, and session number. These approved minutes are
available for the public.
Key features 3—Each member has a page (blog), or a number of pages, that
include his CV, his contacts, and any comments, participations, or articles he
or she wishes to share with the public. A member is able to edit his page, by
logging in. Some information is imported from other pages on the portal, so
integration is a key component.
Key features 4—The Council News page, which is updated daily by the
specified department, and ultimately approved by the IT department; it is also
automatically created in an RSS style sheet to provide subscribers with up-to-
date news about the Council;
Key features 5—Comments form which could be filled out by the public
and sent to the member. Other static information that is available at almost any
parliament website, like the constitution of Bahrain, election law, and the
parliament regulations;
Key features 6—A Secure Blogging section, that can be controlled and
monitored by the IT staff which runs on the website, to involve the public’s
interaction with the members through their own pages;
Key features 7—An advanced search capability (both in Arabic and
English), that provides the users with several options for searching the website
(search in News, Minutes of Meeting, Suggested Laws, etc.).
The Shura Council actively seeks to make its electronic site easily acces-
sible and user friendly to all groups of society. Site compatibility with the
browsers: The Shura Council website is 100% compatible with the Explorer
browser, version 6.0 and above. However, compatibility with Firefox and
Opera browsers is minimal you may encounter certain difficulties in terms of

(continued)
2.3 e-Governance 15

the form and practical functions. We recommend that the browser used be
updated to the most recent version as it provides greater level of efficiency and
protection. PDF files: The PDF technology has been developed by Adobe
company for publication of electronically printed documents in a way that
would maintain the original form of the document. It is a widely spread and
ideal technology for publication of the different types of documents on the
Internet, such as brochures, reports, publications and forms. To display the
PDF files on the Shura Council electronic website which are required for
correct filing of reports, you can download Acrobat Reader, which is free of
charge, from Adobe website. Java codes: The Java codes may be activated in
your web browser in order to enable you to better use the site.
The main aim is to create a parliamentary electronic institution, which
depends on the new modern technologies, to support the legislative function-
ing of members of the Shura Council, facilitate their work, and intercommu-
nicate between the Shura Council, official institutions and regional and
international organizations to activate democratic practices.

Objectives:
• Offer technical support for the hon. Members of the Shura Council to
benefit from new technology.
• Prepare the Shura Council website by making it a bank of parliamentary
information, which provides to Shura members and parliamentary
researchers the information about the legislative body at an appropriate
time and place, with the required accuracy.
• Facilitate and support legislative performance by providing integrated
e-Archive for all legislative works of the Council.
• Provide necessary information to members to perform their national duties.
• Facilitate ways of communication between members and citizens through
e-mails and blogs, and raise the level of public participation.
• Link legislative and oversight performance to the opinion of the public.
• Break monopoly and secrecy and promote transparency, through offering
live broadcast of meetings and inclusion of the minutes on the Council’s
website, allowing access to all citizens.
• Act to increase awareness among citizens regarding legislative and regula-
tory functioning of the Shura Council.
• Prepare the website of the Shura Council to make it a gateway and an
interface to the work of legislative authority in the Kingdom of Bahrain,
and to the regional and international forums, and a reflection of the extent of
development reached by the democratic and parliamentary life.
• Link the site of the Shura Council to the parliament sites of the Arab and
Islamic countries, and build bridges of electronic communication
between them.

(continued)
16 2 Governance and e-Governance

The usage of modern and attractive technologies to display latest news and
events in a clear and attractive manner to attract more visitors and those
interested in parliamentary affairs in the Kingdom of Bahrain and other
friendly countries.
On the technical side it has been designed as an optimum, yet low-risk,
solution that will leverage the existing investments in the Microsoft platform.
The solution is based on the strategic integration of MS SharePoint Server
2007 for Internet [1], MS .NET, MS SQL Server 2005 and the MS Office
system. Since the Shura Council has standardized on MS Windows platform
and Office for their desktop environment, MS Exchange for e-mail and MS
SQL Server for the data storage, we are confident that our choice of technology
is the best suited for the Council long-term strategy.
Additionally, our solution is based on a standard open source system that
can be integrated and interoperated with any solution in the future. Content
Management System (CMS): MOSS [1] is used for developing the Council
website. Publishing Laws/Feedback: Provide dynamic tools, for the public’s
participation in law forms and legislative issues; allowing the end user to view
the law and add his/her comment to it, whether anonymously or with the user
having to register for a password. All previous participations and comments
from users will be archived into the database for retrieval at any time.
Pages Security: Provide a logging in capability which will allow users to
sign in with a username and a password to view classified pages as well as their
dynamic content. MOSS [1] built-in capabilities are used to provide the
logging feature. Integration with Library Solution: Provide logging in to the
Library Department Database. Users will be able to log in, view available
researches and request for a study to be made. Events Calendar: Provide
dynamic calendars that show current events going on at the Council, which
communicates directly with the CMS. RSS: Enable RSS functionality in the
websites, within the major areas of interest, to enable users to subscribe to
news feeds and receive them on their desktops. MOSS [1] built-in capabilities
are used to provide the logging feature. Website Hosting: Is hosted on servers
in US.
http://www.shura.bh, last accessed February 2019.
In 2010 the government of the Kingdom of Bahrain released the mobile
portal adding to the already existent e-Government portal10 an m-Government
application. The Mobile Portal—Kingdom of Bahrain is used as a new channel
in the delivery of e-Government services to the citizens and residents of

(continued)

10
http://www.bahrain.bh/wps/portal/!ut/p/a1/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfGjzOI9_
A3MDI0sjLz8g90sDBwtwnzdnSzdjA3cjYEKIoEKDHAARwNC-oNT8_
TD9aPAygyMfJ0NPU2MvAx8fYF6LZyCfELcnA0MLIwIKACaA1WA2x0FuREVnpmOigCTX
evX/dl5/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/, last accessed February 2019.
2.3 e-Governance 17

Bahrain. The Portal includes over 45 e-Government services provided either

over WAP or by SMS. All services are made available in Arabic, as well as in
English.
The services can be classified into three categories: (1) Information Ser-
vices, such as e-Weather, doctor search, embassy contacts; (2) Interactive
Services, such as mobile blogs or mobile polls; and (3) Transaction Services,
such as paying electricity and water bills or traffic contraventions.
The mobile portal is integrated with ministries and departments, commu-
nicating data and information to users. Given that mobile penetration in
Bahrain is amongst the highest in the world, the Mobile Portal—Kingdom
of Bahrain is expected to become the preferred channel by which clients and
citizens access government services.
One of the first e-Government on-line services provided by the Bahrainian
government was the Bahrain e-Visas service (2005). The primary function of
Bahrain eVisas is to provide a service for online application for, payment for
and processing of visas for travel to Bahrain. The application uses connectivity
to the GDNPR systems and databases to automate the processes as much as
possible within policy and security constraints. Many groups of people benefit
from the service: individuals who intend to visit the country, residents of
Bahrain who are looking for multiple re-entry visas, and companies in Bahrain
who want to interview an applicant from abroad. The system can also save
biodata electronically, thereby reducing the data capture process at check-in.
Different Arab countries activated their Shura Council websites and mobile
apps such as: Saudi Arabia (2011), Oman (2013), . . .

But the ‘big wins’ are perhaps a little further down the line and will depend on a
great degree of integration of government and other public-sector systems. However,
some hopeful signs of change can be seen:
Decentralisation of Government Sophisticated ICT systems are leading to a
greater decentralisation of government. This can be particularly observed at the
local level, where neighbourhood offices, one-stop shops11 and call centres are
replacing the walk to the town hall or housing benefit office. These newer forms
of neighbourhood offices, or “one stop shops”, seek to provide access to a complete
range of services—rather as the bank branch does to the banking network. This relies
on having accurate information on citizens available across the system, but the
opportunity it opens up is greater responsiveness to local needs—often at the

11
The idea of the “one stop shop” was one of the first innovations due to e-Government; it was in
some way a reverse of the paradigm, no more to expose the internal structure of government as the
direct interface with citizens but the interface with citizens shaped to better serve citizens. One
single entry point (one stop shop) will provide the complete feedback/service to citizens.
18 2 Governance and e-Governance

neighbourhood level. The closer to the ‘front end’ that decisions about service
provision can be made, the closer they can reflect local needs.
Liverpool City Council,12 in its joint venture with British Telecom, activated a
24/7 call centre known as “Liverpool Direct”, aiming to move around 80% of its
dealing with citizens from the ‘back office’ departmental system of the town hall to
these ‘front office’ call centres and one stop shops. The relatively small number of
staff in each one stop shop or call centre and the closeness they have to the
population they serve means that they are more likely to see themselves as advocates
of citizen needs, rather than as producers of services.
Users as Co-producers In order for citizens to become really active users and
indeed co-producers of public services, citizens have to be increasingly involved in
and aware of the information on which decisions are made. One way to develop this
process is being pioneered in The Hague13 where citizens can select different public
service ‘packages’ in return for revealing different levels of personal information.
This is an acknowledgement that joined up government requires a large degree of
information about individual citizens’ needs and preferences and that citizens can be
empowered to decide what level of trade-off they want to make.
Of course, there are dangers that over-personalised public services risk
atomisation and reward those citizens that are easy to serve, make little demand on
services and can use the Internet proficiently. In the public sector the data collected
by personalisation is primarily a social resource and should be used for collective
benefit. Thus, if we collect evidence that people who do X are more likely to do Y,
we should be able to reduce the costs of production processes, by targeting resources
more effectively—not just at individuals, but at society at large, by developing
education programmes to demonstrate the benefits of doing X. A positive approach
demonstrating the benefits of a particular behaviour instead of putting blocks, limits
and fines is always better and provides the rationale and citizens’ cooperation.
These trade-offs are likely to become even more apparent as smart card technol-
ogy increases as a delivery vehicle. The utility of such cards is related to the amount
of personal information they hold. Back in 1988, a group of Thomson Microelec-
tronics engineers founded, after preliminary studies on smart cards carried out at
Thomson, the Gemplus14 company with the aim to further develop “smart cards”, a
thin microchip embedded in a kind of credit card. Originally marketed as gadgets to
open entry doors in clubs and lounges, smart cards become a key technology in 1990
thanks to the adoption of SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards by GSM mobile
phones; the contract for the first million cards was signed with France Telecom.
From that time onward, smart cards flooded the market, embedded in credit cards,
identity cards, voting IDs, badges, etc.

12
http://liverpool.gov.uk, last accessed on February 2019.
13
https://www.denhaag.nl/en.htm, last accessed February 2019.
14
Gemplus is now merged with Axalto in Gemalto https://www.gemalto.com/gemplus/, last acc-
essed February 2019.
2.3 e-Governance 19

Partnerships of Place, Not Organisation Among the new organisational vehicles

that are resulting from e-Government are public/private partnerships such as the
Liverpool Direct and others, which bring together private sector systems and tech-
nology expertise with public sector services and values. Some of these benefits are
financial—the ‘downtime’ for staff at Liverpool Direct call centre is used to chase
bad debts and arrears, resulting in significant savings, while the cost savings on
processing disabled parking badges has allowed the price of them to be reduced from
£7 to zero. Others are reputational—people now talk about “calling Liverpool
Direct”; when they want an issue addressed. Although the ‘branding’ implications
of that may worry some local governments, it has been instrumental in turning
around the perception of an authority that was failing and is now seen as more
dynamic.
Further benefits are flowing from partnerships with other public sectors or civil
organisations. One aspect of being able to offer a better service is access to a
significantly wider range of information, much of which sits outside the Local
Authority.
The London Borough of Wandsworth’s15 site is based on place, the area of
Wandsworth, rather than a council and contains information on weather, tourist
activities, crime rates and so on. It has pioneered online planning applications and, in
liaison with the Metropolitan Police, it will notify residents of criminal activity in
their area, via an email bulletin.
A more sophisticated version of such sites are ‘observatories’, including the one
developed for Kingston upon Hull,16 which brought together different data sets from
different partners and then mapped the information in an easy to understand graph-
ical form. The ‘neighbourhoods’ on which the information was mapped were also
re-constructed to reflect where people feel they live and identify with, rather than
administrative boundaries. Again, this opens up the possibilities of new forms of
localism, based on richer data sets and knowledge about the places that people
inhabit—not the organisational categories they are assigned to.
Improved Services Services produced at a reduced cost, or made more widely
available, are becoming a feature of these e-Governance experiments, but genuinely
transformed services are rarer. This is partly a result of uneven access to technology
and again re-enforces the point that the bigger payoffs will only come when access is
at, or close to, being universal. This is because running parallel systems remains
expensive and because a (virtually) universal service, like income tax, cannot be
transformed in part; the whole system has to be re-engineered.
Given this, it is to Scandinavia and other countries where technology adoption is
far higher that we usually look for transformed systems. Since the end of the 1990s
nearly 3 million Finns no longer have to file a tax return and traditional tax forms
have been replaced by what is known as “tax proposals”. Instead of asking taxpayers

15
http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk, last accessed on February 2019.
16
http://www.hull.gov.uk, last accessed on February 2019.
20 2 Governance and e-Governance

to report their income and property, the tax authority collects the necessary data from
employers, insurance companies, property registers and so on. The tax authority then
compiles this information and sends a pre-filled tax form to the citizen who can
supply more information if needed, or simply accept the tax proposal. The same
approach has been activated in other countries; Italy adopted “tax proposals” in
2016. In the vast majority of cases, the citizen need take no action at all. All he or she
then has to do is wait for the refund or pay what is owed. Since this system was
introduced around 10 years ago, only 20–25% of citizens now have to submit a tax
return. More importantly, such a system requires a relatively simple taxation system;
exceptions are costly to deal with, and since its introduction the system has indeed
been simplified.

Latvia: Whole Picture

The original title of this application in Latvian is “Pilna bilde”; it was released
by Overly and won the World Summit Award in 2016.
“At the end of 2014 Latvian parliamentary election took place and we
teamed up with local magazine “Ir” to solve two problems: 1) Ir magazine
will never have as huge advertising space as political parties do during the
election. But we wanted as many voters as possible to know the information
politicians are never going to put on their posters—their true deeds, unfulfilled
promises, unadvertised connections. 2) Lately in European countries and in
Latvia elections have experienced record low activity from citizens; especially
uninterested in politics are young people. By delivering information in a very
fun, interactive and interesting way, we wanted to raise interest in young
people and other citizens in politics, parties and other topics. How we did it?
We created an augmented reality app, that could recognize any election
advertisement of any political party in Latvia and promoted that everyone
can scan them to see the Whole Picture.
When it was scanned using Overly app, it came alive. At first through
augmented reality people saw a fun animated cartoon on politicians, then it
was followed by facts every voter needs to know about that party. And that’s
not it! Further it led to longer articles on politics or the particular party
written by an “Ir” magazine journalist and even statistical data based on
different election related surveys—perfect reading material on the way to
work once you had scanned adverts at the tram stop! we increased the citizen
engagement in politics in a completely new, innovative and unique way.
During the campaign no posters were simple adverts—they were all sources
of information that increased the transparency of elections and helped citizens
make the right decision in the voting stand that is based on facts, not still
images and advertising!”
https://overlyapp.com/full-picture, last accessed on February 2019.
2.3 e-Governance 21

Citizen Involvement The democratic potential of ICTs has long been recognized
and much of the early enthusiasm for, and experimentation with, online communities
reflected this. Most clearly, technologies like the Internet make more information
available to more people. Governments can still bypass this and secrecy has hardly
gone away, but the ability of citizens and advocacy groups to discover more about
decisions that affect them and even the basis of these decisions is undoubtedly
enhanced. This greater ‘transparency’ is often over-emphasised, but the ability of
citizens and advocacy groups to share a common knowledge base with decision
makers has huge potential.
Indeed, according to research from the US, while over 60% of those who use
government websites have used them to find out about public policy issues that
affect them, less than 20% have used them to perform transactions such as paying
taxes or applying for licences. This suggests that the re-design of public interactions
with government may be a bigger incentive to use e-Governance than the re-design
of public services.
So far, while e-Voting seems to be falling from favour, at least in some countries
(in recent UK local council elections, e-Voting only increased turnout by a small
percentage), participation in everything from planning to citizens juries or panels on
a wide range of issues is gaining in popularity. While there are legitimate concerns
about the effects of such ‘direct democracy,’ particularly where access to technology
is unevenly distributed among groups, the greater involvement of citizens in deci-
sions that affects them is undoubtedly to be welcomed. What we need now are more
sophisticated ICT tools, that can capture informal, ‘local knowledge’ that people
carry in their heads, as well as the rather more formal, educated discourse that tends
to dominate the content of these systems.

2.3.4 Network Neutrality

In 2002 Tim Wu, who is now a law professor at Columbia University, coined the
term “Network neutrality”; in 2003 he wrote a paper entitled “Network neutrality,
broadband discrimination”17 explaining his idea that internet service providers
(ISPs), including cable companies like Time Warner and wireless providers like
Sprint, should treat all internet traffic equally.
Quoting Tim Wu, “The questions raised in discussions of open access and
network neutrality are basic to both telecommunications and innovation policy.
The promotion of network neutrality is no different than the challenge of promoting
fair evolutionary competition in any privately owned environment, whether a tele-
phone network, operating system, or even a retail store. Government regulation in
such contexts invariably tries to help ensure that the short-term interests of the

17
Tim Wu (2003), Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination, Journal of Telecommunications
and High Technology Law, Vol. 2, p. 141.
22 2 Governance and e-Governance

owner do not prevent the best products or applications becoming available to

end-users. The same interest animates the promotion of network neutrality: preserv-
ing a Darwinian competition among every conceivable use of the Internet so that the
only the best survive.”
This approach might be termed “Darwinian”, a concrete expression of a system of
belief about innovation, one that has gained significant popularity; we can refer to it
generally as the “evolutionary model”.18 Adherents view the innovation process as a
survival-of-the-fittest competition among developers of new technologies, with no
external private or governmental actions to guide the competition, to direct the
optimal path of innovation, minimizing the excesses of innovative competition.
As it has happened a number of times, it is difficult to predict in advance the most
promising path of development; in addition any single prospect holder will suffer
from cognitive biases19 that make it unlikely to come to the right decisions, despite
even the best intentions.
Following this approach, the Internet can be seen as a platform for a competition
among application developers; it is therefore important that the platform be neutral to
ensure the competition remains meritocratic. This means that an ISP shouldn’t be
allowed to block or degrade access to certain websites or services, nor should it be
allowed to set aside a “fast lane” that allows content favoured by the ISP to load
more quickly than the rest and exercise other similar biases that will influence the
competition.
The term “Internet Neutrality” has been at the centre of the debate over internet
regulation since the time it was coined.
Different organisations are engaged in the defence of network neutrality; among
others the Dynamic Coalition on Network Neutrality20 carries out its activities under
the IGF flag (www.intgovforum.org). The concept of Dynamic Coalition and a
number of coalitions were established as a result of the first United Nations Internet
Governance Forum (IGF), held in Athens in 2006. These coalitions21 are informal,

18
John Ziman, Evolutionary Models for Technological Change, in Technological Innovation as an
Evolutionary Process 3 (John Ziman ed., 2000); and Richard Nelson, Understanding Technical
Change as an Evolutionary Process (1987).
19
E.g. predisposition to continue with current ways of doing business (avoiding internal competi-
tion, using proprietary standards, etc.).
20
Dynamic Coalition on Network Neutrality, http://www.networkneutrality.info/about.html, last
accessed February 2019.
21
List of Active Dynamic Coalitions: Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability, Dynamic
Coalition on Accountability, Dynamic Coalition on Blockchain Technologies, Dynamic Coalition
on Child Online Safety, Dynamic Coalition on Community Connectivity, Dynamic Coalition on
Core Internet Values, Dynamic Coalition on Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Media on
the Internet, Dynamic Coalition on Gender and Internet Governance, Dynamic Coalition on
Innovative Approaches to Connecting the Unconnected, Dynamic Coalition on Internet and
Climate Change, Dynamic Coalition on Internet Rights and Principles, Dynamic Coalition on
Network Neutrality, Dynamic Coalition on Platform Responsibility, Dynamic Coalition on Public
Access in Libraries, Dynamic Coalition on the Internet of Things, Youth Coalition on Internet
Governance.
2.3 e-Governance 23

issue-specific groups comprising members of various stakeholder groups. IGF

Dynamic Coalitions allow collaboration with anyone interested in contributing to
their discussions.
The basic procedure to establish a Dynamic Coalition may be summarised:
interested individuals are advised to first hold a meeting and express the need for
creating their coalition. They are required to produce a written statement which
should outline: the need for the dynamic coalition, an action plan, a mailing list, the
contact person(s), a list of representatives from at least three stakeholder groups.
Once established, coalitions must follow three basic principles of inclusiveness and
transparency for carrying out their work: open membership, open mailing lists, and
open archives. They should also follow further guidelines laid out in the Dynamic
Coalition Coordination Group Terms of Reference, which is applicable to all
Dynamic Coalitions. Coalitions will also be asked to submit a yearly report or
thematic paper to the Secretariat as an update of their activities.22
In the US the Congress, the Federal Communications Commission23 (FCC), and
the courts have all debated whether and how to protect network neutrality. On the
“Neutrality” side advocates argue that network neutrality lowers barriers to entry
online, allowing entrepreneurs to create new companies like Facebook, Dropbox,
and Uber. Critics warn that regulations could be counterproductive, discouraging
investment in internet infrastructure and limiting the flexibility of ISPs themselves to
innovate. Reasonably the network infrastructure has to be a shared facility, this is
generally the case whether it is an electrical, telephone or railway network. As a
consequence, once the standard for the basic infrastructure is defined each compet-
itor is able and encouraged to innovate on top of this.
In February 2015, the FCC approved new, stronger network neutrality rules that
regulate internet access like a public utility. Network neutrality supporters hailed the
proposal. But Republicans in Congress say it will lead to excessive regulation of the
internet. The regulations also face challenges in the courts. Multiple telecom indus-
try groups have sued to stop the new rules, arguing that they exceed the FCC’s
authority.
In 2017 FCC chair Ajit Varadaraj Pai24 disclosed his plan to repeal net neutrality
provisions. FCC aimed to reclassify broadband providers from “common carriers” to
“information services” in an unprecedented giveaway to big broadband providers
and a danger to the internet. The move would mean the FCC would have almost no
oversight authority over broadband providers like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T.
Leaving the sphere of FCC authority, net neutrality protection is demolished and
ISPs are allowed to extract tolls from every business.

22
More information available on the IGF website: http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/
dynamiccoalitions, last accessed February 2019.
23
Federal Communications Commission https://www.fcc.gov, last accessed February 2019.
24
Ajit Varadaraj Pai, attorney who serves as the Chairman of the United States Federal Commu-
nications Commission (FCC).
24 2 Governance and e-Governance

A similar problem, to operate in an almost lack of regulations environment,

characterise key internet players such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, Instagram,
and similar companies. They grew up in a pure Darwinian environment, an empty
space without regulations; this provided useful tools to compete with already
regulated environments. In some cases there was not a fair competition between
regulated and unregulated environments; this led to the disappearance of potential
competitors and a distortion of the market.

2.3.5 Final Remarks

The early life of e-Governance initiatives has already seen a shift in understanding,
from the view that increasing access to services by putting them on the web was all
that was needed, to a more sophisticated notion of a transformed public realm. ICTs
of course only enable this transformation, they do not create it and hence the social
and political norms in any areas will determine the outcome of the ‘e-Governance’
systems.
We are now starting to see change in governmental institutions: a greater empha-
sis on ‘partnership working’ with citizens, businesses and third sector organisations;
decentralisation and changes in working processes; more knowledge; intensive and
personalised services and in some cases, greater openness and transparency of
political processes. All of these trends have a long way to go and many could be
stopped in their tracks, by issues of uneven access to technology or content, which
alienates or patronises users.
We need to develop far more sophisticated systems for capturing and measuring
the impact of e-Governance, so that we can judge its success in other than just crude,
‘availability’ terms. The “human factor” is a key aspect in deploying innovating
solution and obtaining innovation, that means positively impacting society. And we
need to be able to judge the real impact on citizens, not just changes in production or
distribution of public services that will only benefit a small portion of the society,
many times the portion already benefited by cyber technologies. If this is the case
e-Governance will simply increase the gap between citizens that enjoy innovation
and the ones that cannot.
Above all, e-Governance needs to be seen as part of governance, not as an add-on;
let’s say the goal is to perfectly overlap. Decisions about technology—from use of
open source to the treatment of personal data—are more and more in the political
realm and this is to be welcomed. Only when we can drop the ‘e’ and return to
talking about governance, can e-Governance be said to have succeeded.
References 25

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Lynne Rienner, Boulder, CO
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www.ecas.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ECAS-Publication-online-version.pdf. Last accessed
February 2019
9. European Governance: A white paper (2001) European Commission
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european-e-Government-action-plan-2011-2015. Last accessed February 2019
11. Hix S (1998) The study of the European Union II: the ‘New Governance’ agenda and its rival.
Taylor & Francis
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ment-malmo.pdf. Last accessed February 2019
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price/. Last accessed February 2019
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Chapter 3
e-Participation

The nature of citizen engagement in Europe is changing. The growing distance

between citizens and their governments at the local, (sub)national and European
levels has led to a decline in voter turnout, a shrink in membership of political
parties and a loss of interest in politics in general, especially by young people. As a
reaction to this public discontent, many European countries have started exploring
the potential of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to regain citi-
zens’ trust and revitalise European democracy by developing a more responsive,
transparent, and participatory decision-making process1 [1].

1
Excerpt from—Elisa Lironi, “Potential and challenges of e-Participation in the European Union”,
European Parliament © European Union, 2016 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/supporting-ana
lyses, last accessed February 2019.

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 27

A. M. Ronchi, e-Democracy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01596-1_3
28 3 e-Participation

3.1 e-Participation

Quoting the incipit of the report–Potential and challenges of e-Participation in the

European Union2, “The nature of citizen engagement in Europe is changing. The
growing distance between citizens and their governments at the local, (sub)national
and European levels, has led to a decline in voter turnout, a shrink in membership of
political parties and a loss of interest in politics in general, especially by young
people. As a reaction to this public discontent, many European countries have started
exploring the potential of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to
regain citizens’ trust and revitalise European democracy by developing a more
responsive, transparent, and participatory decision-making process.”
One of the “ICT tools” developed to face this lack of interest in politics in general
is e-Participation, some other “tools” are e-Consultation, e-Petition, e-Legislation
and e-Deliberation.
In this context, a significant number of national and regional authorities both within
the European Union and world-wide have undertaken actions in these areas and have
already launched numerous projects and initiatives with very promising results.
ICTs can empower citizens to be more involved in the decision-making pro-
cesses, enabling not only a better and faster decision-making process, increased
transparency and accountability, but also encouraging better communication
between all parties involved.

3.2 e-Participation in Europe

Promoting participation of the citizenry is the cornerstone of socially inclusive

governance; ICT offers a great opportunity to improve participation through a
potential wide range of tools and applications usually termed e-Participation.
The goal of e-Participation initiatives should be to improve the citizens’ access to
information and public services; and promote participation in public decision-making
which impacts the well-being of society, in general, and the individual, in particular.
The European Commission supported a rich set of Information Society Technolo-
gies research projects on e-Participation3 during the 5th and 6th Framework
Programmes for Research. In June 2006, the Council of Ministers recognised “the
growing interest in e-Participation and the impact of ICT on activities in the political
sphere and welcomes its inclusion in the i2010 e-Government Action Plan”, while
inviting the Commission and the Member States to “experiment with innovative
e-Participation schemes aiming at increasing participation in democratic processes
focusing on tools and addressing citizens’ demands”. The interest in e-Participation

2
Elisa Lironi [1] “Potential and challenges of e-Participation in the European Union”, European
Parliament European Union, 2016. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/supporting-analyses, last accessed
February 2019.
3
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/e-participation-future-citizen-engagement-eu,
last accessed February 2019.
3.2 e-Participation in Europe 29

was later on renovated in the following frameworks projects, enabling, further on-field
experiences and experimentation in a wide range of sectors.
European citizens’ engagement has changed in the last decades; “off line” forms
of participation based on street demonstrations and open air political meetings have
been almost stored in historical archives. When looking for an alternative to ensure a
proper “connection” between government and citizens, ICT seems to offer a good
opportunity to ensure this link.
Quoting the report Potential and challenges of e-Participation in the European
Union: “The Internet may offer the potential to change the scope of citizens’ engage-
ment and new possibilities for participation due to the Web’s affordability and
possibility to reach out to a broader audience. This means that the Web could reduce
the costs of information and exchange, facilitate collaborative and deliberative pro-
cesses and ultimately lead to improved decision-making at all levels of government”.
Public administrations need to adapt to keep up with the rapid transformation of
our society. This is due to the increased connectivity of citizens and businesses,
which leads to new expectations as regards the quality, transparency and efficiency
of public services as well as access to public-figures and institutions. Recent demand
for citizens participation’ in EU-level decisions increases the importance and poten-
tial of e-Participation4.
e-Participation helps people engage in politics and policy-making and makes the
decision-making processes easier to understand, thanks to Information and Commu-
nication Technologies (ICTs).
An additional key aspect in Europe, but not limited to Europe, is to promote
participation of young people that represent and its future in government activity and
achieve a higher consensus in decision making.
The European Commission contracted a survey to TNS Political & Social, the
Flash Eurobarometer 3755. The primary objective of the Flash Eurobarometer
survey “European Youth: Participation in Democratic Life” was to study young
EU citizens’ participation in society, with special reference to attitudes towards
participation in elections and intentions to participate in the European elections in
2014. Only respondents aged 15–30 were considered for this survey.
The final report was issued in 2014 and included the outcomes of a number of
questions posed to young Europeans, about the reasons not to vote6 in the European
elections, 64% said they are not likely to vote in the 2014 European elections
because they believe that their vote will not change anything7. The result of the

4
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/european-egovernment-action-plan-2011-2015, last
accessed February 2019.
5
https://data.europa.eu/euodp/en/data/dataset/S1119_375, last accessed February 2019.
6
Q5A: If you are not likely to vote in the European elections in 2014, will it be because...? (1) You are
not interested in politics or elections in general (2) You are not interested in European politics and
elections (3) You believe that your vote will not change anything (4) You are against Europe, the
European Union (5) You believe that the European Parliament does not sufficiently deal with problems
that concern you (6) You believe that you are not sufficiently informed to vote 7. You never vote.
7
FLASH EUROBAROMETER 375 “European Youth: Participation in Democratic Life”, pag 35—
http://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/flash/fl_375_en.pdf, last accessed February 2019.
30 3 e-Participation

survey on “Voting at the European elections has an impact on problems that concern
me”: the countries with the lowest proportions of respondents who gave this as a
reason for voting were Germany (61%), France (59%), Estonia (58%) and Croatia
(58%). In addition, looking at the results of the question “Not interested in politics or
elections in general”, the figure ranges between 63% and 40%.
To contribute to bridging the gap between young generations and government the
European Commission issued, in the same year, the call YOUNG-5b-2014, specif-
ically addressing the engagement of the youth in the decision-making. Two projects
are considered the main outcomes of this call for proposals: EUth and STEP.

European Union: EUth (2015–2018)

EUth Tools and Tips for mobile and digital youth participation in and across
Europe. The aim of EUth is to get more young people involved in political
decision-making and increase their trust in European political institutions. The
contributions provided care of EUth in order to achieve this goal are:
• youth-friendly digital and mobile participation tools
• to set up attractive participation projects

EUth Tools and Tips for mobile and digital youth participation. Source: https://www.
euthproject.eu/

(continued)
3.2 e-Participation in Europe 31

The solution created within the EUth project is: OPIN, an all-in-one proven
digital and mobile participation toolbox, ready to be embedded in the web
presence of youth organisations or administrations.
OPIN provides participation projects with a digital home. All stages of the
project are transparent and supported by OPIN’s software: features for digital
and mobile participation easy to embed participation processes on your
website intelligent community management integration of offline events mul-
timedia information about your project. Concentrated practical tips and a
decision support tool help to plan and find the right tools for user purpose.
The platform enables young citizens to build a professional e-Participation
process without being pro. Main tools are:
• Text review (collaborative text work)
• Brainstorming (collect ideas)
• Idea challenges (collect and ideas and vote)
• Agenda setting (plan meetings)
• Spatial tool (collect ideas regarding certain areas)
• Polling (customizable multi-step polls)
Five pilot programmes have been activated to test OPIN: The City of Paris,
AEGEE—European Students’ Forum, A cross-border partnership between
Italy and Slovenia, The Region Heart of Slovenia, UNEF-Dauphine
https://www.euthproject.eu/, last accessed February 2019.

European Union: STEP (2015–2018)

STEP aims to develop and pilot test a cloud e-Participation SaaS platform
(step.green), enhanced with web/social media mining, gamification, machine
translation, and visualisation features, which aim to promote the societal and
political participation of young people in the decision-making process on
environmental issues.
The project employs innovative social media analytics and monitoring
tools, as part of effective strategies that have been developed, in order to
engage young citizens in the pilot activities and increase their motivation to
participate. Five pilots in an operational environment have been selected for
the deployment of STEP solution in four countries: Italy, Spain, Greece, and
Turkey, with the participation of one regional authority, three municipalities,
and an association of municipalities. The pilots are expected to involve testing
by 8200 young users and 85 policy makers. 65 decision making procedures
with an impact on the environment are expected to be tested.

(continued)
32 3 e-Participation

STEP a cloud e-Participation SaaS platform. Source: http://step4youth.eu

Europe’s future depends on its youth. Promoting youth participation is

fundamental in the EU policy. Especially for environmental issues, the partic-
ipation of young people in decision making is extremely important, as deci-
sions taken now on matters such as climate change, the depletion of resources,
and the loss of biodiversity will have long-term consequences that will affect
the future generations. Young people will have to live longer with the conse-
quences of current decisions, and have special concerns and responsibilities in
relation to the environment. The concept of public participation is also a
fundamental principle in environmental law, while the Aarhus Convention
(signed by the European Community and its Member States in 1998) gives the
public the right to obtain information on environmental issues and participate
in decision-making.
However, according to recent findings of the Eurobarometer, half of the
young people tend to distrust the European Union. Traditional channels of
representative democracy, such as voting at elections and joining political
parties, only partially stimulate young people’s interest in active participation.

(continued)
3.2 e-Participation in Europe 33

In this light, STEP aims to motivate young people to participate in decision

making in environmental issues. The main component of STEP is an
e-Participation platform which will facilitate the interaction between policy
makers and young people, combining trend spotting and foresight with idea
creation and innovation management, and will enable policy makers to analyse
and discover new insights, based on well-proven analytical methods.

Key Features
Social media/web mining component that will provide young users with
enriched information from emerging topics;
Machine translation component that will enable young users to view all the
available information in their own language;
Text-to-Speech technology that will enable text to be read to users;
Visualisation features that will present the platform content in a visually
stimulating way;
Social media monitoring tool that will enable public authorities to effectively
plan engagement strategies for youth;
Gamification features to increase youth motivation.
The main objectives of STEP are:
• To enable public authorities to quickly open their decision-making pro-
cedures to young people;
• To enable young citizens to participate in decision-making on issues with
environmental impact by:
– providing them with personalised information on decisions under
consultation;
– giving them the opportunity to express their opinion;
– informing them on what other people are saying on the specific issues of
interest, filtering information from noisy content in social media and
web streams, and providing it translated in their own language;
– giving them the opportunity to bring issues to the attention of policy
makers.
• To develop engagement and motivation strategies for increasing youth
participation in environmental decision making
• To pilot test the services in an operational environment in terms of techni-
cal, organisational and legal feasibility, with the participation of end users
(young citizens and policy makers)
• To assess the usability, effectiveness and impact of the project in embed-
ding open engagement in public sector processes, and to identify the key
barriers for wide-scale deployment
http://step4youth.eu, last accessed February 2019.
34 3 e-Participation

Egypt: The BIOMAP Project (Monitoring and Assessing of Biodiversity

of Egypt—2009)
Egypt has been endowed with a unique variety of ecosystems and a
corresponding variety of wildlife that ranges from Eurasian species to purely
sub-Saharan species. Because of its generally dry, hot climate and arid terrain
much of the fauna and flora is desert adapted and often hard to find, so the
visitor may be excused for thinking that the desert is deserted! This is very far
from the case.
The country’s location at the north-east corner of Africa makes it a land
bridge between Africa and Eurasia with the result that since the dawn of time it
has been crossed and recrossed by migratory people. Inevitably many of the
migrants stayed, giving Egypt one of the most diverse populations in Africa.

BIOMAP, Egyptian bio-diversity map. Source: http://www.biomapegypt.org

Along the Mediterranean coasts are the Awlad Ali, Arabs who originated in
the Arabian Peninsula. The Hamitic, Bishariin and Ababda live in the southern
portion of the Eastern Desert; The people of the Siwa are Berbers. There are
many more.
Since 2001, millions of people, both Egyptians and foreign visitors, have
visited the Protected Areas. In many PAs, the infrastructure is in place to

(continued)
3.2 e-Participation in Europe 35

receive them, in other PAs it is in the process of being set up. One of the most
popular occupations is diving in the Red Sea and Germany alone annually
sends a nearly million divers to explore the spectacular reef system.
The main aim of the BioMAP project (Monitoring and Assessing of
Biodiversity of Egypt) is to create a comprehensive IT-based database of
existing Egyptian biodiversity records. Linked to up-to-date data through
internal and external monitoring of Egypt’s Protected Areas, the project
enables an analysis to be made of changes in the status of the country’s
biodiversity. The web-based information centre contains five operational
sites. One of these is the Egypt’s Biodiversity website, which was authored
by Image House and includes a large number of photographs and illustrations
on all topics of relevance to biodiversity, enabling users of all types to access
credible information, in order to inform decision-making at all levels.
Producer: BioMap Egypt
http://www.biomapegypt.org, last accessed February 2019.

If we consider e-Participation in a broader sense including the opportunity to

provide citizens’ contribution to local governments and law enforcement agencies
we can include at least three applications:

Egypt: HarassMap (2010)

HarassMap is an award-winning volunteer-based initiative founded in late
2010. The authors are working to engage all of Egyptian society to create an
environment that does not tolerate sexual harassment. HarassMap is based on
the idea that if more people start taking action when sexual harassment
happens in their presence, we can end this epidemic together.
HarassMap is working to build a future in which neighbourhoods, schools,
universities, cafes, restaurants, shops, workplaces, and eventually all of Egypt
are all safe spaces that never tolerate sexual harassment and always help
people when they are harassed.
We support individuals and institutions to stand up to sexual harassment
before or when they see it happen. By taking a collective stand against sexual
harassment, re-establishing social consequences for harassers—and making
role models of people who stand up to them—we believe that harassers can be
deterred from harassing again.

(continued)
36 3 e-Participation

HarassMap aims to engage all of Egyptian society against sexual harassment. Source: http://
harassmap.org/ar/

HarassMap is a social initiative implementing an SMS system for reporting

incidences of sexual harassment in Egypt. This tool gives women a way to
anonymously report incidences of sexual harassment as soon as they happen,
using a simple text message from their mobile phone. As Egypt’s 55 million
mobile phone subscribers grow in number by an average of 10% each year,
HarassMap’s use of new mobile technology and innovative marketing is
changing social outreach in Egypt, while invoking an older tradition of public
safety for women. By mapping SMS reports on a public website displaying
location and details provided by the victim, the Advocacy Online Map creates
a powerful documentation of the extent of the problem. The Assistance
Information and Referral System—HM provides victims with a list of ser-
vices; Police Response—HM will pinpoint hotspots to increase police pres-
ence in high harassment areas. Further projects include community outreach
activities, social media awareness and blogging campaigns against sexual
harassment. The entire HarassMap system acts as an advocacy, prevention,
and response tool, highlighting the severity and pervasiveness of the problem,
as well as offering proactive responses.
Step 1
The first step towards this future is establishing people’s belief that sexual
harassment is a crime that is the fault of the harasser and not the person being
harassed, and creating rules for how to act when it happens.

(continued)
3.2 e-Participation in Europe 37

Step 2
Next, people must act on this belief and these rules by helping people being
harassed. Individuals can intervene to help someone they see getting harassed,
tell harassers to stop, and report the crime to HarassMap and/or the police. If
they are part of an institution like a business or university or school, we work
with them to implement and enforce anti-sexual harassment policies.
Step 3
When enough people take action, harassers will find it harder and harder to
harass. They will face consequences on the street, in their workplace, from
friends and family and co-workers, and eventually they will choose to not
harass at all. This is when we reach our goal—zero-tolerance will be the norm
and sexual harassment will decrease in Egypt.
Producer: Engy Ghozlan
http://harassmap.org/ar/, last accessed February 2019.

Kenya: Read the Crowd: Don’t Just Get the Data. Get the Whole Story
(2008)
Helping people raise their voice and those who serve them to listen and
respond better. Ushahidi, which translates to “testimony” in Swahili, was
developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election violence
in 2008. Since then, thousands have used Ushahidi crowdsourcing tools to
raise their voice. Ushahidi is a technology leader in Africa, headquartered in
Nairobi, with a global team. It is a social enterprise that provides software and
services to numerous sectors and civil society to help improve the bottom-up
flow of information.
The Ushahidi team believes that “if marginalized people are able to easily
communicate to those who aim to serve them... then those organizations and
governments can more effectively respond to their communities’ immediate
needs... while simultaneously bringing global attention to their problems
through the aggregation of their voices.”
A technology similar to the one used by HarassMap has been implemented
in a set of applications, mainly based on mobile devices, in order to report
bribery. What is corruption mapping? In the past year, we have seen a rise of
corruption tracking maps or maps that include tracking corruption as part of
their project. A kind of geographic information system represents the corrup-
tion map of a specific city, country, region. Corruption mapping is based on
crowd contribution; each single citizen experiencing bribery can report it geo-
referencing the location, adding comments and annotations.

(continued)
38 3 e-Participation

HSHAHIDI: Read the Crowd

From mapping to crowdsourcing to new technologies, there are new

methods to track and amplify the fight against corruption by empowering the
public. Youth are changing tactics for anti-corruption activism. They bring a
zest for mobile and new media (pictures and videos). They seamlessly activate
and share with their online social networks. No longer are activists tied to
fighting corruption in 50-page PDF documents. They can map, create infor-
mation forensics models, do deep data dives and visualize information in new
ways. However, there is great merit in combining these new methods with
existing, more formal practices. As much as it is key to open our arms and
minds to new tactics for corruption fighting, it is even more critical to be
mindful and build response plans for the potential security and privacy risks.
We need a marriage of new and youthful anti-corruption tactics with existing
techniques and methodology.

Mapping Corruption
What can corruption mappers learn from crisis mappers? Well, they can
consider the basics:
• What is your map mission? What is your project plan?
• A map is not an end in itself. What type of data (categories) are you
collecting? Why? What will you do with the data?
• How will you protect the privacy and security of those who report?
• What is your planned outcome? How will you verify the information?

(continued)
3.2 e-Participation in Europe 39

The UNDP published a post by one of the featured mappers, Kallxo,

entitled: “I Paid a Bribe, So what? An experience from Kosovo.” This is
now mandatory reading for any new corruption mapper. Successful deploy-
ments require the five T’s: Team, Trust, Time, Training and Tenacity.
Producer: Ushahidi, Inc.
https://www.ushahidi.com, last accessed February 2019.

United States: Find It, Fix It—Service Request Mobile App

There are different applications similar to this one developed all over the world
from New Zealand to Italy (to consider the antipodes); we choose to describe
Find It, Fix It as an example.
“Find It, Fix It” is a smartphone app offering mobile users one more way to
report selected issues to the City of Seattle.
With Find It, Fix It, reporting an issue is as easy as snapping a photo with
your smartphone, adding detailed information, and hitting submit. The map’s
“drag and drop” feature or the phone’s own technology can be used to pinpoint
the location.
Android users can download the app from the Google Play Store and
iPhone users can download it from the App Store. The app offers the following
service request categories:
• Abandoned Vehicle: report vehicles parked in a public right of way more
than 3 days.
• Graffiti Report: report graffiti, including what it is on—parking meter,
utility pole or building—so it gets automatically routed to the appropriate
department for response.
• Illegal Dumping: report illegal dumping—junk, garbage or debris—on
public property, including roadsides, open streets and paved alleys.
• Parking Enforcement: make an inquiry regarding a parking concern.
• Pothole: report a pothole.
• Sign and Signal Maintenance: report damaged street signs and
malfunctioning traffic signals.
• Streetlight Report: report a streetlight outage or damaged streetlight.
• Other Inquiry: this miscellaneous category is for making an inquiry or
request not listed above, which will be processed by the City’s Customer
Service Bureau. Mobile users should choose this category to provide
feedback.
The present types of applications fully enjoy position-aware devices, built-
in cameras and on line messaging. Thanks to the App the report is directly

(continued)
40 3 e-Participation

routed to the specific branch of the public administration and uploaded to the
list of reports.
Producer: Finance & Administrative Services Department—Seattle
https://www.seattle.gov/customer-service-bureau/find-it-fix-it-mobile-app,
last accessed February 2019.

Among the international organisations promoting e-Participation the Organisa-

tion for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)8 set the principles of
e-Participation9, a set of 10 principles to be applied as cross-cutting issues for
successful implementation of e-Participation activities; these are:
1. Commitment–demonstration of leadership;
2. Rights—demonstration of how government institutions meet their obligation to
secure citizens’ right to access information, be consulted and participate in
policy development;
3. Clarity–demonstration of clarity of objectives and citizens’ roles at each phase
from the very outset of the e-Participation process;
4. Time—demonstration of sufficient time allotted at each phase as early as
possible to ensure that all possible policy options are considered;
5. Evaluation—demonstration of the assessment mechanism deployed by author-
ities to evaluate their performance at each phase of participation;
6. Objectivity—demonstration of the objective nature of information provided, its
completeness and accessibility to all willing to participate in policy making;
7. Resources—demonstration of the provision of adequate and accessible
resources—technical, financial, human—needed to conduct participatory activ-
ities at every stage;
8. Co-ordination—demonstration of effective inter-agency co-ordination activities
across the government to exclude duplication of effort, prevent ‘participation
fatigue’ on the citizens’ part;
9. Accountability—demonstration of the effective, responsible and transparent use
by the government of citizens’ feedback and other participation activities for
policy making as part of broader accountability mechanisms;
10. Active citizenship—demonstration of efforts aimed at encouraging civic activ-
ism by increasing capacities and skills of the citizenry to participate in policy
making in a meaningful and informed manner.
OECD structures on two different groups of citizens’ participation: Offline
Participation and Online Participation, even if it is not uncommon that offline and
online participation processes overlap and influence one another.

8
OECD. http://www.oecd.org, last accessed February 2019.
9
e-Participation principles (OECD).
3.2 e-Participation in Europe 41

The first group usually encompasses: Referenda, Public hearings/enquiries, Pub-

lic opinion surveys, Negotiated rule-making, Consensus conference, Citizens’ jury/
panel, Citizen/public advisory committees, Focus groups.
Typically on-line participation encompasses10: e-Campaigning, including e-Peti-
tioning, Community building/Collaborative e-Environments, e-Consultation, Online
deliberation, Information provision online, e-Polling, e-Voting.
One of the first sectors experimenting with e-Participation was the town-planning
sector, this even before the advent of ICT in e-Participation. Early experiences were
mastered thanks to the so-called “quarter laboratories”; thanks to these physical
facilities citizens can meet decision makers, be aware of new plans and open a
fruitful discussion exchanging suggestions, remarks, criticism.
More than 20 years later such a function was often based on the use of computer
graphics and interactive virtual reality.

Italy/France: Create (2003)

The European Commission project named CREATE developed this concept
thanks to interactive high-quality virtual reality walkthrough and interaction
associated with real-time 3D sound effects. The case study was developed on a
different re-arrangement of Garibaldi Square in Nice (France). Citizens can
experience a dynamic walkthrough in the different project proposals, look
around from different locations and hear the people talk and the noise of trams
and cars passing through.
Thanks, at that time, to cutting edge technological tool local government in
Nice was able to collect citizen’s appreciation or remarks about the foreseen
solution.

The objective of supporting the dialogue and networking on e-Participation

between the government and the key stakeholders at local, regional, national level.
The objective is to enable the networking of key actors as a means of further
collaboration in developing e-Participation, involving as well key actors worldwide
e.g. North America (e.g. PoliticsOnline, Steve Clift), Latin America (e.g. Brazil, the
city of Puerto Alegre), Africa, Asia and Australia (e.g. the e-Participation initiative
of the State of Queensland).

10
Panopoulou, E., Tambouris, E., Tarabanis, K. (2009). eParticipation initiatives: How is Europe
progressing? European Journal of ePractice, Nr. 7, March 2009 (https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/sites/
default/files/document/2014-06/ePractice%20Journal-Vol.7-March%202009.pdf, last accessed
February 2019).
42 3 e-Participation

Money and Politics (Maplight 2006)

MAPLight.org is a ground-breaking public website. It puts the spotlight on the
connection between money and politics in the United States of America. Two
public databases are combined: a database of all known campaign contribu-
tions to any legislator, and a database on how legislators voted on specific bills
and resolutions.
Bringing the data on money and voting together provides unprecedented
insight into the legislative processes in the US; the motto is “Explore our data
to uncover relationships between money and politics”. The website is a
treasure for journalists, NGOs, and bloggers. It helps citizens to hold legisla-
tors accountable. MAPLight.org, findings make complex research publically
available in an instant and shows that public scrutiny can be also visually
appealing, easy-to-use, and customizable.

MapLight revealing money’s influence on politics. Source: http://maplight.org/

An additional section, Dark Money, provide an insight on dark money that

comes from groups that are not required to disclose their donors. It pays for ads
and other efforts to influence elections, but voters often don’t know who is
behind those efforts.
http://maplight.org/, last accessed February 2019.
3.2 e-Participation in Europe 43

Although many countries are experimenting with e-Participation, in reality, the

range of different e-Participation tools in use is fairly limited.
We can conduct a benchmark analysis in order to identify and to evaluate
international experiences adopted for the exchange of know-how and of good
practices in the e-Participation field. Choosing the right KPI11s (Key Performance
Indicators) this analysis will produce a framework to evaluate the effectiveness of a
specific region solution in comparison with other regions.
Usually the evaluation will focus on two levels of analysis that constitutes the
basics for a good exchange model practice:
• Web applications;
• Organizational models.
Web application survey; for this purpose different portals and web platforms will
be evaluated according to several parameters, such as:
• Easy finding of the important information, also through a customization of the
views for specific customers, according to the various informative requirements;
• Level of integration/cooperation with other national and international data banks;
• Interactive services;
• Availability of community instruments.
On the other side, organizational solutions will be contemplated in order to
evaluate:
• Quantitative parameters able to describe the spread of the cases between the
various participant administrations;
• Degree of participation of the different single countries’ institutional levels;
• Modality of involvement of the participant actors (cultural events, seminars,
conventions, exchanges, virtual conferences, etc. . . .).
Going much more in detail about methodology, the analytical framework and
evaluation tools to identify the major factors shaping e-Participation may emphasize
five specific dimensions:
• The Political Dimension—measuring e-Participation as a concept and set of
tools to empower, activate and mobilize political and civil society actors to
meet public affairs objectives, while being on top of the political agenda. Special
emphasis will be placed on the EU’s democratic challenges such as the demo-
cratic deficit, trust, transparency, privacy and citizens’ engagement, as well as the
ongoing need to reinforce the legitimacy and practice of representative
democracy;
• The Democratic Dimension—measuring e-Participation as a concept and set of
tools to strengthen citizen participation in the democratic and decision-making
processes and enhances representative democracy. This dimension emerges from

11
KPI—Key Performance Indicators, is a type of performance measurement.
44 3 e-Participation

the C.L.E.A.R.12 Model in which people participate when they can and have the
necessary resources to make their argument, and when they feel part of some-
thing, they like to participate as it is part of their sense of identity, when they are
enabled to do so and directly asked for their opinion and when they experience a
responsive system;
• The Civic Dimension—measuring e-Participation as a concept and set of tools to
inform, train and educate constituents, citizens and activists about their institu-
tions, representatives, political processes, decision-making and governance
structures;
• The Economic, Competitiveness and Social Dimension—measuring
e-Participation as a concept and set of tools in relation to economic
(e.g. growth, fiscal burden), competitiveness (e.g. quality of public services,
transparency, good governance) and social (e.g. inclusive government, digital
divide, new forms of citizenship) enablers. Special emphasis will be placed on the
enablers related to the revisited Lisbon Objectives and the i2020 initiative and
e-Government Action Plan;
• The Technological Dimension—measuring the diversity of ICT tools proposed,
the use of convergent technologies, availability, performance, usability, accessi-
bility and innovation.

European Union: e-Participation.eu

“Every day, local governments need to decide something, plan something and
get new ideas about something. The best way to do this is to start from the very
beginning, from mapping the general context and background for the decision.
It is also important to map the expectations of (but also resistance from) all the
target groups that this plan or decision may affect.”
The web portal e-Participation.eu has been financed, among others, by the
European Union, Interreg IVC and “e-Citizen II” project (2010) led by the
Baltic Institute of Finland. The aim of e-Participation.eu is to support
European countries in promoting e-Participation though an on line “manual”
and collect success stories.
The use of online environments in the communication with citizens
requires specific actions. The main objective of the e-Participation.eu manual
and the project is to exchange citizens’ e-Participation practices in order to
increase and promote participatory opportunities within the European Union
member states starting from local governments. The driving force behind the
project is the growing concern about democratic deficit in the society. There
are different projects and initiatives across Europe that have addressed the

(continued)

12
Contract, Listen. Explore, Action, Review Model—The CLEAR model was created by Peter
Hawkins in the early 1980s and has since been used extensively to train and supervise leaders with
effective coaching techniques.
3.2 e-Participation in Europe 45

citizens’ participation problem and have generated interesting tools and solu-
tions for dealing with it. Still, there is little sharing of knowledge and experi-
ence gained from such projects among local governments in the EU member
states.

Good practice exchange on e-Participation platforms among European Youth. Source: http://
e-Participation.eu

The e-Participation manual tries to fill this gap and presents a collection of
cases which can be taken as models for citizens and local public authorities in
using various e-Democracy tools for participation.
e-Participation.eu structures these actions in five main steps; each step is
illustrated with sample cases: success stories as well as stories that are valuable
lessons despite being failures.
The five steps foreseen by the methodology are: expectations/background,
planning, action, communication, and feedback/evaluation.
Expectations: accordingly, with the methodology proposed, before begin-
ning e-Participatory decision-making the following questions should be
answered:
1. What is the aim of (e-)Participation: to get feedback on the plans of the local
government or generate new ideas and suggestions? What specific goals
should the process help achieve?

(continued)
46 3 e-Participation

2. Do the organizational culture and work processes that the local government
has allow participation processes to be conducted and e-Participation to be
applied successfully? What changes are necessary for that?
3. In which instances should residents be consulted before decision-making?
4. How prepared are the residents to participate in the process, including via
e-Channels?
Planning: once the four questions are answered, if there is a general
understanding that the environment is favourable and the organization is
ready for participative decision making then the next step is planning;
Planning means setting of concrete goals, timeframe, participants and rules.
Again there are some questions to be answered to run this phase smoothly:
1. What do we want to achieve when we e-Engage somebody?
2. What is the timeframe for participation—the beginning, the phases and the
end? When should the decision be made?
3. Who should be involved in the planned process? Who are the target groups
whom the specific question would directly affect? Who has expert knowl-
edge in this field? Who are the interest groups who could help reach the
target groups?
4. How can the target and interest groups be reached? Is it enough to distribute
information via e-Channels or should other channels be used?
5. What are the rules of participation? How will participants’ input be used
and feedback be given to them? Who makes the final decision: the partic-
ipants (for example, through voting) or the local government?
6. How will e-Participation be organised technologically? Which technolo-
gies will be used? Can the existing ones be used or should new ones be
sought? Where will we find them? Will we use freeware or will necessary
solutions have to be ordered?
Action: once the environment and expectations are mapped and the whole
participation process planned, it is time to distribute concrete tasks and tools.
The control questions this time are the following:
1. Are the officials participating in the process aware of their tasks? Do they
have enough resources for the fulfilment of these tasks? Are we prepared
for potential changes during the process (someone leaving the organization,
falling ill, etc.)?
2. Which additional activities/tools should be foreseen in order to support
participatory decision-making?

(continued)
3.2 e-Participation in Europe 47

Communication: this phase is definitely one of the key actions of the whole
participation process and it has to be part of each step. Many initiatives and
actions carried out by governments fail or are not appreciated by citizens
because the communication plan and actions are not properly performed.
This aspect doesn’t only impact the “political” attribution of the action;
many times the effects are perceived after a relevant time gap, but even
more relevant is the initiative itself.
In order to avoid or at least minimize this problem, we would like to
highlight some aspects of communication through the following questions
which should be answered:
1. Are the messages and information we convey understandable to the public?
2. How can we attract the media? How can we become noticeable so that also
the traditional media could be used to reach relevant target groups?
3. Which e-Channels should be used to reach as many people as possible?
Which other channels should be used to inform residents of the participa-
tion process and of the possibility to e-Participate? Which channel would
allow us to most effectively reach the main target group of this specific
participation process?
Feedback: the last phase is the evaluation of the outcomes of the action.
This phase will evaluate each key element of the action, the proper execution
of the plan, the final decision and the communication process as well in the
light of the feedback provided by citizens through appropriate foreseen
channels.
Once again, questions that should be answered on the “Feedback” phase are
the following:
1. How will the final decision be made if the process has resulted in numerous
disagreements?
2. Was the initial plan realised? What was altered and why? If something
failed, then why did this happen?
3. How will we communicate and explain our decision? Do we have sufficient
arguments for the decision (and counter-arguments for those who
disagreed)?
4. Were the people involved pleased with the result? Were they pleased with
the process as a whole even if the result was not the one they suggested?
How can we find out what the participants thought?
A rich and extensible collection of case studies is an integral part of the
portal.
http://e-Participation.eu, last accessed February 2019.
48 3 e-Participation

The European Experience 2010–2014

e-Participation is about reconnecting ordinary people with politics and policy-
making and making the decision-making processes easier to understand and
follow through the use of new Information and Communication Technologies
(ICTs).
In many European countries turnouts at national and European elections
have been falling. There are numerous reasons for this. Perhaps voters feel
their vote will not “make a difference” or that their concerns and opinions are
not being listened to or acted upon. More widely, people have higher expec-
tations as regards the quality and efficiency of public services as well as access
to public institutions and elected politicians. There is greater demand for
public services and information to be customised to their needs and available
at the touch of a button, or click of a mouse. Achieving this would require
improvements in the way public services are provided today.
Governments and the EU institutions are working with citizens to identify
and test ways of giving them more of a stake in the policy-shaping process,
such as through public consultations on new legislation. ICTs provide a range
of tools which can give citizens easier access to information about what
decisions are being taken which affect their lives and how the decision-
making process works. They can also help foster communication and interac-
tion between politicians and government bodies on the one side, and citizens
on the other. Internet, mobile phones and interactive television can be used to
channel information to citizens and canvass their views. Increasing transpar-
ency and public participation benefits democracy and should improve the
quality of legislation being adopted. It is also good for the cohesion of
European society because participation promotes a sense of ownership of the
political process.

India: Many to One SMS

Developed by Phoenix Software Solution this application uses a “Many to one
SMS13”-based application to help government ministries monitor labour at
National Rural Employment Government Schemes work sites. Information
pertaining to labour used to be collected in a time-consuming process of phone
calls and emails. Thanks to “Many to one SMS”, on the first day of the week,
the secretary of every gram panchayat (local village/town government) is
required to send an SMS in a prescribed format to a designated telephone
number.

(continued)

13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v1⁄4T9LmDqYKLpM, last accessed February 2019.
3.2 e-Participation in Europe 49

Many to One SMS based reporting system

The SMS is automatically transferred to an electronic database and the

information is displayed on a dynamic webpage. If the information is not
received, a reminder SMS is generated and sent automatically. In case an
incorrect SMS is received, there is an option to edit data at the block level
itself. The Many to One SMS-based reporting system assists in reducing time
delays in information-gathering.

Uganda: U-Report
U-report: Community-led Development through Social SMS Technology
U-report is a text message programme designed to give young Ugandans a
chance to voice their opinions on issues that they care about. Users opt into the
programme at no cost across all networks by texting the word “JOIN” to a
short code. Registration entails answering a series of demographic questions
such as age, gender, how one heard about U-report, district and village. This
information allows for polls to target districts, region, gender, etc. Launched in
May 2011, there are 260,000+ U-reporters in Uganda with a balanced regional
distribution, over one third of whom are women, average age of 24 years. Each
week an SMS poll or alert is sent to all of the U-reporters soliciting opinion on
a given matter, for example: “FREE vaccinations, birth certificates, antenatal
care will be provided on the Family Health Days at mosques & churches on
Friday & Sunday by Ministry of Health.” Or “[We] want to know what can be
done for children who have dropped out of school; let us know what you think.
Best answer will be shared.”

(continued)
50 3 e-Participation

U-Report is a free SMS social monitoring tool. Source: http://www.ureport.ug/

Combinations of quantitative and qualitative questions are used when

required. Responses from each are analysed in real time by the U-report data
platform. Responses are mapped to each district and aggregated to a national
level. Results are then shared with all U-reporters and often the issues arising
are explored further with additional questions and responses continuing the
dialogue. U-report has multiple uses, such as raising awareness on certain
issues, community-led development and information sharing as well as issue
advocacy at a national level. This well written strong mobile app tackles the
challenge of youth engagement in the simplest and most versatile way, via
SMS which is accessible via any phone be it feature or smartphone. By
sending out a single question to a large group of respondents, it is possible
to collect information responses on almost any topic or subject. Website
images give a good sense of what the app is about. The utility of U-report as
an SMS application has been likened to WhatsApp. Even the feedback to its
users is done through SMS. The website is just a way of reporting to the
outside world what’s happening in the mobile app. U-report is an obvious
force for social change—if the public, including those not wealthy enough to
have access to the internet, can exchange information, then it influences
governments to better serve their people. This mobile app has obvious
evidence-based positive impact on grassroots participation, especially among
African youth.
http://www.ureport.ug/, last accessed February 2019.
3.3 e-Participation in the United Nations Vision 51

3.3 e-Participation in the United Nations Vision

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) devel-
oped a tool in order to measure citizen engagement and e-Participation, the Mea-
surement and Evaluation Tool for Citizen Engagement and e-Participation (METEP)
toolkit. The UN definition of e-Participation is “e-Participation is about fostering
civic engagement and open, participatory governance through Information and
Communications Technologies (ICTs). Growing evidence points to the rapid expan-
sion of e-Participation as a tool for engagement and strengthened collaboration
between governments and citizens. Its objective is to improve access to information
and public services as well as to promote participation in policy-making, both for
the empowerment of individual citizens and the benefit of society as a whole.14”
The project aims to strengthen developing countries’ capacity to apply Information
and Communications Technologies (ICTs) for citizen engagement. METEP is based
on a self-assessment questionnaire “Citizen Engagement Self-Assessment Question-
naire15” (CESAQ); governments can begin to elaborate strategies for better delivery of
public services and engagement of their citizens in policymaking processes.
The CESA Questionnaire is nominative and it is structured in three parts: Part
A—Fact-based questions, Part B—Agency-specific questions, and Part C—Experi-
ence-based questions.
Part A requires answers based on facts attesting to the existence of certain regula-
tory provisions (e.g. Does your country’s constitution grant citizens the right to access
public information? or Does your country have any legislation or policies on Personal
data protection?) that can be verified by the documented/published evidence16;
Part B asks about the actual agency practices supported by known (not necessar-
ily officially documented/published) evidence17 (e.g. Does your agency have At
least one government official tasked with citizen engagement? or Does your agency
engage citizens in shared implementation of solutions on issues of their interest
through participation in a joint steering committee?);
Part C seeks professional judgment from public officials (and specialists working
for government institutions) based on (a) their personal experience gained as a result
of direct participation in civic engagement initiatives or (b) the knowledge obtained

14
https://publicadministration.un.org/en/eparticipation, last accessed February 2019.
15
CESAQ. http://workspace.unpan.org/sites/Internet/Documents/UNPAN94954.pdf, last accessed
February 2019.
16
“Part A can be answered by legal, administration experts who represent government agencies
responsible for national regulatory frameworks; government officials with working knowledge of
these frameworks; and independent specialists knowledgeable in the functioning of the country’s
legal system. In a workshop setting, this part can be collectively answered by participants from the
same country.” CESAQ Guidelines.
17
“Part B can be answered by officials who work for government agencies at national, regional
(sub-national) and local (municipal) levels, and who are knowledgeable about citizen engagement
initiatives of the agency or seeking to make the work of their institution more participatory,
transparent and accountable. In a workshop setting, this part can be collectively answered by
participants from the same agency.” CESAQ Guidelines.
52 3 e-Participation

while witnessing the implementation of such initiatives18 (e.g. Based on your

experience, please rate the commitment of your country’s top-level decision makers
for transparency, accountability and citizen engagement or Based on your experi-
ence, please rate legislation or policies (including constitutional provisions) on
public services).
The elaboration of the results of the questionnaires provides the e-Participation
index (EPI). This index extends the dimension of the UN e-Government Survey,
derived as a supplementary index, by focusing on the use of online services to
facilitate provision of information by governments to citizens (“e-Information shar-
ing”), interaction with stakeholders (“e-Consultation”), and engagement in decision-
making processes (“e-Decision making”).
These three sectors of the e-Participation framework are described by the UN as
follows:
• e-Information: Enabling participation by providing citizens with public informa-
tion and access to information without or upon demand;
• e-Consultation: Engaging citizens in contributions to and deliberation on public
policies and services;
• e-Decision-making: Empowering citizens through co-design of policy options
and co-production of service components and delivery modalities.
Three initial countries will apply METEP in 2014 and 2015, over the course of
national workshops organized by DPADM19: Kazakhstan (October 2014); Kenya
(January 2015); and Indonesia (2015)20. METEP was also administered during two
additional national workshops substantively supported by DPADM, in Azerbaijan
(December 2013) and Iran (March 2015).
After more than 15 years from the investments on e-Participation the European
Parliament report “e-Government: Using technology to improve public services and
democratic participation21” summarizes the state of the art in that sector as follows:
“Many other challenges and opportunities in creating true e-Government remain.
Governments must do more to create a sense of security and trust. They need to
encourage interoperability to support the single market. They can try to develop
electronic means for citizens to participate in public life while not excluding those
who do not have the means, abilities or skills to do so. They have an opportunity to
exploit open government data, to collaborate more with businesses and citizens in
developing enhanced services, and to make effective use of new technologies such as
cloud computing.”

18
“Part C can be answered by any government official directly or indirectly involved in the
participatory activities of the government agencies under discussion.” CESAQ Guidelines.
19
United Nations—Public Administration and Development Management Department of Economic
and Social Affairs: https://publicadministration.un.org/en/, last accessed February 2019.
20
METEP project Fact Sheet is available on line at http://workspace.unpan.org/sites/Internet/Docu
ments/UNPAN93267.pdf, last accessed February 2019.
21
Ron Davies (2015), e-Government: Using technology to improve public services and democratic
participation, ISBN 978-92-823-6814-5, DOI: 10.2861/150280 EPRS | European Parliamentary
Research Service.
3.4 Direct Democracy 53

3.4 Direct Democracy

“Direct democracy, also called pure democracy, forms of direct participation of

citizens in democratic decision making in contrast to indirect or representative
democracy, based on the sovereignty of the people. This can happen in the form of
an assembly democracy or by initiative and referendum with ballot voting, with
direct voting on issues instead of for candidates or parties.” (Encyclopaedia
Britannica)
Mainly due to the widespread diffusion of the Internet and social web there is an
increasing interest in a different model of democracy. Democracy as we may know
was implemented on behalf of representatives. Citizens thanks to elections choose their
representatives at different levels and in different sectors. These delegates will repre-
sent their electors within the Institution looking after the interests of their own electors.
In recent times the lack of trust relationship between citizens and their delegates
suggested the adoption of a different model potentially enabled by new technologies.
This model is termed “direct democracy22”, no mediation between citizens’ issues
and government. The idea is based on the use of social networks and direct participa-
tion in order to easily identify the feeling or will of the majority of the citizens.

Switzerland’s Direct Democracy

Switzerland has 7 million inhabitants; citizens’ law-making is exercised on all
political levels. The country includes almost 3000 autonomous municipalities,
26 sovereign states and on the common, federal level. Swiss Direct Democ-
racy has a long tradition: the origins of Direct Democracy can be traced back to
the late Middle Ages. Archaic forms, like assemblies of the electorate
discussing and deciding major political issues, have been practised in part of
the country since the founding of the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1291.
The origins of the Swiss system of Direct Democracy with formalized
opinion polls and frequent referendums lie in the experimental phase of democ-
racy in the nineteenth century when Switzerland was surrounded by monarchies
on the European continent that showed little to no enthusiasm for democracy.
Even if Switzerland embraces direct democracy, it is nevertheless still a
representative democracy. Most laws are made and decided by parliament;
however, the key difference between the Swiss system and the “indirect”
democracy is that citizens are entitled to put almost every law decided by
their representatives to a general vote if they want.
To activate this procedure, members of the public need to gather 50,000
signatures (approximately 1% of the electorate) within 100 days of the publi-
cation of a new law. In the vast majority of the cases no such referendum is
triggered, because the parliamentary process enjoys a very high level of

(continued)

22
e.g. http://direct-democracy.geschichte-schweiz.ch, last accessed February 2019.
54 3 e-Participation

legitimacy. That is because the elected lawmakers know that their work will be
seriously checked by the public, so do a very good job indeed. Swiss citizens
have the right to propose almost any constitutional amendment they wish.
Such an amendment cannot, of course, violate international law or human
rights. To activate this citizens’ initiative, they need to gather a minimum of
100,000 signatures within 18 months.
To complete the framework, Swiss citizens have the last word on all
constitutional changes, even those proposed by the government and parlia-
ment, as well as most international treaties.
http://www.direct-democracy.geschichte-schweiz.ch, last accessed February
2019.

Ideally this seems to be an improved implementation of democratic principles, a

direct expression of citizens’ wills. It is important to stress that e-Democracy in this
field is meant to add elements of citizen empowerment and direct democracy.
Unfortunately, this is not true actually because of different problems. We can
subdivide them in two main branches: technical problems and socio-political problems.
On the technical side among the others we can consider the different access to
similar tools due to citizens’ profiles, gender, geographical location, availability and
quality of network access, digital literacy and even the will to use similar tools. The
use of profiling tools on both sides, information provider and citizen, led to obtaining
different outputs using different devices and different profiles (e.g. anonymous).
These problems will provide a biased feedback of democratic participation. Again,
on the technical side there is not a well-defined and accountable “interaction” system
ensuring a “quality” of the service comparable with the traditional voting system.
Cyber identity, double voting, security of digital records, anonymity and more
pertain only to very well organised activities, not to usual on-line ballots and blogs.
On the socio-political side an additional problem already well known on the
occasion of the referendum is the need to have an in-depth knowledge of each
specific problem to be solved; this duty is usually in charge to delegates that must be
aware about the problems they deal with, are citizens committed to perform this
duty? Such a concern is tightly connected with the independence and accountability
of media and press, many times the only source of information. Fake news still
represents a relevant problem in the cyber age.
Mainly due to these two reasons the high risk of abuse or misuse of similar
“democratic” tools is still very high.

United Kingdom: DirectGov

The DirectGov Cabinet released in 2005 the DirectGov website; Direct.gov.uk
puts users straight through to public services without their having to understand
government. People who prefer not to use the Internet can get to DirectGov
through Digital interactive Television (DiTV) or 6000 public kiosks.

(continued)
3.4 Direct Democracy 55

GOV.UK: government services and information. Source: https://www.gov.uk/ Open Gov-

ernment Licence v3.0

The application uses freshly written content to form a complete, coherent

picture of the central government services. It aims to make all service delivery
easier, quicker and cheaper for users, to drive the take-up of the government’s
online transactions, to proactively present users with other relevant services
and to help de-duplicate and rationalise the government’s web provision.
https://www.gov.uk/, last accessed February 2019.

Portugal: City Points Cascais

The Câmara Municipal de Cascais released in 2017 the application “City
points Cascais”; it is a rewards program that encourages good citizenship
practices, using an APP to give the opportunity to earn points and with them
get products and services.
As a user performs pre-defined activities in the areas of environment,
citizenship, social responsibility, mobility, etc. he gets points. By accumulat-
ing points, users will have different vouchers available that can be redeemed
for prizes offered by the network of local partners.

(continued)
56 3 e-Participation

Based on gamification and the acknowledgment of citizens, the app induces

participants to take an active role in transforming the community into a better
place to live. With one City Point at a time, participants improve their
engagement in the sustainable city.
Led by the municipality and with a low investment, the local partnership
can promote common goals for the social good, while promoting its services
and products.
Cascais City Points is also paving the way for a ground-breaking, activity/
profile-based, pricing of city services.
https://www.cascais.pt/citypoints, last accessed February 2019.

Georgia: Budget Monitor (2017)

Budget Monitor (BM) is a unique citizen engagement web-platform of State
Audit Office of Georgia (SAOG), which provides comprehensive analytical
information about the public finances, designed from an auditor’s perspective.
BM presents key budgetary information and results of SAOG-conducted
audits in an easy-to-interpret way using various data visualization tools, thus
raising public awareness about how budget money is spent.

Georgian budget monitor. Source: https://budgetmonitor.ge/en

(continued)
3.4 Direct Democracy 57

BM is a two-way communication platform. On the one hand, it equips

citizens with sufficient information for external public scrutiny and empowers
their participation in government decision making. On the other hand, it
enables them to engage constructively throughout the audit cycle. By sending
audit requests and proposals, citizens are able to inform SAOG about the
deficiencies in public spending. Thus, people can have profound impact on
improving PFM through their participation in SAOG’s audit works and
following up the government responses on audit recommendations.
Producer: State Audit Office of Georgia
https://budgetmonitor.ge/en, last accessed February 2019.

Ireland: Local Authority Finances (2015)

A resource for Irish people to find out about how local authorities source and
spend their money. Facilitates decision making by individuals, businesses, and
policy makers.
The application will reply to this basic question: How Is Your Money Spent?
Choose Your Local Authority:
Citizens can choose their local authority from the list below and the
application will show the current year budget breakdown, how it compares
to the national average, and how it compares to other councils.
Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork City, Cork County, Donegal, Dublin City, Dún
Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, Galway City, Galway County, Kerry, Kildare,
Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Mona-
ghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, South Dublin, Tipperary, Waterford, West-
meath, Wexford, Wicklow.
If we choose Dublin City we obtain:
Dublin City
In 2017 Dublin City Council has a budget of 862.6 million euros or 1559 €
per person. Plus the detailed list of expenses subdivided by typology and
compared with national average.
Producer: Publicpolicy.ie
http://localauthorityfinances.com/, last accessed February 2019.

Austria: Open Spending Austria (2015)

www.offenerhaushalt.at is an open spending platform for Austria’s public
sector. The spending data of all 2100 Austrian municipalities from 2001 to
2013 have been put on the platform. Municipalities can view several

(continued)
58 3 e-Participation

interactive visualisations of their data and with two simple clicks make the
visualisations available for everybody and release the data sets as open data.
~800 Municipalities have joined.

AUSTRIA: Open Spending Austria. Source: https://www.offenerhaushalt.at

Producer: KDZ—Centre for Public Administration Research

https://www.offenerhaushalt.at/, last accessed February 2019.

References

1. Lironi E (2016) Potential and challenges of e-participation in the European Union, European
Union. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/supporting-analyses
2. Bruno E (2015) Co-deciding with citizens: towards digital democracy at EU level. ECAS
Publications. http://www.ecas.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ECAS-Publication-online-ver
sion.pdf, last accessed December 2017
3. Clarke A (2013) Exploiting the web as a tool of democracy: new ways forward in the study and
practice of digital democracy. World Forum for Democracy 2013 Issues Paper, Council of
Europe, Strasbourg
4. Davies R (2015) e-Government: using technology to improve public services and democratic
participation. EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service. doi:10.2861/150280, ISBN
978-92-823-6814-5
5. Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation, The Federal Council (of 18 April 1999). https://
www.admin.ch/opc/en/classified-compilation/19995395/index.html, last accessed December
2017
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6. OECD (2003) Promise and problems of e-democracy: challenges of online citizen engagement.
OECD. http://www.oecd.org/gov/digital-government/35176328.pdf, last accessed December
2017
7. OECD (2007) Principles for private sector participation in infrastructure. OECD. http://www.
oecd.org/daf/inv/investment-policy/38309896.pdf, last accessed December 2017
8. TNS Political & Social (2013) European youth: participation in democratic life, Flash
Eurobarometer 375, http://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/flash/fl_375_en.pdf,
last accessed February 2019
9. United Nations (2013) United Nations empowerment and e-participation: policy recommenda-
tions. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/egms/docs/2013/ict/RutjensJacqueline.pdf, last accessed
December 2017
Chapter 4
e-Inclusion & e-Empowerment

We group under the keyword e-Inclusion all the measures supporting integration of
the global information society; bringing least developed countries into the knowl-
edge society; reducing “digital divides” between technology-empowered and
technology-excluded communities and groups such as rural areas and women,
senior citizens, disabled citizens and children; bridging society and strengthening
social and political participation of individuals and groups through ICTs;
empowering citizens and stakeholders in public services.

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 61

A. M. Ronchi, e-Democracy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01596-1_4
62 4 e-Inclusion & e-Empowerment

4.1 e-Inclusion and e-Empowerment

“Visions of a global knowledge-based economy and universal electronic commerce,

characterised by the ‘death of distance’, must be tempered by the reality that
half the world’s population has never made a telephone call, much less accessed
the Internet.”
OECD (1999), The Economic and Social Impact of Electronic Commerce:
Preliminary Findings and Research Agenda.
The above definition of “digital divide” follows a number of discussions and
initiatives1 to “bridge” it and pairs with the half-full glass represented by “digital
opportunities”; the idea of e-Inclusion probably originated later, on the occasion of
the early stages of the World Summit on the Information Society; as already
mentioned, the concept of “digital divide” was already well known, so the extension
at the global level of this concept led to grouping under the keyword e-Inclusion all
the measures supporting integration of the global information society; bringing least
developed countries into the knowledge society; reducing “digital divides” between
technology-empowered and technology-excluded communities and groups such as
rural areas and women, senior citizens, disabled citizens and children; bridging
society and strengthening social and political participation of individuals and groups
through ICTs; empowering citizens and stakeholders in public services.
Recalling the well-known motto “no one is left behind” in enjoying the benefits of
ICT, e-Inclusion focuses on participation of all individuals and communities in all
aspects of the information society no matter their country, gender, age, wealth or,
accordingly to another OECD definition, again limited to the digital divide: “. . . the
gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographic areas at different
socio-economic levels with regard to both their opportunities to access information
and communication technologies (ICTs) and their use of the Internet for a wide
variety of activities.”
e-Inclusion was later on twinned with e-Empowerment. The concept of
e-Empowerment relates to the ways in which the Internet is being utilized as an
empowering tool. Yair Amichai-Hamburger2 in the article “e-Empowerment:
Empowerment by the Internet”3 proposes to structure on a four-level model what
we term e-Empowerment, and the effects that can be observed at each of the four
levels: (1) the personal; (2) the interpersonal; (3) group; and (4) citizenship.
Personal e-Empowerment for instance, when an individual attempts to reframe or
make changes to his or her identity, such changes to the self will only come about if
they are socially validated; the Internet offers expanded opportunities for these

1
The term “digital divide” become a popular in 1995 with the diffusion of the Internet and the
sudden broaden of the personal computer market.
2
Professor of Psychology & Communication The Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya Israel.
3
Yair Amichai-Hamburger, Katelyn Y.A. McKenna, Samuel-Azran Tal (2008), E-empowerment:
Empowerment by the Internet, Computers in Human Behavior 24 (2008) 1776–1789, doi:10.1016/
j.chb.2008.02.002, Elsevier Ltd.
4.1 e-Inclusion and e-Empowerment 63

processes. Increasing self-efficacy and skills, people actively avoid activities and
situations that they believe will exceed their coping capabilities; the most effective
way to increase self-efficacy is usually mastery experiences. In mastery situations,
individuals are able to engage in exercises that allow them to acquire and practice
their skills in a non-threatening environment; in case of failure there are no signif-
icant costs to the individual.
The Interpersonal Level e-Empowerment at this level can lead to behaviour
change and shifts in attitudes, the strengthening of existing relationships, and the
formation of new ones. This is particularly the case for the empowering processes
involved in:
(A) social compensation—Internet users are able to choose what, when, and how far
to disclose personal information, and, in some cases may choose to remain
wholly anonymous, or communicate using a pseudonym or take on a new
identity; this creates a highly protected environment. This greater sense of
control and security may encourage users to engage in the kinds of self-
disclosure that cultivate close social ties through the net. People with a limited
number of contacts and limited social relations become rich joining on-line
communities and exchanging messages with a broad audience; the ability to
form enduring relationships constitutes a significant demonstration of
e-Empowerment;
(B) heightened self-disclosure—this aspect is twofold; on one side the internet eases
the trust necessary to build in interpersonal relations, once trust has been
established, people will allow themselves to open up and disclose intimate
information; on the other side this easy process to establish trust may expose
us to relevant risks as we may know in the field of privacy and even personal
security;
(C) stereotype use reduction—this aspect of interpersonal communication through
the Internet recalls the well-known cartoon caption “On the Internet, nobody
knows you’re a dog4”, the adage about anonymity on the Internet. A stereotype
is a generalized belief about members of a particular group (e.g., women, the
elderly, Arabic, Scottish) and includes beliefs about personality traits, physical
and mental characteristics, and expected behaviour; the opportunity to have
Internet-mediated relations with other people minimizes this unconscious bias.
Physical cues are often not immediately apparent and thus do not influence the
impressions that are formed or become a barrier to potential relationships.
Interacting on line, impressions are formed on very different criteria, rather
than basing impressions on superficial features, such as attractiveness; the
opinions expressed and the information about the self that is revealed become
the basis of first impressions.

4
Cartoon by Peter Steiner, published by The New Yorker on July 5, 1993—two dogs: one sitting on
a chair in front of a computer, speaking to the second dog sitting on the floor.
64 4 e-Inclusion & e-Empowerment

(D) bridging cross-cultural boundaries—the ability to promote cross-cultural dia-

logue, e.g. through online forums and blogs, encourages dialogue and contact
between individuals from opposing sides during a conflict. Amichai-Hamburger
refers to some concrete examples such as the 2006 Israel–Lebanon War.
Sometimes such initiatives fail and the website or Facebook page is abandoned,
sometimes the “channels” are blocked care of the government.
(E) effective one-on-one supervision: workers’ lives are under pressure due to the
increasing level of competition and the high level of job burnout. This is the
typical environment in the ICT sector so people are often unable to find the time
to seek professional assistance. Without professional assistance and support,
they are likely to suffer from burnout and consequential dropout. Thanks to the
Internet, it is possible to offer highly professional supervision on a one-to-one
basis, regardless of time, location and problem.
At Group Level the empowerment generated at group or community level is
evident; being a member of a group that shares common interests and goals enhances
self-esteem. In addition, members of communities experience a reduction in feelings
of loneliness and enjoy significantly more social contacts.
Citizenship Level this level is tightly connected with the concept of e-Democracy
and the galaxy of interactions between citizens and government that e-Democracy
enables, tools and public debate through online watchdog groups. These and other
“e” interactions empower citizens on three main levels:
(A) Direct political participation—this level refers to e-Governance and
e-Government as trustworthy and honest tools; a variety of studies5 have
shown that civic involvement increases substantially with the use of the web.
(B) Accessibility—this aspect refers both to the easy access to public governmental
information and to access to on line services provided by e-Government such as
financial payments, driving license renewals, downloading and filling out of tax
forms, filing for benefits, obtaining certificates.
(C) The ability to supervise and influence government decisions—web empowers
“informed citizenship” through engendering the creation of a fruitful debate
regarding civil and government issues among political activists and critics via
online watchdog groups6 and civil societies organizations7.
The consequences of such e-Empowerment tools have far-reaching implications
for the political sphere on local, national, and international levels.

5
E.g., Eugene Borgida, Emily N. Stark (2004), New media and politics—Some insights from social
and political psychology, DOI: 10.1177/0002764204270282, American Behavioral Scientist, Vol-
ume 48, Issue number 4.
Robert Kraut, Sara Kiesler et al. (2002), Internet Paradox Revisited, DOI: 10.1111/1540-
4560.00248, Journal of Social Issues.
6
E.g. https://www.watchdog.org, last accessed February 2019 (some restriction of access due to
GDPR).
7
E.g. https://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk, Twitter https://twitter.com/washingtonwatch?
lang1⁄4it, last accessed February 2019.
4.1 e-Inclusion and e-Empowerment 65

United Kingdom: Directgovkids (2007)

The British government published Directgovkids in 2007, a website where
children learn the values of democracy and the importance of political partic-
ipation. The full title of the web is “DirectgovKids: Giggles, Gigabytes (and
Government)”. As it was written on the home page of the project, “Children
will be able to find out about Government, public services and the world
around them in a fresh, fun and informative way through a new website
launched today (21 March 2007).
DirectgovKids aims to get children from 5 to 11 engaged with some of the
areas of Government that have an impact on their lives, and to help them learn
about and understand the society they are growing up in.
The site is designed to look like a revolving globe, with interactive build-
ings that children can investigate including: a Town Hall, a Police Station and
a School. There are online activities and exciting games, as well as animations
and slideshows. New areas are being added all the time and include a Health
Centre, a school council voting activity and a special area, where children can
have a ‘virtual vote’ on issues that affect them.
DirectgovKids can be used in the classroom, across the curriculum, as it has
many useful lesson materials. It also has more specific applications for the
teaching of Citizenship/ PSHE for Key Stages 1 and 2. It is the only free
resource of its type for schools. Children can also access it from their home
PC, for a fun home-learning experience. There is also a dedicated area for
parents, full of activities and suggested places to go and things to see.”
On the occasion of the launch of DirectgovKids, at St Edmund’s Primary
School in Tower Hamlets, which piloted the site, Children’s Minister Beverley
Hughes said:
“DirectgovKids is not only a fantastic learning tool for children, it’s great
fun too. This is the first time children in the UK have been communicated with
directly by Government through an online site. Young citizens will be able to
find out more about the world around them, and how Government shapes their
day-to-day lives. The site will also give more of a voice to children, allowing
them to express their views on current and future policy.”
On the same occasion Gail O’Flaherty, Head Teacher at St Edmund’s, said:
“A great deal of care has been taken to ensure that this website is attractive
to children and easy for them to use. It enables children to understand clearly
the differences between local and central government and fits in well with the
Citizenship curriculum. The site explains in a fun and informative way many
of today’s key issues, including healthy living and eating, food production and
recycling. Our School Council have found the site useful as they have peti-
tioned our local council for a lollipop lady and the process is explained on the
website. Both teachers and children have enjoyed using the site, which is a
particularly useful teaching tool as it can be accessed from both home and

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school. I believe that the site will become a regular part of our range of
teaching and learning activities, answering as it does the requirements of the
PSHCE8 curriculum and being such fun!”
A different feedback was due to David Willetts, the shadow education
secretary, whose parliamentary question uncovered the cost; he said that the
rate of return of 8218 hits in 3 weeks was poor.
“They have spent £2 million and 2 years to create this website, which is an
incredibly expensive and cumbersome way of doing it, but it doesn’t seem to
be getting many hits.”
The website is no more active; anyway it was a pioneer tool in the field of
young generations’ political participation.
Directgovkids.co.uk (no more active)

Qatar: Accessible Qatar (2016)

Accessible Qatar, an initiative by Sasol, is a smart phone application and
website, where the disabled community is able to view the public and touristic
locations and outlets in Qatar and see whether they are accessible and in
what way.
Combining expertly-audited accessibility data with user-submitted reviews
and ratings, the disabled community and tourists will be able to move about
more confidently, knowing they can arrive and leave any spot without
unwelcomed surprises that limit access.
Having accessibility information publicly available on Accessible Qatar
will encourage venues to make necessary modifications in support of accessi-
bility for all patrons. Accessible Qatar will support promoting Qatar as an
accessible destination.
Accessible Qatar is a first of its kind smartphone application and website in
English and Arabic that allows disabled individuals to easily find information
about the accessibility of various public and touristic locations. Featuring top
venues across Qatar, the application combines expertly-audited accessibility
data and user-submitted reviews and ratings for persons with different types of
disabilities.

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8
Personal, Social, Health & Citizenship Education.
4.1 e-Inclusion and e-Empowerment 67

Accessible Qatar, a smart phone application & website for the disabled community. Source:
http://www.accessibleqatar.com/

Accessible Qatar is a community-based project for people living in or

visiting Qatar. You can help improve the content by checking some/all of
the key areas below of locations you visit:
• Car Parking
• Entrances
• Ease of movement throughout the location e.g. ramps, passenger lifts, etc.
• Signage
• Restrooms
• The provided information allows disabled people to:
• Plan their visit more effectively
• Gain confidence in their destination’s accessibility
• Share their findings to benefit other users
• Raise awareness amongst the community
Accessibility level: A traffic light system indicates the relative level of a
location’s accessibility for people with different types of disabilities. Levels
are: accessible, partially accessible, not accessible, not audited.
Producer: Sasol
http://www.accessibleqatar.com/, last accessed February 2019.
68 4 e-Inclusion & e-Empowerment

A short list of topics grouped under the two keywords e-Inclusion and
e-Empowerment is:
• support integration of the global information society, empower the social, eco-
nomic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race,
ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status;
• empower citizens and stakeholders in public services;
• reduce “digital divides” between technology-empowered and technology-
excluded communities;
• ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities, eliminating discriminatory
laws, policies and practices in legislation, policies and action in this regard;
• enhance resilience to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social
and environmental shocks and disasters;
• support mobilization of resources from a variety of sources;
• ensure access for everyone to food, education, information, data, etc.;
• strengthen the capacity, in particular in developing countries, for early warning,
risk reduction and health risks;
• reduce discrimination against all women and girls & prevent all forms of violence
against all women and girls in the public and private spheres;
• enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communi-
cations technology, to promote the empowerment of women.
One of the first organisations devoted to e-Empowerment was established in 2002
in New Delhi, the Digital Empowerment Foundation9. DEF aims to connect
unreached and underserved communities of India in an effort to bring them out of
digital darkness and equip them with access to information.
With the belief ‘Inform, Communicate and Empower’ DEF finds sustainable
digital interventions to overcome information poverty in rural and remote locations
of India, and empower communities with digital literacy, digital tools and last mile
connectivity.
The Digital Empowerment Foundation came out of the deep understanding that
marginalised communities living in socio-economic backwardness and information
poverty can be empowered to improve their lives on their own, simply by provid-
ing them access to information and knowledge on using digital tools; DEF was
created to carry out this mission of empowering people digitally. Through all its
diverse activities, the foundation seeks to help people living in information dark-
ness overcome the information barrier, learn how to use digital tools and the
Internet to achieve greater socio-economic equality by uplifting themselves almost
on their own using the power of digital devices to access information and
knowledge.

9
Digital Empowered Foundation http://defindia.org, last accessed February 2019.
4.1 e-Inclusion and e-Empowerment 69

The Foundation has adopted a multi-stakeholder and multi-dimensional approach

based on establishing community-owned and community-managed digital infra-
structure and Internet access points in rural and semi-urban areas which operate in
such a way that the entire community can avail of the benefits of access to the
Internet and the global information highway. This is done not only by establishing
common Internet access points with all basic digital infrastructure such as com-
puters, laptops, tablets, printers, photo printers, scanners, web cameras, etc. but also
by spreading digital literacy among the masses either free of cost or at very
affordable prices.
This is an example of the initiatives carried out in the field of
e-Empowerment, a relevant sector located between social sciences and economics.
The outcomes of e-Empowerment may better even the economy of a territory or
of a population.

Denmark: Be My Eyes: Lend Your Eyes to the Blind (2017)

Be My Eyes is a FREE mobile app designed to bring sight to the blind
and visually impaired. With the press of a button, the app establishes a live
video connection between blind and visually impaired users and sighted
volunteers. Every day, volunteers are lending their eyes to solve challenges
both big and small in the lives of the blind and visually impaired. With
over half a million users across 150 countries, Be My Eyes has grown
to become the largest online community for the blind and visually impaired.
The app harnesses the power of generosity, technology and human connec-
tion to help blind and visually impaired individuals lead more independent
lives.
How does it work?
It’s simple. When you log onto the app, the main screen displays a
button that reads “connect to first available volunteer.” If you need visual
assistance with something, simply tap this button. Be My Eyes will call
a sighted volunteer (who speaks your language) and establish a video
connection between you—using your phone’s camera (located at the top
right corner of the non-screen side of your phone) and both participants’
microphones. The sighted volunteer will explain the things that you point
your camera at. The volunteers are called at random, and our technology
matches based on language and time zone, so you never need to worry about
disturbing anyone!

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70 4 e-Inclusion & e-Empowerment

Be my eyes: Bringing sight to blind and low vision people. Source: http://bemyeyes.com/

From the sighted volunteer’s perspective, they receive a notification on

their smartphone that a Be My Eyes user is seeking help. If they choose to
accept the call, a live video connection is established between both parties. If a
volunteer is unable to answer a call, someone else will step in as the call is
automatically forwarded to other volunteers until answered. Most calls are
answered within 45 seconds. Due to the size of our amazing volunteer network
and sophisticated matching technology, the app enables you to request assis-
tance in your native language 24 hours a day.
Whether you need support distinguishing between household products,
reading instructions, or help with a technical difficulty—our volunteers are
here for you.
Right now, there are over half a million sighted volunteers in the Be My
Eyes community, who are ready and willing to assist you. We would like to
stress that you can and should feel free to make calls as frequently as you wish
without ever disturbing anyone. In fact, we have many eager volunteers who
are still waiting to receive their first request for help. All this is to say—you
can definitely use Be My Eyes as much as you could possibly want!
How are people using Be My Eyes?
There are many situations, where a pair of friendly eyes can be helpful for
those with visual impairment, and Be My Eyes is used to solve a wide range of
daily tasks.

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4.1 e-Inclusion and e-Empowerment 71

The following list provides examples of some of the creative ways, people
are using the Be My Eyes app:
– Finding lost items
– Describing pictures, paintings or other pieces of artwork
– Matching or explaining colors
– Reading labels on household products
– Reading on computer screens, if websites are inaccessible, or screen readers
are not available
– Shopping in supermarkets
– Identifying the expiration date on perishable food packages
– Familiarizing yourself with new locations
– Distinguishing between products (Canned foods, shampoos, and soaps,
spices, etc.)
– Determining if lights are turned on or off
– Finding out when public transportation (buses, trains, etc.) is departing or
arriving
– Resolving electrical or technical issues
– Right now, there are over half a million sighted volunteers in the Be My
Eyes community, who are ready and willing to assist you.
In what circumstances should I NOT use Be My Eyes?
Please keep in mind that the generous sighted helpers in the Be My Eyes
network are volunteers, and we cannot guarantee the quality of their help nor
take responsibility for any of their actions. You may under no circumstances
share any nude, unlawful, hateful, or sexually suggestive content via this
service, and you should never display any items containing personal informa-
tion, such as credit cards, passports, envelopes that list your address, etc.
Please do not use Be My Eyes in situations that may cause danger to yourself
or others. We recommend that you take these simple precautions for the best
possible experience with Be My Eyes, and please report cases of app misuse or
abuse you encounter by emailing us at info@bemyeyes.com immediately.
The following are situations where Be My Eyes should not be used:
– Identifying credit cards
– Identifying mail that displays your personal address
– Identifying anything on your passport
– Anything involving social security numbers, bank information,
insurance, etc.
– Anything that can put your health in danger
– Identifying or taking medicine
– Any health-related issues
– Bullying or practical jokes

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72 4 e-Inclusion & e-Empowerment

– We appreciate your cooperation in making Be My Eyes a source of support,

kindness, and empowerment for all of our users.
How long does it take to get help?
Due to our huge network of volunteers and our unique matching technol-
ogy, we are now able to match over 90% of calls within 60 seconds. If your
request is not answered within 2 minutes, we recommend hanging up and
trying to call again.
Are there limits to the length of my calls?
There is no limit to how long a call can be, but it would be a nice gesture to
let the volunteer know, if you have a task that you think may take a long time.
Most volunteers are willing to accommodate any request, but seeing as they
are going about their daily lives, it never hurts to ask. Remember that you can
always call another volunteer to help you solve the issue, in case your first
match has to go.
Will the volunteer know my name or personal information?
Be My Eyes is designed to be anonymous, so the volunteer will never be
given your phone number, name, address, email, location, or any other
personal information. The volunteer will simply receive a push notification
that a Be My Eyes user is seeking help and will accept the call, if he/she is
available. You can choose to introduce yourself with your first name, but it is
completely up to you, and what you are comfortable with.
Will the volunteer speak my language?
Yes. Be My Eyes connects you with volunteers based on the language that
your phone is set to. If your phone is set to English, we will only connect you
to English-speaking volunteers. If your phone is set to Spanish, we will only
connect you to Spanish-speaking volunteers—and so on. Be My Eyes is now
available in more than 130 different languages. If you speak more than one
language, you can add languages to your phone under “Settings”.
Can I ask for help in the middle of the night?
You may request help 24/7. We match based on language and time zone—
meaning we only contact volunteers during their daytime hours. For example,
if you speak English, are based in the US, and need assistance in the middle of
the night, we will connect you to an English-speaking volunteer in, for
example, England or Australia, where it is daytime. Our volunteer network
is so large that no matter when you call, it is almost certain that there is a
volunteer, who speaks your language, for whom it is daytime.
Can I use Be My Eyes without WiFi?
Yes. Be My Eyes works over any viable network connection. If you are not
on a WiFi connection, when you make a Be My Eyes call, you will automat-
ically use your 3G, 4G or LTE data.

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4.1 e-Inclusion and e-Empowerment 73

Who are the sighted volunteers?

Our sighted volunteers are friendly citizens, who have decided that they are
willing to lend their sight, as they go about their daily lives. If a volunteer is
busy when they receive a call, the Be My Eyes technology will find the next
available volunteer right away. In fact, we send one call request to multiple
volunteers at a time, to ensure that you get connected with someone as quickly
as possible.
Right now there are over half a million sighted volunteers in the Be My
Eyes community, who are ready and willing to assist you—in every time zone
and in over 130 languages. We would like to stress that you, therefore, can and
should feel free to make calls as frequently as you wish, without ever
disturbing anyone. In fact, we have many eager volunteers, who are still
waiting to receive their first request for help, so you can use Be My Eyes as
much as you could possibly want!
Below you can read testimonials from a few of our sighted volunteers:
“The feeling of usefulness when you answer a call and can successfully
help someone cannot be described. I am always eagerly awaiting the
next one.”
“I am so happy to have been helpful. Thanks for this application, thanks for
helping people who don’t see well and thanks for giving me this moment of
joy; it is great to feel useful. . .”
“I just helped for the first time and was more than excited! This is awesome,
to be able to be someone’s eyes in a time of need! Thank you for the
opportunity to help!”
“My first opportunity to help went very well. What a wonderful way to
connect people. Thank you for making my day. I already love this, as it is so
easy to help others. I look forward to more opportunities to help.”
“I was so thrilled to be able to help someone within a couple of hours of
installing and signing up for the app. It was such a wonderful experience to be
able to help someone.”
What do our blind and visually impaired users think?
Below you can read a few testimonials from blind and visually impaired
users:
“I do not know what I would do without this app. It has been a lifesaver
for me.”
“I’m quite new to the Be My Eyes service, but find it extremely helpful. I
have only used it a handfull of times, but I can tell you the results have been
100%. I had a man help me tell between different types of tea, and another
woman identify a can of tomatoes. It sounds like a small thing, but I can tell
you, it is not! So many times I have opened the wrong can, and this is very
disappointing, to say the least. I just want to say thank you to all the volunteers,
who so nicely give up their time to do this. Remember it is the small things in a
person’s life that make a big difference.”

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74 4 e-Inclusion & e-Empowerment

“I have had the app for more than a year. I wanted to give you some
examples of ways that I use the app. Be My Eyes volunteers have located
dropped items on the floor or a worktop surface.
Volunteers have assisted in locating specific pages in books.
Volunteers have read settings on digital washing machines and dryers.
Volunteers have looked through catalogs with me and read descriptions of
items and prices.
Volunteers have identified CDs and helped sort them with me. Be My Eyes
has been a valuable part of my life. Probably the thing I am most grateful for is
the ability to ask for sighted assistance with things that could be considered
nonessential.”
“I am thankful for all of the volunteers who give up their time so freely, and
who are so kind and patient with me.”
How do I delete my account?
You cannot delete your account in the app. If you would like to delete it,
please send us an email on info@bemyeyes.com.
How can I help spread the word about Be My Eyes?
Being a small team, we encourage everyone to help us spread the word
about the app. Please follow us on Twitter or Facebook and share your stories.
Send us an email on press@bemyeyes.com, if you are a media person wanting
to cover Be My Eyes. If you are a member of an organization or foundation for
visually impaired, please spread the word in your network or community.
Keep Be My Eyes updated to the latest version
Please make sure to update your app to the latest version, in order to have
the best possible experience with Be My Eyes. We frequently make incre-
mental changes and fixes to the app, so the functionality is always improving.
Organisation: Be My Eyes
http://bemyeyes.com/, last accessed February 2019.

Egypt: Advicenode (2017)

Do you have an experience to share? Advicenode will help you to turn your
experience into an AI assistant. This assistant will be capable of advising and
assisting people around the world on a 24/7 basis!
Everyday, spend 500,000,000 hours on the Internet to find an advice or
solution to their problems.
To save this time Advicenode invented a web assistant. Web assistant is an
online software that can instantaneously process user input to suggest or
advise how to solve a specific problem. Building assistance is very easy and
doesn’t require us to write a single line of code. If you have any experience in
any area you can use Advicenode to build one in few hours. When it is ready

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4.1 e-Inclusion and e-Empowerment 75

you can share it with your friends or all over the entire world. You can even
build a standard website with your clips and monetize it.
Advicenode is a platform for creating and running a type of virtual assistant
known as “web-assistant”. Web-assistants are online virtual assistants that can
process user data to suggest or advice on to solve a problem. Web-assistants
empower people around the world by providing them access to different
people’s experiences on a 24/7 basis. Furthermore, they can be used in
different sectors like education, medical care, manufacturing, and much
more. Finally, web-assistants can save their users’ efforts, time, and money.
In some cases, they can save people’s lives.
On the other side, anyone having an experience can build a web-assistant.
Building web-assistants neither requires technical skills nor needs any long
training. People and organizations can build web-assistants to help others in
solving their problems or advising them. They can make their web-assistants
free-to-use or pay-to-use. Therefore, web-assistants are mutually beneficial to
their authors and their users.
What are web assistants?
Web assistant is an online software designed by an experienced person in
order to solve people’s problems or advise them.
How they work
In order to generate a relevant advice or solve the user’s problem, the web
assistant must collect some information from the user. The web assistant will
collect only the data required by the assistant author. For example, if the web
assistant is designed to solve a specific financial problem, then the author will
design his/her assistant to request the necessary information to solve that
problem. Once the necessary information is collected, Advicenode will use
the logic defined by the author to solve the user’s problem and show him/her
the solutions, the advice, or the guidance.
How to build one
Everyone should follow the steps below to build a web assistant:
– Have a good idea
– Design the assistant
– Get feedback
– Monetize the assistant
– Have a good idea
Before building your first assistant, you should have an idea that will make
people’s life easier. Before proceeding in building the assistant, you should
have access to all the data resources necessary to have the assistant up and
running. If the assistant needs static data (not changing frequently), you can
save it in any spreadsheet and let the assistant read it. On the other side, if the
data is dynamic (for example, forex, weather, stock prices, etc.), then the

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76 4 e-Inclusion & e-Empowerment

assistant can be integrated with other online resources. For example, if you like
to build an assistant that can help users in finding the best product that fits their
needs, then you should integrate it with an online store to get the products’
information and prices.
Design the assistant
Each assistant must have some logic to work. This logic can be methods to
analyze the data, algorithms to solve problems, integration with third parties,
etc. This step is quite easy in Advicenode. You can use the assistant designer
to define the information required, the assistant logic, resources, and the output
formatting methods. After testing your assistant, you can make it live so online
users can find it.
Get feedback
Advicenode enables assistants’ users to send feedback to their authors
regarding their assistants. You should consider their feedback to improve
your assistant from time to time.
Monetize the assistant
If you like to build an assistant to monetize it, there are several ways to do
so. You can charge users for their usage. If you own an online store, you can
build an assistant to guide users in finding the best products suiting their
preferences. You can also rely on affiliate and partnership programs to gener-
ate passive revenue. You can read more details about monetizing channels in
the monetizing section.
Overview
This tutorial describes how to convert your idea to a web-assistant. There
are mainly four steps you need to go through in order to build your assistant.
These steps are summarized below.
Data collection
The first step to make when starting with a web-assistant is to define set
questions. These questions will be displayed to the end-user when he/she tries
to use your assistants. Data collection is necessary to make your assistant
understand the end-user needs, preferences, and limitations. Normally, there
shouldn’t be too many questions defined to avoid boring the end-user. This
article describes all the steps you need to define the questions.
In order to suggest a tailored advice or solve the user’s problem, the
assistant will ask the user some questions. The assistant author is responsible
for defining all questions to be asked. The author is free to choose the control
type associated with each question. For example, he/she may choose a drop-
down list for a question that accesses certain values like “yes” or “no”. If the
answer is a number like 2.34 then a text box with a number restriction should
be used.
Questions are organized in pages and groups. Each group can have one or
more pages. Each page can have one or more question entries. There is a

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4.1 e-Inclusion and e-Empowerment 77

default group and a default page created in each new assistant. You can use
this group and page or create your own ones. Each assistant must have at least
one group, one page, and one question entry. Pages and groups are used to
organize questions; try to have relevant questions in each page. You can add a
unique banner for each group so the user can figure out the type of data
requested in the questions he/she is going to answer.
You can also control the visibility of certain questions based on the answers
of other questions. For example, if you defined a question to ask about the
user’s place of work and his/her answer was that he/she is unemployed, then
you can hide all other questions regarding the user’s employer. This will make
all questions displayed meaningful.
After defining the pages, groups, and question entries, you can reorganize
them using the question designer. Try to have the independent questions (those
whose visibility doesn’t depend on the answers of other questions) before
dependent questions.
Each group, page and question entry must have a unique name. Those three
names combined will represent the address of the question. For example, city
name, district number, and house number combined can represent a house
address in the state; the same applies for the question; to access the answer of
any question, you should know its group name, its page name, and its entry
name. Group, section, and entry names will not be visible to the user; they are
for internal use only.
Data resources
The second step is for defining the data resources needed by your assistant.
Data resources hold all the data that the assistant needs to process the user.
Data resources can be static or dynamic ones. Static data resources are those
resources defined by the assistant owner and can be only accessed through the
assistant. The only one authorized to maintain those resources is the assistant
owner him- or herself. Static resources can be useful when the assistant needs
some data that are not changing frequently (like medical information, regula-
tions, mathematical coefficients, alternatives, etc.). On the other side, if the
data is changing frequently (like products’ info, forex, stock prices, weather,
etc.), then the assistant owner should rely on dynamic data resources instead.
These resources are neither hosted nor maintained by the assistant owner.
However, he/she can integrate his/her web-assistant with online external
services to access these resources.
You don’t need to define any data resources if you are building a simple
assistant. To start defining static data resources, please read this article. If you
would like to integrate your assistant with dynamic data resources, please read
this article.

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Processing logic
In order to provide an advice or solve a problem, the assistant must have
some logic. There are mainly two types of logic in web assistants. The first one
deals with decision-making. You will need this type of logic if the end-user has
many alternatives and your assistant is helping him/her to know which one is
best matching his/her needs or preferences. The second type is for the
processing logic. This is the most important part of the web-assistant. This
type of logic should describe how the assistant will use the data collected from
the end-user to generate an advice or solve a problem. This logic may access
the static or the dynamic data resources. In other words, this logic type
represents the brain of the web assistant. Before defining your processing
logic, please read this article.
Result formatting
The final step to do is formatting the result. The result can be an advice, a
recommendation, a list of products, a problem solution, or any other type of
analysis. This step deals with visualizing all the findings discovered by the
assistant processing logic. The assistant owner can show text, pictures, tables,
charts, or any other element to visualize the findings to the end-user. if you
would like to read more about result formatting, please read this article.
Producer: Advicenode
https://advicenode.com/, last accessed February 2019.

United Kingdom: Defenders of the Earth (2017)

Year 2016 saw a record 200 killings of people defending their land, forests and
rivers against destructive industries.
It has never been deadlier to take a stand against companies that steal land
and destroy the environment. Our new report Defenders of the Earth found that
nearly four people were murdered every week in 2016 protecting their land
and the natural world from industries like mining, logging and agribusiness.
Murder is just one of a range of tactics used to silence land and environmental
defenders, including death threats, arrests, sexual assault and aggressive legal
attacks.
We track and verify data on the killings of environmental and land activists
globally. The data is collected through desk-based research and verification
with in-country partners in some of the world’s most dangerous countries to be
a land and environmental defender. We produce an annual report highlighting
the key themes and drivers of killings of activists, complemented by multi-
media such as short films, infographics and stills. We also collaborate with the
Guardian newspaper who have a dedicated website where they use our data to

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4.1 e-Inclusion and e-Empowerment 79

track killings of activists in real time, complemented by commissioned stories

and case studies related to the issue. Our web platform is the landing page for
our annual report and investigations as well as our multimedia. We also have a
page that links through to the Guardian microsite.
“They threaten you so you will shut up. I can’t shut up. I can’t stay silent
faced with all that is happening to my people. We are fighting for our lands, for
our water, for our lives.” Jakeline Romero, Colombian land defender
This report tells the stories of countless people like Jakeline as they stand up
to the might of multinationals, paramilitaries and even their own governments
in the most dangerous countries on earth to be a defender. It also analyses why
they are facing increased threats, and explores what can be done to keep
activists safe.
Killings of defenders are not only growing, they’re spreading too. In 2016
we documented 200 killings across 24 countries, compared to 185 across 16 in
2015. Almost 40% of those murdered were indigenous. A lack of prosecutions
also makes it hard to identify those responsible, but we found strong evidence
that the police and military were behind at least 43 killings, with private actors
such as security guards and hitmen linked to 52 deaths.
Deadliest countries for activists
The ruthless scramble for the Amazon’s natural wealth makes Brazil, once
again, the world’s deadliest country in terms of sheer numbers killed, though
Honduras remains the most dangerous country per capita over the past decade.
Nicaragua is beginning to rival that dubious record. An inter-oceanic canal
is set to slice the country in two, threatening mass displacement, social unrest
and the violent suppression of those who stand against it. A voracious mining
industry makes the Philippines stand out for killings in Asia.
In Colombia, killings hit an all-time high, despite—or perhaps because
of—of the recently signed peace deal between the government and the guer-
rilla group, the FARC. Areas previously under guerrilla control are now eyed
enviously by extractive companies and paramilitaries, while returning com-
munities are attacked for reclaiming land stolen from them during half a
century of conflict.
India has seen killings spike against a backdrop of heavy-handed policing
and the repression of peaceful protests and civic activism.
Defending national parks is now riskier than ever, particularly in Africa
where large numbers of rangers are being killed, especially in the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
And this isn’t a problem confined to any one corner of the planet. Devel-
oped countries are ramping up other methods to suppress activists, notably in
the US, where environmental defenders are being given every reason to protest
against the Trump administration.

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80 4 e-Inclusion & e-Empowerment

It is increasingly clear that, globally, governments and business are failing

in their duty to protect activists at risk. They are permitting a level of impunity
that allows the vast majority of perpetrators to walk free, emboldening would-
be assassins. Investors, including development banks, are fuelling the violence
by backing projects that harm the environment and trample human rights.
Protect those on the frontline
In Defenders of the Earth, we urge governments, companies and investors
to take steps to:
– Tackle the root causes of risk—guaranteeing communities can make free
and informed choices about whether and how their land and resources are
used;
– Support and protect defenders—through specific laws, policies and
practices;
– Ensure accountability for abuses—going beyond prosecuting those respon-
sible for ordering or carrying out an attack, by ensuring that those actors,
like international investors, who failed to support threatened defenders face
consequences for their inaction.
Producer: Global Witness
https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/
defenders-earth/, last accessed February 2019.

United Kingdom: Erase All Kittens (2017)

Erase All Kittens is a web-based platform game. Other code education tools
aren’t designed to appeal to girls, and they also don’t teach real-world coding
languages—only the concepts of coding (e.g. computational thinking).
E.A.K. is disruptive as it will be incredibly engaging to girls—we immersed
ourselves in the culture of our target audience to invent a gamified, story-
driven approach to teach new skills. E.A.K. is also unique because as players
progress, they can edit the code that governs the game environment, i.e. learn
by building and fixing levels as they play.
The way the game works is, when the player starts playing the game a note
pad-like editing window opens up on the left-hand side of the game screen;
this note pad gives instructions on how to write code, for example if the kitten
has to go from one side of the hill to the other and the only way it can pass is by
building a bridge, the player then has to write basic HTML code that builds a
bridge which then helps the kitten cross across the hill. This also helps the
develop creative writing skills, as they need to write sentences in the code,
thus turning them into story tellers. The editor prompts the player with hints

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4.1 e-Inclusion and e-Empowerment 81

and examples on how to write the code, which as they progress further makes
them develop their skills without needing any prompts as to how to write
the code.
As and when players cross levels and pass obstacles, they can only level up
by writing code as opposed to pressing up and down arrows, which is usually
the case with most video games.
Children have an amazing imagination; however, most girls say that
using technology to create things is too difficult; or more for boys; is that
really true? Girls didn’t realise that they are already creating using technology;
we need to inspire girls to code if we want them to have the same
opportunity as boys to solve this problem. EAK created a revolutionary
game that teaches professional coding languages in a creative way arrays
if kittens as characters and stories that appeals at girls and boys; kids aged
eight plus can build and fix levels using practical coding skills to save kittens
in a fantasy Internet universe. EAK is unique because it bridges the gap
between learning the concept of coding and being able actually to create on
the web. It encourages girls to become researchers, teachers, problem solvers
team builders, writers and designers as well as coders. Solely through word of
mouth EAK has over 120,000 players around the world and amazingly more
than half of them are girls. We are building new levels teaching HTML, CSS
and JavaScript so that kids can learn how to build their own simple websites;
we would really love your support in our mission to bring coding into the
mainstream and to help close the gender gap in tech; for more info please visit
arrays all kittens calm.
Producer: Shwetal Shah—Erase All Kittens
https://eraseallkittens.com/, last accessed February 2019.

United Kingdom: The Eyeborg (2008)

From birth, Neil Harbisson lacked the ability to perceive color. Because
of a rare condition called achromatopsia—total color-blindness—he always
lived in a black-and-white world. But with the help of an inventor, Harbisson
developed the “eyeborg,” a device that he wears on his head
that translates colours into sound. The camera senses the color frequency
in front of him, then sends different audible frequencies to a chip embedded
in the back of his head.

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82 4 e-Inclusion & e-Empowerment

Neil Harbisson in Ecuador. Licensed under CC-BY-SA-3.0 Lopez de Vega—Telefonica

Using the same colour-sound language, he now also translates music into
colours to create art—painting a multi-chromatic modernist representation of a
Justin Bieber song, for instance. And as he explains in the film above, his
ability to perceive color through sound has expanded into the realm of the
superhuman; he can now “see” infrared rays, and soon, he hopes, ultraviolet
as well.
Harbisson spoke more about how the “eyeborg” has changed his life in this
fascinating TED talk, below. “Before I used to dress in a way that it looked
good,” he says, wearing pink, blue, and yellow. “Now I dress in a way that it
sounds good. So today I am dressed in C major, it is quite a happy chord.”
The most intriguing part of Harbisson’s TED talk is the very end, when he
says that “I think life will be much more exciting when we stop creating
applications for the mobile phones and we start creating applications for our
own body. . .. I do encourage you all to think about which senses you would
like to extend. I would encourage you to become a cyborg—you won’t be
alone.” The TED blog has a list of six other “real-life cyborgs,” who go
through daily life with cameras in their eyes, USB drives in their hands and
extra ears in their arms. (Yikes!)
According to Harbisson and Montadon’s Cyborg Foundation website, the
team is working on all kinds of wild, sensory-experience-expanding projects
in addition to the “eyeborg.” There’s also a “speedborg,” which is like a little
radar detector that you wear on your hand that translates the speed of an object

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4.1 e-Inclusion and e-Empowerment 83

into vibrations; a “fingerborg,” a prosthetic finger with a miniature camera

inside; and “360-degree sensory extension”—a pair of earrings that vibrates
when someone approaches from behind.
Organisation: Cyborg Foundation
http://www.cyborgfoundation.com, last accessed February 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v¼Ts-XVPQOGM, last accessed
February 2019.

New Zealand: AttitudeLive (2015)

Watch, learn and be inspired: The world’s largest collection of videos about
chronic health conditions and disability.
AttitudeLive is the world’s leading provider of television and e-content
about the lives of people with disability. We have the largest online library of
documentaries, blogs, information, resources and tools for people with
disabilities.
By telling unique and compelling stories we empower and enlighten both
those with lived experiences of disability as well as the wider community.
We learn best by watching and learning from others. In these videos
ordinary people, who live with a disability, chronic health or a mental health
condition share their insights into how to live a good life. We are continually
building this resource to help you navigate the challenges of your life.
The application foresees different main categories:
(A) Newly Disabled
How to adapt to life with a disability. Watch how others have adapted to life
with a disability. If you’re newly disabled through accident, illness or genetics,
you will have a million questions. Our videos interview ordinary men and
women to share practical insights and tips on how to navigate the big (and
little) challenges of daily life. We want to encourage you by highlighting the
possibilities for your life ahead. You’ll also find links to organisations and
individuals who can answer some of the questions you may have along
the way.
Government assistance
In New Zealand, there are different systems that may apply to you
depending on the cause of your disability. Each system offers different levels
of financial support and this has led to a long running debate about the way
these systems are funded.
If you are disabled through accident or injury, including injury that occurs
through treatment, support is funded by the Accident Compensation

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84 4 e-Inclusion & e-Empowerment

Corporation (ACC). Cover is provided for both short and long-term injuries. If
you become disabled by illness, support is usually provided by the Ministry of
Health through their District Health Boards. To access this assistance, you will
be required to have a needs assessment carried out by your local Needs
Assessment and Service Co-ordination Association agency (NASCA).
Imagine Better is a not for profit organization that provides individually
designed support for people living with disability. They offer an easy to use
pre-assessment planning service designed to support you in your needs
assessment.
Work and Income provide additional support which you may be eligible for
if you have a disability or you are caring for someone who does. As you
contemplate a return to work you may also be able to access support through
the Ministry of Social Development. You may also find it useful to read
through other areas of this site, including our sections on Employment,
Education, Parenting and Independent Living for specific details of the
funding that’s available in each area.
Practical Support
Adjusting to life with a disability can be difficult and you may have a
multitude of questions about how your life will change. In the early stages, you
might need information about your options for housing, financial assistance,
rehabilitation, employment. Support is available to you from a variety of
organisations, many of which can be found in the different sections across
this site, but you may find the best information comes from those who already
have experience of your specific disability. This list of support organisation
contacts will connect you to other people within the disability community who
can offer support.
(B) Independent Living
How to have more choice and control over your lifestyle
Do you want more of a say in how you live, who you live with and who
provides any support you need at home? Our videos offer guidance and
encourage disabled people to live independently.
Accessible Housing
Our homes and communities have a profound impact on our ability to be
socially and economically active, as well as our overall quality of life.
Research has shown that the needs of disabled people are not being met by
New Zealand’s current housing stock. The government recognises that more
needs to be done to make better use of existing housing, and also to promote
the ‘future proofing’ of new homes with universal and accessible design.
Existing Homes
In New Zealand both the ACC and the Ministry of Health provide assis-
tance with housing modifications for people with long-term disabilities.

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4.1 e-Inclusion and e-Empowerment 85

In the first instance an occupational therapist will assess your needs to

identify what you need to help you get around your home safely.
Accessible and Enable New Zealand receive applications from assessors
and check them to ensure they are the most appropriate solution for you. If
your application is approved they will stay involved until the work is
completed.
CCS Disability Action also has more information on making your home
accessible.
If you decide to carry out modifications privately the New Zealand Feder-
ation of Disability Information Centres can put you in touch with a builder
with suitable experience in your area. Contact your local centre for details.
New Homes
Instead of making modifications to your existing home you may want to
consider moving to a new home, specifically designed with accessibility
in mind.
Lifemark Design is an independent not-for profit established by CCS
Disability Action. They award the ‘Lifemark’—an independent seal of
approval for accessible home design. The website will help you find approved
designers and builders for your new home.
Housing New Zealand maintains a database of modified Housing
New Zealand properties. A Suitable Home service puts a Case Manager and
a disabled person together to find a suitable modified home. To access this
service you must live in New Zealand, have a long-term physical disability and
require housing that meets your disability needs.
Driving with a disability
Most people with a physical disability can get a driver’s license and most
people who had a license before they acquired a disability can continue to
drive. Anyone with a disability wishing to drive must undergo an assessment
with an Occupational Therapist qualified in driver assessments.
Funding is also available for modifications to your vehicle. The
New Zealand Transport Agency publishes a factsheet on vehicle modifications
which you may find useful.
You can also apply for a Mobility Parking Permit which allows you to use
mobility parking places which are wider than standard parks and closer to
venues.
(C) Family Carers
New Zealand has nearly half a million carers and two thirds of those have
experienced depression at some point. Caring can be an isolating experience so
it’s important to engage in social activities whenever possible whilst also
finding time for yourself.

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86 4 e-Inclusion & e-Empowerment

The New Zealand government recently agreed to pay some family carers,
after courts ruled that it was discriminatory not to. The new policy can be
read here.
Carers NZ is a national charity providing information and support for
families with health and disability needs. They produce a quarterly magazine.
Their website has a search facility to find support in your local area as well as
other useful information and resources.
The Ministry for Social Development publishes a ‘Guide for Carers’ (pdf)
providing information on Government help and support for carers. You can
also call Work and Income on 0800 559 009 to get a copy.
The Ministry of Health offers respite services and carer support for anyone
who is the full-time unpaid carer of a disabled person.
Work and Income provides a child disability allowance for the main carer
of a child or young person with a serious disability.
(D) Products
Assistive products may make your everyday tasks a little easier to manage.
There are a range of low cost products to assist you with meal preparation,
getting dressed and keeping you safe and mobile at home. You or your family
can buy these directly from a retailer if you need them.
Products you may find helpful include:
– Cups with handles
– Jug or kettle tippers
– Electric can openers
– Plates with surrounds
– Jar and bottle openers
– Long handled products if arm movement is restricted
– Cutlery or utensils with built-up handles to aid with gripping
– Slip-resistant matting to prevent plates or cups from moving across bench
surfaces
– Safety in the bathroom can be achieved with slip resistant mats or short grab
rails fitted to provide you with support
– Walking sticks
– Reachers to pick things up off the floor
– Sock assist equipment.
Support Dogs
Support dogs are trained to promote independent living, mobility and
companionship for disabled people. If you think a dog could help you with
your disability you are eligible to apply for one.
In New Zealand a disability assist dog is permitted by law to enter and stay
in places where other dogs wouldn’t be allowed.

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4.1 e-Inclusion and e-Empowerment 87

Dogs trained by authorised organisations are funded by the generosity of

individuals, businesses, and corporations.
The following organisations are authorized by the government to certify
dogs as disability assist dogs:
– Hearing Dogs for Deaf People New Zealand
– Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind
– Mobility Assistance Dogs Trust
– New Zealand Epilepsy Assist Dogs Trust
– Perfect Partners Assist Dogs Trust
– Assistance Dogs New Zealand Trust
Taxi
The Total Mobility scheme provides subsidised taxi services if you’re
unable to access public transport. More information including contact details
for your local service providers can be found on their website.
Public Transport
Access to public transport can be vital for disabled people living
independently.
Low floor buses, wide aisles and reserved wheelchair seating are some of
the features that help to improve the accessibility of services. You can find
more information on accessibility features on your local services on the
following pages.
– Whangarei
– Auckland
– Hamilton
– Rotorua and Tauranga (contact information)
– Gisborne
– Hawke’s Bay
– Taranaki
– Wanganui and Palmerston North
– Nelson
– Blenheim
– Christchurch (contact information)
– Invercargill
Support Services
Disability policy and practice in New Zealand encourages inclusion and
participation in society.
Support for people living with a disability can be accessed through either
the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) or the Ministry of Health
(MoH).

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88 4 e-Inclusion & e-Empowerment

Through ACC you may be eligible for a range of services including home
help, attendant help, and childcare. Contact ACC to find out what kind of help
they can provide and how to make a claim.
The Ministry of Health funds disability services supporting people to live in
their own homes or within their own communities. These services are accessed
via the Needs Assessment and Services Coordination procedure.
People’s needs vary greatly and there are different ways in which you can
start to live more independently. You can read more about these options
below. Your Needs Assessment Service Coordinator (NASC) will help you
decide on the appropriate level of support required.
Supported Independent Living
Supported Independent Living services allow you to live in your own home
either independently or with others. The services suit a person who normally
needs additional support beyond what is provided by personal support and
household management. It’s not intended to be a 24-hour support service.
The idea of supported living is that as you learn new skills and gain
confidence you will rely less on formal support. Following an assessment by
NASC you will be referred to an appropriate service. The referral will give
guidelines to help you maintain independence and your lifestyle of choice. The
Ministry of Health provides more information on supported living on their
website.
If you wish to leave the family home but need a high level of support,
Community Residential Support Services provide 24-hour support in a range
of community settings for both physically and intellectually disabled people.
These services are funded by the Ministry of Health and can be accessed
through your Needs Assessment Coordinator.
Alternatively, Home Based Support Services (HBSS) assist you to be
independent in your own home. Support workers spend an agreed number of
hours providing personal support and helping with household management.
You can be referred to the service by either an ACC staff member or NASC.
You may be eligible for Individualised Funding to help pay for Home
Based Support services. This gives you more choice and control over who
cares for you and when.
The following organisations have more information on the ways you can
live independently.
The New Zealand Federation of Disability Information Centres nationally
promotes and supports the local provision of information on disability; they
provide impartial information and referral services. You can contact your
nearest information provider for more information on independent living
services near you.
Support Options is an online guide to disability support services for those
living in the Auckland and Northland areas that are funded by Disability

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4.1 e-Inclusion and e-Empowerment 89

Services, a part of Health and Disability National Services of the Ministry of

Health.
CCS Disability Action takes a supported lifestyle approach to helping you
live in your community. Their website outlines the various aspects to this and
includes a regional search tool so you can access services in your area.
Weka provides information about support services for people living with
disability, their families, whanau and caregivers and health professionals in
New Zealand.
Imagine Better is a not for profit organisation providing individually
designed disability supports. It offers an easy to use pre-assessment planning
service designed to help you with your needs assessment.
Service Providers
Listed below you will find some of the supported living services organisa-
tions in New Zealand. You can find more by using the search tool provided by
the New Zealand Federation of Disability Information Centres.
Idea Services is the support arm of IHC for people with intellectual
disabilities to help them live and work in their local community.
A Supported Life offers adolescents and adults with an intellectual disabil-
ity a wide range of opportunities and residential options in their own
community.
The Renaissance Group is one of the largest supported living services in
New Zealand. It aims to make the process of growing up, leaving home and
becoming an independent adult as common and acceptable for disabled people
as it is for the rest of the population.
Access is one of New Zealand’s leading healthcare organisations special-
izing in home-based healthcare and support. It offers a variety of services to
support independent living.
Visionary Living work with people of all ethnicities and disabilities who
are aged between 16 and 65 years in the greater Auckland area. Some areas of
assistance include finding appropriate accommodation, managing your home
and financial affairs, travelling safely, training, and social and recreational
activities.
Producer: AttitudeLive.com
http://www.attitudelive.com/, last accessed February 2019.
90 4 e-Inclusion & e-Empowerment

Chile: Laboratoria (2017)

The Laboratoria job-placement platform is a website where tech companies or
the IT areas of traditional corporations can find the female tech talent they
need. A huge challenge for the private sector worldwide is the shortage of tech
talent, with an additional scarcity of women. On the other hand, we have
millions of women in Latam unemployed, working informally or at
low-paying jobs due to lack of opportunities.
Laboratoria connects these issues by training low-income women in front-
end web development and links them with companies that need their talent
through our job-placement platform. This web, accompanied by in-person job
placement activities not only provides the over-demanded female tech talent,
but also reduces the time and resources companies spend in recruiting for
talent from 90 to 15 days approximately, becoming a tool that generates
double impact on the tech industry and a life-changing opportunity to our
students.
Learn to code and get a job in the tech world
Have you ever wondered how web pages are created? In Laboratoria you
will learn this and so much more. Through an agile learning methodology, you
will become a web developer or UX Designer in only 6 months and will pay
for the program if we get you a job. We have already trained more than
550 young women that are now working in big companies such as IBM,
Accenture, Everis, Scotiabank or ThoughtWorks. We have a 77% employ-
ability rate and our graduates, on average, triple their income.

The Laboratoria job-placement platform. Source: http://laboratoria.la/

Tech talent hires our graduates

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4.1 e-Inclusion and e-Empowerment 91

In Laboratoria we identify young women with great potential through a

selection process of 680 measurement points. Then, we prepare them to
become Web Developers or UX Designers through an agile learning method-
ology. In our 6-month bootcamp they create +40 web products and develop the
technical and soft skills needed in order to work in high performing tech teams.
Our program finishes with a “Talent Fest”, a hackathon where participating
companies come to recruit through real challenges that our students solve in
36 hours. We have already placed talent in +200 companies and our employer
satisfaction rate is 4.5/5.
Corporate training develops the skills your team needs for the digital era
There is much talk about Design Thinking, however, in order to innovate
and accomplish digital transformation, there is much more to be done. With all
our experience as entrepreneurs and educators in tech, we do in-house training
for companies that want to grow through their digital transformation. If you
want to have a team that speaks the tech language and that innovates in a lean
and agile manner, take our corporate programs. We’ve already trained more
than 500 corporate leaders across major industries.
Producer: Laboratoria
http://laboratoria.la/, last accessed February 2019.

Spain: Mouse4all (2017)

The world is becoming mobile; however, we have left behind millions of
people who cannot use a touch screen. People with severe physical disabilities
resulting from Cerebral Palsy, Spinal Cord Injury, Multiple Sclerosis,
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or neuromuscular diseases.
What is Mouse4all? It is an accessibility solution that allows the use of an
Android tablet or smartphone without touching the screen. It enables access to
Internet, social networks, games and any application. It targets persons with
physical disabilities that find it difficult to work with a touch screen: cerebral
palsy, spinal cord injury, tetraplegia, multiple sclerosis, ALS or neuromuscular
disease.
Mouse4all improves the quality of life of its users by boosting their
autonomy, privacy and personal development; it improves their self-esteem
while empowering them to make their own decisions and participate in the
society. It works with a connection box and an Android app. It can be used
with one or two switches, a trackball mouse or a joystick.
Mouse4all has been created to enable everyone to access an Android tablet
or smartphone with alternative input interfaces: switches, adapted mouse,
trackball or joystick. This solution makes accessible any Android device and

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all its installed apps through an app available in Google Play and a plug-and-
play hardware connection box. Users can access the Internet and stay
connected with friends & family through messaging and social networks,
everywhere anytime.
Personal autonomy: do you want to play a game? Browse the Internet?
Read an e-Book? Listen to flamenco music? Explore the apps in Google Play.
Many of them can work with switch control or with a mouse.
Digital revolution for all; thanks to Mouse4all you can use exactly the same
WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram as your friends and family.
Privacy issues are paramount for Mouse4all; we all have the right to
privacy; no need any more to dictate messages to a support person. This
application lets you send your messages by yourself without any supervision.
Producer: Mouse4all
http://mouse4all.com/en, last accessed February 2019.

References

1. Amichai-Hamburger Y, McKenna KYA, Tal S-A (2008) E-empowerment: empowerment by the

Internet. Comput Hum Behav 24:1776–1789. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2008.02.002
2. Borgida E, Stark EN (2004) New media and politics – some insights from social and political
psychology. Am Behav Sci 48(4):467–478. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764204270282
3. Kraut R, Kiesler S et al (2002) Internet paradox revisited. J Soc Iss 58(1):49–74. https://doi.org/
10.1111/1540-4560.00248
4. OECD (2001) Understanding the digital divide. OECD Publications. http://www.oecd.org/inter
net/ieconomy/1888451.pdf
Chapter 5
e-Government: Background, Today’s
Implementation and Future Trends

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive overview, subdivided by

main classes, on the emerging scenario for everyday life in the e-Society. The scope
of this chapter is to bridge the gap between technology and successful solutions. It
will outline the most critical part of the service. This chapter like the whole book
outlines the user/citizen perspective and desiderata. This perspective provides useful
hints to public authorities and decision makers.

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 93

A. M. Ronchi, e-Democracy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01596-1_5
94 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

5.1 Introduction

A trend towards reforming the public sector has emerged in many countries in recent
years, spurred primarily by the aspirations of citizens around the world, who are
placing new demands on governments. Some demands are adding the need of
efficiency, transparency and overall better performance, some are basically trained
by the innovation wave that was originated by the adoption of the Internet and web-
based services by and care of the private sector, later on boosted by the smart phone
and tablet APPs’ broad diffusion. Having witnessed the potential administrative
revolution and feeling the need to reduce the existent gap between private and public
sector an increasing number of governments adopted e-Government as a strategy to
support development1.
The success of government leaders is increasingly being measured by the benefits
they are creating for their constituents, namely, the private sector, citizens and
communities. These ‘clients2’ of government demand top performance and effi-
ciency, proper accountability and public trust, and a renewed focus on delivering
better service and results.
As a consequence several countries around the world are attempting to revitalize
their public administration and make it more proactive, efficient, transparent and
especially more service-oriented.
To accomplish this transformation, governments are introducing innovations in
their organizational structure, practices, capacities, and in the ways they mobilize,
deploy and utilize the human capital and information and technological and financial
resources for service delivery to citizens. In this context, the appropriate use of ICT
plays a crucial role in advancing the goals of the public sector and in contributing
towards an enabling environment for social and economic growth. In such a reno-
vation process the ICT support turns “government” into “e-Government”, that
means:
“e-Government: Delivering complete services in public administrations to indi-
viduals, businesses and organisations combined with organisational change in
order to significantly improve services and democratic processes and strengthen
support to public policies; fostering quality and efficiency of information exchange;
empowering citizens and public services clients.”
This is one of the attempts to define e-Government used on the occasion of the
early meetings of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS).
More in general, e-Government can contribute significantly to the process of
transformation of the government towards a leaner, more cost-effective government.
It can facilitate communication and improve the coordination of authorities at
different tiers of government, within organizations and even at the departmental

1
It is relevant to note that this feeling was perceived by governments but other Institutional domains
where not as it happened for education and training.
2
Clients—it is not the proper term, even if sometimes used, because basically citizens cannot
choose, there are no competitors and it is not an open market.
5.1 Introduction 95

level. Further, e-Government can enhance the speed and efficiency of operations by
streamlining processes, lowering costs, improving research capabilities and improv-
ing documentation and record keeping. This means that governments have to rethink
their information flows and processes. Reasonably a similar revolution will involve
the entire “structure” from organisational aspects to personnel and procedures.
However, the real benefit of e-Government lies not in the use of technology per
se, but in its application to processes of transformation. e-Government is more than
just putting in new computer systems. Rather, e-Government also involves comple-
mentary changes to administrative practices and business processes.
Nevertheless, one of the seeds enabling a similar transformation is the availability
of information communication technologies for everyone. In 2000 the UN General
Assembly adopted the Millennium Declaration which set out a vision for the future
which affirmed that “. . . the benefits of new technologies, especially information and
communication technologies, are available to all. . .”3 [1].
As already outlined by the author on the occasion of the Smart Communities
Symposium held in Rome in 19971, the advent of e-Society will, in the current
scenario, dramatically increase the gap between the industrialised countries and the
developing ones, and even the gaps between the industrialised countries themselves.
At that time, I called this issue the “increasing gap”; now we use the term the digital
divide or, looking from the positive side, e-Inclusion. On the one hand, this is a big
problem, but on the other, it presents an incredible opportunity. Thinking positive,
let us consider it to provide digital opportunities, the seed of e-Empowerment.
It used to be said that there are more phones in Manhattan than in some
developing countries; now, however, there is a shift of paradigm, and access to the
network provides the discriminatory factor. This means that both a lack of physical
access to the network and an inability to handle digital technologies can cause a loss
of competitiveness. This was the state of the art at the end of the 1990s and even in
the first decade of the new century as the official reports on Internet penetration
showed large areas of the globe that were almost inaccessible for technological,
political, social, economic and/or religious reasons. In some regions, while it was
possible to connect to the network, in reality it was too expensive to do so.
The massive penetration of smart phones and tablets, if on one side reduced
significantly the digital divide among both countries and citizens, on the other side
the wider market and the open competition pushed telecom operators and ISPs to
reduce the price of connectivity mainly offering affordable flat rates on mobile
platforms and landlines. Public administrations, on their side, integrated these efforts
providing free connectivity in public spaces, many times simply asking, for security
reasons, for a free registration to the service.
Digital networks have vastly increased the speed at which it is possible to
communicate, providing real and tangible benefits to power users. Communications,
information and assets exchanges, commerce and many other activities have
increased their own potentials using such networks.

3
This is an excerpt from: Alfredo M. Ronchi, eCulture: Cultural content in the digital age, ISBN:
978-3-540-75273-8, Springer 2009.
96 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

In the process for evaluating the overall performances of a government renova-

tion process we must remember that a basic service in one country can provide more
significant improvements in the life style or level of satisfaction of the citizens more
than a very sophisticated service in a different country. On line telegrams may
change the way of life in some African countries and on line interactive city council
sessions may build consensus in town planning. This means measuring relative
performances or introducing some “weighted” scores.
With specific reference to developing countries, a great challenge for the global-
society is to figure out how to harness the power of computer-based information and
communication technologies (ICTs) to raise the ability for governments to govern,
serve their citizenry and, ultimately, improve the human development conditions for
their people.
On the occasion of the first phase of the World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS 2003) the final declaration of the Plan of Action included that the
countries should aim “to connect all local and central government departments and
establish websites and email addresses”.
Moreover on the occasion of the second phase of the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS 2005) the report includes:
“Our challenge is to harness the potential of information and communication
technology to promote the development goals of the Millennium Declaration
(MDG), namely the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger; achievement of
universal primary education; promotion of gender equality and empowerment of
women; reduction of child mortality; improvement of maternal health; to combat
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability and
development of global partnership for development for the attainment of a more
peaceful, just and prosperous world” (WSIS 2005).
Consequently, in performance evaluation, we must consider to what extent these
additional goals are fulfilled.
On the occasion of the WSIS meetings in 2014 an updated “vision” was pro-
posed: “The advancement of e-government should be carried out with a view to
transform governments to be more efficient, effective, transparent, accountable,
open, and citizen centric. We should collectively strive to promote e-government
for more effective public service without undermining privacy and security to
support sustainable development. We encourage co-production of e-government
services, transfer of knowledge and sharing of best practices to promote innovation
and effective development.”
Accordingly with this “vision” the main pillars of e-Government are identified as:
A. Encourage integrated e-Government services through whole-of-government
approach to support the three pillars of sustainable development;
B. Promote inclusive e-Government through e-Participation and increase availabil-
ity of government data for reuse in order to promote participation in public
policy-decision-making, responsiveness, transparency and accountability;
C. Promote people-centred delivery of e-Services and bridge the digital divide;
5.2 What Do We Term e-Government? 97

D. Address privacy and security issues through concerted efforts;

E. Promote capacity building and knowledge sharing for effective utilization of
resources;
F. Utilize existing infrastructure (e.g. community access points including kiosks,
community centres, libraries, and post offices) and use intermediaries to ensure
that e-Government services reach all end users;
G. Improve government service through open and transformational ways and
provide multi-channel service delivery particularly through mobile devices.
The proposed target by 2020 suggested on the occasion of the meetings is: by
2020 member states have reached 60% of the e-Participation index (UN DESA).
Once we have ensured a proactive environment and accessibility for all, in order
to achieve the goal, we have to adequately take into account: Who is likely to go
online to use government services? What are the typical behaviours of citizens on
line? What types of barriers and obstacles turn people away from going online to use
government services? What factors encourage users to feel comfortable with e-
Government services? Once a person makes a visit online, will they return? Will
they encourage other people to use the site or not?
The global survey of e-Government created by Professor Darrell West4 offers an
interesting insight on e-Government implementation: “Most governments around
the world have gone no further than the billboard or partial service-delivery states
of e-Government. They have made little progress at portal development, placing
services on-line, or incorporating interactive features onto their websites. Not only
are they failing to use technology to transform the public sector, their efforts mostly
consist of no meaningful change or small steps forward” [2].
There are at least two more points to be considered: the thin border between such
services and privacy and the long-term preservation of digital archives. We all know
that the increasing use of technologies and in particular ICT improves our “visibil-
ity” and the opportunity to be “tracked”; mobile phones, highway tags, on line
transactions, instant messaging and e-mails are very useful but reduce our privacy.
The second aspect, long-term preservation, is more often than not forgotten.

5.2 What Do We Term e-Government?

As it happens very often, a certain word or terminology in common use often means
different things to different people. The term e-Government is one of such terms.
Depending on whom you talk to, their background, e-Government may mean
technical and/or public policy issues around the internet.
Before entering the core of the topic, it may be useful to recall terms and
definitions already provided in the chapter devoted to e-Governance. The terms

4
http://insidepolitics.org/, last accessed February 2019.
98 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

digital government, electronic government (e-Government), mobile government (m-

Government) and electronic governance (e-Governance) are used widely to repre-
sent the use of information communication technologies in public sector organisa-
tions (e.g. local and central government, public companies, public archives, etc.).
The terms are very closely related, which causes confusion. Governments serve
multiple roles—they provide services; they govern (e.g. set, monitor, and enforce
standards within systems); and they serve the public by governing. Because of this,
the terms are often used interchangeably. For this reason, the three terms need to be
defined, at least for a better understanding of the present paragraph, in the following
way:
Digital government refers to the “umbrella term that comprises all uses of informa-
tion and telecommunication technologies in the public sector5”;
e-Government is one aspect of digital government; we term government the imple-
mentation of the decisions and guidelines and the infrastructure of interaction
with citizens; e-Government refers to the provision of governmental services by
ICTs, particularly over the Internet;
e-Governance refers to the use of ICTs for organisation of political activity within
and beyond nation states. e-Governance “is one of a wide range of competing
terms pertaining to use of new communication technologies, such as the Internet
and mobile telephony, for political and governmental purposes”; we term gov-
ernance the decision-making process that defines the guidelines of the
government.
Other widely used terms that have overlapping meaning include: electronic
democracy (e-Democracy), online democracy, cyber democracy, virtual democracy,
online governance, tele-democracy, e-Participation and e-Deliberation6.
All the above deal with terms and definitions; what about the different actors and
their main relations? If we consider the potential set of interactions between gov-
ernment and other bodies we can find at least:
• Government to government (G2G): interactions among different governmental
bodies (local/central, ministry/ministry, local/public company, etc.);
• Government to business (G2B): interaction among governmental bodies and
business companies;
• Government to citizens (G2C): interaction between governmental bodies and one
or more citizens.
An emerging class of interaction is the transnational one (e.g. G2G, G2B, G2C).
Simply consider the European Union framework; how can I perform a transaction
between Italian and German e-Government systems? Such an interaction usually

5
G. David Garson (2006), Public Information Technology and E-Governance: Managing the
Virtual State, ISBN-13: 9780763734688, Jones & Bartlett Learning.
6
Chen Yu-Che, Chu Pin-Yu (2008), Electronic Governance and Cross-Boundary Collaboration:
Innovations and Advancing Tools, ISBN 9781609607531, IGI Global.
5.3 Stages of e-Government Evolution 99

implies international standards setting and extended interoperability7. Some Euro-

pean projects are developing transnational government services mainly referring to
their own interoperability standards8.

5.3 Stages of e-Government Evolution

We have analysed definitions, specific fields of application, different levels of

interaction; now there is still an applicable taxonomy that represents in some way
the common basis in order to compare and rank e-Government services: the different
stages of e-Government evolution. A shared view takes into consideration five
different stages of evolution, ranging from emerging, enhanced, interactive, trans-
actional and connected9. This evolutionary path does not differ too much from the
one typical of the business and industrial sector.

connected

transaconal

interacve

enhanced

emerging

Different stages of e-Government evolution

They all together form a kind of pyramid starting from the lower level of
implementation (emerging) and ending with the maximum level of implementation
(transactional). As countries move upwards towards the stage of connected govern-
ment, they pass through many thresholds in terms of infrastructure development,
content delivery, business re-engineering, data management, security and customer
management.

7
John Borras (2004), International Technical Standards for e-Government. ISSN 1479-439X,
Academic Conference Ltd. http://www.ejeg.com/issue/download.html?idIssue=5, last accessed
February 2019.
8
e-Government Unit (2006), e-Government Metadata Standard version 3.1, U.K. Cabinet Office
Transformational Government Strategy.
9
This taxonomy is common to a number of international organisations and research teams (e.g.
United Nations, OECD, The World Bank)—Stages of e-Government evolution: for detailed model
and schema see the ‘United Nations Global E-Government Survey 2003’. https://
publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/reports/un-e-government-survey-2003, last accessed
February 2019.
100 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

Stage I Emerging: A government’s online presence is mainly comprised of a web

page and/or an official website; links to ministries or departments of education,
health, social welfare, labour and finance may/may not exist. Much of the informa-
tion is static and there is little interaction with citizens.
Stage II Enhanced: Governments provide more information on public policy and
governance. They have created links to archived information that is easily accessible
to citizens, as for instance, documents, forms, reports, laws and regulations, and
newsletters.
Stage III Interactive: Governments deliver online services such as downloadable
forms for tax payments and applications for license renewals. In addition, the
beginnings of an interactive portal or website with services to enhance the conve-
nience of citizens are evident.
Stage IV Transactional: Governments begin to transform themselves by introduc-
ing two-way interactions between ‘citizen and government’. It includes options for
paying taxes, applying for ID cards, birth certificates, passports and license renewals,
as well as other similar Government to Citizen (G2C) interactions, and allows the
citizen to access these services online 24/7. All transactions are conducted online.
Stage V Connected: Governments transform themselves into a connected entity
that responds to the needs of its citizens by developing an integrated (one stop) back
office infrastructure. This is the most sophisticated level of online e-Government
initiatives and is characterized by:
1. Horizontal connections (among government agencies)
2. Vertical connections (central and local government agencies)
3. Infrastructure connections (interoperability issues)
4. Connections between governments and citizens
5. Connections among stakeholders (government, private sector, academic institu-
tions, NGOs and civil society)
In addition, at this stage, e-Participation and citizen engagement are supported
and encouraged by governments in the decision-making process (e.g. collaborative
urban planning, city hall debates, etc.). Consequently, in performance evaluation, we
must consider to what extent these additional goals are fulfilled.
As a follow-up of such a trend an increasing number of countries started e-
Government programmes. Some of them simply published on line an “institutional”
static web page, others added some services and some took the opportunity to
activate a-in-depth reform of both the front and back office. The question is: what
are the guidelines ensuring a proper solution development providing at the same time
some parameters and checkpoints for performance assessment?
Back to the design approach, of course the first idea is to offer information and
public services on line. Due to the new opportunities offered by the technological
framework we can provide new additional services. One of the common risks is to
design the new front office on the basis of the “institutional” point of view. This
often means replicating the internal structure of service provision. It takes some time
5.3 Stages of e-Government Evolution 101

usually to reshape “praxis” in order to fully benefit from innovation. In the initial
phase of the Internet era large companies and postal services used to transfer
messages by e-mail but deliver them to the “recipient” in paper format, printing
and delivering them as regular mail. The same happened to a wide range of services
delivered, we can say, in “half duplex”, information flow from the institution to the
citizen via the Internet, the opposite by registered mail or fax. The same happened
and still happens in e-Government. “Bad ambassadors10” are always one of the
major concerns in any innovation process. They can significantly delay the imple-
mentation of new processes and technologies. All these aspects take us to consider
that first of all we need a complete re-design of both the front and back office of
governmental institutions, including the full set of tools and procedures needed (e.g.
electronic signature, electronic submission and delivery, etc.). Then we need to
ensure full interoperability in G2G interaction, a solid backbone enabling seamless
internal information flows. Last but not least a citizen-centred design of the platform.
We will outline in the following paragraphs why those aspects may influence
performance and even the successful implementation of e-Government platforms.
An interesting case study related to the design of a complete digital framework is
provided by the Malaysian government.

MALAYSIA: The Malaysian Experiment (1996)

The Malaysian experience is particularly interesting because in 1996 it was a
country that started, almost from scratch, to “design” the legal and govern-
mental framework for the cyber age. The following paragraph describes the
original presentation of the Multimedia Super Corridor as shown care of the
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad at the Imperial College in
London.
The Malaysian Experiment: The Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) is
Malaysia’s most exciting initiative for the global information and communi-
cation technology (ICT) industry. It demonstrates how the creation of a proper
legal framework can fertilize and boost a completely new market. It has been
developed to act as a global reference centre for multimedia production.
However, it has faced IPR and cyber law problems. Conceptualised in 1996
and directly promoted care of the Prime Minister, the MSC Malaysia has since
grown into a thriving dynamic ICT hub, hosting more than 900 multinational,
foreign-owned and home-grown Malaysian companies focused on multimedia
and communications products, solutions, services, research and development.
With this unique corridor, Malaysia continues to draw leading ICT com-
panies of the world into locating their operations in the MSC Malaysia and to
undertake research, develop new products and technologies and export from

(continued)

10
“Bad ambassador” means an unappropriated first implementation of a solution that generates a
negative feedback on the solution that disincentives further developments.
102 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

this base. The MSC Malaysia is also an ideal growth environment for Malay-
sian ICT SMEs to transform themselves into world-class companies. Further-
more, the MSC Malaysia welcomes other countries to use its highly advanced
infrastructural facilities as a global testbed for ICT applications and a hub for
their regional operations in Asia.
Infra- and Info structure: The Malaysian government has equipped core
areas in the MSC Malaysia with high-capacity global telecommunications and
logistics networks. Emphasis has been placed on eco-friendly yet sophisticated
urban structures for businesses, homes, education and recreation. The MSC
Malaysia is also supported by secure cyber-laws, strategic policies and a range
of financial and non-financial incentives for investors.
There are several compelling reasons for investors and ICT
“technopreneurs” to conduct their business in the MSC Malaysia, including:
• Comprehensive package for investors
• Strong socio-economic fundamentals
• Firm commitment from the Malaysian Government
• Accelerated human resource training and development
• Competitive costs of doing business
• Ready access to the Asia-Pacific markets
• Widespread usage of English
• Superlative quality of life.
The Multimedia Super Corridor is Malaysia’s gift to the world—a growth
area specifically designed to unlock multimedia’s full potential by integrating
innovative cyberlaws and outstanding infrastructure into an attractive and eco-
friendly environment. The MSC Malaysia aims to revolutionise how
Malaysians and others in the region conduct commerce in the digital age.
The MSC Malaysia has committed itself to fulfilling the following promises
to ensure business success:
• Bill of Guarantees
• Infrastructure
• Cyber-laws
• Incentives.
Intellectual Property Rights: Malaysia is a member of the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO), Paris Convention, and Berne Convention and
a signatory to the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights (TRIPS).
With the implementation of the Multimedia Super Corridor, the Govern-
ment has made a commitment to MSC Malaysia-Status companies in one of
the 10-Point Bill of Guarantees to provide a comprehensive regulatory

(continued)
5.3 Stages of e-Government Evolution 103

framework of intellectual property protection and cyber laws to facilitate and

assist the development of a truly ICT and multimedia environment.
A brief description of the Malaysian statutory framework for intellectual
property protection and cyber-laws follows.
Intellectual Property Protection
The Trade Marks Act 1976, enforced on the 1st of September 1983, pro-
vides for a registration system for marks (e.g. logos, brands, signs) used in
relation to goods and services. The registration of a mark in relation to
specified goods or services is valid for 10 years from the date of filing and is
renewable for subsequent periods of 10 years each, indefinitely. The registered
proprietor is entitled to commence infringement action against others who use
his mark without consent or lodge a complaint under the Trade Description
Act 1972.
The Patents Act 1983 came into force on the 1st of October 1986 to provide
for a system of patent registration and utility innovations in Malaysia. The Act
specifies, among others, what is meant by “patentable invention” and what is
non-patentable. Upon grant and if annual fees are paid, a patent is valid for 20
years from the date of application. The owner of a patent has the exclusive
rights to exploit the patentable invention, assign or transmit the patent and
conclude licence contracts. Infringement proceedings can be instituted against
those who have infringed or are infringing this patent.
The Copyright Act 1987, effective as of 1st of December 1987, confers the
exclusive right to the owner of a copyright for a specific period. There is no
system of registration for copyright in Malaysia. A work that is eligible
(literary works, musical works, artistic works, films, sound recordings, broad-
casts and derivative works) is protected automatically if sufficient effort has
been expended to make the work original in character; the work has been
written down, recorded or otherwise reduced to a material form; and the author
is a qualified person; the work is made in Malaysia or the work is first
published in Malaysia. The Act also specifies the circumstances amounting
to and remedies for infringements and offences.
The Industrial Designs Act 1996, which is in force from the 1st of Septem-
ber 1999 implements a system for the registration of an “industrial design” in
Malaysia, defined to mean the features of shape, configuration, pattern or
ornament applied to an article by any industrial process which appeal to and
are judged by the eye in the finished article. The registration is for 5 years from
the date of application and renewable for two more periods of 5 years each.
The Act further specifies the extent of rights granted to the owner and what
amounts to infringement.
The Layout Designs of Integrated Circuits Act 2000, in force from the 15th
of August 2000, set out, inter alia, the criteria for the protection of the layout
design of integrated circuits and the extent of protection conferred upon the

(continued)
104 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

right holder. A layout design is valid for 10 years from the date it is first
commercially exploited. Notwithstanding that, the protection conferred by the
statute will lapse 15 years from the date of its creation.
The Geographical Indications Act 2000, which came into effect on the 15th
of August 2001, specifies the process for registration of geographical indica-
tions, to prevent misuse of the names of places which identify both the
geographical origins and the products.
The Optical Discs Act 2000, which is effective as of 15th of September
2000, provides for the licensing and regulation of the manufacture of optical
discs, such as VCD, DVD, CDs, etc. in Malaysia. The Act represents one of
the legislative initiatives taken to combat the piracy of copyright works in the
form of optical discs and to strengthen the protection of intellectual property
rights in Malaysia.
Cyber Laws in Malaysia
The Digital Signature Act 1997, enforced on the 1st of October 1998, is an
enabling law that allows for the development of, amongst others, e-Commerce
by providing an avenue for secure online transactions through the use of
digital signatures. The Act provides a framework for the licensing and regu-
lation of certification authorities, and gives legal recognition to digital signa-
tures. The Controller of Certification Authority, who has the authority to
license and regulate Certification Authorities, was appointed on the 1st of
October 1998.
The Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, which came into effect on
the 1st of April 1999, provides a regulatory framework to cater to the conver-
gence of the telecommunications, broadcasting and computing industries, with
the objective of, among others, making Malaysia a major global centre and
hub for communications and multimedia information and content services.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission was
appointed on the 1st of November 1998 as the sole regulator of the new
regulatory regime. Although regulation in the form of licensing is provided
for, one of the corner-stones of the new regulatory framework is self-regula-
tion by the various industries, including the ICT and multimedia content
industries.
The Copyright (Amendment) Act 1997 which amended the Copyright Act
1987 came into force on the 1st of April 1999, to make unauthorised trans-
mission of copyright works over the Internet an infringement of copyright. It is
also an infringement of copyright to circumvent any effective technological
measures aimed at restricting access to copyright works. These provisions are
aimed at ensuring adequate protection of intellectual property rights for com-
panies involved in content creation in the ICT and multimedia environment.
The Computer Crimes Act 1997, effective as of the 1st of June 2000,
created several offences relating to the misuse of computers. Among others,

(continued)
5.3 Stages of e-Government Evolution 105

it deals with unauthorised access to computer material, unauthorised access

with intent to commit other offences and unauthorised modification of com-
puter contents. It also makes provisions to facilitate investigations for the
enforcement of the Act.
The Telemedicine Act 1997 is intended to provide a framework to enable
licensed medical practitioners to practice medicine using audio, visual and
data communications. To date, the Telemedicine Act has yet to be enforced.
The Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC, formerly MDC) was
created to oversee development of the MSC.
https://mdec.my/msc-malaysia, last accessed February 2019.

There are at least two more points to be considered in designing e-Government

solutions: the thin border between such services and privacy and the long-term
preservation of digital archives. We all know that the increasing use of technologies
and in particular ICT improves our “visibility” and the opportunity to be “tracked”;
mobile phones, highway tags, on line transactions, instant messaging and e-mails are
very useful but reduce our privacy. Privacy issues may influence the successful
implementation of e-Government if this, for instance, is perceived as a big brother
tracking and filing our daily life. The second aspect, long-term preservation, has
been underestimated for quite a long time. Digital fragility is one of the major
concerns in the digital age. A proper evaluation of disaster recovery and long-term
conservation policies is an additional evaluation parameter. This aspect plays a
relevant role in case of wars, revolutions, and similar events when the risk of losing
the public archives is very high.
In 1999 Culture Counts11 provided an important forum for experts and key
decision-makers to discuss the full range of economic and financial issues associated
with the cultural dimensions of poverty alleviation in developing countries.
Specific emphasis was placed on archives, because both current records and
historical archives document the actions of individuals and states:
“On the one hand, records provide the evidence governments need to function
and be accountable, to develop and implement policy, and to protect citizens’ rights.
On the other hand, being archives, they constitute a vital element of cultural heritage
by preserving the collective memory of a nation and forming an essential link in the
chain of human history. Records and archives management have key implications
for development, often overlooked12.”
The documentary evidence conserved in the archives of a particular country helps
to ensure accountability, and thus good governance, in both the public and the
private sectors of the economy. Therefore, the digitisation of existing archives and

11
From October 4th to 7th 1999, a relevant event took place in Florence: Culture Counts—
Financing, Resources and the Economics of Culture in Sustainable Development (World Bank
1999).
12
In Archives and Sustainable Development (organised by the World Bank in Latin America).
106 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

the preservation of digital duplicates are still key issues; as is the broadening of
digital access in order to establish a true Information Society.
Everyone experienced in this sector knows that “It is not only a matter of
technology”. Different parameters are actively influencing e-Government success
or failure: cultural aspects, organisational issues, bureaucracy and workflow, infra-
structure and technology in general, users’ habits, literacy, capacity or merely
interaction design. This includes: having a significant population of citizens willing
and be able to adopt and use online services; and developing the managerial and
technical capability to implement e-Government applications to meet the needs of
citizens.

5.4 Connectivity as a Public Good

Knowledge and information are probably the most important resources available to
humanity. Moreover they have the wonderful qualities of being non-exclusive and
non-rivalled (they are not private property and we can consume as much of them as
we want to without depriving others), it encourages synergy (more of them and more
of us engaging in consuming them usually results in more of them), and these are
typical qualities of public goods.
There is a Chinese quote outlining such qualities: “if we share one coin each at
the end we still have one coin, if we share one idea each at the end we both have two
ideas.”
Connectivity is already a key asset to interact with institutions and enjoy a
number of rights such as healthcare, participation in political discussion or access
to public bids; in such a scenario, in order to ensure equal opportunities, govern-
ments must act to bridge the gaps, access, capacity building, etc., and connectivity
becomes a public good.
If we agree in considering “connectivity” as a public good, a commodity, how can
we ensure it to developing countries and remote areas? The task of providing Internet
access to remote areas is ultimately one of reducing the excludability issue. This is a
typical situation when you deal with public services like basic infrastructures,
transportation, telecommunication, etc. This aspect comes to the fore when, due to
political or market changes, some public services are going to be privatised; there are
areas not relevant for business; such areas, losing money, are counterbalanced by
earnings on the rest of the “service” or financed by the government.
We do not believe that connectivity could presently be provided free of charge.
We do believe, however, that we can greatly increase people’s access to affordable
and viable connectivity services, thereby contributing in time to making the Internet
a ubiquitous piece of infrastructure just like roads, water and electricity.
Let us try to summarize the main constraints to making this vision an everyday
reality:
5.4 Connectivity as a Public Good 107

• Expensive supply vs. Low demand; that in other words means, available tech-
nologies for providing broadband access are too expensive for deployment in
remote and rural areas where the users tend to be physically dispersed and few in
number. This is a usual challenge in service provision (e.g. telephone lines,
television, etc.). A positive contribution to solve this problem has been offered
by wireless connections enabling reasonable connectivity (voice & data) at a
cheaper cost compared with landlines;
• Problematic supporting infrastructure; this problem is often less evident than
connectivity, for instance; nevertheless it is fundamental; any equipment one
decides to deploy needs to be powered. Power supply in remote and rural areas
tends to be erratic; it does not always flow through the grid, and when it does,
wild fluctuations can challenge the best of power supplies. Many a piece of
equipment has not survived these conditions, or needs to live with/behind expen-
sive protection and backup devices. Solar panels and accumulators contribute to
solve these problems;
• Problems in securing needed local resources; networks need to be managed and
maintained. Finding and keeping skilled and suitable workers for these tasks is a
challenge in remote areas; international organisations such as UN and ITU are
promoting capacity building initiatives.
The problems are well known. What you do, then, is to basically just find ways to
overcome these constraints, in order to provide Internet to remote areas in an
affordable manner. This is basically correct, but getting this right requires adhering
to two basic principles: common sense and sensible practices. In other words, this
means, finding the right technologies and then making them viable and accessible.
We mainly refer, in such a case, to wireless networks connecting nodes (routers,
antennas, power supply) to form a network that provides coverage and Internet
access to a given area.
The basic principle for creating these nodes and the network is rather simple and
straightforward: go forth and find, modify and deploy equipment that together create
networks that are:
• Physically durable—able to withstand the extreme weather conditions and
equally extreme power fluctuations that typify many remote and rural areas;
• Technically viable—by viable we mean platforms that can provide broadband
traffic to many users in a satisfactory and secure manner. Halfway solutions, such
as ones that provide limited bandwidth to a small number of computers, tend to be
bad ambassadors13 for connectivity, as their limited capabilities and high costs do
not encourage expansion nor enable it, and surely, do not demonstrate the full
capabilities of connectivity to users;

13
“Bad ambassador” means an unappropriated first implementation of a solution that generates a
negative feedback on the solution that disincentives further developments.
108 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

• Affordable—remember, we are trying to serve relatively few customers. We

cannot go overboard with expensive equipment that will not enable us to return
our investment and turn our network into a viable enterprise.

5.5 Public Access

So, we probably ensure connectivity; connectivity is strictly related to access. Public

access to information is a prerequisite for the development of a democratic Infor-
mation Society. Meaningful public access must be affordable, available and usable:
“Access is a cultural phenomenon and meaningful access is composed of a literate
user having access to meaningful content and services14”. Access, in a broad sense,
including for instance “transparency” of procedures and information (e.g. in public
bids, new regulations, public offers and demands), is one of the key points.
Accessibility issues came to the fore at the end of the 1990s, supported by
technological issues related to the potential social role of the Internet. If the Internet
has a “social” role, then, in order to avoid any “divide”, it must be accessible by
anyone, anywhere, and at any time. If e-Government tools have to be considered the
“default” link between organisations, single citizens and the public authorities,
providing in this way a better interaction, it must be accessible to everybody, no
matter his or her gender, age, richness, or eventually disabilities.
Nevertheless, the UN Global e-Government Survey 201615 still outlines: “It is
therefore important to rethink how to provide universal access to quality services
while ensuring coherent decisions, developing integrated policies and increasing
effectiveness, transparency and accountability. Many countries have already
engaged in this direction.”
And moreover:
“This means addressing the various facets of inequality between people, coun-
tries and regions—an effort which ICT can also greatly facilitate—while also taking
measures to bolster access for all and increasing regional and international coop-
eration. “Leaving no one behind” thus requires improving access to high-speed
broadband connection for all through reliable and high-quality infrastructure, and
taking a holistic approach that addresses the social, economic and environmental
factors that influence digital inclusion.”

14
This sentence is an excerpt from a report entitled “On Culture in a Worldwide Information
Society”, based on the activity of the panel The Future of Online Culture (co-chairs: E. Fink and
A.M. Ronchi) at the 10th International World Wide Web Conference.
15
Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations e-Government Survey 2016, http://
workspace.unpan.org/sites/Internet/Documents/UNPAN97453.pdf, last accessed February 2019.
5.6 Multi Channel and Cross Channels Access to the Services 109

5.6 Multi Channel and Cross Channels Access to the

Services

What do we mean with the term channels? Channels represent the different ways to
provide a service: at the front desk, through a distributed network of service points,
by phone and call centres, through the Internet, on mobile platform apps and more.
Why do we explore this domain of service provision? Because this is enabled by
digitisation and digital technology. It relies on digital files and data banks that are
located somewhere and accessible from a multitude of access points providing the
same service.
Going much more in detail we will find within public administration the need to
visit different front desks in order to complete the procedure, or a single stop front
desk. If the single stop service is active the whole procedure will be completed
without the need to visit other offices, adding relevant value to citizen’s experience.
The second opportunity listed above is a network of service points; again there are
different arrangements of this service16: public administration service points, post
offices, bank facilities, tobacco stores17, ATM machines, dedicated ATM machines.
The use of multi-channels in order to provide services is very usual. Elderly
people may prefer to go to the front desk or use the telephone in order to book a
medical check-up; other citizens less interested in direct human relations use ATM
machines or home banking in order to pay taxes.
In such a way multi-channelling is a good approach in order to offer a similar
service to completely different user profiles fulfilling their own expectations. It is not
an option but a must in order to bridge a major part of the potential gaps in turning
government into e-Government through a soft transition.
At this point we must take into account that there are different ways to interact
between citizens and public administration. We may interact in order to obtain a
service (e.g. healthcare) or to fulfil some procedures or legal duties (permit to build,
fine payment, etc.).
Some transactions are usually performed thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT).
Consider the interesting and somewhat alarming forecast for 2005 published by the
Japanese Banks Association in 1999. The forecast was delivered by the general
manager of DoCoMo, Masao Nakamura, in 2000 while presenting the commercial
response to their i-mode system.
The study forecasted that in 2005 the vast majority of the clients of banks and
telecommunications would not be human. Most transactions would be carried out
between machines, while in some cases one of the actors would be an animal.
The study predicted highway telepayment systems, prepaid cards (evolution of
the credit system) that are able to communicate directly with the current accounts of

16
Major part of the listed service points used to offer both on-site and on line services thanks to
mobile devices.
17
Tobacco shops are often re-sellers of pre-paid phone cards, stamps and qualified points in order to
pay some taxes. ATM points provide a similar service.
110 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

the suppliers, and wearable devices for kids, elderly people and animals that are able
to converse with cars, warning the driver or triggering the engine control unit or ABS
system if danger is imminent, as well as the attendance of virtual video presences at
ceremonies and job meetings, as made possible by three-dimensional holographic
images. The prediction didn’t happen in 2005 but it inaugurated “The road ahead”.
If we recall the view on the future provided by Bill Gates in the video clips
associated with the book “The road ahead” (1995), we found a number of IoT
devices, apartment rooms automatically adapting to the taste of the visitor: interior
climate, background music, digital paintings on the walls or the cyber-wallet auto-
matically paying bills getting closer to the cashier and more. Advances on the
technological side make this reality; we pay highway tolls, carbon tax, gas stations,
parking, public transportation, shops and more thanks to machine-to-machine
interactions.
Back to channels, to enable multi-channelling is not enough. When we start to
innovate and make more efficient our administration using the digital paradigm we
must re-think all the processes and workflow. The implementation of multi channels
based on document and procedure digitisation is not enough if we do not foresee and
enable even the use of mixed channels. People may access the services mixing up
telephone and internet or mobile apps. They book the service by phone and receive
the feedback part by phone and part by e-mail.

5.7 Internet Governance18

Dealing with e-Government we cannot avoid adequately taking into account the
kernel of the technological part of the matter, Internet Governance. The term
“Internet governance” is, like e-Government, one of the words, that means different
things to different people. Internet governance may mean technical and/or public
policy issues around the Internet to “control of the Internet” to “control of the
Internet infrastructure” to a wide range of issues relating to the use, scalability
and evolution of the Internet as a communication medium serving the world at large.
It covers the Internet today and how it will evolve tomorrow.
The Working Group on Internet Governance19, established by the UN in 2004, in
order to fulfil the first request of their mandate, produced this working definition of
Internet governance as part of their final report20: “Internet governance is the
development and application by Governments, the private sector and civil society,
in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making pro-
cedures, and programmes that shape the evolution and use of the Internet.”

18
Please refer to the proper section of the book e-Citizens: Being human in the digital age, author
Alfredo M. Ronchi, Springer. Here we provide a short summary in order to help readers.
19
WGIG—https://www.un.org/press/en/2004/pi1620.doc.htm, last accessed February 2019.
20
http://www.wgig.org/docs/BackgroundReport.pdf, last accessed February 2019.
5.7 Internet Governance 111

This is a very broad definition; in order to better focus the goals, the WGIG
devoted much of its attention to the identification of public policy issues that are
potentially relevant to Internet governance. The second request of the mandate was
“Identify the public policy issues that are relevant to Internet governance”. Based on
this fact-finding work, the WGIG established four key public policy areas21:
(a) Issues relating to infrastructure and the management of critical Internet
resources, including administration of the domain name system and Internet
protocol addresses (IP addresses), administration of the root server system,
technical standards, peering and interconnection, telecommunications infrastruc-
ture, including innovative and convergent technologies, as well as multi-
lingualism. These issues are matters of direct relevance to Internet governance
and fall within the ambit of existing organizations with responsibility for these
matters;
(b) Issues relating to the use of the Internet, including spam, network security and
cybercrime. While these issues are directly related to Internet governance, the
nature of global cooperation required is not well defined;
(c) Issues that are relevant to the Internet but have an impact much wider than the
Internet and for which existing organizations are responsible, such as intellectual
property rights (IPRs) or international trade. The WGIG started examining the
extent to which these matters are being handled consistently with the Declaration
of Principles;
(d) Issues relating to the developmental aspects of Internet governance, in particular
capacity-building in developing countries.
The four areas take adequately into account issues relating to developmental
aspects of Internet governance: cost of access, universal access, capacity building,
national infrastructure development, content accessibility, Free and Open Source
Software (FOSS), cultural and linguistic diversity, social inclusion and more. Such
issues are key issues for developing and emerging countries. Interconnection costs
represents one of the major barriers to the broad use of the Internet in developing
countries. They suffer an uneven distribution of cost. Internet service providers
(ISPs) based in countries remote from Internet backbones, particularly in the devel-
oping countries, must pay the full cost of the international circuits. The Working
Group pointed out the absence of an appropriate and effective global Internet
governance mechanism to resolve the issue. In addition, they state, relevant efforts,
even on the occasion of World Summit on Information Society Forums (2005), must
be devoted to capacity building. This was written in 2004/5, having as a horizon the
World Summit on the Information Society—phase II 2005.
Sometimes, Internet governance is looked at as laws enacted by Governments;
however, it is important to note that Internet governance is not limited to government
activities, following the original spirit of the Internet; it is every user’s concern, no

21
The following four key points are kept as they are from the WGIG final report.
112 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

matter what their background. It includes social and cultural norms and must cover
all sectors of society.
This is not enough; because of the “global” dimension and impact of the Internet,
these deliberations and decisions also need to be forward looking and take into
account the next billions of users and their needs and challenges. This is why it is
critical that the developing world plays its part in deliberations and discussions
around the Internet governance.
The “hot” topic of Internet governance was one of the key topics on the occasion
of the WSIS 2005; in order to better fulfil the wills and expectations of the multi-
stakeholders’ participants the Internet Governance Forum (IGF)22 was established
setting the first meeting of the delegates in Athens (2006).
The topics presented are non-exhaustive and continue to expand as discussions
during the Internet Governance Forum annual meetings. Up until now there is a
limited active contribution of the developing world. The main contributions from
“new economies” are coming from Brazil, Russia, India23, China, South Africa
(BRICS). Thus far, holistic participation by the developing world has been lacking
during global Internet governance discussions; however, this is slowly changing.
This lack of participation has been in part due to a lack of knowledge about the
discussions themselves, part of it is perhaps due to a degree of uncertainty in what
contribution to make, and part of it is due to the lack of resources to be able to attend
such meetings.
An interesting initiative is the “Geneva’s platform for global digital gover-
nance24”. Close to the end of 2017, the State of Geneva together with the Geneva
Internet Platform has been conducting “Geneva Digital Talks” aimed at discussing
how the experience and expertise concentrated in the Geneva Area (internet gover-
nance community, multilateral organisations, cybersecurity ecosystem, . . .) could
contribute to addressing pressing digital policy issues such as cybersecurity and
Internet governance25.

22
IGF—www.intgovforum.org, last accessed February 2019.
23
Apart from central government initiatives single state used to contribute e.g. Kerala State IT
Mission—http://www.itmission.kerala.gov.in/, last accessed February 2019.
24
Geneva Internet Platform : Dr. Jovan Kurbalija, Head of Geneva Internet Platform & Director of
DiploFoundation.
25
Kurbalija Jovan (2016), An Introduction to Internet Governance, ISBN 978-99932-53-30-3,
DiploFoundation.
5.8 Different Parameters Influencing e-Government Success or Failure 113

5.8 Different Parameters Influencing e-Government

Success or Failure

Having already outlined some of the basic aspects of e-Government and related
infrastructures it is time to focus on several different parameters to be taken into
account when dealing with e-Government, particularly in developing countries.
Simply to mention a short selection, some of them refer to the cultural aspects,
some of them to organisational issues, some of them to the infrastructure and
technology in general and some to the users’ habits, literacy, capacity or merely
the interaction design. This requires: having a significant population of citizens
willing and able to adopt and use online services; and developing the managerial
and technical capability to implement e-Government applications to meet the needs
of citizens.

5.8.1 Cultural Models

Globalisation is one of the key terms used to describe both actual and future trends,
but there are many aspects of this concept that should be carefully considered, such
as our “cultural identity”. This term is often related to the term “cultural diversity”
that is in some way its natural complement.
Cultural diversity is an asset that needs to be preserved, and to do so cultural
models must be considered. Cultural diversity is the engine of cultural and economic
growth; it provides incredible richness as well as traditions. Cultural aspects used to
play a significant role in e-Government solutions design. Let us simply focus on the
interaction between citizens and government (G2C); the range of services we
provide, the interaction model (interpersonal relations, etc.) and even the channels/
media we use are strictly related to the cultural model we deal with (face-to-face
communication, computer-mediated communication, cyber agents, etc.).
Even if we consider the “old Europe”, with just 15 countries, we must still face
the issue of cultural diversity, since it encompasses 350 million people, 12 languages
and at least 3 different cultural models (Mediterranean, German and Nordic) having
a deep influence on the user friendliness and perceived utility of the services.
Since May 1st 2004, the cultural diversity of Europe has increased significantly
due to the inclusion of new countries and their cultural assets. Some languages still
provide barriers (to science, tourism, etc.), as do some cultural and semantic aspects
(e.g. trust relationship, value of physical document, paper, stamps, etc.).
114 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

ITALY: Cyber Police Station/Cyber Carabinieri (2007)

A significant case study concerning cyber agents is due to both the Italian
Police and Carabinieri26. They decided to enrich their own on line services
offering a “Cyber Police Station27” or “Cyber Carabiniere28” in order to help
citizens. The service is available both on line and on mobile phones; it uses a
natural language interface and provides the most frequently asked services
supporting the citizen step-by-step in a very natural way. Both these services
are highly appreciated and used even if Italy is mainly a Mediterranean
country and Italian citizens are mostly oriented to face-to-face communication.
www.poliziadistato.it, last accessed February 2019.
www.carabinieri.it, last accessed February 2019.

Here we took as an example Europe; similar considerations are applicable to

African, Latin American and Asian countries.

MEXICO: ATM Express Government (2007)

It’s the dream of all citizens plagued by unresponsive bureaucracies. The
Express Government ATMs are advanced automatic teller machines and
offer 59 fully automated services to the common citizen. The 22 modules
are distributed over 16 cities in the state of Chiapas and are available 24 hours
a day, 365 days a year, allowing one to pay taxes, obtain Birth Certificates,
Driver’s Licenses and Vehicle Plates. It is government service within minutes.
Thus operating costs were reduced, productivity increased, and public access
improved. Finally, it is clean public administration as the ATM Express
Government cannot be corrupted.
By Mexican Bureau of Planning and Sustainable Development

5.8.2 Social Environment

Close to the previous topic there is an additional aspect that may influence the
successful deployment of e-Government services: the social environment. This
means for example issues related to gender, literacy and education, age, ethnical
identity, habits, and more. Some communities share a common understanding on the
hierarchal structure of representativeness; some are based on the single human being.
In some cases, we can design the deployment of the services on the basis of shared
resources (e.g. Internet points, shared smart phones); in other cases they take

26
Carabinieri are the Italian Military Police but they are even a civil law enforcement agency with a
high presence in the territory.
27
www.poliziadistato.it, last accessed February 2019.
28
www.carabinieri.it, last accessed February 2019.
5.8 Different Parameters Influencing e-Government Success or Failure 115

advantage of personal devices. In the evaluation of the impact at social level the
implementation of some services both on line (through personal devices) and thanks
to shared facilities such as, for instance, ATM-like service point may improve
significantly the performance. The success of such implementation may be partially
related to the availability of an access platform for citizens suffering from the digital
divide, but in addition the use of an ad hoc facility offering a secure access to
personal information and services guaranteed in some way by the government
removes the concerns about security and technological skill.
ATM-like access points gave excellent feedback in the range of elderly and ICT-
sceptics; in some way as it happened with smart phones and tablets for similar user
profiles, the idea to not use a computer but a device already known and trusted made
the difference.
While some countries experience very high literacy rates and high levels of
Internet and computer accessibility, many countries have very strong cultural
norms where people prefer to socialize or conduct important business in person
instead of using the Internet. They simply prefer to settle an agreement shaking their
hands instead of using the “handshaking29”. The impact of e-Government in a
similar social environment is usually limited by the need to enjoy face to face
relations even with government officers.
Social influence, with reference to the present sector, is defined as the degree to
which an individual perceives that important others believe he or she should use the
new system.
An additional “social” factor that requires further study is the role that gender
plays in shaping the patterns of e-Government adoption and use not only in devel-
oping countries. On the occasion of the second phase of WSIS this concern was
included in the official report: “We recognize that a gender divide exists as part of
the digital divide in society and we reaffirm our commitment to women’s empower-
ment and to a gender equality perspective, so that we can overcome this divide. We
further acknowledge that the full participation of women in the Information Society
is necessary to ensure the inclusiveness and respect for human rights within the
Information Society. We encourage all stakeholders to support women’s participa-
tion in decision-making processes and to contribute to shaping all spheres of the
Information Society at international, regional and national levels30”. Furthermore,
“the likelihood of women in rural areas or poor women in urban areas having
access to new technologies is low in countries where fewer than 10% of the
population is connected31”. There are some initiatives, care of developed countries,

29
Term used in the field of digital transmission protocols—here stands for “digital devices”.
30
WSIS 2005 “Tunis Commitment”, WSIS-05/TUNIS/DOC/7-E, paragraph 23—http://www.itu.
int/net/wsis/docs2/tunis/off/7.html, last accessed February 2019.
31
Nancy Hafkin, Nancy Taggart (2001), Gender, Information Technology, and Developing Coun-
tries: An Analytic Study, page 13. Office of Women in Development, Bureau for Global Programs,
Field Support and Research, United States Agency for International Development, https://www.
researchgate.net/publication/237479049_Gender_Information_Technology_and_Developing_
Countries_An_Analytic_Study, last accessed February 2019.
116 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

addressing the need to bridge this gap (e.g. the Woman Security project developed
by Lynn Thiesmeyer32, Keio University, Tokyo).
Last but not least we must consider education in general and more specifically
digital literacy. One of the building blocks of the successful implementation of e-
Government strategy is an educated and digital literate citizenry, having and sharing
the willingness to properly use e-Government. UNESCO33 Information for All
(IFAP) program is actively working in digital literacy promotion.
Nowadays one of the pillars enabling access to knowledge is access to the
infrastructure. There are a number of solutions available, among them mobile
technology offers a good opportunity. This means that first of all we need to think
about how to effectively use technology.
The second pillar is how to use information and knowledge. Connecting univer-
sities is a good initiative; it will let students and professors be in touch and work
together overcoming time and location barriers. UNESCO34 is trying to measure
access to innovation and knowledge35, how actually government can provide free
access to knowledge to all the citizens.
Data sharing and information sharing potentially conflicts with IPR and may
conflict with privacy as well in case of data sharing; at the moment; the framework to
overcome such problems is not yet clear. Some initiatives have been developed at
country level such as in the Netherlands.
“. . . I promised to explain my ideas about the practice of providing open access to
research publications and how that practice will continue to evolve. The principle of
open access involves offering readers worldwide access to research publications,
journals and books free of charge. My contention is that access to the results of
publicly and publicly-privately funded research should always be unrestricted.
Because such research is paid for from the public purse and technical impediments
are essentially non-existent, I believe open access should be rolled out in the near
future. Open access promotes knowledge sharing and knowledge circulation, which
in their turn contribute to the Netherlands’ innovative capacity.” (Sander
Dekker36—The State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science)
There are some initiatives such as Open Source Software, Creative Commons37,
Grey Literature38, suggesting potential solutions as well as the idea to consider as a

32
http://vu.sfc.keio.ac.jp/faculty_profile/cgi/f_profile_e.cgi?id=a7839e6e279dee82, last accessed
February 2019.
33
https://en.unesco.org/news/rethinking-literacy-skills-digital-world, last accessed February 2019.
34
https://en.unesco.org/go-spin, last accessed February 2019.
35
https://en.unesco.org/themes/investing-science-technology-and-innovation, last accessed February
2019.
36
Open Access to publications—Parliamentary document | 21-01-2014 Government of the Neth-
erlands https://www.government.nl/documents/parliamentary-documents/2014/01/21/open-access-
to-publications, last accessed February 2019.
37
“Some rights reserved” https://creativecommons.org, last accessed February 2019.
38
Grey Literature is usually produced by governments, institutions, civil society, universities and
research centres, non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
5.8 Different Parameters Influencing e-Government Success or Failure 117

public good the whole set, of content, knowledge and services related with culture,
education and—why not—innovation. This means that cultural and educational
content and services are equivalent to healthcare assistance and provided “for free”
care of governments.

5.8.3 Bureaucracy and Workflow

The re-design of work and information flow will impact both back-office and front-
office activities. Back office refers to the internal operations of an organization that
support core processes and are not accessible or visible to the general public39. The
term front office refers to government as its constituents see it, meaning the infor-
mation and services provided and the interaction between government and both the
citizens and business (G2C, G2B). Of course, front-office activities used to require
some back-office activities in order to provide “services”. Back-office services may
be internal and are production-oriented.
e-Government services must not replicate at end user level (e.g. citizen) the
complexity of bureaucracy. Citizens must ignore the internal organisation and the
complexity of the back office, even if it exists.
The organisational and procedural aspects of governments are for sure one of the
key points in the implementation of e-Government strategies. Nevertheless, the
choice to take advantage from e-Government is one of the unique opportunities to
deeply restructure and re-think the overall governmental organisations in term of
bureaucracy and workflow. The long-term sedimentation of different procedures,
workflow and regulations must probably be re-designed reaching major efficiency
and incorporating background knowledge and validation tests in the automated
procedure. This part of the job may be one of the most difficult because of the
usual complexity of such procedures because of the “re-distribution” of both respon-
sibilities and “power”. This aspect may be crucial both in developing and developed
countries because even “information” is “power”.
On line services providing up-to-date and suitable information on public bids or
“end-user” market prices may conflict with private interests taken from guaranteed.
Some examples in this field are Time to Market and Aste Giudiziarie. The multi-
channel system Time to Market40 makes available online and over mobile connec-
tions real-time market data regarding farm and sea harvests in Senegal. Producers
and traders can use their mobile phones in WAP and SMS mode, PDA or Internet to
check actual prices and availability of products. The price information and data on
arrival of products at the markets are generated twice a day. Time to Market creates a

39
e-Government for Better Government. OECD e-Government Studies, ISBN 9264018336, OECD
2005 http://www.oecd.org/gov/digital-government/e-governmentforbettergovernment.htm, last
accessed February 2019.
40
T2M—http://t2m.manobi.sn/, last accessed February 2019.
118 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

win-win situation where supply and demand are better coordinated and users
increase the efficiency of their small businesses and revenues.
Astegiudiziarie41 and Infoappalti42 are two web-based services providing real-
time information on public bids. Such a service will deliver relevant information to
all the citizens interested in taking part in the bids without any potential lobbing in
information provision.
Governments are increasingly looking towards an “e-Government-as-a-whole”
concept which focuses on the provision of services at the front-end, supported by
integration, consolidation and innovation in back-end processes and systems to
achieve maximum cost savings and improved service delivery.
What do we mean by “whole-of-government” concept? It is a holistic approach to
ICT-enabled public-sector governance. The Australian report43 on Connecting gov-
ernment states: “public service agencies working across portfolio boundaries to
achieve a shared goal and an integrated government response to particular issues.”
Government agencies and organizations share objectives across organizational
boundaries, as opposed to working solely within an organization; this is the main
characteristic of the whole-of-government approach. Such an innovative approach
encompasses the design and delivery of a wide variety of policies, programmes and
services that cross organizational boundaries.
A major part of innovation in processes and procedures has faced some friction in
the early phase. From the industrial revolution to the information age, in accounting
and banking sectors up to the engineering one, innovation in procedures and
workflow was perceived by personnel as something upsetting. For these reasons
this aspect has to be carefully considered and approached thanks to a deployment
plan. The twin objective of achieving further improvements in service delivery and
efficacy in government functioning is bringing about a rethinking of the role of ICT.

5.9 Infrastructure

After having considered the “working” infrastructure now we can focus on the
technological infrastructure. Dealing with e-Government issues technological infra-
structure means mainly: electric power, telecommunication networks both wired
and/or wireless44 as well as computer networks (e.g. the Internet).

41
Aste Giudiziarie by Aste Giudiziarie Inlinea Spa, Italy, http://www.astegiudiziarie.it, last
accessed February 2019.
42
Infoappalti by Studio NET, Italy, http://www.infoappalti.it, last accessed February 2019.
43
Whole-of-government concept refers to Connecting government: Whole of Government
Responses to Australia’s Priority Challenges. Management Advisory Committee Report 4. 2004,
https://www.apsc.gov.au/connecting-government-whole-government-responses-australias-priority-
challenges, last accessed February 2019.
44
Terrestrial or satellite. Wireless terrestrial communication includes digital terrestrial television
(DTT) while wireless satellite includes digital satellite television (DST) and Internet satellite
uplinks.
5.9 Infrastructure 119

As already outlined before, it seems that electric power is one of the key elements
in order to implement e-Services. There are wide areas in the world that are not
served by a proper electricity network. In such areas electricity is not available
continuously thanks the distribution network so they have to rely on standalone
generators, windmills and solar cells45 and even car batteries. This was one of the
goals addressed by the Nicholas Negroponte’s “one hundred dollars PC46” project;
in order to overcome the problem, they included a power generator operated by
hand.
Moving to the next issue: telecommunication and computer networks; the Internet
is now, for the most part, the communications medium of choice (in a great many
forms) for a large part of the world. Why “great many forms”? Because the way we
communicate and the tools we use to do so, have all evolved significantly since the
Internet came into the public domain (1990s); and it continues to re-define how we
communicate47.
On one hand, we improved and extended the use of mobile phones from pure
voice communication devices to multimedia and interactive services terminals.
Mobile phones, terrestrial and satellite, are playing a significant role in the deploy-
ment of innovative services within developing and emerging countries (e.g. Central
Africa). They may be used by a single owner or shared within the population of the
village.
On the other hand, we have moved from an era of using the Internet to send
simple text-based messages (e-mail) to today, where a message, usually sent and
received on mobile devices, is more a multimedia message and can contain pictures,
video and voice, in addition to text.
The Internet is also being used to make “telephone” calls using voice over the IP
(VoIP); Blogs, APPs, instant messaging and social networks are some more different
forms of the way in which we have begun to use the Internet as a communication
medium. Social media have been demonstrated to be a pandemic virus; an increasing
number of citizens, not only teenagers, is leading a “double life”, real and on-line.
They see life through the lens of the smart phone; they shoot “selfies” and video clips
to be published in real time on social media like Facebook, Instagram or more
specific thematic platforms. Video is pervasive and citizens are eager to contribute,
producing video stories, breaking news, educational and training clips like “Building
a brick wall from making the cement, to placing the bricks48”.

45
A few years ago, as a result of the second Infopoverty conference, a kit that provided a satellite
uplink powered by solar energy was assembled, based on the experiences of a Solar Village in
Honduras. The results from the Solar Village indicated that, even in isolated villages, access to
digital technology creates new job opportunities. More recently, a more extensive study was carried
out in Tunisia and the results were showcased during the World Summit on Information Society in
Tunis (November 2005).
46
One hundred dollars PC, https://www.technologyreview.com/s/404464/from-the-editor-the-hun
dred-dollar-laptop/, last accessed February 2019.
47
Messenger, Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, SnapChat, GoToMeeting, . . .
48
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcpdlXu3IpE, last accessed February 2019.
120 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

Back in 2009, Internet World Stats49 reported that the total number of Internet
users was about 1.5 billion people; the same year comScore50, an Internet research/
analysis organisation, reported in January 2009 that the global Internet audience
(defined as 15 years of age and older accessing the Internet from home and work
computers) has surpassed 1 billion users (note that the comScore report excludes
Internet access from cybercafés, mobile phones and PDAs, which probably repre-
sents the difference in numbers between the two reporting organisations).
In June 2017, Internet World Stats reports that on a global estimated population of
7.5 billion people there are close to 3.9 billion Internet users.
Taking a snapshot in 2001, the report New Information Technologies and the
Young51 identified the extent of provision and access to technologies, the ways in
which young people use them, and some of the opportunities and difficulties
associated with each form of communication and expression. The report provides
a comprehensive picture of young people as users and consumers of new technol-
ogies, but especially in terms of their creative activity, such as their use of digital
audio and video, website creation, and distributing visual, musical or literary work
across the Internet.
These numbers are growing rapidly and will continue to do so. The “next billion”,
as some authors call them, and the billions after that will be online much quicker than
the first billion; this then makes the Internet an important global public policy issue.
The Internet is such an important asset for a large part of the world, and because it
will continue to be so as more users come online, issues around the use and
availability of the Internet are important for everyone, be they from the developed
or developing world. The first billion Internet users have come from the developed
world and the next billions will come predominantly from the developing world.
This issue is carried out, for example, in efforts to open up Internet access points
through “telecentres”, community technology centres, schools, libraries, and kiosks.
However, the greatest density of Internet connections in developing countries is
unevenly distributed and favours urban areas predominately. This bias creates
opportunity for urban dwellers and anyone who travels frequently to urban areas.
In developing countries, a significant proportion of women spend most of their lives
working and living in rural areas, causing them to have far less access to the Internet
[3].
These next billions will have challenges and issues related to Internet access and
use, and it is important that any discussions around the Internet governance today
take these into account to ensure an Internet that is for everyone, not only for selected
few. The Internet that is taken for granted by so many needs to continue its evolution
around the fundamentals upon which it was founded. These fundamentals relate to

49
http://www.internetworldstats.com, last accessed February 2019.
50
https://www.comscore.com, last accessed February 2019.
51
The project New Information Technologies and the Young was launched by Screen Digest—
General Direction Office IV of the Council of Europe. A final report on the project was published;
see Council of Europe (2001).
5.10 Interoperability of Systems 121

the concept of users centricity, where the Internet user and how they use the Internet
should be the primary focus of decisions and developments on the Internet. The
concept of user centricity characterised, perhaps for the first time in computer
technology, the birth and early development of the web technology. From the
beginning up to, at least, 1995 the World Wide Web technology was built based
on the request of users directly from users.
Another defining feature of the Internet’s success has been the open nature of the
technical standards, and the innovation this has allowed. The innovation has been
key to a large number of new technologies that have evolved out of the Internet, and
it is important that this continues so that we keep finding new ways to do some of
these old things cheaper, better and faster. We will consider in a different paragraph
how this has a social effect on the occupational side.
Speaking about “infrastructure” we cannot forget an additional approach to public
service provision, mobile centres. This is usually adopted on wide and less populated
areas of the continents52 and one of the main aims is to provide healthcare or
educational services to remote communities. The usual configuration foresees a
lorry with a long trailer hosting the required equipment (e.g. surgical, computer
lab, etc.) and a satellite uplink.

5.10 Interoperability of Systems

In order to provide a comprehensive scenario this chapter takes into account different
levels of interaction and services, government to government even across borders,
government for citizens, government for business, and more. Interaction between
different systems and organisations means interoperability in a broad sense.
What do we term “interoperability”?
<interoperability>
ability of a system (such as a weapons system) to work with or use the parts or
equipment of another system [Merriam–Webster dictionary]
<interoperability> (computer science)
meaning the ability of the user of one member of a group of disparate systems (all
having the same functionality) to work with any of the systems of the group with
equal ease . . . [Encyclopædia Britannica]
Interoperability is currently one of the most popular buzzwords used in the ICT
industry. This usually involves the definition of standards so each actor or group of
actors creates his standard and fights to impose it. This focus on interoperability and
inter-workability has arisen due to the spread of the Internet and the increasing need
to get different applications to “talk” to one another. Without a standard to exchange

52
Australia and New Zealand solved the problem thanks to wireless communications and mobile
facilities (lorries equipped with big trailers containing: surgery rooms, hi tech training courses,
scientific labs, etc.).
122 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

information, high-tech systems literally can’t communicate with each other, and if
they can’t communicate, they can’t work—interoperate—with each other53.
The need to exchange data between different applications has long been a
common requirement in several key sectors, such as research, banking, . . .., and e-
Government. Information systems often speak different languages or dialects. This
happens not only when the products that need to communicate come from different
suppliers, but even among different generations or variants of the same product.
While an interoperability problem might be due to a minor incompatibility, its
impact on a system can be dramatic, and the task of getting all the relevant parties to
participate in solving the interoperability problem can often turn into a nightmare.
There are therefore compelling reasons (e.g. Connected Government) to create
information technology products that can be guaranteed to interoperate (e.g. digital
signature, digital certificates, etc.). This issue is fundamental in order provide a
unique access point to personal data services for citizens as it is requested for the one
stop services. Different governmental bodies at different levels and eventually public
companies will be able to exchange data and provide integrated services to citizens
and/or companies.
This can only be achieved if all of these products conform to the same, publicly
available, standards (e.g. open standards). We do not mean, of course, only techno-
logical standards but standards in the broad sense including semantic aspects and
thesauri.
Interoperability at semantic level is as relevant as technological interoperability;
the same applies for thesauri and legal implications. Specific multilinguistic thesauri
have been developed for instance in the touristic sector and a kind of “interopera-
bility” must be developed at the legal level when we transfer data with legal
implications (e.g. Chamber of Commerce certificates). Similar problems are actually
faced in developing an “European Security Model” (how to unify the approach to
petty crimes in different countries, legislation, cultural models, habits).

EUROPEAN UNION: European Security Model

There are a number of significant common threats which have a cross-border
impact on security and safety within the EU, and security has become a key
factor in ensuring a high quality of life in the European society and in protecting
our critical infrastructures through preventing and tackling common threats.
The European Union must prevent, and if necessary investigate and miti-
gate, the impact of criminal acts, whilst protecting fundamental rights of its
citizens. The consistent efforts made by the EU Member States and the Union
to that effect are not enough, especially when criminal groups and their
activities expand far beyond national borders.

(continued)

53
Alfredo M. Ronchi, eCulture: Cultural content in the digital age, ISBN: 978-3-540-75273-8,
Springer 2009.
5.10 Interoperability of Systems 123

The definition of a European Security Model which builds upon the

analysis of the human factors, at the roots of the design of security strategies
and methodologies, is needed. Such a Model would encompass: the develop-
ment of a common understanding of security issues among EU security
practitioners, as well as of the causes and effects of insecurity among EU
citizens; common EU methodologies to be implemented by security practi-
tioners (about enhancing prevention and anticipation and/or the timely
involvement of all the actors that have a role in protection from the political,
economic and social scene).
The globalization of communications and finance infrastructure allows for
cybercrime to develop, and corruption and financial crime to take new forms.
Cyber criminality is a phenomenon by which a criminal acts with new tools
and within a new environment, which is not satisfactorily understood, nor
properly addressed. The same applies to the innovative technologies and
methodologies for financial crime. Law enforcement agencies need new
equipment to counter such developments. Both Internal and external EU
border check points will take advantage of the creation of an European
Security platform to exchange data in real time.
The EU law enforcement agencies will benefit from improving and con-
solidating knowledge about security problems and their remedies.
Simply to mention one of the possible applications, the idea to create a
common platform at EU level in order to fight against petty crimes and
mitigate their effects is potential added value service for citizens. An European
Security Model (ESM) that involves the citizen as part of the solution to the
problem of petty crime through safe bidirectional communication channels,
guidance for educational and training programs and through assessing the
attitudes and perceptions of citizens towards their security, policing relation-
ships and their role in crime prevention.
The human-factors centred European Security Model will enable:
– Better understanding of the problem based on the model (causes and
effects)
– Easier identification of the solutions
– Basis for evaluation of solutions
– Consistent understanding of the issues across borders (standards, terminol-
ogy, concepts)
– Citizen-centred approach, allowing the citizen to be a greater part of the
solution in a safe and responsible manner.
At the basis of this will be a gravity factor and impact matrix that looks at
the different categories and definitions of crimes, their impact based on a range
of different criteria (geography, financial cost, social cost, average age of
offender, etc.), the available mitigation and prevention tools and the resource

(continued)
124 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

implications of different responses. An ad hoc designed software platform will

assist in the management and operational implementation of the gravity factor
matrix through support for data gathering (sensors and human reports), data
processing, analysis, data fusion, data visualisation, decision support and
communication.
The design of a similar platform is not easy; in the EU there are no similar
legislation and principles; something is forbidden in one country and allowed
in others, some behaviours are censored in one country and accepted in others.
There is a need to implement a Dynamic Risk Assessment methodology.
There are different factors influencing the “gravity” of a crime due to: geo-
graphic location, local regulations, local crime tolerance and perception, time
context, behaviour of media, specific situation, socio-political environment,
etc. It is quite a challenge to take into account all of them without biases and
approximations.
Geographic location: laws and regulations change from country to country
as well as petty crime typology; some drugs are allowed in some EU countries,
not in others; some countries are much more concerned about petty crime due
to a soccer match, or violence on women, others less. More or less the same
applies to Crime Tolerance and Crime Perception.
Time Context: the gravity and perception of some crimes change signifi-
cantly through time even due to changes in ethics and moral principles;
sometimes “old” crimes that disappeared time ago are back due to social
changes; the reverse is valid as well.
Influence due to Media: in the age of Internet and Breaking News the role of
media in disseminating information (good and bad—informing citizens or
organising crimes and even promoting them or providing fake news) is more
than relevant; it may deeply affect the perception of crimes and the feelings of
citizens. Temporary flooding of news about a specific set of crimes (even if not
so relevant and not more frequent) may generate a feeling of danger and fear in
citizens, sometimes igniting dangerous behaviours (amplified reactions).
Specific circumstances and the socio-political environment influence as
well the gravity and perception of some crimes: the victim is a girl or a
disabled person, the crime pertains to a peripheral area of the city, a well-
known dangerous quarter and so on.
All these aspects suggest taking into account a dynamic approach and
structure on different layers of our “matrix”.
The Gravity Factor Impact Matrix—in the light of Knowledge ecology—
may lead to taking into consideration a layered Impact Matrix, devoting one
layer for each country, having as “sub-layers” the local aspects described
above and at least one layer due to all the specific “impact factors” due to
the context e.g. behaviour of media and news (news makes some families of
crimes have more impact on people). This matrix is the basis to collect and
share information and solutions among EU law enforcement agencies.
5.10 Interoperability of Systems 125

The availability of intercommunication has enabled incredible new scenarios

based on information linking and exchange with potential positive effects in the e-
Government sector. Interoperability is both the exchange of information and its
utilisation. Interoperability will play an interesting role both among governmental
bodies and at international level (e.g. European Union).
This aspect is particularly relevant due to the empowerment of the European
Union role in everyday life and commerce. In this scenario the Chamber of Com-
merce in Paris must be able to exchange data in real time with the Chamber of
Commerce in Milan or Berlin, sharing the same ontology and format.
In such a scenario, the developing and emerging countries may be in some way
facilitated if they can start almost from scratch with the implementation of the
operational framework enabling e-Government. They may save efforts and time,
skipping the intermediate steps needed in order to turn a pure bureaucratic apparatus
into e-Government. At the same time they can focus on last generation solutions
without any backward compatibility constraint or need to reuse already available
devices.
As already implemented for previous solutions, shared facilities are the entry
point for new technologies and services from the end user point of view. Citizens
even if scattered throughout the territory may take advantage of internet points or
shared mobile phones in order to access e-Government services. There are relevant
examples of this service model in Africa, South America and Far Eastern countries.

5.10.1 Habits

We all know that habits and beliefs may represent a potential bottleneck for
innovation. The value of interpersonal relations, the trust relationship with a specific
“officer”, the “material” value of “paper” are still very relevant, as well as stamps and
handmade blue or green ink signatures. A significant service provided by digital
media is often perceived as an unsecure and less reliable service. Simply consider
that some property certificates usually delivered on a special paper with engravings
and anti-fraud metal tags have been turned into digital clones visible on-line thanks
to a QR code printed on a common sheet of paper printed out by the same authority;
this certificate once kept in the safe at home is now available on smart phones simply
pointing to the code with the camera; it’s a habit’s revolution.
The combination of habits, cultural models, type of service, and interaction model
may lead to different results. There is a higher degree of concern if we deal with
personal sensitive data, as the above certificate of property (e.g. personal credentials,
bank account access, medical folder, etc.), less concern if we simply ask for
“passive” and “less personal” information (e.g. procedure tracking, on line booking,
official papers, etc.). Similar considerations are valid even if we take into account
different habits or cultural models. Citizens from the north of Europe are less
accustomed to person-to-person interaction; they do not care if they have to interact
with a non-human counterpart.
126 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

Some people around the world used to ask and receive some services thanks to
some “institutional” offices such as the post office or the police station. This may
cause some friction to e-Government deployment.
There is a potential huge set of completely new services enabled by e-Govern-
ment platforms. They are mainly in the “information” or on line payment field. Some
of them take advantage of the interconnection of different databanks connected to
the Internet. They provide consolidated information to citizens, querying and merg-
ing information from different reliable websites.
The opportunity to pay, in a secure framework, different taxes, fees and sub-
scriptions it opens the way to a future generation of online services.
We do not have to forget the relevance of the design of interaction in this field. A
public service must be provided in a very clear and secure way. Some authors define
it as “the design of ‹interactive products› that are able to support humans in their
own working activities and in everyday life54”.
A number of “products” that require user interactions in order to carry out their
tasks were not designed with the users in mind; it can often seem that designers have
never tried to use their own products. Public telephones “sucking” credit cards, on
line transaction without clear feedback in case of trouble, public services providing
unrequested information in non-helpful formats, these are some of the interaction
design faults.
They are systems that are typically created to perform routine functions. While
they may work effectively from an engineering perspective, it is often up to the user
to make the extra effort to bridge the gap in man/procedure communication.
The aim of interaction design55 is to close this gap by bringing usability into the
design process. This means developing interactive services that are easy, effective,
and enjoyable to use from the users’ perspective.
When a service is intended to satisfy an identified need, interaction design defines
which product should be built and how it should behave, down to the last tiny detail.
The process involves focussing on:
• Understanding interactions;
• Understanding potential users;
• Having a clear idea about how interfaces may influence users;
• Identifying users’ needs and requirements;
• Applying a user-centred design process;
• Design, prototyping and mock-ups;
• Evaluating and assessing the results.
It also involves using an evaluation schema, tracking users, interviewing experts
and users, and finally testing and user profile modelling.

54
Donald A. Norman (2013), The design of everyday things. Revised and Expanded Edition, ISBN
978-0-465- 05065-9, Basic Books, Inc., New York.
55
This topic is included in: Alfredo M. Ronchi, eCitizens: being human in the information age,
Springer.
5.11 Context 127

Interaction design aims to discover users’ goals, and is therefore concerned with:
• Defining how the forms of products relate to their behaviour and use;
• Anticipating how the use of products will mediate human relationships and affect
human understanding;
• Exploring the dialogue between products, people, and contexts (physical, cul-
tural, historical).
Related to this point we find four additional aspects influencing the user and
consequently the success of the platform:
“Performance expectancy”—It describes the extent to which an individual believes
that using a system will help him or her attain gains in his or her human
development. Does using the system improve opportunities to obtain a job or
perform well in his or her job, find and participate in educational activities, and
otherwise increase the freedom of users to participate in processes that deeply
affect their lives? (49);
“Effort expectancy”—It is defined as the degree of ease of using the system. This is
based on whether the individual user feels as if a great deal of learning is
necessary for using the system, how complex the system functions are, and
other issues related to literacy and the use of ICTs. In a review of e-Government
sites of developing countries, this report determined that many of the sites fall
short in making it easy for web visitors to use the online government services.
Additionally, many of these factors are determined as features that may annoy
web visitors. Although, there is no published data on the experience of e-
Government visitors, there are lessons from e-Commerce that are insightful
about which deficiency matters most to web visitors [4];
“Social Influence”—It is defined as the degree to which an individual perceives that
important others believe he or she should use the new system;
“Facilitating Conditions”—They are defined as the degree to which an individual -
believes that an organizational and technical infrastructure exists to support use of
the system. More detail on improving Internet access and the influence of political
unrest is provided later.

5.11 Context

The general context represents the framework in which we are going to deploy the
services. This is in some way the result of the previous set of topics including the
present time socio/political context.
Political context: in many of the developing countries, the governments are very
fragile from civil unrest, military coups, or making transition from one form of
government to another. These factors create instability in plans to develop the
resources needed to support e-Government. Legal context: The country’s legal
framework will provide protection of the rights and activities of online users through
128 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

such mandates as digital signature, uniform computer information transaction,

online infringement liability [5].
Approaches to e-Government programme offerings varied from country to coun-
try. The ‘how’ of what countries chose to display on the websites was a function of
the ‘what’ they wanted to focus on and ‘why’ they wanted to focus on the issue. The
pattern that emerges is that for effective e-Government development, political
commitment to harnessing the benefits of ICTs, a well-thought-out vision, and
doable objectives are important markers for successful e-Government development.
e-Government appears to have a strong relation with income per capita. Resource
availability appears to be a critical factor inhibiting e-Government initiatives in
many countries. Part of the reason for the high e-Readiness in most of the developed
economies is past investment in, and development of, infrastructure.

5.11.1 Security and Privacy

As clearly anticipated by a number of movies, stolen digital identities, digital

desaparecidos, and other digital crimes, these are the nightmares of the cyber age.
In the near future, it will be necessary to find a satisfactory equilibrium between
privacy and the “open” systems enabled by ICT. Security is one of the key issues in
e-Government, as well as a robust disaster recovery plan. Citizens must feel com-
fortable and in a trust relationship when they access and use e-Government services.
The traditional trust relationship citizen/institution has to be guaranteed even on e-
Government.
On the one hand, technologies should enable each of us to be more self-sufficient,
and may indeed push us to become more “removed” or isolated from the rest of the
world. On the other hand, they produce and store an incredible amount of “evidence”
(files, transactions, video-clips, pictures, etc.) documenting our existence moment by
moment. The more technology we use, the more visible we become. High-technol-
ogy is now used to such an extent that it is often possible to track people using their
devices. Internal and external video-surveillance systems connected to computer
vision-based systems are able to identify a person, a vehicle and their behaviour in
both 2D and 3D.
ATM transactions and credit card usage indicate our movements, tastes and
lifestyle. The contents of our PCs and our Internet activities are monitored by
spyware, fished and hacked (in the most optimistic vision, such activities would
simply lead to the creation of personal profiles for e-Commerce applications, but that
is a different topic altogether).
There are also privacy concerns related to the general use of RFID and IoT. These
technologies effectively gives machines “X-ray vision”. Cyber pickpockets can use
5.12 Privacy and Personal Data Management 129

it to play “who’s got the Rolex” [6], or even simply “who’s got the contactless credit
card56”.

5.12 Privacy and Personal Data Management57

Due to the spread of online applications and the need to process and file personal
information such as names, addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses,
national authorities all over the world have started, long time ago in the cyber time
scale, to look for potential infringements of privacy by hackers. Indeed, there have
even been some international-level infringements; for example, the customer data-
base belonging to a very well-known underwear brand was cracked and personal
information about various celebrities was made public. We have extensively illus-
trated these aspects in a specific chapter of the “e-Citizens” book.
The massive use of contactless devices and even more the large diffusion of social
media, IoT and CCTV enhanced these concerns. With specific reference to e-
Government a hot topic is for sure the release of “open data” sets and the analysis
of “big data”. Even if at the end the effect is similar we can subdivide in two main
branches privacy breaches: “voluntary” and “third parties”. The first group refers
consciously or unconsciously to risky behaviours such as providing personal infor-
mation to register for a service or authorizing the access to personal data in order to
install an APP, and more. The latter refers mainly to hacking or the publication of
non-sufficiently anonymised data sets by institutions and authorities. It may happen
that in cross-referencing different open data sets some “identity” of the data holders
is unintentionally disclosed.
In case of “voluntary” disclosure the recommendation is to carefully control the
dissemination of your personal information and provide it only to trustable organi-
sations protecting the access to their on-line resources with secure credentials. Do
not share your mobile phone or smart phone personal information, including access
to your location and photo camera, if it is not strictly necessary to obtain the
requested service always from a trustable entity. We are already aware about the
use of our personal information by credit card companies to promote aimed market-
ing, misuse of our personal information re-sold in packages from business company
to business company, the abuse of our personal information collected by Apps as a
side effect, our medical data, our travels and interests, our paths and habits and more.
Of course, in such a case the role of public authorities is to advise citizens and
provide proper information about the proper behaviour in the cyber space to avoid
troubles. Starting from at least the “connected” government level there is no need to

56
To avoid unauthorized use of such cards shielded card holders are a typical countermeasure, so
the antenna of mobile devices will not interact with cards.
57
This topic is part of the volume: Alfredo M. Ronchi, eCitizens: Being human in the information
age, Springer.
130 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

ask for personal information once the citizen is already registered on the platform;
this releases the citizen from the tedious task of inputting many times the same
information and provides a much more secure protection to personal information,
stored one time and protected by secure credentials instead provided multiple times
to a number of clones spread on different platforms protected by different often weak
credentials.
The second potential breach in privacy is much more care of public administra-
tion; in addition the diffusion of the one-time password (OTP) access application on
mobile phones overcharges our phone of critical duties. If we lose our phone or if it
will be stolen we will suffer a real nightmare, like the ones depicted in many
Hollywood movies.
Rules and obligations may differ from country to country and from continent to
continent, but the importance of keeping personal information58 private is always
recognised and protected. It is mandatory to ask for explicit59 approval every time
personal information is stored in any format, “. . . consent as defined and further
specified in Directive 95/46/EC. Consent may be given by any appropriate method
enabling a freely given specific and informed indication of the user’s wishes,
including by ticking a box when visiting an Internet website60”. It is also mandatory
to ask for explicit approval when the data is updated, communicated or transferred to
a different organisation. In addition, an agent responsible for the personal informa-
tion must be nominated and referenced by the organisation. In contrast, owners are
responsible for managing the personal information stored in their PDAs and mobile
phones.

5.13 Measuring Performance and Ranking

The rapid evolution, almost all over the world, of e-Government platforms offers a
great variety of case studies and practical implementations of the key principles of
e-Government. Different services addressing different needs in different contexts,
how can we take advantage from a similar richness of different solutions? Is there
any chance to identify real best practice? Can we, once identified, re-use methodol-
ogies and application that have proved to be sounding solutions elsewhere? Which
are the most relevant parameters influencing the successful implementation of
e-Government platforms? What about strategies and implementation plans? How
can we approach in a structured way the e-Government scenario, relations among

58
Directive 2002/58/EE of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:2002L0058:20091219:EN:HTML, last
accessed February 2019.
59
Informed consent to store and use for specific clearly stated uses the requested information.
60
Directive 2002/58/EE of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:2002L0058:20091219:EN:HTML, last
accessed February 2019.
5.13 Measuring Performance and Ranking 131

different bodies (G2G, G2B, G2C, etc.), front office, back office, information and
work flow?
As usual when we try to score something we must define the overall framework
and clearly state the goal or goals of the evaluation. Once we have defined the goals,
the rationale of the evaluation and some metric we can start the analysis.
Benchmarking is a very popular process of comparing the cost, cycle time,
productivity, or quality of a specific process or method to another that is widely
considered to be an industry standard or best practice. Also referred to as “best
practice benchmarking” or “process benchmarking61”, it is a process used in man-
agement and particularly strategic management62, in which organizations evaluate
various aspects of their processes in relation to best practice, usually within a peer
group defined for the purposes of comparison.
As it happens very often, a certain word or terminology in common use often
means different things to different people. The idea to rank e-Government may have
as usual different meanings and implications. We may want to rank the evolution of
the services in the same nation year by year; we may want to rank different levels of
performance country by country. We may want to rank the impact of the application
country by country. We may want to rank the quality and completeness of the service
without relation with the impact and relevance for end users and more. With specific
reference to this point, many times in the past, reports and indexes have been
released without any reference on impact and users’ feedbacks; as a direct conse-
quence such data do not represent the reality.
Following the “ranking” approach, we can even rank the platforms accordingly
with the results of citizens’ interviews, asking for the degree of satisfaction or even
adding some description of future scenarios to collect feedbacks and address further
developments. This then allows governmental institutions to develop plans on how
to make improvements or adopt best practice, usually with the aim of increasing
some aspect of performance. Benchmarking may be a one-off event, but is often
treated as a continuous process in which organizations continually seek to challenge
their practices. For this reason main organizations dealing with e-Government such
as UNO, ITU, The World Bank, foresee a yearly report on e-Government indexes
and best practice.
Probably there is no way to provide a unique benchmarking methodology reliable
for both industrialized countries and emerging countries. We need to implement a
multivariate analysis including a set of relevant parameters. Some parameters may
be the degree of integration of back office activities, access to the infrastructure,
perceived quality of the services, front office effectiveness, willingness of use by the
citizens, etc.

61
Best Practice Benchmarking. Introduction. Making improvements within your organisation
involves adopting different processes and practices. https://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/down
load/file/fid/2388, last accessed February 2019.
62
Kotler, Philip, Berger, Roland, Bickhoff, Nils (2016), The Quintessence of Strategic Manage-
ment, ISBN 978-3-662-48490-6, Springer.
132 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

5.14 How to Rank ICT Development, e-Government

Readiness and Measure Performance

The aim of the present section is to explore the area of e-Government performance
measurement. e-Government performance measurement as well as citizen engage-
ment it is not apparently an easy task because in addition to all the aspects already
taken into account or at least mentioned we have to face an articulated chain of
dependencies mainly related to the technological side of the matter. In order to
approach this area we must consider a number of different parameters including ICT
development index, Internet penetration index and e-Government readiness. Let us
summarize the background of this research work.
– Creating digital opportunities is not something that happens after addressing the
“core” development challenges; it is a key component of addressing those
challenges in the twenty-first century. (G-8 Creating Opportunities for All:
Meeting the Challenge, 200163), last accessed February 2019.

5.14.1 ICT Indexes: DAI

In 2003, ITU64 developed the “Digital Access Index (DAI)65”, which was presented,
in Geneva, at the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society
(WSIS). The main objective of the DAI66 was to measure the overall ability of
individuals in a country to access and use ICTs. The Digital Access Index was built
around five categories: infrastructure, affordability, knowledge, quality and actual
usage of ICTs.

63
Monitoring the DIGITAL DIVIDE, Document WG-WSIS/6-E, ITU https://www.itu.int/council/
wsis/council-wsis/006e.pdf, last accessed February 2019.
64
In 2002, ITU published its first composite index, the “Mobile/Internet index” (ITU, 2002), which
measured the relative levels of mobile and Internet developments in a total of 177 economies.
65
It was based on a methodology that used goalposts (or upper value limits), which were averaged
to obtain category scores. Categories were then averaged to obtain the overall index value. The DAI
included eight indicators and was calculated for 178 economies for the year 2002. Comparative DAI
scores for the years 1998 and 2002 were calculated for 40 countries. Although it was published once
only, it received considerable interest from Governments and other users and showed that there was
a clear international demand for such a benchmarking tool. https://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/dai/, last
accessed February 2019.
66
The DAI was published in the ITU World Telecommunication Development Report 2003 (ITU,
2003), see: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/wtdr_03/index.html, last accessed February
2019.
5.14 How to Rank ICT Development, e-Government Readiness and Measure Performance 133

On the same occasion Orbicom67 presented another index, the “Infostate Index68”.
Orbicom’s mandate derives from UNESCO’s New Communications Strategy unan-
imously adopted at the 1989 General Conference. Orbicom is supported by interna-
tionally-based institutions, media, governments and corporations.

5.14.2 ICT Indexes: ICT-OI

On the occasion of the second round of the WSIS in 2005 ITU and Orbicom decided
to merge the DAI with another index, the Orbicom “Infostate Index”, to create the
“ICT Opportunity Index (ICT-OI)69”. The decision to merge the two indices was
taken in order to benefit from the experiences gained in producing the two indices
and to avoid publishing two ICT indices that were similar in terms of the data they
were based upon.
It was also in response to calls from the international community and following
the WSIS Geneva Plan of Action70 recommendation (Follow-up and evaluation—E
paragraph 2871):
“A realistic international performance evaluation and benchmarking (both quali-
tative and quantitative), through comparable statistical indicators and research
results, should be developed to follow up the implementation of the objectives, goals
and targets in the Plan of Action, taking into account different national circumstances.
In cooperation with each country concerned, develop and launch a composite
ICT Development (Digital Opportunity) Index. It could be published annually, or
every 2 years, in an ICT Development Report. The index could show the statistics
while the report would present analytical work on policies and their implementation,
depending on national circumstances, including gender analysis.
. . . Appropriate indicators and benchmarking, including community connectivity
indicators, should clarify the magnitude of the digital divide, in both its domestic and
international dimensions . . .
. . . report regularly on universal accessibility of nations to ICTs, with the aim of
creating equitable opportunities for the growth of ICT sectors of developing countries. . ..

67
Orbicom is a network of 250 associate members and 31 UNESCO chairs in Communications
from around the world. It links communications leaders from academic, media, corporate and
Government circles with the aim of fostering the exchange of information and the development of
shared projects. One of its main research projects concerned the development of the information
society, including the monitoring of the digital divide, which resulted in the Infostate Index. https://
orbicom.ca, last accessed February 2019.
68
From the digital divide to digital opportunities; Measuring Infostates for Development (2005),
ISBN 2-922651-05-3, Orbicom NRC Press, Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information.
69
https://orbicom.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/From-the-Digital-Divide-to-Digital-Opportuni
ties.pdf, last accessed February 2019.
70
The Geneva Plan of Action https://www.itu.int/net/wsis/docs/geneva/official/poa.html, last
accessed February 2019.
71
The Tunis Plan of Action—ITU—https://www.itu.int/net/wsis/docs/geneva/official/poa.html, last
accessed February 2019.
134 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

. . . Gender-specific indicators on ICT use and needs should be developed. . . to

assess the impact of funded ICT projects on the lives of women and girls. . ..
. . . website on best practices and success stories, based on a compilation of
contributions from all stakeholders . . . The website could be periodically updated
and turned into a permanent experience-sharing exercise.
All countries and regions should develop tools so as to provide statistical
information on the Information Society, with basic indicators and analysis of its
key dimensions. Priority should be given to setting up coherent and internationally
comparable indicator systems, taking into account different levels of development.”
The WSIS Tunis Agenda72 (2005—paragraphs 114–11773) made reference and
acknowledged the ICT-OI as one of the two indices (the other one was the “Digital
Opportunity Index—DOI”) to measure information society progress. An updated
version of the ICT-OI was published by ITU in 200774. The ICT-OI was particularly
designed to monitor the global digital divide and to track country progress over time
and between countries of similar income levels.

5.14.3 ICT Indexes: DOI

At the same time (2005), another ITU index, the “Digital Opportunity Index
(DOI)75”, was developed in response to the WSIS Geneva Plan of Action call for

72
WSIS Tunis Agenda http://www.itu.int/net/wsis/docs2/tunis/off/6rev1.html, last accessed
February 2019.
73
114. The development of ICT indicators is important for measuring the digital divide. We note the
launch, in June 2004, of the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development, and its efforts:
to develop a common set of core ICT indicators; to increase the availability of internationally
comparable ICT statistics as well as to establish a mutually agreed framework for their
elaboration, for further consideration and decision by the UN Statistical Commission.
to promote capacity building in developing countries for monitoring the Information Society.
to assess the current and potential impact of ICTs on development and poverty reduction.
to develop specific gender-disaggregated indicators to measure the digital divide in its various
dimensions.
115. We also note the launch of the ICT Opportunity Index and the Digital Opportunity Index,
which will build upon the common set of core ICT indicators as they were defined within the
Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development.
116. We stress that all indices and indicators must take into account different levels of development
and national circumstances.
117. The further development of these indicators should be undertaken in a collaborative, cost-
effective and non-duplicative fashion.
74
ITU (2007): “Measuring the Information Society”. The ICT-OI was also included in the ITU
World Information Society Report 2007 (along with the DOI).
75
Measuring digital opportunity, BDB-WSIS/06, ITU 2005, https://www.itu.int/osg/spu/ni/
wsisbridges/linked_docs/Background_papers/Measuring_Digital_Opp_Revised_31_Oct_2005.
pdf, last accessed February 2019.
5.14 How to Rank ICT Development, e-Government Readiness and Measure Performance 135

an ICT Development (Digital Opportunity) Index. A full version of the DOI was
published in 2006, and an updated version in 2007.
The main objective of the DOI was to measure “digital opportunity” or the
potential of countries to benefit from access to ICTs. The DOI was based on three
main categories: opportunity, infrastructure and utilization.

Opportunity

Utilization Infrastructure

Out of 11 indicators used in the index, nine corresponded to a subset of the

internationally agreed core list of ICT indicators developed by the Partnership on
Measuring ICT for Development76. The DOI included indicators measuring new
technologies, such as fixed and mobile broadband, as well as price data to reflect
affordability (called opportunity). The methodology used by the DOI was close to
that of the DAI, with the use of goalposts and absolute values rather than relative
performance, as with the ICT-OI.
The publication of this set of indexes originated a debate among experts and the
goal to unify methodologies and indexes was pursued. Therefore, work commenced
in 2007 to consider merging the two indices and creating a single ITU ICT index.
Although the two indices (ICT-OI and DOI) differed considerably in terms of the
indicators included as well as their statistical methodologies, a basic statistical
analysis showed that the results were closely correlated77.
A major difference between the two indices concerns the methodology: the ICT-
OI uses a reference country and year, which allows individual countries to track real
progress on the index score, the DOI uses a simpler methodology, with no normal-
ization of the data (all indicators are expressed as a percentage), which compares
countries’ index values and ranking across different years. As a consequence of the
merge a new index named ICT Development Index was born.

76
Please refer to Partnership on Measuring the ICT for Development (2005) and (2009). https://www.
itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/intlcoop/partnership/default.aspx, last accessed February 2019.
77
Showing a correlation coefficient of 0.94.
136 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

5.14.4 ICT Indexes: IDI

On the occasion of the 6th World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Meeting78

(WTIM) held in Geneva on 13–15 December 2007 a background paper was pre-
pared. A number of specific points were raised concerning the future development of
the index, such as:
• To reconsider whether to include the international outgoing telephone traffic
indicator since it does not adequately reflect the intensity of use, especially with
the increased use of IP networks;
• To reconsider whether to include the indicator measuring ‘international Internet
bandwidth’ since some countries consider domestic bandwidth more important;
• To include household data, based on surveys, when possible (i.e. available);
• To choose indicators which reflect all countries’ levels of development;
• To consider including indicators on broadband and wireless Internet services in
view of recent technological developments;
• To consider including ICT skills indicators;
• To keep the index simple and easily understood.
Following the same approach that led to the merge of the first two indexes the IDI
incorporated as much as possible the achievements of the previous two. So the
following key elements were incorporated from the previous two indices:
From the DOI:
• Indicators related to households;
• Indicators related to broadband;
• Simple and easy-to-understand methodology and presentation (goalposts).
From the ICT-OI:
• Indicators related to skills (also included in the DAI);
• Normalization method (distance to a reference value);
• Digital divide analysis and methodology (as an application of the IDI).
Of course, the new index added/modified some points:
• The conceptual framework, based on a basic three-stage information society
model (readiness-use-impact);
• The use of principal components analysis (PCA) to eliminate indicators, those
that have less influence on the index calculation.
As already mentioned a key point in measuring the access to the network is
in some way directly related to access costs. Internet access pricing policy
may measure the affordability of ICTs (this entry was included in the DOI but not

78
https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/events/wtis.aspx, last accessed February 2019.
5.14 How to Rank ICT Development, e-Government Readiness and Measure Performance 137

in the ICT-OI). The working group decided not to include a price component in the
index79.

fixed wireless
telephony telephony

fixed wireless
broadband broadband
line line

Nevertheless, ITU decided to construct a specific, standalone ICT Price Basket,

which is based on the 2008 prices of key ICT services (fixed and mobile cellular
telephony and fixed broadband Internet access). ITU plans to publish this Price
Basket annually, so that it can be used as a basis for countries to monitor ICT-related
price developments over time80.
As a consequence of the new vision about the index the new name chosen (ICT
Development Index—IDI) reflects not only the name that was proposed in the WSIS
Geneva Plan of Action, but also the main objectives of the index—to track progress
in the development of ICTs in countries, and to monitor the global digital divide.
Barriers to achieve the information society (United Nations)
Percent of maximum points that could have been
attributed
Poverty 77.3
Low levels of literacy 76.0
Lack of adequate infrastructure 72.8
High-prices ICT services 70.8
Lack of investment 69.8
Poor institutional structures 69.8
(continued)

79
First, the conceptual framework presented below does not include the notion of affordability.
Second, results from the DOI have demonstrated that the opportunity sub-index (which included
two indicators on prices) was generally speaking the most advanced, with the highest relative scores
compared to the other two sub-indices, even among poor countries. Third, and perhaps most
importantly, prices are often a key explanatory variable for ICT uptake and therefore need to
receive special attention in the overall analysis. Results of the Principal Components Analysis
showed that prices are highly correlated with other variables, such as those related to ICT
infrastructure, suggesting that it was not essential to include them in the index itself. Furthermore,
telecommunication and Internet tariffs are complex and cannot easily be captured by one indicator
only.
80
The ICT Price Basket can also be used as an analytical tool in information society research, as
well as a policy tool.
138 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

Percent of maximum points that could have been

attributed
Absence of international cooperation 63.0
Lack of security 52.5
Other 1.30
Source: ITU. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/wsis-themes/survey/index.html

5.14.5 Benchmarking e-Government

We took into account sufficiently the number of initiatives aiming to define a global
ICT index. Now we move the focus on e-Government taking into account
e-Government “readiness”. The UN Global e-Government Survey 2003 highlighted
that there was a wide disparity between Member States in their e-Government
readiness. The 2004 report went deeper into the issues and challenges of the
disparities in “access to the opportunity for development” offered by ICTs. It
discusses the various aspects of the digital divide and presents the thesis that the
digital divide is not only a disparity between those who are connected and those who
are not but that it encompasses a wide range of issues which cause disparities in
access to proper utilization of ICTs. It identified the boundaries of what constitutes
lack of access to ICT. In its data analysis it presents a picture of where the countries
are placed in providing access to all.
The 2005 report states that “An imperative of development today is to employ
information and communication technologies (ICTs) to level the playing field for
all” and “Access to information and communications is considered crucial for
poverty reduction, since it contributes to new sources of income and employment
for the poor, improved delivery of health and education services and competitive-
ness of the economy.”
In addition, the report assesses more than 50,000 features of the e-Government
websites of the 191 UN Member States to ascertain how ready the Governments
around the world are in employing the opportunities offered by ICT in providing
basic social services. A large number of countries solidified their online presence
further, venturing into higher and more mature areas of e-Service delivery. Many
introduced further e-Participation features. The total number of countries online
increased to 179, or around 94% of the United Nations Member States. Twelve
countries were not online, compared to thirteen in 2004. Most developing country
Governments around the world promoted citizen awareness about policies and
programmes, approaches and strategies on their websites. They made an effort to
engage multi-stakeholders in participatory decision-making, in some cases through
the use of innovative initiatives aimed at greater access and inclusion.
Fifty-five countries, out of 179, which maintained a government website, encour-
aged citizens to participate in discussing key issues of importance, but only 32 Member
States explained what e-Consultation was, why it was important and where citizens
should provide inputs to the government, while only 28 countries gave the assurance
that the government would take citizens’ inputs into the decision-making process.
5.14 How to Rank ICT Development, e-Government Readiness and Measure Performance 139

Moving to the 2008 report the results of the Survey indicate that “governments
are moving forward in e-government development around the world. However,
given the high demands placed by e-government on a multitude of foundational
pillars which include prerequisites of infrastructure, appropriate policies, capacity
development, ICT applications and relevant content that need to be in place to fully
implement e-government services, progress is slow. Only a few governments have
made the necessary investment to move from e-government applications per se to a
more integrated connected governance stage.” And specifically on infrastructure
“the governments that invested in broadband infrastructure scored relatively high”.
A closer look at the infrastructure index reveals that investment in cellular phones
has been dramatic over the past 3 years (2006–2008) in both the developed and
developing countries. Another issue that came to the forefront is that back office
operations need to be seamlessly integrated into one system for effective
governance.
The UN Global e-Government Survey 201681 considers as a reference point the
year 2015 with the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and
other major international commitments. Thanks to these initiatives we embarked in
an unprecedented endeavour to transform our world. The 2030 Agenda is centred on
a set of far-reaching and people-centred universal Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs). Governments, together with the private sector and civil society, will play a
central role in the implementation of the SDGs. They will need to drive the principles
and goals of the 2030 Agenda throughout public institutions at local, national,
regional and international levels. An unprecedented level of policy integration and
institutional coordination will thus be needed so that progress is made on all the
SDGs at the same time, building on the interrelations and synergies between them.
In extreme synthesis, the reports highlight: “a positive global trend towards
higher levels of e-government development. Countries in all regions are increas-
ingly embracing innovation and utilizing ICTs to deliver services and engage people
in decision-making processes. One of the most important new trends is the advance-
ment of people-driven services. It addresses the growing demand for more person-
alized services that reflect individual needs, as well as people’s aspiration to be
more closely engaged in the design and delivery of services. These new demands are
transforming the way the public sector operates.”
Switching to some persisting drawbacks: “disparities remain within and among
countries. Lack of access to technology, poverty and inequality prevent people from
fully taking advantage of the potential of ICTs and e-government for sustainable
development. For ICTs to truly transform the public sector into an instrument of
sustainable development, efficiency in service delivery must be also coupled with
social equity and ensuring that all people can access quality services. Such efforts
are vital to making sure that the sustainable development goals are at the centre of
all government policies and of public management and that no one is left behind.”82

81
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2016), United Nations e-Government Survey 2016,
ISBN: 978-92-1-123205-9, United Nations.
82
WU Hongbo—Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.
140 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

5.15 e-Government Readiness Index

Following the fil rouge of “indexes”, the e-Government Readiness Index is “a

composite measurement of the capacity and willingness of countries to use
e-Government for ICT-led development”. Together with an assessment of the
website development patterns in a country, the e-Government readiness index
incorporates the access characteristics (e.g. infrastructure, educational levels, capac-
ity, etc.), to reflect how a country is using the ICT opportunity for national,
economic, social and cultural empowerment of its people. This means that a signif-
icant part of “context”-related indexes are adequately taken into account. The 2008
Survey focuses mainly on the ‘government to citizen’ (G to C) and ‘government to
government’ (G to G) aspects of e-Government.
Although this Survey captures some elements of ‘government to business’ (G to
B), it is a relatively small part of the Survey. After UN e-Government Surveys 2001,
2003, 2004, 2005 the UN did the 2008 survey and since that surveys have been
published every 2 years. The year 2015 marked a milestone in efforts to eradicate
poverty and promote prosperity for all people on a safe planet. To revitalize and
inject new energies after the relatively limited outcomes of the Millennium Devel-
opment Goals (MDGs), the United Nations, with the adoption of the 2030 Agenda83
for Sustainable Development in 2015 and other major international commitments,
embarked in an unprecedented endeavour to transform our world. The 2030 Agenda
is centred on a set of 17 far-reaching and people-centred universal Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) and the 169 targets that are at the core of the 2030
Agenda aim to advance people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnerships. We may
say that the key phrase summarizing the Agenda is “Leaving No One Behind”.
With specific reference to the Information Technologies the 2030 Agenda itself
recognized that “the spread of information and communications technology and
global interconnectedness has great potential to accelerate human progress, to
bridge the digital divide and to develop knowledge societies, as does scientific and
technological innovation across areas as diverse as medicine and energy” ([7],
paragraph 15).
The UN General Assembly recognised that “in Government and the provision of
public services, education, healthcare and employment, as well as in business,
agriculture and science, with greater numbers of people having access to services
and data that might previously have been out of reach or unaffordable” (United
Nations 2015, para 16). And more specifically in the field of e-Government the
assembly affirmed that: “potential of e-Government in promoting transparency,
accountability, efficiency and citizen engagement in public service delivery” (United
Nations 2015).

83
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/devel
opment-agenda/, last accessed February 2019.
5.15 e-Government Readiness Index 141

The backdrop described above aims to depict the UN scenario in which the 2016
Survey was carried out, this outlining the role of e-Government in the realization of
the SDGs. As already stated the implementation of e-Government thanks to
advanced electronic and mobile services can significantly improve the relationship
between people and their government, making public services delivery more effec-
tive, accessible and responsive to people’s needs. It also aims at increasing partic-
ipation in decision making and making public institutions more transparent and
accountable. In the described framework, the purpose of e-Government should
contribute to the implementation of the Agenda.
Thanks to the e-Government readiness index we can evaluate different strategies,
track the progress of Member States globally over time. Comparative examinations
of country performances84 begin from the premise that no two countries are alike and
that national trajectories will be shaped by variables both within the public sector
(including multiple levels of government) and across society at large. As a result,
there is some invariable tension between mapping out global e-Government trends
and specific national trajectories and how they relate to such trends:
• The first index is the web measure index; it is based upon a five-stage model
(Connected, Emerging, Enhanced, Interactive, Transactional), which builds upon
the previous levels of sophistication of a Member State’s online presence. As a
country migrates upwards through the various stages, it is ranked higher in the
web measure index;
• The second index is the telecommunication infrastructure index; it is a composite
index of five primary indices relating to a country’s infrastructure capacity as they
relate to the delivery of e-Government services. These are:
– Internet Users/100 persons;
– PCs/100 persons;
– Main Telephones Lines/100 persons;
– Cellular telephones/100 persons;
– Broad banding/100 persons.
Each index represents 20% of the overall telecommunication infrastructure index;
• The third index is the human capital index; it is a composite of the adult literacy
rate and the combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio, with
two thirds weight given to the adult literacy rate and one third to the gross
enrolment ratio. The data for the adult literacy rate and the gross enrolment
ratio was drawn primarily from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
There is another relevant emerging parameter to be considered in the evaluation
of e-Government global performances: e-Participation. “e-Participation has the

84
Measuring the Information Society: The ICT Development Index—International Telecommuni-
cation Union (ITU), Geneva 2009—http://www.itu.int/publ/D-IND-ICTOI-2009/en, last accessed
February 2019.
142 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

potential to establish more transparency in government by allowing citizens to use

new channels of influence which reduces barriers to public participation in
policymaking.85” e-Participation is a compound “object” made by feedback channels
(C2G) or live contribution opportunities mixed and boosted by Web 2.0 features and
services such as wikis, blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and more. Some politi-
cians found a new and more direct way to reach their audience thanks to YouTube
video-clips or supporting communities in Facebook.
In some way this “person to person” consensus building may revolutionize the
world of politics, establishing a true bottom-up approach. Further proof that the lines
between politics and citizens are becoming blurred was the YouTube-sponsored
Democratic Presidential Debate in the United States, where ordinary citizens had a
platform to question candidates on issues that mattered to them. For a similar reason
the Italian Ministry of Education in 2008–2009 choose to publish on YouTube a set
of video presentations addressed to the students. This direct interaction using ICT
tools was unprecedented and ushered in an era of direct dialogue between politicians
and citizens.
The human capital index is built on top of a questionnaire devoted to three main
categories: e-Information, e-Consultation and e-Decision-making. According to, the
definitions provided by the UN e-Government Survey 2008:
e-Information The government website offers information on the list of elected
officials, government structure, policies and programmes, points of contact, budget,
laws and regulations and other information of public interest. Information is dissem-
inated through a number of online tools such as: community networks, blogs, web
forums, text messages (micro democracy), newsgroups and e-mail lists;
e-Consultation The government website provides the tools necessary for e-Consul-
tation. It allows citizens to set the agenda for the debate through e-Petitioning. The
government ensures that its elected officials have a website to communicate directly
with their constituents. It maintains an archive of their discussions and provides
feedback to citizens;
e-Decision Making The government is willing to take into account the e-inputs of
citizens into the decision-making process. The government informs its citizens on
what decisions have been taken based on the consultation process.
On February 2008, as already mentioned, the United Nations performed the
“Assessment of the National and Ministerial Websites of the 192 United Nations
Member States”. It may be interesting to browse the list of the main features
reviewed by the United Nations e-Government Survey. The questionnaire was
structured in three main sections: Information dissemination/outreach, Service
Delivery Capability and Citizen participation/interconnectedness. The specific ques-
tions (mainly yes/no) were as follows:

85
Hacker, K.L. & van Dijk, J. (ed. 2000) Digital Democracy: Issues of Theory and Practices, ISBN
0-7619-6217-4 London, Sage Publications Ltd.
5.15 e-Government Readiness Index 143

In the field of—Information dissemination/outreach:

• Existence of a national website and ministerial websites including: education,
finance, health, labour and/or social services;
• Existence of a one-stop-shop national portal;
• Existence of a Head of State website;
• Existence of an e-Government section;
• Sources of archived information (laws, policy documents, priorities, etc.);
• News and/or updates on government policies;
• Access to back office applications;
• Chief Information Officer (CIO), or similar officer with a leadership role, to
manage national cross-agency e-Government programmes/projects;
• Information concerning government officials responsible for the provision of
specific online services/queries;
• Personal account/profile of citizens, with the objective of enhancing dialogue
between government and citizens;
• Information for citizens on the usage of the website;
• Access/Usability;
• Search feature;
• “Contact us” feature;
• Audio and video features;
• Multiple languages availability;
• Use of wireless technology to send messages to mobile phones or devices;
• Security (secure link) feature available/indicated;
• Electronic signature feature;
• Online payment by credit, debit, or other card methods;
• E-mail sign-up option, either as a formal list-server or simply for news items;
• Existence of features to enable access for people with disabilities.
In the field of—Service Delivery Capability:
• One-stop-shop for online services;
• Downloadable/printable forms;
• Online forms;
• Job opportunities;
• Online transactions;
• E-mail alerts for e-Participation;
• Really Simple Syndication (RSS)86 use for e-Participation;
• Set turnaround time for government to respond to submitted forms/e-mails.

86
The RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a format that uses the XML to notify the publication of
new content on the Web and allows you to easily aggregate the contents of a site and present them,
without the need to surf the Internet, in other forms through a specially installed “reader” or
“interpreter” of RSS documents.
144 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

In the field of—Citizen participation/interconnectedness:

• e-Participation policy or mission statement;
• Calendar listings of upcoming e-Participation activities:
• Archived information about e-Participation activities:
• e-Participation tools to obtain public opinion (polls, surveys, bulletin boards, chat
room, blogs, web casting, and discussion forums, etc.);
• Citizen feedback on the national strategy, policies and e-Services;
• Provision for publishing the results of citizen feedback;
• Archive on responses by government to citizens’ questions, queries and inputs.
The outcome of a similar survey may provide a detailed picture of the national
state of the art if this also includes additional human factors such as: willingness to
use e-Government services, digital literacy and/or literacy, public access to the
infrastructure (electricity, costs, policies, etc.), trust relationship with e-Services,
adequate interaction design, adequate effort expectancy, adequate performance
expectancy, barriers due to cultural or linguistic reasons, different habits. We stress
the availability of electric energy because in many countries the first problem they
face is the lack of an adequate provision of stable electricity. Accordingly to, UN
data, 1.2 billion people on the planet do not have proper electric power or electric
power at all.
On the occasion of IGF 201787, held on December in Geneva, a specific session
was entitled “Two networks will shape your digital future” and the networks are
electric network or grid and Internet network. Vinton Cerf, one of the fathers of
computer networking, participated in the panel, arguing, “I would observe is that
instead of two Networks there are three. There is the electrical power grid and
Internet and there is the financial network.88” The picture of a 15 years period of
time was: 40 billion mobile phones sold and activated all over the world on one side
and lack of electric power for more than one billion on the other. One attempt to
bridge the gap was to refer to the mobile phone market and transfer to the domain of
energy the incredibly successful pre-paid card for power grids.

5.16 Unsuccessful Stories: Some Reasons Why

The ITU draft report on “Electronic Government for Developing Countries” (Aug.
2008) provides an interesting insight on the e-Government failures with specific
reference to developing countries. We often refer to that period of time because it
was the one of the early stages of cyber-revolution. A major concern of government
leaders in taking on e-Government projects is the risk of failure. While estimates

87
https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/igf-2017-geneva-switzerland-18-21-decem
ber, last accessed February 2019.
88
Attending the session and quoting from the online transcription of the intervention—https://www.
intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/igf-2017-day-3-room-xii-ws200-two-networks-will-shape-
your-digital-future, last accessed February 2019.
5.16 Unsuccessful Stories: Some Reasons Why 145

vary, approximately 60% of overall e-Government projects fail. There are no official
statistics on the failure rate of e-Government projects in developing countries.
In 2003 the United Nations Report entitled “e-Government at the Crossroads”
concludes that despite the very limited data on e-Government failures, the number of
projects that fail is high. “Some analysts estimate the rate of failure of e-Government
projects in countries with developing economies to be very high, at around 60–80%
(with the higher rate of failure characteristic of Africa). This can look like a
staggering figure—until one reviews data concerning the industrialized countries.
Gartner Research puts the rate of failure of e-Government projects at about 60%.
The Standish Group estimates that only 28% of all ICT projects in 2000 in the U.S.,
in both government and industry, were successful with regard to budget, function-
ality and timeliness. 23% were cancelled and the remainder succeeded only par-
tially, failing on at least one of the three counts” ([8], 60–61).
In order to minimize potential failures, the recent trend in e-Government is to
design services to focus squarely on the needs of citizens, web visitors often
considered as a “customer.” Nevertheless, it is difficult to understand the need of a
citizen as a customer. Apart from citizens, users in general may be government
employees, private businesses, civil society organizations, non-governmental orga-
nizations, media organizations, the international donor community and many addi-
tional sub-groups. Moreover there are many relevant differences between
governments and commercial organizations. As already outlined, governments
must provide services to all of its “customers” instead of to certain market segments,
and these “customers” have no choice about which government to deal with.
Governments have the responsibility to be good stewards of information and com-
municate information for everyone equally. So, e-Government services must cover
the breadth and diversity of individuals who may have a wide range of skills,
language abilities, education levels, income and beliefs. If we extend this analysis
to e-Government platforms shared among different countries we must add an
additional problem, the different use which people coming from different cultures
will do of same application or platform.
Simply considering the number of different parameters influencing e-Government
it is not hard to figure out potential reasons causing failures; Kreps and Richardson in
their report “IS success and failure—the problem of scale89” have identified numerous
reasons for these failures, including:
• Drivers of ICT Project Failures;
• Systems delivered late;
• Creeping scope;
• Software not reliable and robust;
• Software not delivering the promised functionality;
• Lack of integration and effective interface with legacy systems;
• Escalating costs;
• Lack of consultation with users or stakeholders;

Kreps, D. and H. Richardson (2007). “IS success and failure—the problem of scale.” The Political
89

Quarterly 78(3).
146 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

• Data integrity and confidentiality issues;

• Poor knowledge of the system and lack of suitable training.
These reasons do not include human factors, those we have already outlined in the
previous paragraph.
Some difficulties relate to the design phase. Designing an e-Government solution
is quite different from designing an enterprise application. Government institutions
may not take advantage of system development practices effectively to implement
their e-Government systems. System development practices usually foresee a struc-
tured approach to analyse, design and implement a tailored information system. Such
a system will be able to duly support different user profiles, business functions and
work and information flow as foreseen. It is a common understanding that system
analysis implies a concerted design phase involving all different users and contrib-
utors in order to agree on different user requirements, procedures, back and front
office within the constraints of the governmental organization. This approach is not
usual in e-Government solution design mainly because of the amount of time and
efforts requested. As a consequence that government that is pioneering in this field
used to refer to a priori defined user profiles. Applications are analysed, designed
and developed care of experts with industrial or university background very often far
from the end user one. This is particularly evident in implementing e-Government
platforms in developing or emerging countries.
Sometimes governments, due to a real need of renovation and better efficiency,
launch large e-Government projects not supported by a sounding implementation
plan. Large projects will last for many years, sometimes even more than the period
foreseen in the design phase. General and technical specification cannot last for a
long period of time without any updating or assessment procedure. This usually
leads to obtaining an already obsolete system. This problem may be reduced or
solved thanks to a proper segmentation and planning of the different phases of the
project and the implementation of suitable assessment cycles.
Close to the same topic we find another potential drawback of complex informa-
tion systems: the lack of flexibility and adaptation. Once the system is designed we
have “cemented” even the future behaviour on the basis of rigid procedures
representing the average behaviour of the institution in the recent past. If no
flexibility and adaptation is possible we have frozen the institution “as it was”.
The relevance of a similar problem is evident if we adequately take into account that
many times the most performant workflow is not perfectly known a priori but
requires a certain time span to be identified. This absence of flexibility is often
twinned with the difficulty to adapt the project to new technological solutions,
should these concern hardware or software components.
A potential answer to a similar problem is suggested care of Dovifat and
Brueggemeier in their publication entitled “The model of micropolitical arenas”
(2007)90, “In the light of these results, a socio-technical approach towards

90
Dovifat, A., M. Brueggemeier, et al. (2007). The model of micropolitical arenas: A framework to
understand the innovation process of e-Government-projects. Information Polity: The International
Journal of Government & Democracy in the Information Age.
5.16 Unsuccessful Stories: Some Reasons Why 147

information systems development is recommended. Concepts like “incremental

decision-making” or “improvisational change management” are suggested to
match with the results of each stage reached during the respective project. Hence
unplanned change is not considered as disruptions, which have to be avoided, but as
opportunities to improve the project results” [9].
On the occasion of the OECD e-Leaders Conference 200891 entitled “The Future
of e-Government—Agenda 2020—Main Conclusions” the Dutch host, Mrs. A.
Bijleveld-Schouten, State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom
Relations, outlined the challenges in her opening speech to the Conference, that “...
e-Government is about empowerment. Empowerment of our economic potential,
local and international”. It is about: “... creating an environment where business
can strive with government support without government hindrance.”
The main focus of most participating delegations was the need to improve
governments’ understanding of users and their needs, “Focusing on citizens’
needs—Government 2.0?” Particularly ways to improve service delivery to citizens
was an overarching theme for discussion. It is a common understanding among
countries to better meet user expectations, but few have the necessary and sufficient
knowledge of these expectations. A shared assumption was that there is no contra-
diction between being citizen-centric and achieving the goal of a high-performing
public sector delivering high-quality services to its users. Providing high-quality and
efficient public services—“whether they are e-Government-based or not—is a
question of knowing what the expectations are and how to meet them. This means
that having a holistic approach to public service delivery with the user at the core is
not enough.”
Empowering citizens to participate in the development of the public sector has
created an unprecedented recognition among governments of the need of a whole-of-
public-sector approach to service delivery.
A general remark on the state of the art of e-Government underlines that despite
more than a decade of work, e-Government has not yet delivered on all its promises
or at least didn’t reach the level of performances and added value that was foreseen
or promised on the occasion of the initial promotion. This is more than usual in the
field of technologies; you open the scene to a “revolutionary technology” and
generate great expectations, positive impacts on society and more as it happened
on the occasion of Artificial Intelligence and Paperless Offices in the 1980s, Virtual
Reality and Semantic Web in the 1990s, then it takes some time to come true or even
to depict a different scenario as it probably happened to the “world” depicted by the
“gurus” of the “ante-litteram” “information Society” in the Silicon Valley of the
1960s.
Countries are still looking into how to harvest the full benefits of e-Government
now that many of them have passed the phase of “... picking the low-hanging fruits”
from simple automation. e-Government has become a natural part of governments’

91
OECD e-Leaders Conference 2008, http://www.oecd.org/gov/digital-government/e-
leadersconference2008.htm, last accessed February 2019.
148 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

toolboxes; governments are asking how this tool can be used to support and enhance
broader economic development.
On the occasion of the OECD event in 2008, Mr. Bruno Lanvin92, pointed out
different mega-trends in e-Government development and the future challenge for
governments of balancing these trends:
• From cost reduction to better government.
• From rationalisation to economic growth facilitation.
• From central to local.
• From government- to citizen- to client-centricity.
On the occasion of the UN Global e-Government Survey 2016 the main remarks
on e-Government implementation were:
– it can promote a holistic and participatory approach to public service delivery
through new institutional set-ups and integrated coordination of government
activities at all levels;
– It can help “siloed” government institutions to join forces to pursue common
objectives through whole-of-government approaches. e-Government can also
offer opportunities to re-engineer existing decision-making processes and infor-
mation flows;
– It can help increase transparency and accountability as well as participation
through open government data. By providing online access to the information
that the government generates and collects on a host of subject areas, people have
greater insight into how governments operate and how public funds are spent;
– Participation of people in policy-making and in the design and delivery of
services is essential to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Target 16.7
pledges to ensure “responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative deci-
sion-making at all levels”. The use of e-Participation tools, including e-Informa-
tion, e-Consultation and e-Decision-making, has opened up new avenues of e-
Consultation, participation, collaboration and co-creation of public value;
– Access to ICTs and increased levels of e-Literacy are essential to engage vulner-
able groups;
– While higher income levels are generally related to higher levels of Online
Service Index (OSI), progress has also been made by several low-income coun-
tries. Increasingly, there is a shift towards people-driven services whereby people
play a more active role in the design and customization of services;
– In all sectors mobile apps and Short Message Service SMS services have expe-
rienced a large and significant growth;
– Services to vulnerable groups have grown everywhere for all segments of society,
with services to youth at the highest levels, followed by services for people living

92
Mr. Bruno Lanvin, Executive Director, eLab, INSEAD—https://www.insead.edu, last accessed
February 2019.
5.17 Some Recommendations and Remarks 149

in poverty, persons with disabilities, older persons and immigrants. Services to

women are also high;
– The use of new technologies, such as Geographic Information System and the
Internet of Things, helps promote more targeted and specialised public services
and effective policy processes.
An interesting trend outlined by the survey refers to the evolution of e-Govern-
ment over the past 15 years: “The process of developing e-Government has been
shifting, and will continue to shift, away from a staged progression to non-sequen-
tial, overlapping and connected building blocks. Such variation will allow for leap-
frogging and quick wins while calling for longer term sustainable development
strategies.” This aspect already benefited some countries both small and even
under development.
The basic conditions in order to promote effective e-Government, whether in the
area of whole-of-government approaches, e-Participation, open government data or
electronic and mobile services, require: strong political commitment, government-
wide vision, collaborative leadership, as well as appropriate legislation and holistic
institutional frameworks.
In addition are crucial to the effective delivery of public e-Services in support of
sustainable development:
– an appropriate ICT infrastructure,
– an improved access to knowledge and technologies,
– an open and safe Internet,
– an adequate privacy protection.
All of them are critical aspects to be addressed when devising e-Government
strategies.

5.17 Some Recommendations and Remarks

Having already taken into account some of the most relevant aspects of e-Govern-
ment success or failure we are in a position to collect some recommendations:
• Have an idea about the citizens’ willingness to access e-Government services;
• Do not forget to adequately consider all the different aspects influencing e-
Government solutions (cultural model, habits, literacy, etc.);
• Carefully check existent infrastructures (electricity, connectivity and access, etc.);
• Understand the needs of all segments of public to make sure the e-Government
system genuinely assists each citizen to fulfil his or her human development
needs (citizens-centred approach); and enable citizens to participate in the design
of e-Government services (participatory bottom up design, co-creation, living
labs, etc.);
150 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

• Develop a strategic plan to deploy and guide e-Government services; do not

forget to carefully plan the transition from Gov to e-Gov. Do not forget the digital
divide even in developed countries and the related opportunity gap;
• Do not replicate in “digital format” the physical internal organisation and behav-
iour of the institution; develop a user-oriented organisation of services;
• Use well-established system development practices to carry out the day-to-day
activities of developing, implementing and maintaining e-Government services;
• Carefully consider interaction design/human factors;
• Provide a secure experience for web visitors; enhance the trust relationship; this
aspect is fundamental to ensure a successful implementation of the services. If a
multi-channel solution is the choice the trust must be maximised;
• Create a learning organisation where employees are encouraged to participate in
the developing and managing e-Government services;
• Develop of effective ICT governance mechanism to assign roles and responsi-
bilities for managing and making decisions about e-Government services (includ-
ing updates and improvements);
• Develop ICT capabilities focusing on building a suitable ICT infrastructure to
sustain long-term investments in e-Government, nurturing the development of
human capital within the government to use ICTs for e-Government, and facil-
itating the skills of employees to develop and manage partnerships with private
sector firms and other possible partners;
• Do not forget to create a robust backup and disaster recovery system; last but not
least take adequately into account long term preservation of data and services as
outlined in the next paragraph.

5.18 e-Government in a Long-Term Perspective

In the last few decades we have witnessed two related processes: the increasingly
visible inclusion of electronic devices in our everyday lives, and the rush to digital
formats. Institutions, organisations and private companies few decades ago began to
convert their own archives into digital formats. Moreover, the general public has also
started to convert personal data into digital formats: documents, music, movies,
drawings and photos have been converted from their original formats into bit-
streams in digital media.
People used to believe (and many still do) that digital formats were the ultimate
formats for storing information indefinitely. The idea that texts, images and more in
general data can be perpetuated by converting them into digital form is popular and
widely supported.
As a result, a significant amount of our documents and data relies on digital
technology. But is digital technology really suitable for long-term preservation? And
are electronic devices, which are required in order to access information stored in
digital formats, durable enough to guarantee future access to this information? If not,
what can we do to overcome this problem?
5.18 e-Government in a Long-Term Perspective 151

The rapid evolution of technology makes the preservation of digital content a

challenge. Considering the huge amount of data to be stored, the amount of time
permitted to accomplish this task, and the length of time that such information needs
to be stored93, it is important to address the issue of the long-term conservation of
digital information or as usually termed “digital preservation”, a problem that has
largely been underestimated even at governmental level.
We need to consider two aspects: technological obsolescence and the temporary
nature of “permanent” storage systems. Computer systems are aging; the media on
which information is stored are disintegrating. Given this issue, what are the long-
term implications of relying on current digital technology to preserve our archives?
Society, of course, has always shown a great deal of interest in preserving
materials that document issues, concerns, ideas, creativity, art, discourse and events.
Even if we simply focus, for the moment, on basic digital content such as text, we
cannot guarantee that textual records stored in digital electronic form will always be
accessible.
Although it may seem odd to discuss digital text in this context, there are some
important although indirect parallels between the principles described above and
those that govern digital text capture.
When capturing “digital text”, it is commonly understood that we do not sample
the original in the same way that we sample audio or images. However, the process
of text capture does involve making choices about the level of granularity of the
resulting digital representation.
When capturing a twentieth-century printed text, for instance, a range of different
“data densities” are possible: a simple transcription of the actual letters and spaces
printed on the page; a higher-order transcription which also represents the nature of
textual units such as paragraphs and headings; or an even more dense transcription
which also adds inferential information such as keywords or metrical data.
Other possibilities arise for texts that are structured on different levels of internal
granularity. In the case of a mediaeval manuscript, one might create a transcription
that captures the graphemes, the individual characters of the text, but does not
distinguish between different forms of the same letter (for instance, short and
long). Or one might capture these different letter forms, or even distinguish between
swashed and unswashed characters. One might also choose to capture variations in
spacing between letters, lines of text, and text components, or variations in letter
size, or changes in handwriting, or any one of a number of possibly meaningful
distinctions.
These distinctions, and the choice of whether or not to capture them, are the
equivalent of sampling rates and bit-depth: they govern the amount of information
which the digital file records about the analogue source, and the resulting level of
nuance that can be obtained when reusing and processing the digital file.

93
The time span is mainly related to the national regulations and data/document type (10, 40, 70
years, forever).
152 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

As already outlined, although the loss of data due to the deterioration of storage
media is an important consideration, the main issue is that software and hardware
technologies rapidly become obsolete.
Storage media are subject to degradation; they are not designed to survive for
long periods of time (the kinds of timescales associated with archives and govern-
mental data). Magnetic technology does not guarantee long-term access to stored
information; tapes and disks lose their properties and are sensitive to environmental
conditions such as heat, humidity, magnetic fields, static electricity, dust, fire, etc.
In addition, they become obsolete as the devices capable of reading them become
outdated and are mothballed. Even though they were once cutting-edge formats,
today it is very difficult to obtain equipment that will read a 9600 bpi magnetic tape,
an 800 or 5¼00 floppy disk or even a 31/200 . The same can be said for early RLL or IDE
hard disks. Old formats and standards are essentially shelved in favour of newer
formats and standards.
The same happens for software standards, because ways of coding information
and the quality of the information stored are constantly improving. This situation
holds for both electronic records converted from analogue forms (paper, film, video,
sound, etc.), and records that were originally created in electronic form (born
digital).
For digital content that is derived from an analogue source, the analogue source
(provided it is still available) can be digitised again to new and improved standards
and formats, so this issue is not a big problem. On the other hand, content that
originated in digital form must, apart from specific cases such as, for instance, digital
remastering of movies or similar expensive procedures, be preserved based on the
original record.
Until the end of the last century, documents were generally paper- or microfilm-
based. Microfilm technology was popular because of its efficiency, usability, robust-
ness, and we now recognise that it is almost hardware-independent. A few decades
ago people started to convert microfilm archives into digital archives.
Sometimes the last resort is to keep the data in a safe between one generation and
the next. Unfortunately, some digital data cannot be converted to paper or microfilm
formats. In this case, technology does not help because it is constantly delivering
new generations of digital objects that are different from the established ones. How
can we revert back from a digital signature to paper format, or do so for a cooperative
document created on the fly? How can we easily preserve distributed data related to
an “inter-governmental” service? How can we permanently store wikis or blogs?
Similar concerns are shared by investigators and police organisations94 interested in
preserving “digital evidences” the backbone of “cyber forensics”95. Additional
problems arise because of the use of clouds many times established in different
countries with different regulations. The need of harmonised or ideally shared

94
National police, Interpol, Europol, ENISA, etc.
95
Next generation cyber forensics—Communications of the ACM February 2006 Volume 49
number 2 and High-tech forensics—Communications of the ACM July 2004 Volume 47 number 7.
5.19 The Rationale Behind Digital Preservation 153

regulations on the cyberspace, the so-called Internet Jurisdiction, is a chimera since

the beginning of the network age.
However, today’s data storage methods include digital storage, and more and
more organizations are storing more and more of their information digitally. Yet,
surprisingly little attention is given to the preservation of digital information over
long periods. The range of digital and electronic assets that need to be preserved
spans from high-level and mission-critical information and applications to everyday
life objects. This task of preservation will involve highly skilled ad hoc organisations
and citizens, the former saving military or census records and the latter saving their
photos, music, and documents.
All these aspects do not include, even if it is a critical aspect as relevant as digital
preservation, cybersecurity aspects that in the evolutionary cyber scenario must be
approached at multi-stakeholder level.

5.19 The Rationale Behind Digital Preservation

The idea that once you have managed to convert your original into a digital format
the hard work is over does not reflect reality; once the digital data have been
obtained, it is necessary to consider a different conservation strategy.
One of the first things to consider is that content has its own life cycle. Even
though the “paperless” office uses more paper than ever before, and low-cost storage
technology has created terabytes of “digital garbage”, we must take into account
what is relevant and what it is not, the so-called “appraisal phase”; not only because
preservation will cost some resources but also because irrelevant data will simply
increase the “entropy”.
Another relevant aspect of preservation is related to the data refresh rate to
understand fixed information and dynamic information.
The life cycle of the data will influence its own creation and will generate an
accounting record for the resources to be preserved. Since “prevention is better than
cure”, if we define preservation strategies we are halfway to the solution. The
preservation problem involves several other aspects in addition to the bare techno-
logical ones: there are administrative, procedural, organisational, legal, IPR and
policy issues surrounding the long-term preservation of digital content. This
increased complexity tends to be due to the different natures of digital and traditional
physical documents. Online information such as web pages and databases are
vulnerable as much as their web structure becomes complex thanks to hyperlinks
and cross-references.
At least one aspect should be investigated before setting on a particular preser-
vation approach: the overall cost of preservation. This involves considering the best
way to ensure future access to information during the design phase of the long-term
data set. This approach may involve some feedbacks on the way to choosing
technology and standards and even the way to shaping data sets. Once the data set
is created, in addition to infrastructure costs, running costs may include: additional
154 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

room on storage devices to archive copies and/or documentation and metadata,

software applications that manage data refreshing, and costs related to porting or
emulation.
A number of global studies96 and projects have been and are being carried out
into digital preservation; for instance the work carried out by the Taskforce on
Archiving of Digital Information (94–96) on the mandate of The Commission on
Preservation and Access and The Research Libraries Group Inc., as well as the
OASIS Open Archival Information System project, CAMiLEON emulation and the
VERS Victorian Electronic Record Strategy. Along with the ERA initiative
launched by NARA, Interpares I, II and III are some of the most well-known projects
in this field. In addition, a comprehensive vision of electronic record management is
provided by the US Department of Defence standard entitled the Design Criteria
Standard for Electronic Records Management Software Applications (DoD 5015.2
STD).
Due to the relevance of the problem a number of initiatives have been activated in
the last two decades, apart from the set of projects developed under the umbrella of
the European Commission; the UNESCO Digital Preservation Programme97 that
issued the “Charter on the Preservation of the Digital Heritage”98 adopted on the
occasion of the 32nd session of the General Conference of UNESCO based on the
outcomes99 of the “International Conference on Preservation of Digital Information
in the Information Society: Problems and Prospects” held in Moscow on 3–5
October, 2011100; the U.S. Library of the Congress issues some studies and guide-
lines101; in the U.K. and Wales is active the “Digital Preservation Coalition”102; and
many other initiatives around the world.

96
E.g. The International Expert Meeting “Conservare il digitale”, held in Asolo on 29 September
2006. The report, entitled Long-Term Digital Preservation: An International Focus (see http://www.
ndk.cz/dokumenty/asolo_memorandum.pdf/download), was created in order to provide some
guidelines and suggestions on this topic.
97
Digital Preservation Programme http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-informa
tion/access-to-knowledge/preservation-of-documentary-heritage/digital-heritage/digital-preserva
tion-programme/, last accessed February 2019.
98
Charter on the Preservation of the Digital Heritage http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTI
MEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/mow/charter_preservation_digital_heritage_en.pdf, last accessed February
2019.
99
The Moscow Declaration on Digital Information Preservation—http://www.ifapcom.ru/files/
News/Images/2013/dig_pres_is_eng.pdf, and http://www.ifapcom.ru/en/news/1264/?returnto=0&
n=1, last accessed February 2019.
100
International Conference on Preservation of Digital Information in the Information Society:
Problems and Prospects http://www.ifapcom.ru/en/news/1257/?returnto=1&n=1, last accessed Feb-
ruary 2019.
101
Library of the Congress, Recommended Formats Statement, http://www.loc.gov/preservation/
resources/rfs/ last accessed February 2019 and Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative http://
www.digitizationguidelines.gov, last accessed February 2019.
102
Digital Preservation Coalition—http://www.dpconline.org/about, last accessed February 2019.
5.20 Selection of Case Studies 155

Finally, it is very important that research into digital preservation is carried out by
strong interdisciplinary groups, since this should guarantee that an effective
approach to a problem that concerns the foundations of the digital era is defined.
Perhaps the only chance of avoiding the “technological quicksand” is to find the
“digital Rosetta Stone” in the digital desert.

5.20 Selection of Case Studies

On the occasion of the World Summit on Information Society held in Geneva in

2003 a selection of e-Government applications was awarded best practice solutions;
the same has happened almost every year considering the two branches of the
selection, WSA and WSA Mobile. Because the competition is carried out at global
level and on average more than 160 countries participate, the set of awarded
applications provides an interesting insight on e-Government tools through the
time and countries.
A brief description of the applications, as it was provided by the organisation, is
provided in the following paragraphs.

QATAR: e-Government Project (2003)

The Qatar e-Government Project provides comprehensive online services to its
citizens, residents and business sector as well as potential tourists to Qatar. The
mission of Qatar Online Services is providing government transactions, infor-
mation and knowledge Anytime Anywhere on a single government-wide
portal. Its practical services range from Visit Visa Services, Driving License
and Traffic Violations, and Water & Electricity bill payments to Islamic tax
payments.
(A) Services for Individuals Pay Utility Bill
Topics: Housing, Business and Finance Audience: Individuals, Business
There are several convenient ways to pay your electricity and water bills:
– Online payments can be made either through the KAHRAMAA website.
– Bank Payments can be made through all major banks, using credit card,
cash or check.
QNB ATM: Kahramaa Mobile Applications; you can pay bills by using
KAHRAMAA I-Phone and Android mobile applications.
Apply for family Visit Visa
Topics: Tourism Sports and Recreation, Religion and Community, Visas
and Official Documents
Audience: Visitors, Individuals

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156 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

Residents can apply for a short-term family visit visa for their families to
enter Qatar.
View and Pay Traffic Violations
Topics: Transportation
Audience: Individuals
Motorists may check and pay for traffic violations online through the
Ministry of Interior website. Violators can pay traffic fines in person by
visiting the MoI collection office or the Traffic Department. Motorists can
check and pay for traffic violations online through Metrash2.
Related Services
– Register Vehicle: Vehicle owners are required to register their newly
purchased vehicles with the Ministry of Interior.
– Renew Vehicle Registration: Renew your vehicle registration yearly
– View My Driving License Applications: Applicants can inquire about their
own driving licenses through the Ministry of Interior online website.
– Renew Driving License: Applicants can renew their own driving licenses
through the Ministry of Interior online website.
– Replace Damaged Driving License: Applicants can replace their damaged
driving licenses or their employees’ licenses through the MOI website.
Apply for Driving License
Topics: Visas and Official Documents, Transportation
Audience: Individuals
Motorists are required to hold a valid driving license in order to drive in
Qatar. New visitor and tourists may use an international driving permit for up
to 6 months, after which they are required to obtain a Qatari driving license.
Services for VISITORS Explore Qatar
Topics: Environment and Agriculture, Tourism Sports and Recreation
Audience: Visitors, Individuals
Explore Qatar is a website that allows users to access the latest maps of
Qatar and its geographic data. The Centre for GIS at the Ministry of Munic-
ipality and Environment is responsible for updating the software, updating
users with latest maps and GIS information on this fast-growing country.
Features of the Explore Qatar website include:
– Latest Map
– Tools for exploring the map
– Measurement tools
– Landmark search
– User input of new landmarks
– Address search
– Print

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5.20 Selection of Case Studies 157

– Drawing tools
– QARS Search
– Launch portal
Related services
– Check Weather: Qatar Civil Aviation Authority provides reliable weather
information and forecast through its Department of Meteorology.
– Aviation Weather Services: Request for detailed meteorological reports
from Civil Aviation Authority.
– Annexing Adjacent Land: Citizens, companies, institutions and authorities
may submit a request to annex an adjacent piece of land to an existing plot.
Tourist Visa
Visitors and tourists who wish to visit Qatar can issue tourist visas through
some easy steps. Such visas can be obtained through employer, hotels or Qatar
Airways, based upon one’s nationality and the requirements of each.
GCC103 Resident Visit Visa
Topics: Tourism Sports and Recreation, Visas and Official Documents
Audience: Visitors, Individuals
GCC residents with authorized professions who wish to visit Qatar may
apply for an entry visa upon arrival at the airport or border. The visa is valid for
1 month, and can be extended for another 3 months.
Search Public Parks
Topics: Tourism Sports and Recreation, Housing
Audience: Visitors, Individuals
Citizens, residents and visitors in Qatar may search online for all the
available public parks and find out details about each.
Related services
– Request Tree Trimming.
– Submit a tree trimming request to the Parks Section.
– Request Rainwater Suction.
Citizens, residents and all the public can send their rainwater suction
requests to the Ministry of Municipality and Environment through its website.
– Request Insect and Rodent Control
The Ministry of Municipality and Environment offers to control the public
health and household pests.
– Dlela Service

(continued)

Gulf Cooperation Council—‫ﻣﺠﻠﺲ ﺍﻟﺘﻌﺎﻭﻥ ﺍﻟﺨﻠﻴﺞ ﺍﻟﻔﺎﺭﺳﯽ‬, (established in 1981) includes:

103

Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar.

158 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

Dlela guides smart phone users to their favorite destinations.

Renew Commercial Register
Topics: Business and Finance, Visas and Official Documents
Audience: Business
Companies, citizens and residents can renew the commercial register
through the Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC) after reviewing
company data and getting the internal required approvals, official entities
approvals, renewal of Chamber of Commerce subscription, fee paying and
establishment request for Partnership Company.
Business Leave Notification
Topics: Business and Finance, Employment and Workplace, Visas and
Official Documents
Audience: Business
All expatriates except wives and children under the sponsorship of their
family members are required to obtain a business leave notification when
leaving Qatar.
The employer is responsible for arranging the business leave notification.
Authorized users may complete the procedure online, through the MOI self-
service machine, or in person through General Directorate for Borders Pass-
ports and Expatriates Affairs.
Commercial License Services
Topics: Business and Finance, Visas and Official Documents
Audience: Business
Companies, citizens and residents can issue a commercial license from the
Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC) after issuing the commercial
register as MEC insures the location is appropriate for licensed activities and
inspects it if needed. They also can renew the expired license, taking into
consideration the non-renewal of constrained branches.
Authorization Letter in Real Estate’s Rents (In Case of Sub-contracts).
Pay the Appropriate Fees
Topics: Business and Finance, Employment and Workplace
Audience: Business
The Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs
(MADLSA) allows the private sector employees to submit the employer
change/leave country notice to the employer online.
Apply for Government Housing
Topics: Housing
Audience: Government
The Governmental Housing and Buildings Department at the Ministry of
Finance enables government entities to benefit from the government housing
system through submitting applications for government housing replacement

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5.20 Selection of Case Studies 159

or maintenance. New housing requests or new housing lease requests may also
be submitted for the employees affiliated to such entities.
Government Resource Planning System “Mawared”
Topics: Employment and Workplace
Audience: Government
The Government Resource Planning System “Mawared” was created to be
part of the strategic plan of the Integrated Government (i-Gov) Program in
Qatar. Mawared is considered to be one of the most important initiatives in the
i-Gov Program. Its aim is to enhance the interaction between all government
entities in managing government resources. Mawared brings leading-edge
Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions to empower the government
entities to maximize workforce potential and improve HR services.
MAWARED objectives:
– Employ the latest technologies in information systems to facilitate govern-
ment action.
– Create a central database for state employees for the benefit of all stake-
holders, and determine a uniform data structure as well as ensure its
continuous updates.
– Support the government entities to attract and retain the right qualified
people, develop and leverage their talents, and to retain top performers.
– Automate talent management and other HR processes, such as time man-
agement and payroll.
Mawared supports the following key business activities:
– Workforce Analytics
Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of human resources
management.
Enable decision-makers and HR officials and government entities exec-
utives to make well-informed decisions.
– Talent Management
Continue to achieve the objectives of the government continuously
through alignment of the workforce with organizational goals and finding
the best qualified candidates for the job.
– Recruitment
Provide an end-to-end solution for the entire recruiting process. Reduce
time to hire. Build strong long-term relationships with potential employees.
– Performance Management
Enable consistent achievement of government objectives by aligning the
workforce to support management objectives.
– Managing Self-Services
Ensure speed and accuracy in decision-making by providing a direct and
quick access to information and data, such as key performance indicators

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160 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

and warnings and information analytical and statistical reports. Reduce the
periods of time required in budget preparation and hiring processes.
– Employee Self-Service
Raise the level of efficiency and function of productivity by enabling
employees to access data through an online portal. Improve productivity
through the application of an automated system for human resources
operations (not paper).
Through Mawared you can also exploit the following advantages:
– Analysing related to planning, monitoring and measurement.
– The overall operations that help make informed decisions in a quick and
effective way.
– Linking the costs of training and employment business results.
– Re-using data to improve HR processes.
– Transparency in the performance of human resources.
Issue Building Permit for Government Projects
Topics: Housing, Business and Finance, Visas and Official Documents
Audience: Government, Business
The Development and Building Permits Section of the Technical Affairs
Department provides the government entity or the authorized consultant with
approval to issue a building permit for government projects, according to the
terms of the permit and based on the approved engineering plans.
Search MoF Tenders
Topics: Business and Finance
Audience: Government, Business
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) allows other ministries and different gov-
ernment entities to search the following tenders:
– Advertised tenders
– Financially open tenders
– Technically open tenders
– Awarded tenders
Company: Qatar e-Government
http://www.gov.qa/wps/portal, last accessed February 2019.

ROMANIA: Romanian e-Government Gateway (2003)

The Romanian e-Government Gateway is the central access point to on-line
public information and e-Services of the national government. It facilitates
electronic transactions between citizens, businesses and public administration
through value added services like single user authentication for various

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5.20 Selection of Case Studies 161

departments. As a central part of the Romanian government strategy for

transparency and efficiency the e-Government initiative reduces bureaucracy
and reinforces the commitment to an accountable public sector.
Company: Microsoft Romania
http://gov.ro/en/, last accessed February 2019.
http://gov.ro/en/objectives/strategies-policies-programs, last accessed
February 2019.

BAHRAIN: Ministry of Commerce Portal for Electronic Services

Since the Ministry of Commerce for Bahrain is the gateway to incoming
business for the country it has established an e-Service gateway addressing
the private sector. The portal is not just a government site offering compre-
hensive e-Services to the business community, but also an information service
that delivers business news and reports, polls and newsletters. It promotes
interaction between business communities and thus makes the site the key
portal for business in Bahrain.
Company: TCG-ME
http://www.moic.gov.bh/en/Pages/default.aspx, last accessed February
2019.
http://www.bahrain.bh, last accessed February 2019.

BRAZIL: Secretariat of Federal Revenues (2003)

The Secretariat of Federal Revenues is a central agency subordinated directly
to the Finance Ministry of Brazil. Its function is to enhance voluntary com-
pliance of tax-related obligations, collect funds for the State, and undergo law
enforcement actions to prevent tax evasion and promote fiscal justice. The IRS
website is the electronic vehicle to implement these objectives. SRF has been
using the internet as an instrument of integration between tax authorities and
taxpayers since 1997. 90% of all taxpayers use the Receitanet services for
generating and submitting their tax returns. The system effectively cuts
organisational effort and saves time for users.
Company: Secretaria da Receita Federal
http://receita.economia.gov.br, last accessed February 2019.
162 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

CHILE: Easy Procedures (2003)

In the past, official procedures in Chile with state bureaucracy were compli-
cated and long-winded. Easy Procedures is now setting new standards in
facilitating and optimising the relations of citizens and public institutions.
The inclusive e-Government service provides all relevant information, proce-
dural forms and online procedures at one central Website, thus saving time and
resources of people and institutions. The Easy Procedure service is dedicated
to all Chileans including citizens living abroad.
Company: Ministerio Secretaria General de la Presidencia
https://www.chileatiende.gob.cl/, last accessed February 2019.

NETHERLANDS: Municipality Meeting Online (2005)

In collaboration with the Municipality of Eindhoven and Omroep Eindhoven,
Noterik developed the Municipality Meeting Online application. Council
meetings are transmitted live over the Internet, with unique rich media fea-
tures, providing citizens and journalists with new ways to interact with local
politicians. Additionally, webcasts are enriched with meta-data which enables
the advanced retrieval of recorded council videos by using the system’s search
engine. The project is presently the most advanced online video application for
council meetings in the Netherlands. It demonstrates the potential of new
technology to help to provide transparency of governance.
Company: Noterik Multimedia BV
http://www.eindhoven.eu/, last accessed February 2019.

CANADA: Vancouver.ca (2005)

Vancouver.ca is a comprehensive website produced by the City of Vancouver,
which promotes content designed to inform, educate and engage its citizens in
local issues. While the website does provide convenient online services, such
as the ability to purchase business licences through the Internet, the City’s
priority has been to develop a website that contains a wide range of detailed
content. The purpose is to promote awareness for and access to civic
programmes and services, and also keep to citizens informed and engaged in
debates on issues that impact their day-to-day lives.
Company: City of Vancouver
http://vancouver.ca/, last accessed February 2019.
5.20 Selection of Case Studies 163

AUSTRALIA: Brisbane City Council Green Home (2005)

The purpose of the Brisbane City Council Green Home project was to provide
visitors to the Brisbane City Council’s corporate website with an online 3D
interactive house which illustrates the council’s key messages about household
sustainability. The product displays one of the first uses of Shockwave 3D
technology on any local government website in the world. It is also the first
Australian government-sponsored “Interactive Learning Object” to use 3D
technology in order to convey environmental messages that are designed to
cause behavioural change in the target audience.
Company: Impart Qantm Studio
http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/, last accessed February 2019.

BAHRAIN: e-Visas (2005)

The primary function of Bahrain e-Visas is to provide a service for online
application for, payment for and processing of visas for travel to Bahrain. The
application uses connectivity to the GDNPR systems and databases to auto-
mate the processes as much as possible within policy and security constraints.
Many groups of people benefit from the service: individuals who intend to
visit the country, residents of Bahrain who are looking for multiple re-entry
visas, and companies in Bahrain who want to interview an applicant from
abroad. The system can also save biodata electronically, thereby reducing the
data capture process at check-in.
Company: General Directorate Nationality, Passport & Residence
(GDNPR)
http://www.evisa.gov.bh/, last accessed February 2019.

UNITED KINGDOM: Directgov (2005)

Direct.gov.uk puts users straight through to public services without them
having to understand government. People who prefer not to use the Internet
can get to Directgov through Digital interactive Television (DiTV) or 6,000
public kiosks. The application uses freshly written content to form a complete,
coherent picture of the central government services. It aims to make all service
delivery easier, quicker and cheaper for users, to drive the take-up of the
government’s online transactions, to proactively present users with other
relevant services and to help de-duplicate and rationalise the government’s
web provision.
Company: Directgov, Cabinet Office
http://direct.gov.uk/en/index.htm, last accessed February 2019.
164 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

GERMANY: Lower House of German Parliament (2007)

Democracy demands transparency. The principal website of the German
Bundestag is a world class showcase on how to make it easy for citizens to
follow parliamentary proceedings. More than 60,000 HTML-Pages, 80,000
PDF-files, 6000 hours of video are augmented by interactive features such as
online-petition procedures, discussion groups, online reservation for visits. In
depth analysis of current topics and sophisticated search functionality add
democratic value. About 100 editors keep background information about
members, structure and organization, committees, lobby groups, same-day
minutes and proceedings up-to-date. A history section offers a virtual tour
through the famous Reichstag building. Sub-sites for youth address the future.
Company: Babiel GmbH
http://www.bundestag.de/htdocs_e/index.html, last accessed February
2019.

DENMARK: citizen.dk (2007)

With the launch of Denmark’s shared public citizen portal, borger.dk, Danes
have gotten a single online entrance to the public sector. The portal provides
easy access to all public information and digital self-services. It functions as a
looking glass, thus gathering and presenting all digital services known in the
public sector, and introducing them as a coherent whole to Danish citizens.
The portal is the result of the largest digital cross-sector project ever seen in the
Danish public administration. Borger.dk includes also media articles, interac-
tive services and transactions concerning 18 overall topics including family
and children, disabilities and residence and buildings.
Company: National IT and Telecom Agency
https://www.borger.dk/Sider/default.aspx, last accessed February 2019.

IRELAND: citizensinformation.ie
Only an informed citizen can be an active citizen. citizensinformation.ie
covers in an exemplary fashion subjects on Ireland ranging from employment
rights, to buying a home, moving abroad, putting kids into school and much
more. The information is divided into 14 categories so that users can readily
access the topic relevant to them. Straightforward, accurate, and comprehen-
sive the information is sourced from a wide variety of service providers,
including Government Departments and agencies. Each category addresses a
series of frequently asked questions on the topic and is supported with a wealth

(continued)
5.20 Selection of Case Studies 165

of in-depth information, case studies, supporting documents and download-

able forms.
Company: Citizens Information Board
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/, last accessed February 2019.

OMAN: Royal Court Affairs: Mobile Recruitment (2009)

Royal Court Affairs is an electronic evaluation system, which works by
receiving, evaluating and short-listing job applications via SMS technology
and a mediator programme. Applicants can apply for Royal Court of Affairs
vacancies by sending an SMS with their MoMP (Ministry of Manpower)
registration code (a database containing citizens’ CV details) and their chosen
job code. A mediator system matches the applicant details from the MoMP
with the job requirements from the RCA recruitment office. If the match is
successful, the candidate is short-listed. Should the candidate fail to satisfy any
of the requirements, the application is rejected and an SMS is sent with valid
rejection grounds. Once the candidate satisfies all the requirements, he
receives an SMS with a registration number and congratulatory message.
The whole process is incredibly fast and efficient, normally taking 5–10
seconds from receipt of the SMS to response.
Producer: Oman Government
https://www.manpower.gov.om/portal/index.aspx, last accessed February
2019.

NEW ZEALAND: National Broadband Map (2009)

The National Broadband Map is a visual representation of New Zealand’s
broadband landscape. It has been created to graphically represent broadband
supplier network footprints alongside geocoded points, which indicate poten-
tial broadband demand locations. The Map takes publicly available govern-
ment location data from various sources and combines it in such a way as to
provide information and tools to aid in demand aggregation and infrastructure
planning. The National Broadband Map also allows any citizen, business or
government agency to reuse, reanalyse or visualise the demand point data in
any manner, providing an environment in which extra value can be created
from data which was once dispersed and inaccessible. Huge data reuse oppor-
tunities are already apparent as a result of this work, and both the public and
private sectors in New Zealand are becoming aware of the value of having
accurate, precise, data which is accessible to all.
Producer: New Zealand Government
https://broadbandmap.nz, last accessed February 2019.
166 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

ITALY: E.V.A.: Enhanced Vehicle Automation (2007)

E.V.A.—Enhanced Vehicle Automation This automation solution combines
an acoustic-luminous device mounted on the roof of vehicles used by the
Police Forces with a computer installed inside the car. The acoustic-luminous
device is called an E.E.S.—EVA Emergency System and, in addition to the
usual flashing lights, it has a telecamera with an infrared illuminator, halogen
headlights, high visibility emergency fog lights and a variable message lumi-
nous display. The heart of E.V.A. beats in a computer placed in the centre of
the dashboard and, wherever possible, set into the car’s double DIN compart-
ment. The software has a modular design so that it can be adapted to suit every
operational need of the end customer. Thanks to the speaker-independent
voice platform designed by Intellitronika, voice commands can be given to
the software without the need for any prior training in recognition of the
speaker. The video surveillance software module makes it possible to interact
with the telecamera built into the E.E.S. device on the roof of the vehicle. It is
possible to take photos, film videos and send live videos to the operations
centre; all the multimedia contents are stored in the device and, where neces-
sary, saved on external media. Thanks to high speed connection, connections
are made with the databanks already existing with the end customer (ANIA,
MCTC, ANCITEL, etc.), and questions that can usually only be asked from a
workstation in the office can be asked from the car. The reply data are
immediately available to the operator in the car without having to send a
request to a colleague on duty in the centre. The software includes a satellite
navigator with lists of POI that can be customised to suit the customer’s needs
when it is being created. The E.E.S. device can be controlled by software that
manages the flashing lights, siren, halogen headlights, and luminous messages.
The latter can be typed on a video digital keyboard or selected directly from a
list established during the creation phase. Where necessary, an alarm signal
can be sent to the operations centre, allowing the operator at the centre to
control the E.E.S. and its telecamera remotely. The dangerous situation
reported by the patrol can be viewed from the centre and a live video recording
made of it, the telecamera can be moved and the points involved zoomed into.
All the functions can be operated by means of the computer’s touch screen or
the voice commands foreseen by the system. The latter method makes it
possible to interact with the software while keeping the hands free and to
concentrate on the activities taking place. The voice method can even be used
from outside the car by means of an anti-tapping wireless earphone and the
replies to questions to the databank can be received directly through the
earphone.
Company: Intellitronika
https://www.intellitronika.com, last accessed February 2019.
5.20 Selection of Case Studies 167

MALAYSIA: Integrated Court System (ICS) (2009)

Integrated Court System comprises three main systems; a Community and
Advocates Portal, a Case Management System, and a Court Recording and
Transcription System. CAP and CMS are fully web-based applications that are
centrally hosted at Sarawak Information Systems, an industrial standard data
centre. CAP serves as an information technology channel of communication
and operations among the public community, which includes the clients, their
advocates, and the judiciary. CMS functions to facilitate judiciary processes
within the court, in particular the management of court cases. CRT is a
specialized system for the real-time recording and transcribing of courtroom
events. As a package, the Integrated Court System promotes productivity and
efficiency for judiciary processes that benefit three main groups of people,
namely the judiciary or court officials, the advocates, and the public commu-
nity who are parties (plaintiff and defendants) in trial cases. The project has
been successfully implemented in two eastern states in Malaysia, on the island
of Borneo.
Producer: Malaysian Government
https://www.sains.com.my/solutions.php?id=37, last accessed February
2019.

SRI LANKA: Government Information Center (GIC) (2009)

The Government Information Center (GIC) is a single, electronic, trilingual
(Sinhala, Tamil and English) online knowledge base of 1600 services avail-
able to citizens from 77 key government organizations. The related procedures
that need to be followed in order to make use of each of these services are also
stored in the database. Obtaining a particular government service used to
involve navigating through a thicket of organizations and making multiple
personal visits and repeated telephone calls. Language was a further barrier for
the 25% of Sri Lankan citizens who speak Tamil. The GIC was established as a
public/private partnership to provide a single point of access to information
concerning government services in an effective and friendly manner. The
knowledge base, stored in an SQL database, is available through multiple
channels, including a Microsoft Visual Basic interface for call centre staff, a
web-based interface for the IT-literate general public, and, to accommodate
future expansion, a web services API.
Producer: Government Information Center
http://www.gic.gov.lk/gic/index.php?lang=en, last accessed February
2019.
168 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

5.20.1 Mobility

ITALY: Viaggiatreno (2006)

Thanks to ViaggiaTreno you can follow the train’s progress in real time. In the
“train search” section it is possible, by entering the train number, to display the
route with detailed information on arrival and departure times and scheduled
stops. If you click on a station, the arrivals and departures board will be
updated with any delays.
Viaggio Treno provides further information on line breaks, deletions and
the establishment of any replacement services.
The website www.viaggiatreno.it offers useful services to the Italian
national railroad travellers. Customers can know exactly where a specific
train is along the track and if it is on delay or not. The system is integrated
at national level incorporating a major part of the local transportation schedule
(local trains, buses, boats, etc.). The platform is available both from PCs and
from mobile phones. So if you are on the train, as a tourist for instance, you
may know where you are and enjoy sightseeing; if you are at home waiting for
someone reaching you by train you may know where he or she is at the
moment. If you are travelling on the train and due to delay or other factors
you may need to know about any connection, it is easy to simply browse the
service thanks to a mobile phone.
The service is a kind of user-oriented follow up of the technological control
network designed in order to monitor and supervise the trains’ traffic. The
same signals and alerts used in order to automate the trains flow is reused and
processed in order to provide the service.
Company: Trenitalia
http://www.viaggiatreno.it, last accessed February 2019.

SRI LANKA; TrafficMate (2012)

TrafficMate is a traffic management app providing an efficient solution for
traffic congestion. Research indicates the most effective ways to control traffic,
for example, by algorithms based on artificial intelligence to control traffic
lights. However, these solutions rely on the availability of accurate and real-
time information about traffic flow. TrafficMate takes advantage of the
smartphone inside the app user’s pocket, turning the user into a sensor.
Smartphones thus create a ‘social network’ of traffic detection without external
sensors or bureaucracy. The mobile app collects traffic flow data including
speed, acceleration patterns and location of the mobile device in a vehicle,
sending the data to a central server, where it is processed to identify traffic jam

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5.20 Selection of Case Studies 169

locations. App users receive information from the server in the form of
location-based updates. TrafficMate marks jammed areas on a Google map,
also making information available to traffic analysts and viewers via the web
page or API. A major advantage: TrafficMate data gathering and transmission
is a backend process, not visible to the user.
Impacts
The impacts dell’App TrafficMate belong to three basic dimensions: eco-
nomic impacts, social impacts and environmental impacts.
The magnitude of the impacts obviously depends on the diffusion dell’App
and its use by users. The wider adoption reached by TrafficMate, the greater its
influence on the lives of users and society.
At the economic level, TrafficMate is able to impact positively on both the
Public Administrations and users. As regards the Public Administrations, the
spread of a traffic monitoring system is at virtually no cost as TrafficMate
allows them to enjoy the benefits arising from the use of more sophisticated
systems without the burden of having to bear the costs. Users, instead, have an
effective system to avoid traffic jams and areas with congested traffic, allowing
them to save significant amounts of time and money (for example in terms of
lower fuel consumed).
At the social level, TrafficMate is able to impact the quality of life of its
users, saving them time losses caused by congestion and its negative effects in
terms of stress.
As regards possible environmental impacts, finally, the widespread deploy-
ment of traffic monitoring systems and their use by the users can significantly
reduce traffic jams and congested traffic, bringing benefits in terms of emis-
sions from vehicles with internal combustion engines, in terms of noise
pollution.
Producer: Dinuni Fernando, Co-Producer Pankajan Chanthirasegaran
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbM0JXxd68s, last accessed
February 2019.

GERMANY: WheelMap (2010)

Wheelmap.org is an online map for wheelchair accessible places. Using the
principle of Wikipedia, everyone can participate by tagging public places
according to their accessibility. On www.wheelmap.org everyone from all
over the world can find and add places and rate them by using a traffic light
system. The map, which is available since 2010, shall help wheelchair users
and people with mobility impairments to plan their day more effectively.
Currently, more than 300,000 cafés, libraries, swimming pools, and many
more public places have been captured. About 200 new entries are added on a

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170 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

daily basis. A free WheelMap app is also available for mobile devices,
therefore the map can be easily used with smartphones. WheelMap is an
initiative of the SOZIALHELDEN. They are a group of young committed
people who have developed creative projects since 2004 in order to call
attention to social problems and to remove them at best. More information
on www.sozialhelden.de.
This way, a modern and global solution for people with limited mobility is
being created. The OpenStreetMap-based map helps mobility impaired people
to plan their day more efficiently. Additionally, the high awareness which is
raised by WheelMap can encourage owners of public places to improve their
location’s accessibility. This goes hand in hand with the UN charter of human
rights, saying that anyone, disabled or not, must be able to participate in all
aspects of life. WheelMap and its volunteers help to reach the high goal of a
more inclusive society by creating awareness and solutions.
There is even a WheelMap Pro version, Wheelmap Pro will make more
than 150 different accessibility criteria available from which a citizen can put
together his/her own mapping web app—according to his/her requirements.
Wheelmap celebrated its first birthday collecting 75,000 tagged places.
Within the first year, people all over the globe have tagged 75,000 places on
WheelMap—an online map for wheelchair-accessible places. This map shall
help wheelchair users to plan their day more independently and diversely.
SOZIALHELDEN celebrated this occasion and presented a TV spot with
Google.
Facts
In 2010, www.wheelmap.org and the corresponding app went online;
5 years later more than 300,000 places have been tagged and rated, the
majority as “fully wheelchair-accessible.” Every day about 200 new entries
are added.
www.wheelmap.org works globally and it is available in Arabic, Danish,
German, Greek, English, Spanish, French, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Swed-
ish, Turkish, Korean, Polish and even in Klingon. Further languages will
follow.
About the topic
In Germany, there are 1.6 million wheelchair users.
Globally, there are 85 million—the dark figure is three times as high.
4.8 million people use a rollator in Germany. Taking the changing demo-
graphics into account, we expect that this number will continue to grow.
Background
Wheelchairs or purpose-built cars on the one hand, elevators and ramps on
the other allow people with mobility impairments to plan their day indepen-
dently to a great extent. But: Frequently, the last meters decide whether the trip
to the cinema, beer garden or supermarket was worth the effort. Just one single

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5.20 Selection of Case Studies 171

step at the entrance can be an insurmountable obstacle. And this is where

WheelMap comes into play: Users provide information for other users on how
accessible a destination is. Thereby, the map contributes to an active and
diversified lifestyle for wheelchair users. People with rollators or buggies
benefit from this tool as well. Furthermore, the aim of WheelMap is to make
owners of wheelchair-inaccessible public places aware of the problem. They
should be encouraged to reflect on and improve the accessibility of their
premises. Gradually, more and more cities with as many tagged places as
possible should be added. Moreover, the choice of available languages should
be extended bit by bit.
How It Works
The map www.wheelmap.org is based on OpenStreetMap, an open, edit-
able map of the digital open source map of the world. Everyone can search for
places and, provided they have been tagged, get information about how easily
accessible the places are. Those who sign up as a user are able to add and rate
new places. An easy traffic light system marks the wheelchair accessibility of a
place: Green signifies an unrestricted access—e.g. because there are no steps
or there is a ramp, an elevator or other tools which allow the entrance. Places
which are orange-coloured have no toilets for example. Places which are
red-coloured aren’t accessible for wheelchair users. In general, the more
people join WheelMap and add places the more precise and informative the
map gets.
Inclusion and language use
Inclusion means that every person is acknowledged in their individuality by
society and is fully part of society. With a successful inclusion, the differences
between impaired and not impaired people will still be noticed consciously.
The differences will not be judged (negatively) though, but rather limited in
their meaning or even neutralized. The right to participation refers to all areas
of life in which all places are accessible for everyone. Here, the language use
plays an important role. If you report on people with mobility impairments, the
following overview shall help you to choose items in accordance with
inclusion.
Impacts
The impacts of WheelMap are based on two basic dimensions: social
impacts and reputation & transparency.
With regard to the social impacts, the role of an initiative such as
WheelMap is extremely important to reduce the daily struggles of people
with disabilities and increase, therefore, social inclusion and quality of life.
Nor should we underestimate the role that Wheelmap and similar initiatives
can have in increasing among the population “non-disabled” awareness of
issues related to disability and the need to commit to making sure that these are
not set to zero if at least alleviated by design more careful infrastructure and, in

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172 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

general, of the territory. An initiative like WheelMap is, in fact, able to

leverage on the sensitivity of the population regarding the difficulties of
disabled people and then to push more and more businesses and public spaces
to adapt to the requirements of the most basic accessibility.
To give an idea of the impact that an initiative like WheelMap can have,
consider that in Germany alone there are 1.6 million people in a wheelchair
and 4.8 million who use a walker. Considering the demographic changes, that
is, the progressive aging of the population, these numbers are bound to
increase in the future.
Producer: SOZIALHELDEN
https://wheelmap.org/?locale=de, last accessed February 2019.
VIDEO http://youtu.be/dYJpftuYlZk, last accessed February 2019.

ESTONIA: e-Annual Report (2011)

In Estonia entrepreneurs can submit annual reports in XBRL format via the
e-Reporting environment of the e-Business Registry Company Registration
Portal. The created uniform e-Reporting environment makes the entry and
submission of data significantly more convenient for companies, as there is
one specific place, form and way for submitting all required data. The new
environment enables the companies not only to submit their annual reports,
but also to prepare them in full format. The e-Reporting environment provides
set forms and based on these, companies can prepare their basic annual reports
and add other necessary documents. Entrepreneurs can digitally sign their
reports with an ID card, have them audited by the auditor and submit them
electronically to the Commercial Register directly. The processing of business
data became significantly quicker and easier, as the data can be processed
immediately and are accessible to all interested parties both in the private and
public sectors.
URL www.egov-estonia.eu/xbrl, last accessed February 2019.
e-Annual Report enables entrepreneurs in Estonia to submit annual reports
via the e-Reporting environment of the Central Commercial Registry. About
99% of more than 120,000 companies registered in Estonia use this new
method of reporting. Its uniformity makes the entry and submission of data
significantly more convenient for companies, as there is only one place and
specific channel to submit all required data. Companies do not have to submit
data to public authorities more than once, as the data reported is retrievable
from the central system by all other relevant databases (statistics, tax office,
banks, etc.), leading to less red tape for all. The processing of business data has
become significantly quicker and easier, as the data can be processed

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5.20 Selection of Case Studies 173

immediately and is accessible to interested parties both in the private and

public sectors. The e-Government system used in Estonia has created more
transparent, efficient, convenient and trustworthy relations between citizens
and government agencies. e-Annual Report uses the internationally recognized
XBRL standard, meets all WCAG requirements and responds to AAA level,
thus anticipating the European Digital Agenda 2020.
Benefits
The overall goal of the e-Reporting project is to facilitate the administration
of the reporting obligation as a whole. The key principle of submitting data
should be that a reporting entity submits the figures required by the state once
in the agreed format and in one place and the data thus submitted can be used
by both the private and public sectors in line with their established rights.
Such a system of data submitting enables the system of automatic checking
to be created that will notify reporting entities of possible errors upon entering
the data and would thus support the improvement of the quality of data. In
addition, this would help decrease the number of warnings and fines issued
every year to reporting entities for their reporting faults;
The submitted data are better comparable and the business analyses made
based on them are more accurate;
Submitted data are promptly accessible as the data to be submitted can be
processed electronically at once. There is no need for time-consuming data
processing in order to transform them to electronic format;
As there is no need to enter data manually from paper documents or files
and the substantive checking of reports can be automated, there is less need for
human resources.
History
As of January 2010, entrepreneurs in Estonia can submit annual reports in
XBRL format via the e-Reporting environment of the e-Commercial Registry
Company Registration Portal. This project was implemented at the national
level and was among the largest in 2010 in terms of its scope and volume, by
involving more than 120,000 companies. XBRL format is being increasingly
recognised as the global standard for transferring business information, which
ensures better availability of data.
The whole project meets the objectives of the Digital Single Market
subtheme of the European Digital Agenda, as the portal also accepts the e-
IDs of Portugal, Belgium, Finland and Lithuania and thus allows the entre-
preneurs of foreign countries to make business-related operations in the
Commercial Register without coming to Estonia. By accepting the e-IDs of
foreign countries, we have increased the number of potential portal users to 20
million.
The development of e-Reporting was funded from the means of the Euro-
pean Regional Development Fund.

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174 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

Technologies
XBRL format used for submitting annual reports is a widely used reporting
language across the world and among the candidates for the W3C XML
standard. Estonia has succeeded in implementing and utilising the XBRL
solution quickly and in full. At the same time no allowances have been
made in terms of the WCAG requirements. The reporting feature of the e-
Commercial Registry Company Registration Portal corresponds to the AAA
level.
References
e-Annual Report has been very well accepted by Estonian entepreneurs.
More than 90% of Estonian entrepreneurs use it and some of them claim that it
has improved their work speed, quality and security. The e-Annual Report
project is an Estonian nominee for World Summit Awards 2011 and has been
recognised as an Estonian Ministry of Justice project of the year 2010.
For You
RIK provides consultation regarding the best practice of development and
administration of the IT-solutions of the respective sector. RIK is an experi-
enced public sector developer/manager/administrator of IT-systems. It is a
valuable partner for analysis and design and consultant for development and
implementation.
Contacts
Centre of Registers and Information Systems (RIK) is a state agency
working under the Ministry of Justice. For additional information or proposals
of cooperation please contact us at rik.services@just.ee or see our website
www.rik.ee.
Impacts
The impacts of the e-Annual Report can be traced to three basic dimen-
sions: economic impacts, impacts and reputation management & transparency.
From the economic point of view the system allows entrepreneurs to
achieve considerable savings in time: the completion and electronic submis-
sion of financial statements, together with the fact that such data when it is
transmitted are available to the Administration which will avoid then
requesting them again, makes it possible to devote much less time to operation
and to avoid travelling to the offices of the Administration. The latter is most
important for foreign entrepreneurs, which can in this way avoid a special trip
to Estonia. In addition, the system also allows the Administration to achieve
significant cost savings, eliminating activities such as manual entry of data.
The economic impacts are particularly significant in light of the fact that over
90% of Estonian entrepreneurs are using the system.
With regard to the operational aspects, the system allowed the Administra-
tion to greatly simplify their internal processes, since the whole procedure is
done now loading the system itself. In addition, since the data is available to

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5.20 Selection of Case Studies 175

the Administration on a centralized repository, multiple requests of the data

users have been eliminated.
Finally, as regards the reputation & transparency, e-Annual Report con-
tributes to a positive image of the Administration, focusing on his efforts to
relieve the citizens as possible, and in this case, the undertakings, as bureau-
cratic complex and redundant.
Producer: Centre of Registers and Information Systems (RIK).
http://www.rik.ee/en/international/e-annual-reporting, last accessed February
2019.
VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XChHb6P0aZQ, last accessed
February 2019.

ESTONIA: e-Land Register (2010)

e-Land Register is a register of ownership relations and limited real rights.
Digital Land Register software covers the whole registration procedure and
has made electronic conveyance much easier. It has improved the quality,
speed and security of the process of registering titles to land.
http://www.egov-estonia.eu/e-land-register, last accessed February 2019.
Benefits
Information in the e-Land Register has legal power and everyone can get
this information over the internet. The proceeding deadlines have decreased
from 3 months to approximately 10 days because it is paper-free. Notaries and
other officials get all necessary information from e-Land Register
electronically.
History, Facts and Future Development
The current information system has been in operation since October 2005.
The whole e-Land register is accessible online and electronic information is
legally valid. e-Land register has electronic online data interchange with other
basic registers, cadastre and the population registry. Next developments
include digitalizing all archive documents, improving inquiry systems and
creating a portal for citizens to submit digitally signed applications. e-Land
Register is a European Union-funded project.
Technologies
The land register system is based on a web application. Software is
programmed in .NET language and Database servers are MSSQL.
References
e-Land Register has been presented and highlighted in several events
around Europe and it was nominated as a finalist of European e-Government
Awards 2009.

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176 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

For You
RIK provides consultation regarding the best practice of development and
administration of the IT-solutions of the respective sector. RIK is an experi-
enced public sector developer/manager/administrator of IT-systems. It is a
valuable partner for analysis and design and consultant for development and
implementation.
Contacts
Centre of Registers and Information Systems (RIK) is a state agency
working under the Ministry of Justice. For additional information or proposals
of cooperation please contact RIK at rik.services@just.ee or see our website
www.rik.ee.
Impacts
The impacts of the e-Land Register are identified by three basic dimen-
sions: economic impacts, impacts and management of reputation &
transparency.
From the economic point of view, the system allows both citizens and the
Administration to achieve significant cost savings, and these savings are
mainly due to the significant reduction in the duration of the process (in
terms of time) and the complete dematerialization of the same (in monetary
terms true).
With regard to the management aspects, the system impacts the manage-
ment of the process within the administration; in addition, expected future
developments (e.g. the creation of a portal for citizens aimed at the transmis-
sion of digitally signed applications), will have an even greater impact on the
process. Finally, the impacts in terms of transparency regarding the full Web
accessibility of e-Land Register data.
Producer: Centre of Registers and Information Systems (RIK)
http://www.rik.ee/en/international/e-land-register, last accessed February
2019.
VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hASfGQXXLAg, last
accessed February 2019.

5.20.2 e-Services Monitoring

BRAZIL: MyFunCity—Sustainable Cities (2012)

Sustainable Cities is a social network that focuses on citizenship. It follows the
worldwide trend towards segmented social networks. MyFunCity—Sustain-
able Cities is an e-Government software tool designed for e-Citizens looking
to have an impact on public management with their real needs and priorities.

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5.20 Selection of Case Studies 177

Multi-platform and multi-channel, MyFunCity—Sustainable Cities integrates

mobiles phones, smartphones and the web. Citizens can contribute to 13 areas
of evaluation, including transportation, education, health, leisure, safety, street
cleanliness, traffic, roads, green spaces, visual pollution, noise, and mood. An
average of six questions per area is presented randomly each time a user
checks in. Drawing on the total evaluations pertaining to a certain space,
such as a street, borough or city, an exact map is drawn based on citizens’
praise and/or disapproval.
Impacts
The impact of the social network MyFunCity—Sustainable Cities is based
on two fundamental dimensions: Impacts & reputation management and
transparency.
From the management point of view the social network is able to allow the
Public Administration to collect directly from the citizens the opinions about
various aspects of the territorial government, allowing it to focus on the most
important issues for citizenship.
With regard to reputation & transparency, MyFunCity is a tool that allows
the administration to “open up” to the outside, communicating considerable
attention to the needs of citizens and, very important and extremely rare,
showing no fear of its judgments.
Producer: Mr. Leonardoo Dias, Mr. Danilo Almeida
https://www.worldsummitawards.org/winner/myfuncity-sustainable-cities/
and https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/myfuncity-is-a-revolution-
in-digital-citizenship-253794581.html, last accessed February 2019.
VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u74Xn5fGYAQ, last accessed
February 2019.

UNITED STATES: Boston CitizensConnect (2010)

Boston CitizensConnect is a new tool for constituents to improve their
neighbourhoods. It serves as a new channel for residents in Boston to engage
with government and it is a new method for promoting municipal development.
Using the iPhone, CitizensConnect enables users to report service requests,
such as pothole repair or graffiti clean-up, to the city of Boston. The applica-
tion is free of charge for anyone to download.
When a constituent sees a problem she/he wants the city to respond to, she/
he launches the app, selects the issue, shoots a photograph and presses
‘submit.’ Leveraging the iPhone’s built-in GPS and internet connection, the
app instantaneously routes the issue to the appropriate city work queue. The
eyesore spotted by the concerned citizen gets onto the to-do list of city
employees.

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178 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

When the work is completed, CitizensConnect provides the citizen with a

text message from the city administration. Meanwhile, the citizen can track
her/his impact through a built-in map that shows the requests made, and that
indicates whether the problem has been addressed. Applications for other
platforms will be released based on the success of the current initiative.
Remarks
Boston CitizensConnect is exemplary for municipal accountability. As a
free iPhone application it is a triple innovation allowing Boston residents and
visitors to gather information about the physical state of the city and expands
the existing Boston municipal complaints hotline in an innovative manner. It is
part of the effort by the city of Boston to create direct feedback channels and to
cut down on bureaucratic red tape.
Users can send both pictures and text and the app indicates the user’s
location and the problem on a city map. Report can cover all issues and
dysfunctionalities such as graffiti, potholes, broken traffic lights and downed
power lines. Giving tracking numbers in order to let them monitor progress in
resolving the issue is a most innovative way to advance city services. A case is
flagged in red, as long as it is pending, and passes to green once it is solved.
The CitizensConnect project represents an excellent example of citizen
sourcing using mobile context (camera, GPS) and gives people a most efficient
way to file municipal complaints. Above all, the project brings transparency to
the work done by the city of Boston. A city turned responsive.
Impacts
The impacts dell’App Boston Citizens Connect are due to three basic
dimensions: economic impacts, impacts and reputation management &
transparency.
From the economic point of view, picking through innovative and more
efficient than the usual reports of citizens and routing them appropriately
automatically, the system allows the Administration to achieve higher levels
of efficiency in the planning and implementation of interventions on the
territory.
From the management point of view, Citizens Connect allows the Admin-
istration to Boston to receive reports directly from the citizens in a more
timely, accurate and reliable way compared to the usual dedicated phone
line, allowing the Administration to program in a more efficient and effective
way interventions, reducing or even preventing the occurrence of errors, such
as allowing citizens to send messages to about the sites characterised by an
improper maintenance.
With regard to the reputation & transparency, the App is a valuable tool to
communicate to citizens the attention of the Municipality for the issues
relating to territory and for their rapid resolution. In addition, to allow citizens
to check the progress of messages to be sent to them makes them more

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5.20 Selection of Case Studies 179

involved in community issues and more aware of the contribution that they can
make to improve the city in which they live.
Producer: Boston City Hall
URL http://www.cityofboston.gov/doit/apps/citizensconnect.asp, last
accessed February 2019.

SWEDEN: Roadroid (2012)

Roadroid offers a mobile app for Android smart phones, to monitor road
condition, and a website with color-marked maps displaying results. The app
is using the phone’s built-in sensors, camera and GPS. The app analysis
provides 100 signals per second (100 Hz), defining road quality according to
four levels: green for ‘Good’, yellow for ‘Satisfactory’, red for ‘Unsatisfac-
tory’ and black for ‘Poor’. After logging onto the ROADROID’s homepage,
users can dig in to the data and monitor, plan or follow up on road mainte-
nance. ROADROID provides an up-to-date picture of road quality. By gener-
ating precise measurements and large amounts of data, the field-tested
ROADROID system provides reliable statistics in a way unmatched by other
methods. It also creates unique opportunities for route guidance and avoiding
bad stretches. ROADROID has relevance both in developed countries for
follow ups on Performance-Based Contracts—but also in developing countries
as it enables a powerful solution for road maintenance issues. The road
infrastructure is a basic condition for enabling growth, democracy, healthcare
and education in a country. Roadroid is an excellent tool to get a comprehen-
sive view of the situation and also to follow up on the actions, not of least
interest to funders such as the World Bank.
Impacts
The impacts of the system Roadroid belong to three basic dimensions:
economic impacts, impacts and reputation management & transparency.
From the economic point of view, Roadroid is able to provide valuable
support to both the government and citizens. As for the government, the tool
allows a very precise mapping of the quality of the roads, allowing you to
direct maintenance operations on the sections of road that need them most
(obviously providing you data on the quality of the roads with the respective
importance ). It is also important to consider the positive effects of Roadroid
with the Public Administration (for example, those of poor or developing
countries) with limited financial resources available to enable them to monitor
the quality of roads extremely cheaply compared to the alternatives (which
they very often could not afford). By providing an accurate picture of the
quality of the roads, Roadroid also allows citizens to plan their journeys

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180 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

avoiding the roads in the worst conditions; this potentially enables them to
save the expenses often associated with the need to walk streets in poor
condition (e.g. rupture of the tires, the suspension malfunction, etc..).
At operational level, the Administrations Roadroid provides the data nec-
essary to program more effective and efficient road maintenance, for example
taking prompt action where necessary to avoid inconvenience to users and
appropriately by scheduling maintenance activities based on the importance of
the arteries of communication and the relative quality of the road surface.
Finally, as regards reputation & transparency, the system, showing in real
time the quality of the roads, “bares” any faults of persons charged with
maintenance of roads or their effectiveness.
Producer: Mr. Tommy Niitula (Road database expert), Mr. Hans Jones
(Android expert)
URL www.roadroid.com, last accessed February 2019.
VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jy-LFrFAnw, last accessed
February 2019.

EGYPT: Morsi Meter (2012)

This may be considered an “historical” App to measure an index that becomes
very important in the age of politics & media: the level of appreciation
expressed by citizens.
The people behind the MorsiMeter, a website that monitors and updates
readers about the Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi’s progress in
implementing his campaign promises, have released a report assessing his
first 100 days in his office.
The official report of the MorsiMeter divides the president’s campaign
promises into five categories—Fuel, security, traffic, bread and cleanliness.
A page is devoted to each category, with promises achieved noted at the top
while the rest lists promises “in progress” and “not spotted.”
Altogether, the MorsiMeter’s report lists 10 campaign progresses as
“achieved,” with the vast majority “not spotted.” The Washington Post quotes
MorsiMeter co-founder Amr Sobhi asserting that the president had fulfilled
only four of his 64 campaign promises. The Post adds:
Piles of garbage continue to line some streets of the capital. Strikes over
wages and overdue benefits have halted some public-sector services, particu-
larly in Egypt’s woefully underfunded hospitals. One man even filed a police
report against Morsi for failing to implement all of his 100-day promises,
according to the Egypt Independent, an English-language daily.

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5.20 Selection of Case Studies 181

The report, which features colourful graphics and information delivered in

bullet points, lists as one of the accomplishments in the category of “cleanli-
ness”: “Starting awareness campaigns and Friday sermons to preach cleanli-
ness and the sin of hurting people through throwing garbage in the streets.”
Producer: Amr Sobhy & Abbas Adel
http://www.morsimeter.com/en, last accessed February 2019.

RUSSIAN FEDERATION: The Russian Digital Agenda 2012–2018

The Russian country workshop held on the occasion of the WSIS Forum 2013
provided a detailed insight on “ICT in Russia for Sustainable Economic
Growth and Social Development”.
Let’s start providing some basic information about the Russian Federation:
General information:
17 mln. sq. km 83; 143 mln. people
8.36 people for 1 sq. km 78%
17 mln sq km territory of Russia
83 regions of Russia
143 mln population
8.36 people for 1 sq. km population density
78% citizens reside on 25% of territory of Russia
Nikolay Nikiforov, Minister of Communications and Mass Media of the
Russian Federation, presented a comprehensive vision on the strategy for
information society development in the Russian Federation and the State
program “The Information society (2011–2020)”.
The main directions are:
– ICT Infrastructure and Services
– Information environment
– Security in the Information Society
– Information Society
Starting from the general main direction mentioned above the main direc-
tions of activity of the Russian ministry of Communications and Mass Media
are:
– ICT Infrastructure
– e-Government Services
– Information Technology
– Media
– Post

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182 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

The development of e-Government and public services is based on a set of

actions:
– Users of Public Services Portals
– Ensuring a Breakthrough
– Growth Dynamics of Portal Users Number
– The Portal Is Available in Different Languages of the World
– Russian e-Petitions Initiative
In addition there will be in parallel a Telecom development

The key goals for 2012–2018 for Public e-Services in Russia104

The evolution of public services foreseen in this time frame is at the end of
the process the opportunity to receive 100% of public services at any time
thanks to the complete implementation of digital services covering up to 80%
of the total amount to public services. Thanks to the electronic provision of
services the overall quality of services and customer satisfaction may be
assessed.
e-Payments will be mainly performed through the electronic channels; no
more cash. The final goal in 2018 is to reach 90% of population satisfied by
public services.
Activated early in the 2010s by the Unified Federal Web-Portal for Public
e-Services, the public services portal (http://gosuslugi.ru) reached in 2012 four
million unique users registered, four million services delivered. In 2012 there
were more than 500,000 downloads of e-Gov mobile applications. The avail-
ability of such a platform provided to the Russian citizens the opportunity to
save four million hours spare time.
The unified portal may deliver services in four different languages: Rus-
sian, English, German and French (Русский, English, Deutsch, Le français).
In order to better fit with the usual problem due to the double or even multi-
structured approach to services due to the differences between the internal
organisation of the public offices and the “mental map” built by citizens, the
unified portal provides two entry points in order to access services: one
compliant with internal structure or by authorities, the other structured by
life events or citizens-issues oriented.
The access to the portal is granted by “Single Sign On” and “Single
Window Service” approach.

(continued)

104
Further information about public goals within the framework 2012–2018 are available at http://
2018.minsvyaz.ru, last accessed February 2019.
5.20 Selection of Case Studies 183

The portal includes an integrated system for identification and authentica-

tion based on single accounts, single access tools, control of access to one’s
personal data. Government guarantees security.
Dealing with e-Government services many times we refer to payment
services; this portal refers to a single cloud-based Registry for Gov-related
payments ensuring the consistence and efficiency of the solution of the
government information system ‘on government and municipal payments’
(GIS GMP).
President Putin in 2012 outlined the need for a breakthrough in citizens’
usage of public e-Services. On May 2012 President Putin set some goals, a
kind of digital agenda, to be fulfilled within 2018: citizens satisfaction 90%,
“Single Window” service delivery 90%, Citizens using e-Services 70%.

Russian e-Petitions Initiative

In the general framework, reaching an interactive e-Government infrastruc-
ture and offering more opportunities to the portal enables citizens to make
suggestions mandatory to be considered by authorities. Petitions may e-sub-
mitted by the unified federal portal and later on tracked by the submitter. Due
to the wide extension of the Russian territory this service together with the rest
of unified portal services is considered the best and fastest way to interact with
the federal government.

Russian e-ID
One of the key points ensuring a breakthrough of the Russian digital agenda
is the implementation of electronic identity for each citizen, the so called e-ID.
In order to ensure an appropriate coverage of the territory citizens will get the
e-ID in 42,000 post offices, replacing the paper-based passports by an e-ID.
The timeframe foreseen for this innovation is the issue of the first e-
passports in 2015.

e-Gov Users Growth Depends on Broadband

The growth of broadband users in Moscow and Moscow Region since
January 2012 is incredibly impressive. Broadband users were some 3000 on
January 2012 and exploded to 55,000 one year later to reach a peak of 80,000
people in April 2013. Of course the figures are completely different in remote
and less populated areas of the federation, in Krasnoyarsk (Siberia & Far East)
in the same time span we have 100 people in January 2012 and some 1500
people 1 year after.
Anyway the key factor in order to take up e-Services is the availability of
broadband at reasonable prices. The key goals for 2012–2018 for Telecom in
Russia (public goals on http://2018.minsvyaz.ru) are to provide high-quality
communication and Internet everywhere both thanks to landlines, digital
terrestrial networks or satellite, broadband connectivity everywhere including

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184 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

all means of transportation. 4G connectivity spread has all-over the country

taking into account that every year 20 million people get access to 4G
networks. In 2013 five million households got access to cable internet at 100
Mbits/s.
In addition, telephone number portability is enabled; there is no need to
change the phone number while changing the operators, all incoming calls are
for free all over the Russian Federation, all outgoing calls are charged at local
rates.
The next stage of mobile Internet would be 4G and technologies such as
LTE (Long Term Evolution). These technologies provided increased speeds,
up to ten times that of 3G technologies, and increased security, important for
the robustness and trust that speakers had earlier identified as critical to
positioning the mobile Internet at the center of people’s lives. Russia is
supporting the deployment of LTE technology; providers had to be sure they
could receive a fair return on their investment.
The expected result of these action is to satisfy the request of internet
connectivity and communication of the 80% of the Russian population within
2018.

Budget Funds to Fight Russian Digital Gap

As usual in order to activate and implement similar development programs
relevant financial resources are needed; how will the Russian government plan
to make it feasible? The government plans to allocate 365 million US dollars
thanks to the Universal Telecommunication Services Fund, 1.2% from oper-
ators’ revenue yearly. In addition there are relevant revenues from radio
frequency spectrum payments ($512 mln).

Mobile and Fixed Broadband in Russia

Broadband subscribers (2013)
The number of active subscribers (millions) is subdivided between fixed
broadband—21.8 million means 15 subscribers per 100 people—and mobile
broadband—79 million means 55 subscribers per 100 people.
Within this plan of action there is a specific project, GPON Project, for
Moscow. The key indexes characterizing GPON are:
• Speed up to 1 Gb/sec;
• 1.2 mln households (~28%);
• 4 mln households (~97%) by 2015;
• LTE Users Growth.
As already mentioned LTE is under implementation in Russia; LTE cov-
erage in 2013 is:
38 mln people reside in regions covered by RTE, 13 mln people are actually
connected via RTE.

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5.20 Selection of Case Studies 185

RTE total coverage 248 cities in 2013.

LTE was not enough; Russia was the first in the world to launch the LTE
Advanced on a commercial network.
What does LTE Advanced mean? The peak transfer speed in a direct
channel is 300 Mbit/sec at the current moment for commercial mobile broad-
band networks. The first subscriber devices that support LTE Advanced
started to be used in the first half of 2013.

Internet Audience
Let’s now consider internet development in Russia. Here are some figures:
Internet audience in Russia—No. 1 in Europe:
• Monthly 61.2 mln people at 18+;
• daily near 47 mln people or 75% of the Internet users;
• households with internet access—42%;
• 52% of the adult population of the country;
• 15% from the number of the Internet users in the region (of 408 mln
people).
• In the cities (100,000+) 94% users have Internet access from home, pri-
marily broadband.
In 2012–13 the Russian language became the second most popular lan-
guage of the Internet.

Growth of the Monthly Internet Audience

The annual increase in the number of users, %
Source: Yandex «Internet Development in Russian Regions—Spring
2013»

Mobile Broadband
Mobile penetration in Russia is relevant; the active subscriber base of data
transmission from mobile devices were:
• 2012—65 mln users (SIM-cards);
• 2013—79 mln users.
• February 2013—Mobile penetration:
• Russia—134% (190.4 mln SIM-cards);
• Moscow license area—185%.
• And more specifically in the major cities:
• Moscow 62%
• Sankt Petersburg 60%
• Krasnodar Krai 62%
Source: J’son&Partners for Google «Mobile Internet in Russia—December
2012»

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186 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

An additional title of this digital agenda is the GLONASS Ecosystem that

contributes to the promotion of ICT development.
ERA-GLONASS is a system for satellite monitoring of traffic; it includes
some added value services for citizens such as automatic notification of
emergency services in case of accidents and other emergency situations.
The system allows us to reduce the level of road deaths and injuries,
includes navigation and telecommunication terminals in vehicles and the
infrastructure of mobile operators and emergency services.
By 2020 the system will be installed as an on-board equipment for all
Russian car owners. It is fully compatible with the European system of eCall/
E112 and is based on the relevant technical standards ETSI and 3GPP.

TUNISIA: Webtelegram & Marsad (2005–2011)

The “WebTelegram” (2005) solution allows the printing, the nationwide
delivery and online tracking with proof of delivery of telegrams. It is a B2B
& B2C service, which can easily be deployed in any national postal network,
in any post office. The delivery of telegrams is reliable and also very fast—
thanks to the electronic processing of everything, from writing a telegram to
online payment.
http://www.webtelegram.poste.tn, last accessed February 2019.
“Observatory of parliament members actions (Marsad)” (2011) reports
parliament member presence, discussion, voting, actions, resolutions, and
electronic media coverage and people feedback. Drafts, budgets, laws and
all discussed material and resolutions of the parliament are free for access and
loading. Parliament member assiduity, voting, participation and media cover-
age is present in high-quality manner using high resolution and dynamic
graphics and charts.
http://www.marsad.tn, last accessed February 2019.

RWANDA: RURA Project (2000)

Vision: To be a leading global regulator of public utilities.
Mission: in regulating public utilities, RURA:
• promotes free and fair competition;
• protects the rights of consumers and balances the interests of all
stakeholders;
• promotes availability of affordable, quality services to all; and
• leads in the development of the public utilities sectors.

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5.20 Selection of Case Studies 187

Values: the Authority upholds the following core values:

• Independence
• Transparency and Accountability
• Fairness
• Integrity
• Professionalism
• Innovation
• Sustainability
Motto: Inspiring Development
Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) was initially created by the
Law n 39/2001 of 13 September 2001 with the mission to regulate certain
public utilities, namely: telecommunications network and/or telecommunica-
tions services, electricity, water, removal of waste products from residential or
business premises, extraction and distribution of gas and transport of goods
and persons.
This Law was further reviewed and replaced by Law n 09/2013 of 01/03/
2013 establishing Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) and deter-
mining its mission, powers, organisation and functioning. This Law gives to
RURA the mandate to regulate:
Telecommunications, information technology, broadcasting and converg-
ing electronic technologies including the internet and any other audiovisual
information and communication technology; Postal services; Renewable and
non-renewable energy, industrial gases, pipelines and storage facilities; Water;
Sanitation; Transport of persons and goods; and other public utilities, if
deemed necessary.
The same Law gives to the Authority a legal personality, financial and
administrative autonomy in the fulfilment of its mandate. The Authority plays
a pivotal role between the policy maker, licensed service providers and
consumers. The Authority reports to the Office of the Prime Minister and it
coordinates with line ministries responsible for each regulated sector in exe-
cuting its functions.
In addition to the law creating RURA, there is a number of other legal and
regulatory instruments which help RURA to discharge its responsibilities in
each specific sector to be regulated. In the same vein, the Authority has the
mission to ensure fair competition, promoting and protecting consumers’
interests and rights in regulated sectors.
The Rwanda concept of Universal Access of the ICT sector was established
by the policy arising from the country Global Vision 2020, launched in 2000.
The Telecoms Law establishing the independent ICT regulatory body and the
enforcement instrument regarding functioning of the Universal Access Fund
(UAF) and its sources of funding materialize the concept of Universal Access.
The key objective of the UAF is to allow access at affordable terms to a
reliable network in all parts of the country.
http://www.rura.rw, last accessed February 2019.
188 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

NIGERIA: Transparent Nigeria & iPolice (2013, 2012)

Very few countries rival the diversity of Nigeria across the world; 250 ethnic
groups, 500 languages and a population of over 160 million. Such diversity
brings with it unique experiences and stories that need telling; whilst Nigerians
have explored film, music, arts and literature to tell their stories, animation has
been absent; but this is about to change.
“Transparent Nigeria” is Nigeria’s premiere online magazine for educated,
tech-savvy, well-connected Nigerians, young and old alike. Transparent Nige-
ria is a movement to hold the Nigerian government accountable for its actions.
By publicizing the amount and use of Nigeria’s public funds, the Transparent
Nigeria online database aims to change widespread corruption rampant in the
country and to offer people an alternative to frustration. Get the real idea of
what’s going on with Nigeria’s economy, its political situation, and its cultural
phenomena. Make the dark bright and the murky clear. Welcome to Trans-
parent Nigeria!
http://www.transparentnigeria.com, last accessed February 2019.

“iPolice” is a community-policing platform designed to engage more

Nigerians in making Nigeria a safer country. The mobile app iPolice provides
citizens with an effective way of partnering with security agencies, by
reporting crimes and providing valuable information via their mobile phones.
iPolice also supports community-oriented policing efforts by keeping citizens
informed of crime and security issues in the neighbourhood where they live or
work, thus helping to reduce crime in the community.
Complustech Nigeria produced the iPolice Mobile app. The application is a
community policing platform designed to engage more Nigerians in making
Nigeria a safer country. iPolice makes it possible to follow and analyse
security and crime trends according to federal state and given location. With
this app, citizens are able to locate the nearest police station with address and
contact details, for quick and easy crime reporting.
Special features of the application include: Security news and alert security
tips for safe living; a Crime reporting module; an Information feedback
module; the Town and suburb crime history and security report. Amos
Emmanuel, president, Programos Foundation and the UN World Summit
Award Nigeria Eminent National Expert in Accra, Ghana, Ihesie, said “the
mega-sized and valuable content solution has been overhauled for application
in the national exercise to promote safety in the coming election”.
The mobile app iPolice provides citizens with an effective way of
partnering with security agencies, by reporting crimes and providing valuable
information via their mobile phones. iPolice also supports community-ori-
ented policing efforts by keeping citizens informed of crime and security
issues in the neighbourhood where they live or work, thus helping to reduce
crime in the community.

(continued)
5.20 Selection of Case Studies 189

Emmanuel added: “We seize this opportunity to call on innovative entre-

preneurs to continue to deliver societal changing products to give positive and
sustainable hope to humanity!”
iPolice Mobile product was Nigeria’s UN World Summit Award Winner in
2013.
https://www.f6s.com/ipolice, and https://itpulse.com.ng/2017/08/08/police-
look-to-technology-to-curb-crime-launches-ipolice-hawk-eye-application/, last
accessed February 2019.

ITALY: O.D.I.N.O. (2013)

O.D.I.N.O. (Operational Device for Information, Networking and Obser-
vation) has been conceived in partnership with “Arma dei Carabinieri”.
O.D.I.N.O. is the solution excellence for the security of operators and citizens.
System hardware is characterized by a multi-touch screen 700 tablet, two
integrated cameras (frontal and rear), and an integrated microphone. Connec-
tivity is granted by the use of modem devices 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth,
permitting the full coverage of all the connection possibilities nowadays on
marketplace. The tablet is placed in a dedicated compartment and firmly
located at the centre of the dashboard of the vehicle through a dedicated
bracket. The extremely compact dimensions and the features of the hardware,
essential to the system, make the use of ODINO possible both by on-vehicle
personnel and on-foot operators. The absence of cabling and wiring make the
installation of ODINO possible on every vehicular platform. The peculiar
ODINO blocking system allows to avoid using the operators’ vital space and
the tablet can be easily removed to use it also outside of the vehicle, granting
all its software functionalities related to the control of territory:
Geo-localisation: The system sends the cartographic coordinates to Intellikore
Control Room. The system makes the operators able to know in real time
the position of forces posted on the field, permitting faster and efficient
interventions in emergency situations;
Video Surveillance: The video surveillance module grants the ability to send
video streaming in near real time to the Control Room, and in the case of
lack of connection, to record on the device pictures and videos. The
solution permits the operator to choose between both integrated cameras
in the device. Multimedia contents, geo-localized and stored on the device,
can be sent to the Control Room whenever required and using all the
interconnection technologies present in the environment;
Database Access: Real time access to all databases, national and local, inters
forces and proprietaries. Available databases are accessible in safe and
direct mode on remote available in real time over the device. The operator
accessing the searching queries is connected seamlessly at the same time to

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190 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

all available databases and receiving on the smart-phone a data aggregate

on an easy-to-use layout personalized according to the specific operational
needs. In case of signalled person, the special visualization of this system is
useful to alert the operator about the danger. The searching matches include
not only the data requested by the operator but also the cartographic
coordinates and a time stamp which are stored to use them in future
matching. Nowadays “ODINO” is configured for Italy for SDI, MCTC,
ANIA database access, allowing verifications on plates, frame, person and
registered arms;
Alarm set: With the single push of a button the alarm signal is sent to the
Control Room. This procedure starts automatically audio and video stream-
ing, giving the Control Room operator the opportunity to visualize the real-
time situation. Geo-localization adds useful data to manage the alarm;
Messaging: Bi-directional instant messaging module; communications are
exchanged in safety and encrypted mode between on-field operators and
the Control Room. The service is based on an innovative chat-style plat-
form. Messages can be written using both a virtual keyboard on smart
phone, and a pre-configured message list;
Navigation System: Navigation System available with European and world-
wide cartography. On top of the basic functionalities, this enables the
reception on smart phone of a specific target destination sent by the Control
Room to accept the mission connected: in this way the target sent is
automatically set up on the Navigation System which evaluates the best
route to reach it.
Odino System is totally integrated with the Intellikore Control Room
solution. Among the main functions to be noted are the constant geo-locali-
zation, the reception of multimedia contents from the field (pictures, video,
video streaming, audio streaming), the alarm signals (sent by patrols) man-
agement and the bi-directional chat style instant messaging. Odino as well as
all the other Intellitronika solutions can be integrated with the existing cus-
tomer Control Room granting the basic functionalities of the solution.
Company: Intellitronika.
http://www.intellitronika.com/en/odino/, last accessed February 2019.

AUSTRIA: WIENBOT—A Chatbot for the City of Vienna (2017)

Social Chat Bots and Speech Dialogue Systems have been around for years,
but why should companies increasingly engage with them right now? Are they
really going to continually replace websites and apps, or are just a tech hype?

(continued)
5.20 Selection of Case Studies 191

The number of users of messenger services is increasing rapidly and not

only in the private environment, but also in the internal communication, Slack
or Microsoft teams are good examples of this. But why is it like that? A
Bitkom study puts it in a nutshell; 88% of users spend their time with five apps,
the other installed apps lose importance for the user. In contrast, more than one
billion people worldwide use a messenger on average 27 times a day, where
Social ChatBots offer their services.
WienBot is the City of Vienna’s response to a fast-growing trend that
primarily affects the domain of customer service. Its key purpose is to put
user needs first and provide users with correct, relevant information as simply
and fast as possible, customising the service to the individual user’s situation.
Chatbots like WienBot—also known as virtual assistants or virtual
agents—are among the major trends of the current tech scene. By simulating
human-to-human communication, they considerably simplify and speed up
processes like inquiry management. Currently WienBot answers questions on
the 250 most frequently accessed contents of the City of Vienna’s official
website www.wien.at. It also suggests other useful city services that could help
the users in their individual situation.
Producer: Stadt Wien.
https://smartcity.wien.gv.at/site/wienbot/, last accessed February 2019.

MALAYSIA: Malaysia Foreign Workers Centralized Management

System (FWCMS Also Known as MiGRAMS) (2017)
The Foreign Workers Centralized Management System (FWCMS also known
as MiGRAMS) is a scalable fully online holistic system designed to assist
users and stakeholders in all compliance and regulatory processes related to
employing migrant workers, from selection, recruitment, periodic manage-
ment, monitoring, all the way to ensuring workers return safely home. The
journey of R&D for FWCMS involved enormous challenges and a time frame
to develop the centralized solution by collaborating with over 13 countries and
its laws, regulations, customs, practices and peculiarities.
With simultaneous implementation in both source and destination countries
for migrant workers, FWCMS provides stakeholders—Governments,
employers, migrant workers, insurance providers, medical practitioners,
etc.—with an efficient, simplified, effective and reliable methodology for
managing, tracking and reporting on their respective migrant workforce.
Producer: Bestinet Sdn. Bhd.
http://www.fwcms.com.my/, last accessed February 2019.
192 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

GERMANY: Arriving/Ankommen (2016)

The app targets displaced persons who have only been in Germany for a few
weeks. “Arrival” is a guide to quickly become comprehensively orientated
during this period, and is tailored towards the immediate needs of people who
only recently arrived in Germany. Since December 2016 there is also a website
with the same content at http://www.ankommenapp.de/ to reach Refugees
without Mobile Phones and Refugee Assistance.
The app contains information on the asylum procedure, on access to the
labour market, and on “Living in Germany”. The chapter entitled “Living in
Germany” takes up topics which are important for everyday life, such as Who
can I turn to for advice? When does my child have to go to school? What are
the road traffic rules? Several texts within this chapter deal with the political
and legal system in Germany, freedom of religion or equal rights for men and
women. The goal is to make available the most important information that is
needed in order to integrate asylum-seekers quickly.
The app also has an integrated, free, multimedia language course which
provides practical everyday support when taking the first steps in German.
Users particularly benefit from the combination of information and the lan-
guage course. Personal statements from people who have immigrated to
Germany provide information about life here in a personal, informal way.
Producer: Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.
http://ankommenapp.de/, last accessed February 2019.

UNITED STATES Ballot Ready (2016)

Ballot Ready is an ambitious, technologically-sophisticated, and crowd
sourced solution to a common problem faced by many voters—long ballots
with election races about which they lack reliable, consistent information. US
voters are often confronted with a long list of so-called down ballot races they
don’t know anything about. Even moderately informed voters may find
themselves staring blankly at names of candidates for school board seats,
judgeships, neighbourhood commissions and so on. Some voters might
make guesses or vote based on candidates’ names. Others may choose to
leave part of their ballot blank. It can be a frustrating process, leaving some
voters to skip elections altogether. It is exactly that problem faced by its
founders, Alex Niemczewski and Aviva Rosman, at a voting station. Even
having reviewed the official voters’ guide published by local elections offi-
cials, they both felt under- and even uninformed about at least some of the
races and candidates. In developing the application, the two graduate students
at the University of Chicago faced two overwhelming logistical challenges.

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5.20 Selection of Case Studies 193

The first was to develop digital maps of every voting district in Ballot Ready
coverage areas (which will include up to 21 states by the end of the current
cycle). Their colleagues and researchers at the university built one from
scratch. The second was to develop consistent, independently verified, non-
partisan candidate profiles across the board. While cost prohibitive via con-
ventional means, Ballot Ready used a global crowdsourcing Internet market-
place (Amazon Mechanical Turk) to coordinate the use of real people (human
intelligence) to perform and mutually validate thousands of tasks in building
candidate profiles. Through crowdsourcing, Ballot Ready has been able to
develop triply-validated profiles for under $2 each.
Company: BallotReady.org
https://www.ballotready.org/, last accessed February 2019.

ITALY: YOU POL (2017)

Send reports, even anonymous, of bullying and drug dealing; citizens can use
“YouPol” the new app created “in house” by the information technology team
of the State Police. The new applications can be downloaded for free from the
online stores for both systems, iOS and Android. Citizens can send images,
and videos in addition to the text that notifies of violent conduct. Through a
smart phone or tablet the notification and the exact position of where the event
is taking place will be sent directly to the operations rooms of the police
stations, even if the citizen using the APP is in a different province; in addition,
pressing a big red button citizens can activate direct emergency calls to 113
(Police Emergency) or to the Single European Emergency Number 112.
On the occasion of the launch of the application the Italian Minister of
Interior pointed out that: “YouPol is a friend app, it is your friend to whom you
can contact in case of difficulty, launch the signal, say that you need help, do it
anonymously if you want, but the only thing you must not do is turn the other
way, there is no free society if violence prevails in that society”.
YouPol is not a sort of Big Brother, it is a way of dialogue between law
enforcement agencies and citizens, because police need more and more aware
citizens and participate in the security system, starting with the young, it is not
a repressive tool but a preventive one.
Producer: Polizia di Stato.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=it.poliziadistato.youpol&hl=
it, last accessed February 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=mSmMtdGbvho,
last accessed February 2019.
194 5 e-Government: Background, Today’s Implementation and Future Trends

SOUTH AFRICA: TOBETSA (2016)

Free WiFi for Africa (trading as Project Isizwe) is an independent start-up. The
pilot project—Tshwane Free WiFi—began in 2013 and continues to roll out
free internet, primarily in low-income communities, to the citizens of
Tshwane, with the vision of bringing free WiFi within walking distance of
every citizen. Project Isizwe has been established as a Non-Profit Company
(NPC), an innovative business structure which allows the organisation to pool
bandwidth and utilise the capacity of local internet service providers without
incurring the traditional excessive mark-ups associated with enabling connec-
tivity. The traditional telecommunications model includes exorbitant overhead
costs and unnecessary additional fees, making it near impossible for regular
South Africans to have access to affordable call and connection rates.
The entrepreneurial innovation embodied in the business model, technical
infrastructure configuration and collaborative working partnerships with local
government in the City of Tshwane, has positioned Project Isizwe as a unique
start-up company in the non-profit telecommunications sector of South Africa.
Project Isizwe has embraced the start-up culture, with a fast-paced approach to
business practise, management and operations. Project Isizwe has rapidly
developed a replicable and scalable business model for providing open access
internet connectivity in previously disconnected, low-income communities.
Over and above the provision of Free WiFi, Project Isizwe has quickly
developed numerous value-added-services which further the online experience
for users, fully harnessing and extending the technical power of the internet to
give the citizens of Tshwane access to what technology in the twenty-first
century has to offer. The start-up environment has enabled the organisation to
quickly respond to the needs of users, developing unique offerings including
WiFi Voice (free VoIP call service), WiFi Chat (an online chat service which
lets citizens talk to their local government for free) and WiFi TV (a hyper-local
video service that delivers 3-minute video content to users, created by young,
local citizen journalists for the local Free WiFi audiences).
Producer: Free WiFi for Africa NPC
http://www.projectisizwe.org/, last accessed February 2019.

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understand the innovation process of e-Government-projects. Inf Polity Int J Gov Democr
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http://www.ejeg.com/issue/download.html?idIssue=5, last accessed December 2017.
issn:1479-439X
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ment and e-Government. Franco Angeli. ISBN:978-88-568-1293-0
13. Budden J (2009) e-Government in the Pacific (An opportunity for regional synergies?). The
World Bank
14. Chen Y-C, Chu P-Y (2008), Electronic governance and cross-boundary collaboration: innova-
tions and advancing tools. IGI Global. ISBN:9781609607531
15. Council of Europe, Integrated project 1: making democratic institutions work, e-governance
workshop, Strasbourg, 10–11 June, 2002
16. Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2016), United Nations e-Government Survey
2016, UNITED NATIONS 2016. ISBN:978-92-1-123205-9
17. Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2008) United Nations e-government survey 2008:
from e-government to connected governance. United Nations, New York
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from e-government to connected governance. United Nations, New York
19. Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2003) Global E-government Survey 2003. United
Nations
20. Dangermond J (2002) Web services and GIS. Geospatial Solutions
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22. e-Government Unit (2006) e-Government Metadata Standard version 3.1, U.K. Cabinet Office
Transformational Government Strategy
23. European Commission (2006) Efficiency and effectiveness e-Government: key activities 2007-
2010. http://www.epractice.eu/document/3253
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Cybersecurity Division – Policies and Strategies Department, ITU Telecommunication Devel-
opment Sector (August 2008 Draft)
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(4):365–387
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53-30-3
33. Kurbalija J (2014) Gouvernance d’Internet: une introduction. DiploFoundation. ISBN:978-
99932-53-29-7
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Commission, DG Information Society and Media, e-Government unit
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37. National Research Council (2002) Information technology, research, innovation, and e-Gov-
ernment. National Academy Press, Washington, DC
38. Richard G, Roussev V (2006) Next generation cyber forensics. Commun ACM 49(2):76–80
39. Neuman L (2009) Enforcement models: content and context. World Bank Institute
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says latest e-Government report, European Commission 2006
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online government services. J Am Acad Bus 3(1/2):1
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www.wgig.org/docs/BackgroundReport.pdf
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spending & service delivery. The World Bank
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2017
Chapter 6
e-Procurement

e-Procurement refers to the use of electronic communications by public sector

organisations when buying supplies and services or tendering public works.
Increasing the use of e-Procurement in Europe can generate significant savings
for European taxpayers. These savings would maximise the efficiency of public
spending in the current context of fiscal constraints. e-Procurement can also provide
a new source of economic growth and jobs, including by facilitating access to public
procurement contracts by SMEs. (European Commission)

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 197

A. M. Ronchi, e-Democracy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01596-1_6
198 6 e-Procurement

6.1 Public Procurement

First of all, let us introduce the general term, public procurement. Public procure-
ment has a long history. As Charles Coe mentions in his book “Public financial
procurement1” one of the earliest procurement orders was written on a red clay
tablet, found in Syria, and dates from between 2400 and 2800 B.C. The order was for
“50 jars of fragrant smooth oil for 600 small weight in grain”. Of course, we found
other evidence of historical procurement such as the ones related to the development
of the silk trade between China, and a Greek colony in 800 B.C. and later on similar
contracts due to the Etruscans. So, since a long time ago there has been a need to
structure the acquisition of goods for public purposes and this is what we term
“public procurement” today.
Of course, the idea to structure procurement is not limited to the public sector, so
the idea to group the request for specific products or services and submit a cumu-
lative request for the best offer is valid and applicable even to the private sector.
Thanks to the network this approach is easer today, so we group the request of hotels
rooms, restaurant vouchers, medical check-ups. We can consider this procurement,
but private procurement.
The Rockefeller Foundation funded some relevant intensive studies on public
administration in 1914. Government procurement, as one of four major economic
activities of government, was also included in the study. As a result of such research
activity, a 275-pages book, Principles of Government Purchasing2, was published in
1919. The first chapter of the book is “The basic problems of government purchas-
ing”; the introductory section of this chapter outlines the scenario: “On its technical
side the problem of government purchasing involves the same essential elements as
does purchasing for a private business. In governments, as in private business, there
exists the necessity for expert handling of all the elements of the supply problem and
of complete coordination of effort between the purchasing agent and all other
responsible officials having to do with the supply problem.” Moreover, the author
says, “Compared with the purchasing problem of many of our large industrial
corporations the government purchasing problem is a simple one. Government
business is routine to a large extent, making it easily possible with adequate
organisation and procedure to plan the entire supply problem considerably in
advance of immediate requirements. Changes in plan need not be precipitately
made to meet competitive conditions, and hence there is little danger of
overinvestment and surplussage. The course of government business is, as a rule,
placid in comparison with the urgent necessities of a railroad or of a busy industrial
corporation; the problem of coordination between requirements and deliveries is,
therefore, reduced to a minimum with a consequent avoidance of a large part of the
urgency of follow-up to secure timely deliveries.”
This seems to be a reasonable “fresco” of the government natural behaviour in
purchases. Since then, there have been many developments in government procurement

1
Charles K. Coe, Public Financial Management, ISBN 13: 9780137374618, Prentice Hall, 1989.
2
A.G. Thomas, Principles of Government Purchasing, Institute for Government Research, 1914.
6.2 e-Procurement 199

practices, including numerous government procurement reforms. This is what we call

“procurement” or more precisely, referring to the Rockefeller Foundation study, Public
Procurement. Recently the digital revolution introduced the e-Procurement.

6.2 e-Procurement

What do we mean with the term e-Procurement? e-Procurement stands for electronic
procurement, that is to say the exchange of supplies, services and work through the
Internet or any other electronic channels. In general, the exchange may refer, but it is
not limited, to business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C) or business
to government (B2G). e-Procurement may be directly interconnected with the
Electronic Resource Planning (ERP3) of an organisation (usually B2B). The synergy
between ERP and e-Procurement is evident if we consider the basic functions of
ERP, to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the
boundaries of the organization and manage the connections to outside stakeholders.
Of course, the advent of the Internet and the opportunity to buy and sell goods on the
network having the ability to compare in real time quality and prices changed
significantly the way to manage economic transactions. We will see later how this
opportunity benefits, for instance, the farmers in the developing countries.
It is reasonable that buyers having opportunity to buy a bigger stock may gain a
profitable price. This is historically the way in which farmers used to buy seeds or
machinery through the Farmers Consortium. The same happens today for private
citizens, as already outlined; thanks to the Internet some “consumer groups” are
active on line in order to group orders and make profitable deals with providers4.
If this is true for private buyers it is even more profitable for governments. In
some way, the implementation of e-Procurement is even much more useful and
powerful in the public sector. Public bids and frameworks contracts may benefit a
full range of public companies, whatever their own domain of activity and wherever
their own location in the country. Let us now focus on this specific implementation
of procurement, the public procurement.
Public procurement is one of the key sectors of the economy; in the US it is 12%
of the gross domestic product (GDP), in the European Union the government
contracts amount to more than 16% of the EU gross domestic product (GDP). Public
procurement in European countries ranges between 10 and 20% of the national gross
domestic product of the member states5. It is usually the largest public expenditure
item in the national budget.

3
Grant Norris, John D. Balls, Kenneth M. Hartley, E-Business and ERP: Transforming the
Enterprise ISBN:0471392081, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, NY, USA—2000.
4
E.g. Groupon—http://www.groupon.com, last accessed February 2019.
5
Some authors use to consider 10–15% of GDP in developed countries, and up to 20% in
developing countries.
200 6 e-Procurement

20 %
Emerging

10 %
Industrialised
PP %

16 % GDP
EU

12 %
US

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Ratio Public Procurement/Gross Domestic Product

The potential contractual power of governments in many relevant sectors of

business is more than relevant regardless of whether they are looking for furniture,
stationery or services. A very simple set of agreements with hotel chains may
produce relevant savings in hospitality costs of any public administration from
local governments to universities.
Public procurement in the past played a different role in the different European
countries. Some of them took real advantage from it, some did not. The idea to unify
the purchase procedures in order to reach a critical mass able to make better quality/
price choices, have a better understanding of the market and obtain better prices is
not new and innovative.
“Certain new electronic purchasing techniques are continually being developed.
Such techniques help to increase competition and streamline public purchasing,
particularly in terms of the savings in time and money which their use will allow.”6
Each government has a specific branch dealing with a similar scope. Neverthe-
less, the way in which this branch works and provides support to the public
administration makes the difference.
Of course, as it happens in many completely different fields, the reshaping of
traditional procedures involving in some way “personal” power, and sometimes even
more than “power”, causes some frictions. Personnel at different levels feel unhappy
because they cannot choose their own supplier or they cannot choose their preferred
trademark. Sometimes the difference may be due to the assistance, both pre- and
post-sale. On the other side the implementation of public-procurement and, even
more, e-Procurement implies the reshaping of purchase procedures, so some “key
person” or “approval” may be lost in the process.
Starting from an average spending review of each specific sector of the admin-
istration it is relatively easy to select the most significant items to be negotiated
centrally in order to set a framework contract to refer to for any supply. This was and

6
Official Journal of the European Union, DIRECTIVE 2004/18/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PAR-
LIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 31 March 2004: on the coordination of procedures for the
award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts.
6.3 e-Catalogues 201

still is valid; in any case, nowadays thanks to the use of the Internet-based platforms
(e-Procurement platforms) it will be possible to publish on line a structured cata-
logue of goods and services, the e-Catalogue, open to public auction or covered by
framework agreements enabling each single public organisation to enjoy the same
price and clauses, again whatever they do and wherever they are. Sometimes to
overcome such frictions, buying the requested product at the same or better overall
conditions (quality, configuration, assistance, guarantee, etc.) is allowed.

6.3 e-Catalogues

e-Procurement platforms perform transactions between legal entities certified by qual-

ified digital signatures7, providing digital invoices. The use of e-Catalogues in public
procurement can significantly benefit both buyers and suppliers due to the automated
processing it can offer. Electronic catalogues can form tenders or parts of them. The use
of this new tool can simplify the processes followed by suppliers to create offers, while
buyers can automate processes for reception, evaluation, purchasing and invoicing.

e-Catalogue and key actors

7
“Qualified electronic signature” as defined by the European Telecommunications Standards
Institute ETSI (Sophia Antipolis, France). ETSI has been successful in standardizing GSM cell
phone system, TETRA professional mobile radio system, and Short Range Devices.
202 6 e-Procurement

In order to fully benefit from the automated processing of e-Catalogues they need to
be structured according to a specific standard or take advantage of interoperability of an
international standard. Unfortunately, as always happens in the definition phase of a
standard, there are a number of competitors and as a consequence there is no interop-
erability of catalogues. This in turn limits the possibilities for automated processing and
limits as well the benefits for suppliers. As a direct consequence, there is a strong need
to define a standard (both de facto or de jure); due to this issue in 2004 the European
Commission activated a survey on the European state of the art in e-Catalogues.
In 2004 the European Union introduced the new EU legislative framework of
public procurement, Directives 2004/17/EC8 and 2004/18/EC9. These directives
introduced for the first time a coherent and comprehensive framework for the use
of electronic public procurement in the EU.
“Contracting authorities may make use of electronic purchasing techniques,
providing such use complies with the rules drawn up under this Directive and the
principles of equal treatment, non-discrimination and transparency.”10
Among other innovation it introduced and authorized the use of electronic
catalogues (e-Catalogues) as a tool for the electronic submission of tenders.
“To that extent, a tender submitted by a tenderer, in particular where competition
has been reopened under a framework agreement or where a dynamic purchasing
system is being used, may take the form of that tenderer’s electronic catalogue if the
latter uses the means of communication chosen by the contracting authority in
accordance with Article 42.”11
The use of e-Catalogues in public procurement must be in line with all rules and
regulations that apply for the use of electronic means, the electronic submission of
tenders, as well as the general principles for e-Procurement.
At the same time the European Commission commissioned a study entitled
“Electronic catalogues in electronic public procurement” with specific focus on
“Standardisation Initiatives” within the European countries in both the private and
public sectors. The aim of this study is formulating requirements and recommenda-
tions for their further developments.
An additional study on “EU: Electronic Catalogues in Electronic Public Procure-
ment12” was delivered in 2007. This study, commissioned by the European Com-
mission, aimed to analyse rules and practices for the use of e-Catalogues in both the
public and the private sectors, with a view to formulate requirements and recom-
mendations for their further development in public procurement.

8
Official Journal of the European Union, DIRECTIVE 2004/17/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PAR-
LIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 31 March 2004 coordinating the procurement procedures
of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors.
9
Official Journal of the European Union, DIRECTIVE 2004/18/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PAR-
LIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 31 March 2004: on the coordination of procedures for the
award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts.
10
Idem.
11
Idem.
12
https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/document/eu-electronic-catalogues-electronic-public-procurement,
last accessed February 2019.
6.3 e-Catalogues 203

The report outlines the need to find an agreement on certain minimum functional
requirements and standards as a remedy to the risk of ICT applications on the market
not meet the requirements of the public sector and of barriers to the Internal Market,
and increase both public buyers’ and businesses’ trust in the new electronic pro-
cedures, systems and tools. The central principle of this approach is not to drive a
wedge between developments in the public sector and the private sector; e-Catalogues
suitable to be used as valid offers in a public procurement procedure should be used in,
and be interoperable with those used in, a standard electronic commerce environment.
According to the summary of the report the objective of the study can be
synthesized as follows:
• To define the notion of e-Catalogues and study their current use in procurement
practices, both in the public and private sectors;
• To identify the general and specific functional requirements that can be derived
from the new legal framework, so as to specify in greater detail the conditions
under which e-Catalogues may constitute a valid offer in an electronic public
procurement procedure, whilst preserving interoperability with e-Catalogue
applications in general use;
• To review relevant standardisation activities with a view to identify advance-
ments, gaps and areas for future work;
• To define recommendations for Member States, Standardisation Bodies and the
European Commission on actions and activities that can contribute to the more
efficient and beneficial use of e-Catalogues in European public procurement.
As already outlined one of the most beneficial uses of e-Catalogues is to submit
them on the occasion of call for tenders. In order to ensure that e-Catalogues can be
accepted as valid tenders, both contracting authorities and economic operators must
comply with the general and specific legal and functional requirements of the EU
public procurement Directives. However, whilst the Directives state that tenders
submitted electronically may take the form of an electronic catalogue, “For example,
in order to participate in a procurement procedure in which use of electronic
catalogues, which is a format for the presentation and organisation of information
in a manner that is common to all the participating bidders and which lends itself to
electronic treatment, is permitted or required, economic operators would, in the
absence of standardisation, be required to customise their own catalogues to each
procurement procedure, which would entail providing very similar information in
different formats depending on the specifications of the contracting authority
concerned. Standardising the catalogue formats would thus improve the level of
inter-operability, enhance efficiency and would also reduce the effort required of
economic operators.13” they do not further define the notion of an e-Catalogue itself.

13
DIRECTIVE 2014/24/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of
26 February 2014 on public procurement and repealing; Directive 2004/18/EC, paragraph 55—
https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/aa61f069-b654-11e3-86f9-01aa
75ed71a1/language-en, last accessed February 2019.
204 6 e-Procurement

Moreover, in the same directive, paragraph 56 deals with standards: “When

considering whether there is a need to ensure or enhance interoperability between
differing technical formats or process and messaging standards by rendering the use
of specific standards mandatory, and if so which standards to impose, the Commis-
sion should take the utmost account of the opinions of the stake-holders concerned.”
Apart from the e-Catalogue structure and standard, part of the problems related to
electronic submission were already solved some time ago. If we refer to the history
of electronic submission of tenders or project proposals the potential benefit was
clear to everyone. This process within the area of the European Commission was
experimented with many years ago (1990s) in the field of the “Telematics”
programme and later on extended to other programmes, mainly of the IT/ICT
domain, very soon14.
The electronic submission of offers mainly required the clear identification of the
“submitter”, the certification of both the time stamp of the submission and the
integrity of the submitted offer. Of course, as it happens must of the times for the
traditional submission by registered post, even electronic submission implies a
possible time delay due to the notification mechanisms of electronic documents
delivery. Part of the problem, the one related to the certification of the identity of the
submitter, is now delegated to the electronic qualified signature.
On September 2007, the final report15 was issued under the umbrella of the DG
Internal Markets. Following the description provided by the executive summary, the
study is subdivided into three main parts:
• State of Play: presents e-Catalogue initiatives in the public sector in the EU and in
private companies, highlighting common points, differences, needs and requirements;
• Standardisation Activities: presents current standardisation activities on e-Catalogues
and product description and classification schemes, and makes recommendations for
the adoption of appropriate standards in Europe to increase interoperability;
• Functional Requirements: defines preliminary functional and non-functional
requirements for establishing e-Procurement systems, which may use
e-Catalogues as a tool for tender submission.
Standardisation is a must in an evolving scenario where electronic support to
transactions both in Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Government (B2G)
is already a standard. As it happens in standardisation we do not need many
proprietary standards competing with each other to become “the standard”; we
envisage an open one shared as the de facto standard.
The establishment of an open standard is particularly important in the field of
electronic procurement and more specifically in public electronic procurement. Such
a standardisation will significantly improve the interoperable exchange of informa-
tion between organisations contributing to fulfilment of European Public bids
offering a platform for a fair competition among European suppliers.

14
In the second half of the 1990s the use of protocol was experimented with.
The final report was prepared for DG Internal Markets (European Commission) by: EUROPEAN
15

DYNAMICS SA 209 Kifissias Avenue Marousi 15124 Greece.

6.3 e-Catalogues 205

In some way, we are already experiencing a similar opportunity in the field of

destination management and on line offer of integrated travel opportunities, enjoying
on the fly comparison of offers and their ranking accordingly with different criteria.
This opportunity is largely due to the existent standards already in use since a long
time (IATA16, etc.).

Traffic light: single Market Governance. Source: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/scoreboard/

performance_overview/index_en.htm

The creation of a single market all over Europe based on transparency of the
procedures and fair competition may take a strong advantage from the diffuse use of
interoperability standards in building the confidence of European market players—
consumers, vendors and economic operators—in electronic procurement.
Of course, apart from the required level of trust, in order to save time and money
having the chance to automate as much as possible the comparison of multiple offers
we must be able to make automated evaluation of similar offers in order to rank them
and make a choice.
The full range of potential offers responding to the request must be analysed,
compared and ranked, providing to the decision maker a kind of dashboard summa-
rizing the results. So, the key point is to enable automated processing of offers and
catalogues. The automated processing of e-Catalogues however appears to be possible
only when e-Catalogues are formed and exchanged in a standardised manner, that is,
when they are interoperable. Hence, standardisation in this field is necessary to
increase efficiency through the reduction, or even elimination, of manual intervention.

16
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is the trade association of airlines. IATA
240 members comprise 84% of the total air traffic—http://www.iata.org/Pages/default.aspx, last
accessed February 2019.
206 6 e-Procurement

Something similar, in the field of private purchase, is available on line thanks to

some websites providing the comparison of offers related to homogeneous goods
(e.g. energy fares, insurances, bank loans, etc.).
The EC report17 issued in 2007 took into account the emerging standards
in the field of electronic catalogues and identified between the other two main
existing initiatives/standards developed care of international standardisation bodies
OASIS18 and CEN/ISSS19—UN/CEFACT20 in the area of e-Catalogues. The two
emerging standards were respectively UBL 2.0 and c-Catalogue.
The report compares these two prevailing initiatives, taking into account their
business documents, processes and messages in order to identify similarities and
differences, strengths and weaknesses. A specific focus of the analysis concerns the
extension of their use in the pre-awarding phases of the procurement cycle.
In addition to the prevailing two, the report examines the progress made by six
EU member states in creating an e-Catalogue. Of course, as already mentioned, in
order to fully benefit from electronic procurement, the catalogues, if not fully
compliant with the same standard, must be interoperable.
The findings of the “Electronic catalogues in electronic public procurement:
Standardisation Initiatives” report may be summarized in the following list of
recommendations21:
– “Consider and promote the use of existing standards before creating tailor-made
specifications. The existing standards, and especially the imminent convergence
of UBL and c-Catalogue, are expected to facilitate the exact specifications upon
which e-Catalogues are used in public procurement. (Actor: Member States);
– Perform the convergence of UBL and c-Catalogue in one unified standard,
further enhance it with e-Catalogue related messages and processes to support
the pre-awarding phases of public procurement and engage into promotional

17
Idem—EUROPEAN DYNAMICS SA 209 Kifissias Avenue Marousi 15124 Greece.
18
Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) is a not-for-
profit international consortium. Its mission is the establishment and adoption of open standards in
the e-Business domain, with particular focus on the eXtensible Markup Language (XML).
OASIS is a business-driven consortium focusing on the facilitation of B-2-B transactions. In
particular, it is very active in the development of standards for the exchange of electronic documents
within the e-Business sector such as ODF, UDDI and SAML.
19
The Comité Européen de Normalisation/European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) was
established in 1961 by the national standardisation organisations in the European Economic
Community and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries. CEN standardisation activ-
ities focus on the development of technical standards that encourage free trade, interoperability of
networks and public procurement. CEN has established an Information Society Standardisation
System (CEN/ISSS) for the promotion of standardisation services and products in the Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) domain.
20
The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) is
hosted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE). The primary objective
of UN/CEFACT is the development and promotion of international trade standards for the
improvement of electronic business transactions through their harmonisation.
21
The following list of recommendations is quoted from the summary of the report itself.
6.3 e-Catalogues 207

activities in order to achieve the wide use of the standard across Europe, both in
the public and private sector (Actor: Standardisation Bodies);
– Harmonise the use of product description and classifications schemes, establishing
also specifications for describing products/services within e-Catalogues. This
harmonisation can be achieved either by establishing one, unique product descrip-
tion and classification scheme, or by establishing a framework of interoperable
co-existence of many schemes. Achieve harmonisation and engage in necessary
promotional activities for the wide use of the selected framework (Actor:
Standardisation Bodies—please refer to the specific section);
– Review existing e-Procurement systems with a view to establish “e-Catalogue
stock management systems” which utilise standardised, interoperable “e-Cata-
logue prospectuses”, in order to support all phases of the procurement cycle,
both for “pre” and “post” award purposes (Actors: Member States).”

e-PRIOR: pre-award and post-award phases. Copyright notice © European Union, 1995–2017

In 2010 the European Commission, thanks to the e-PRIOR project team, issued
the “e-Catalogues Gap Analysis between pre-awarding business requirements and
the post-awarding implementation in e-PRIOR”. The scope of this report was to
make a gap-analysis of the differences between the use of electronic catalogues in a
pre-awarding context (e-Catalogue prospectus) and the use of electronic catalogues
in a post-awarding context.
Where pre-awarding and post-awarding context implies:
Pre-awarding: the process of publication of call for tenders, the submission of
tenders, their evaluation and awarding. In the context of e-Catalogues:
• Defining e-Catalogue templates
• Creation of e-Catalogues
• Submitting e-Catalogues
• Uploading of e-Catalogues in the buyers’ systems of Evaluation of the
e-Catalogues
208 6 e-Procurement

Post-awarding: the process of executing awarded framework contracts by means

of requests, orders and invoices. In the context of e-Catalogues:
• Maintaining e-Catalogues
• Ordering through e-Catalogues
• Invoices referring to order lines and e-Catalogue items
The focus of this specific gap analysis was on framework contracts without
re-opening of competition between contractors on multiple framework contracts.
The context of Dynamic Purchasing Systems22 (DPS) was not in the scope of the
study.
Open e-PRIOR is a free open source e-Procurement platform designed to
interoperate with a large number of applications of heterogeneous nature, it allows
public administrations to implement interoperable electronic services facilitating the
cross-border exchange of e-Procurement documents between, for example, a public
administration in country A with suppliers in country B. It plays the role of
intermediary between the back-office applications of the public administration and
the Pan-European Public Procurement OnLine (PEPPOL) interoperability initiative.
An International team of experts developed the PEPPOL’s technical specifica-
tions, the use of PEPPOL is governed by a multi-lateral agreement structure which is
owned and maintained by OpenPEPPOL.
The aim of PEPPOL is to provide a set of technical specifications that can be
implemented in existing e-Procurement solutions and e-Business exchange services
to make them interoperable between disparate systems across Europe.
The use of e-Catalogue in public or private procurement must be harmonised with
the implementation rules in order to avoid drawbacks or negative side effects such as
the creation of non-competition agreements among suppliers or the prohibition to
purchase for a better price from “extra suppliers” even at the same or better overall
conditions (quality, delivery time, guarantee, assistance, etc.).

6.3.1 Tagging and Metadata

Tagging is a very common practice in information technology. Every time informa-

tion must be transferred between different data structures it is a good idea to tag
(i.e. label) the information in order to make sure that the destination understands the
context of the information and therefore categorises it correctly (in the same way as
done by the source).

22
A Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) is similar to an electronic framework agreement, with two
exceptions, new suppliers can join at any time and it is to be run as a completely electronic process.
Dynamic Purchasing Systems are used exclusively by public sector organisations. They save time
and money by being a quick and easy way to access goods, services and works through an OJ
EU-compliant route. Suppliers can both join and leave Dynamic Purchasing System arrangements
whenever they choose, meaning they can tailor membership to suit their budget.
6.4 e-Catalogues Standards 209

More recently, tagging has become a widespread activity. The spread of the
World Wide Web and the increasing interest in HTML and languages and dialects
derived from it has encouraged the use of tags (Resource Description Framework—
RDF, Web Ontology Language—OWL, the data-centric, customisable Extensible
Markup Language23—XML, etc.). A mark-up language is a structured set of tags
that are embedded within text in order to label specific parts of it. The reason for
doing this is to provide useful information about these parts of the text.
Metadata are usually described as data about data, or information about other
information. Why do we need this additional information?
One application that requires the creation of a so-called metadata layer is the
integration of several databanks in order to offer a set of added value services that
require the collaborative use of the information stored in the data-banks.
In an extension to this scenario, it may be necessary to integrate the data from
various services provided by different organisations. In order to integrate the infor-
mation provided by the different organisations and so obtain the added value
services, we need to place a metadata layer on top of the databanks which redirects
user queries appropriately and thus enables the requested information to be retrieved.
The tagged text in a document is usually called the source code, or simply the
code for that document. While some mark-up languages, such as RTF, are human-
readable, easy-to-understand, mark-up languages, generally speaking they are not
human-readable. Of course, this could be a potential disadvantage if we use a mark-
up language to preserve content and services.
Mark-up languages can be specific or generalised. Specific languages are used for
specific applications or devices, while generalised ones describe the structure and the
meaning of the text in the document without specifying how the text should be used.
This means that the language is generic enough to be useful for a range of applica-
tions. Documents written in a generalised mark-up language are usually easy to port
from application to application.
Once a document has been coded the only other item required is a processor or
renderer that is able to read and interpret the code. Renderers are usually included in
browsers, word processors and other specific appliances.

6.4 e-Catalogues Standards

As stated in art. 12 of the directive 2004/18/EC24 of the European Parliament on the

coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply
contracts and public service contracts:

23
XML was officially introduced at the 7th World Wide Web Conference held in Brisbane,
Australia, on 14–18 April 1998.
24
DIRECTIVE 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the
coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and
public service contracts.
210 6 e-Procurement

“Certain new electronic purchasing techniques are continually being developed.

Such techniques help to increase competition and streamline public purchasing,
particularly in terms of the savings in time and money which their use will allow . . .
omissis . . . in particular where competition has been reopened under a framework
agreement or where a dynamic purchasing system is being used, may take the form
of that tenderer’s electronic catalogue if the latter uses the means of communication
chosen by the contracting authority in accordance with Article 42.
Article 42—The relevant Community rules on mutual recognition of diplomas,
certificates or other evidence of formal qualifications apply when evidence of a
particular qualification is required for participation in a procurement procedure or
a design contest.”
e-Catalogues are key actors in the full and cross border implementation of
e-Procurement. They support cross-European bids, transparency and time and cost
savings. There is a number of emerging cataloguing standards, as shown in the table
below; we will take into account the most relevant.

Standard/Standardisation Responsible
initiative body Description
Standards UBL (Universal Busi- OASIS A framework for electronic exchange
and ness Language) of interoperable, XML-based business
frameworks documents
c-Catalogue CEN/ISSS A standard XML vocabulary for busi-
ness documents
ebXML (Electronic UN/CEFT Standards and guidelines for the
Business eXtensible and exchange of data elements and mes-
Markup Language) CEN/ISSS sages between different Information
Systems
Product description and Several CPV, UNSPSC, eCl@ss, NCS, GPC,
classification scheme bodies eOTD

In addition to the list of standards and frameworks listed above we can also
identify a set of initiatives, focus groups and workshops as listed below:

Workshops/ e-Business Board for European CEN/ Creation of a central reference

Focus Standardisation (eBES) Workshop ISSS point on the most recent technolo-
groups gies used for standardising the
electronic business data exchange,
including multi-lingual and multi-
cultural needs.
Workshop on Multilingual CEN/ Establishment of interoperable and
e-Cataloguing and e-Classification ISSS multi-lingual standards for product
in e-Business (eCAT)/(ePDC 1 & classification and their further
ePDC 2) application to e-Catalogues
e-Procurement (ePRO) Workshop CEN/ Review of e-Procurement
ISSS standardisation needs and assess-
ment of international standards
used by the public and private
sectors
(continued)
6.5 UBL Universal Business Language 211

e-Invoicing (eINV) Workshop CEN/ Harmonisation of VAT e-Invoicing

ISSS implementations within the EU
Member States
e-Government (eGOV) Focus CEN/ Harmonisation of VAT e-Invoicing
Group ISSS implementations within the EU
Member States

6.5 UBL Universal Business Language

The Universal Business Language (UBL)25 was developed by the OASIS UBL
Technical Committee (TC), with the aim to design an XML-based universal language
readable by any business. UBL 1.0 is based on a library of over 600 XML components
together with eight business document schemas and a wealth of support files.
UBL constitutes a standard XML vocabulary for business documents, the imple-
mentation of which is based on the ebXML26 Core Components Technical Specifi-
cation (CCTS) v2.01.
The XML vocabulary incorporates XML-based business documents (i.e. purchase
orders, invoices) from different XML libraries (i.e. cXML, xCBL) and different
industry sectors into a central repository. In addition to the XML vocabulary, UBL
provides XML Schemes as well as UML modelling concepts for the definition of the
business documents and messages used for the exchange of information.
The UBL implementation is based on the “80/20 rule”; identifying and
standardising 20% of the possible data elements, will lead to satisfying 80% of the
usage scenarios. UBL is not sector-specific, which means that information following
the UBL specification can easily be exchanged with customers in different parts of
the world and under different sectors.
Pre-award and post-award phases
Pre-award Post-award
Post-
Pre-tender Tender Award award
Registration and Pre-tender announce- Tender Evaluation Award Post
pre-qualification ment/Publishing stage stage stage award

25
Universal Business Language 2.0 Public Review Draft, http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/
download.php/19260/2-prd2-cd.zip, last accessed February 2019.
26
ebXML (Electronic Business using eXtensible Markup Language) is a modular suite of specifi-
cations that enables enterprises of any size and in any geographical location to conduct business
over the Internet. Using ebXML, companies now have a standard method to exchange business
messages, conduct trading relationships, communicate data in common terms and define and
register business processes. http://www.ebxml.org, last accessed February 2019.
212 6 e-Procurement

UBL 1.0 was officially declared an OASIS27 Standard at the end of 2004. UBL, in
its first release, defines eight basic document types (Order, Order Response, Order
Response Simple, Order Change, Order Cancellation, Despatch Advice, Receipt
Advice, and Invoice), which covered only the post-awarding phase (contracting,
ordering and invoicing) of the e-Procurement lifecycle.
For defining UBL 1.0, the UBL Technical Committee has produced the following
technical work:
– UBL 1.0 Small Business Subset (SBS)28: Identifies the elements of each UBL
document model that should be included in small business implementations, in
order to reduce the size, complexity and implementation cost of the UBL business
documents. The first edition of SBS was developed by the OASIS Small Business
Subcommittee (SBSC) and approved by UBL TC as a Committee Specification in
April 2006.
– UBL 1.0 Naming and Design Rules (NDRs)29: Provides the design rules and the
naming conventions for the development of the XML schemes describing the
business documents exchanged between two parties. It was produced on the basis
of ebXML CCTS v2.01. The first edition of NDR4 was developed by the UBL
NDRs Subcommittee and approved by UBL TC as an OASIS Standard in
January 2005.
– UBL 1.0 International Data Dictionary (IDD)30: Includes more than
600 standardised UBL 1.0 business data definitions for the description of basic
documents like purchase orders and invoices. The definitions of the business
terms are generated in the English language and translated by the UBL
localisation subcommittees into Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Japanese,
Korean, and Spanish. The UBL TC approved the first edition of IDD as an OASIS
Committee Draft in April 2005. The new edition of IDD is expected to provide
corrections based on the users’ feedback worldwide and the knowledge acquired
during the translation
As an evolution of the successful UBL 1.0, OASIS released a second version of
the language. The UBL version 2.0 was approved as an OASIS Standard in
December 2006 as well as a first-generation XML document for e-Business from
UN/CEFACT. It contains more than one thousand XML data elements based on the
ebXML Core Components Technical Specification and 31 document types covering
extended procurement scenarios and basic transport processes. In addition to the
order-to-invoice document types, UBL 2.0 provides:

27
Advancing Open Standards for the Information Society https://www.oasis-open.org, last accessed
February 2019.
28
UBL 1.0 Small Business Subset (SBS), http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/cs-UBL-1.0-SBS-1.0/, last
accessed February 2019.
29
UBL 1.0 Naming and Design Rules (NDRs), http://xml.coverpages.org/UBL-NDRv10-Rev1c.
pdf, last accessed February 2019.
30
UBL 1.0 International Data Dictionary (IDD), http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.
php?wg_abbrev1/4ubl, last accessed February 2019.
6.5 UBL Universal Business Language 213

– Standardisation of code lists: Simplifies the mechanism for the specification,

modification and validation of the code lists
– Specifications for UBL forms input software: Provides specifications for the
development of UBL-compliant forms using open source forms input software
(e.g. XForms)
– Additional support for U.S. and European taxation requirements: Provides tax
specific requirements (e.g. audit trail) to be included in the UBL specification and
implementation guidance
– New document types: Introduces additional document types (covering the busi-
ness processes for Sourcing31, Billing, Payment and Fulfilment32) for extending
the procurement processes supporting the post-awarding phase of the procure-
ment lifecycle. The complete set of the UBL 2.0 document types is presented in
the following table.
The evolution of UBL, due to OASIS, can be summarized as follows: May
2008, UBL 2.0 Update Package; December 2009, UBL 2 Guidelines for Cus-
tomization; March 2015, UBL Guidelines for Mapping IFTM UN/EDIFACT
Messages Version 1.0; July 2016, UBL Naming and Design Rules Version 3.0;
January 2017, Business Document Naming and Design Rules Version 1.0.

Ordering/ Supplementary
Sourcing Invoicing Billing Fulfillment Payments documents
Catalogue Order Credit note Bill of lading Remittance Application
request advice response
Catalogue Order Account Waybill Statement Attached
response response document
Catalogue Order Self-billed Forwarding
deletion response invoice instruction
simple
Catalogue Order Self-billing Certificate of
item change credit note origin
Specification Order Debit note Packing list
update cancellation
Catalogue Despatch Remittance
pricing update advice advice
Request for Receipt Statement of
quotation advice account
Quotation Invoice

31
There are three kinds of sourcing (Catalogue provision, Customer initiated sourcing, Punch-out).
32
Defines the collaboration for the exchange of goods and/or services from the Dispatch Party to the
Delivery Party.
214 6 e-Procurement

6.6 Cooperation Between OASIS and UN/CEFACT

According to the Transition Statement signed between OASIS and UN/CEFACT33,

UN/CEFACT is expected to undertake the future development of UBL 2.0. The
OASIS UBL TC, in cooperation with UN/CEFACT, will perform the harmonisation
between the UBL 2.0 and the UN/CEFACT Core Components, the result of which is
expected to provide the Core Component library of a new standard. Until the release
of the new standard, OASIS will cooperate with UN/CEFACT with the promotion of
UBL 2.0. UN/CEFACT has been granted a period of 3 years, starting at the release of
UBL 2.0 as an OASIS Standard, in order to perform the harmonisation and develop
the necessary documentation for the publication of UBL 3.0.
– In case that UN/CEFACT will not succeed in delivering a new standard within the
agreed time frame, OASIS will initiate further negotiations for the development
of UBL. Following the release of UBL 2.0 as an OASIS Standard, CEN/ISSS will
submit the specification to ISO for the further recognition of UBL 2.0 as an ISO
standard.
– Members may get involved into the development of the UBL specifications by
contributing in the definition of a common set of XML messages, supporting the
establishment of an international B-2-B infrastructure. The contributions may
take the form of business process activity diagrams, class diagrams and UBL
spreadsheets (containing CCs).
– The development of UBL 2.0 is supported by a number of European initiatives and
its adoption is spreading worldwide. OASIS Foundational Sponsors such as SUN,
SAP, and BEA are working closely with the members of UBL technical committee
for its promotion. Furthermore, Nordic countries such as Denmark, Sweden,
Norway, Finland, and Iceland along with the UK have formed “The Northern
European UBL 2.0 Subset Working Group” for the promotion of UBL 2.0. The
European countries’ initiatives are further described in the present chapter.

6.7 UBL Key Characteristics

A summary of the UBL key organisational and procedural characteristics/features

are presented in the following table.

Features Description
Name of the standard Universal Business Language (UBL)
Outline of UBL – A standard XML cross-industry vocabulary for business documents,
enabling the next generation of EDI
– It is modular, re-usable and extensible
– It is intended to become an international standard for electronic
commerce freely available to everyone without licensing or other fees
(continued)

33
UBL-UN/CEFACT Transition Statement—Draft v2 24.07.05 http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/
ubl/200508/doc00000.doc, last accessed February 2019.
6.8 c-Catalogue (UN/EDIFACT–eBESWorkshop) 215

Features Description
Description/Main Electronic business framework
characteristics • Was initiated in 2003
• Freely available under terms of the OASIS copyright
• Based on ebXML CCTS v2.01
• Based on xCBL 3
• Main concepts:
– Naming and design rules for UBL XML schemes
– Library of standard XML business information entities (BIEs)
– Set of standard XML business documents (purchase order,
invoice, shipping notice, price catalogue, etc.)
– Context methodology to make the standard documents
interoperate across industries
Deliverables Approved Specifications:
– UBL 1.0 Small Business Subset (SBS)
– UBL 1.0 Naming & Design Rules (NDR)
– UBL 1.0 International Data Dictionary (IDD)
– UBL 1.0 Specifications
– UBL 2.0 Specifications
Draft specifications:
– UML Class Diagrams for UBL 2.0
– UBL 2.1 Standard
UBL history – UBL 1.0 Standard (November 2004)
– UBL 2.0 first public review (20 January 2006–20 March 2006)
– UBL 2.0 second public review (28 July 2006–12 August 2006)
– UBL 2.0 third public review (21 September 2006–6 October 2006)
– UBL 2.0 planned to be adopted by UN/CEFACT after its finalisation
– UBL 2.0 Standard (December 2006)
– UBL 2.0 Update Package (May 2008)
– UBL 2 Guidelines for Customization (December 2009)
– UBL Guidelines for Mapping IFTM UN/EDIFACT Messages Ver-
sion 1.0 (March 2015)
– UBL Maintenance Governance Procedures Version 1.0 (March
2015)
– UBL Naming and Design Rules Version 3.0 (July 2016)
– Business Document Naming and Design Rules Version 1.0 (January
2017)

6.8 c-Catalogue (UN/EDIFACT–eBESWorkshop)

The Business Requirements Specification (BRS) for the definition of globally

consistent cataloguing processes for the worldwide Supply Chains and
e-Procurement was developed in parallel with the specification of UBL 2.0. The
216 6 e-Procurement

c-Catalogue Project started as an initiative by the eBES European Expert Group

1 (EEG134) workshop and was developed into a Cross Industry Catalogue in 2005.
The United Nations/EDI for Administration Commerce and Transport (UN/
EDIFACT)35 framework comprises standards and guidelines for the exchange of data
elements and messages between information systems. It was established by
UN/EDIFACT Working Group (EWG), in 1986, to provide the rules and guidelines for
the automatic processing and electronic transmission of structured business data (goods
and services) between information systems from different industry sectors worldwide.
The European Board for EDIFACT Standardisation (EBES) was established by
CEN/ISSS in the summer of 1999. The primary objective of EBES was to provide a
European entry point to the development of the UN/EDIFACT standardisation
programme (European-developed EDIFACT messages). Focus was given in the
creation of a central reference point on the most recent technologies used for the
standardisation of the electronic business data exchange, including multi-lingual and
multi-cultural needs and implementation approaches.
In 2001, the European Board for EDIFACT Standardisation was replaced by the
e-Business Board for European Standardisation Workshop (WS/eBES)36. The CEN
WS/eBES is a focal point within Europe for the standardisation of exchanging
electronic business data. It is the “European Entry Point” for the UN-ECE/CEFACT
electronic business standardization process based on XML format. CEN WS/eBES
is also still maintaining traditional Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) standards.
WS/eBES therefore represents the European point of view in the global debate,
including on the need for a multi-lingual and multi-cultural approach to B2B data
interchange standardisation. The WS/eBES represents the new European Entry Point
into the UN/CEFACT process.
In addition to the activities covered by its predecessor, WS/eBES addresses
aspects related to the application of interoperable technologies in the electronic
exchange of business information. Furthermore, it maintains informative web
pages, organises seminars concerning standardisation issues, undertakes translation
tasks and achieves consensus around technical issues for the promotion of UN/
EDIFACT and ebXML.
The WS/eBES establishes European Expert Groups (EEGs) that undertake work
on specific issues such as transport, customs, banking, architecture, engineering and
construction, statistics, insurance, healthcare and government.

34
EEG1 was established in 1986 to be the European platform for the development of UN/EDIFACT
business messages in different areas such as trade, material management, product catalogues and
logistics. EEG1 has also worked very closely with UN/CEFACT TBG11 during the development of
the UN/CEFACT XML business messages, http://www.cen.eu/CEN/sectors/sectors/isss/activity/
Pages/wsebes.aspx, last accessed February 2019.
35
United Nations/EDI for Administration Commerce and Transport (UN/EDIFACT), http://www.
unece.org/trade/untdid/welcome.htm, last accessed February 2019.
36
The e-Business Board for European Standardisation Workshop (WS/eBES), https://www.cen.eu/
work/areas/ICT/eBusiness/Pages/WS-eBES.aspx, http://www.cen.eu/CEN/sectors/sectors/isss/
activity/Pages/wsebes.aspx, http://www.cenorm.be/cenorm/businessdomains/businessdomains/
isss/activity/wsebe s.asp, last accessed February 2019.
6.8 c-Catalogue (UN/EDIFACT–eBESWorkshop) 217

6.8.1 EEG1 : Procurement and Supply Chain Management

Among the other EEGs, WS/eBES established the “EEG1—Procurement and Sup-
ply Chain Management” aimed to define the European business requirements for
Supply Chain-related business processes and transactions. It had expertise on busi-
ness processes in the sectors of Supply Chain, e-Procurement, Materials Manage-
ment, Purchasing, Electronic cataloguing, and UN/CEFACT Standards development
and maintenance process.
EEG1 is considered as the most important group of the WS/eBES in the area of
electronic procurement and electronic catalogues. It has submitted over 90% of the
UN/EDIFACT messages37 and developed PRICAT38 and PRODAT39 EDIFACT
messages that were further submitted through UN/CEFACT TBG1.
The EDIFACT40 messages PRICAT41 (Price/Sales Catalogues) and PRODAT42
(Product Data) have influenced the design of the UN/CEFACT catalogue messages
in the Business Requirements Specification (BRS) for cross-industry c-Catalogue.
An overview of the PRICAT and the PRODAT messages is presented below:
– PRICAT: A business message for the exchange of information regarding pricing
and catalogue data for products and services offered by a supplier to a buyer.
Buyers may also respond to a supplier’s message by sending a message indicating
either their acceptance or rejection of the offer. The PRICAT message role is
neither the description of product characteristics nor the inclusion of logistics
information. The message is limited to convey information about the availability
of the products;
– PRODAT: A business message for the exchange of technical and functional
characteristics of products between trading partners. Products in the message are
identified with the use of codes, descriptions, and other information. Information
provided in a Product Data message facilitates the buyer’s selection of goods. It
may include product identification, product characteristics, technical data and
handling information. It does not include commercial terms and conditions;

37
UN/EDIFACT Messages, https://www.edistaffing.com/resources/unedifact-standards/, last
accessed February 2019.
38
PRICAT (Price/Sales Catalogue)—A message to enable the transmission of information regard-
ing pricing and catalogue details for goods and services offered by a seller to a buyer. https://www.
unece.org/trade/untdid/d00a/trmd/pricat_c.htm, last accessed February 2019.
39
PRODAT (Product Data Message)—A Product Data message is a communication between
parties containing master data, to identify and describe products available for supply or for
information purposes. http://www.unece.org/trade/untdid/d05b/trmd/prodat_c.htm, last accessed
February 2019.
40
UN EDIFACT—pricat http://www.unece.org/trade/untdid/d01a/trmd/pricat_c.htm, last accessed
February 2019.
41
PRICAT EDIFACT message, http://www.ean.se/EANCOM_2002/print/ean02s3.pdf/pricat.pdf,
last accessed February 2019.
42
PRODAT EDIFACT message, https://www.gs1.se/EANCOM_2002/print/ean02s4.pdf/prodat.
pdf, last accessed February 2019.
218 6 e-Procurement

The work within each EEG is performed by Project Teams (PTs), which are
organised for carrying out activities on specific areas, leading to cross-industry
business solutions. The work of the c-Catalogue (core components for catalogue)
Project Team is considered as the most relevant to this EEG. The c-Catalogue Project
Team was set up on January 2005, with the scope to standardise the messages
required for the management of electronic catalogues. Its objective was the identi-
fication of basic core components (CCs) and business processes for the development
of a cross-industry catalogue specification based on known business requirements
from trade, industry and public administration.

Procurement and purchasing phases

6.8 c-Catalogue (UN/EDIFACT–eBESWorkshop) 219

The c-Catalogue Project Team has issued the Business Requirements Specifica-
tion (BRS) for Cross-Industry catalogue. The BRS43 for Cross-Industry catalogue
document defines catalogue processes in the area of e-Procurement. The analysis of
the business processes and transactions is presented using UMM44 and UML. The
document provides a reference to the clusters that form the total set of procurement
processes, covering the following areas: product information; basic information
exchange; contracting; scheduling; shipping; invoicing; remittance and payment.
However, analysis provided by the BRS covers only the Product Information
cluster that defines the business processes and business transactions regarding
catalogue data exchange. The business processes described in the BRS for cross-
industry c-Catalogue along with their corresponding transactions are summarised in
the table below.

Business process Business transaction

New catalogue on request Request for catalogue
Catalogue request rejection
Catalogue acceptance
Catalogue rejection
New catalogue publication Catalogue
Catalogue acceptance
Catalogue rejection
New catalogue subscription Catalogue subscription request
Catalogue subscription acceptance
Catalogue subscription rejection
Update catalogue on request Catalogue update request
Catalogue update
Catalogue update request rejection
Catalogue update acceptance
Catalogue update rejection
Update catalogue Catalogue update
Catalogue update acceptance
Catalogue update rejection
Remote catalogue data exchange Catalogue data request
Catalogue data
Catalogue data request rejection

43
Business Requirements Specification (BRS) for Cross-Industry c-Catalogue process, https://
www.unece.org/cefact/brs/brs_index.html, last accessed February 2019.
44
UN/CEFACT’s modelling methodology (UMM) is a UML profile for modelling global B2B
choreographies. The current UMM version comprises three main views for describing a
computation-independent model from a neutral perspective.
220 6 e-Procurement

6.9 Cross-Industry Catalogue Messages

The first version of BRS for Cross-Industry c-Catalogue was finalised in May 2006
and has been forwarded to TBG145 for review and comments.

6.9.1 eBES Key Characteristics

The following table provides a summary of the WS/eBES key characteristics

Key characteristics Description

Name of standardisation e-Business Board for European Standardisation (eBES) Work-
initiative shop (2009–2011)
Responsible body CEN/ISSS
Outline of eBES Workshop – Provides guidelines for the exchange of data elements and
messages between different Information Systems
– Developed BRS for the definition of globally consistent
cataloguing processes for the worldwide e-Procurement
– Initiated c-Catalogue project
– Main objective is the creation of a central reference point on the
most recent technologies used for the standardisation of the elec-
tronic business data exchange, including multi-lingual and multi-
cultural needs and implementation approaches
– Developed EDIFACT messages influencing the development of
c-Catalogue messages
Description/Main – The “European Entry point” for the UN-ECE/CEFACT elec-
characteristics tronic business standardisation activity
– Encompasses European Expert Groups (EEGs)
– EEG1 Supply Chain Group hosts the c-Catalogue (core com-
ponents for catalogue) Project Team (PT) (since January 2005)
Deliverables – In May 2006, eBES Workshop finalised the Business Require-
ments Specification (BRS) of the Cross-industry c-Catalogue
Process & forwarded the relevant documents to TBG1 for review
– EEG1 developed PRODAT and PRICAT messages
Ongoing and recently com- – Planned to deliver CEN Workshop Agreements CWA on
pleted activities “e-Catalogue and Classification”

45
UN/CEFACT International Trade and Business Processes Group: TBG1 https://www.unece.org/
fileadmin/DAM/cefact/brs/BRS_CrossIndustryCatalogueProcess_v1.0.4.pdf, last accessed February
2019.
6.10 Other Standards Relevant to e-Catalogues 221

6.10 Other Standards Relevant to e-Catalogues

This section presents the current setting of other standards that are relevant to
e-Catalogues. These comprise the ebXML framework, which has played a funda-
mental role in the development of UBL and c-Catalogue, as well as the most
important standards regarding the product description and classification schemes,
which are expected to form a core component in standardising the presentation of
e-Catalogue content.

6.10.1 ebXML

The introduction of the Extended Mark-up Language (XML) concept on the occa-
sion of the WWW7 (2007) held in Brisbane generated a kind of domino effect; many
sectors of ICT ranging between database and computer graphics joined this concept
creating their own XML dialects. The momentum of the XML-based standards, due
to their interoperability, has motivated UN/CEFACT to approach OASIS for joining
forces in the development of a new set of specifications for electronic business. The
joint initiative started at the end 1999, and at the end of the first phase (mid 2001), a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between UN/CEFACT and
OASIS, defining the responsibilities of each participant for the completion of the
remaining work.
The Electronic Business eXtensible Markup Language46 (ebXML) is the out-
come of UN/CEFACT and OASIS cooperation for the development of a framework
capable of supporting the overall needs for conducting business using electronic
means. It is the first international open standard based on XML, SOAP, HTML, and
SMTP specifications that provides a framework for the electronic exchange of
interoperable business documents in the form of XML-based messages.
The ebXML framework provides specifications and determines the business
processes and documents for the exchange of product information and services
between trading partners. Commenced in 1999, the ebXML development is
characterised by the following four distinct phases:
– Initial phase: OASIS and UN/CEFACT cooperated for creating a set of specifi-
cations related to electronic business (completed in May 2001).
– Second phase: UN/CEFACT and OASIS signed a Memorandum of Understand-
ing (MoU) on July 2001 according to which the two parties allocated their tasks
related to the development of ebXML framework.
– Third phase: During this phase, the ebXML was approved as ISO/TS 15000
(completed mid-2005).

46
Electronic Business XML http://www.ebxml.org/presentations/global_standard.htm, last
accessed February 2019.
222 6 e-Procurement

– Fourth phase: A Cooperation Agreement was signed between the two parties on
17 June 2005. During this phase, the two parties agreed on the development of a
coordination plan for promoting ebXML specifications and with the negotiations
for the migration of UBL under the UN/CEFACT forum.
The ebXML framework covers both business and information technology aspects
of the business transactions performed between trading partners. The description of
the ebXML architecture is based on the following views:
• Business Operational View (BOV): Describes the business semantic content of
the messages, including business processes and core components for performing
business transactions. The BOV provides methodologies for defining company
profiles, trading partner agreements, business processes, business messages and
common semantics (vocabulary). Its development was the responsibility of UN/
CEFACT. BOV-related components are summarised below:
– Business Processes (BPs): Specify the roles, tasks and interactions that should
be established between the participating trading partners for their effective
collaboration. The Business Process Specification Scheme (ebBPSS)47 was
developed by the UN/CEFACT Techniques and Methodologies Group
(TMG). It defines configuration parameters and interoperable business pro-
cesses necessary for the collaboration between the business partners through
the exchange of business documents. It also provides guidelines and methods
for the creation of models that identify interoperable business documents and
enable the collaboration amongst business partners.
– Core Components (CCs)48: Provide context-neutral “building blocks” that can
be used by trading partners to develop their own XML schemes and Business
Information Entities (BIEs), which are context-specific CCs used in real
business circumstances. The ebXML Core Components Technical Specifica-
tion (CCTS)49 was developed by UN/CEFACT TMG, in order to enable the
reuse of business information across various business sectors. The ebXML
CCTS describes a methodology according to which general types of business
data can be represented by a common set of building blocks.
– XML Naming and Design Rules (NDR): Based on the methodology indicated
in CCTS, XML Naming and Design Rules (NDR)50 were produced by UN/
CEFACT Applied Techniques Group (ATG). They provide guidelines to be
followed by UN/CEFACT for the development and maintenance of re-usable

47
Business Process Specification Scheme (BPSS), https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/down
load.php/17857/ebxmlbp-v2.0.3-WhitePaper-wd-r01-en.pdf, last accessed February 2019.
48
Electronic Business Extensible Markup Language (ebXML)—Part 5: Core Components Specifi-
cation (CCS) https://www.iso.org/standard/61433.html, last accessed February 2019.
49
Core Components Technical Specification (CCTS), http://www.unece.org/cefact/ebxml/CCTS_
V2-01_Final.pdf, last accessed February 2019.
50
XML Naming and Design Rules, https://www.unece.org/cefact/xml/xml_index.html, last
accessed February 2019.
6.10 Other Standards Relevant to e-Catalogues 223

and interoperable XML scheme components. In March 2006, XML NDR

v.2.0 was approved as a UN/CEFACT technical specification.
• Functional Service View (FSV): Describes the available services and technical
framework/infrastructure used for the secure storage and the interoperable
exchange of business information. The FSV focuses on the technical aspects
regarding functional capabilities, service interfaces and protocols. Its develop-
ment was the responsibility of OASIS. FSV-related components are summarised
below:
– ebXML Messaging Services (ebMS): Provide a transport protocol for the
exchange of electronic business information in a secure and interoperable
way. They are described in the ebXML Messaging Service (ebMS)51 specifi-
cation developed by OASIS, ebXML Messaging TC. The ebMS extends the
SOAP specification, in order to provide the security and reliability character-
istics required by enterprises and e-Business applications.
– Collaboration Protocol Agreements (CPAs): Identify the technical require-
ments to be followed by each trading partner for completing the exchange of
electronic messages. The ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agree-
ment (CPPA)52 specification was developed by OASIS, CPPA TC. It defines
the technical capabilities and the document agreements that should be
established for the realisation of secure integration and electronic business
collaboration between trading partners.
• Registries and Repositories (RRs): The Registry Service constitutes an informa-
tion system for the storage of information exchanged between business partners
during their business transactions on Internet. Information data is registered as
objects in the repository and metadata about registered objects are maintained in
the registry. The specifications developed by OASIS ebXML Registry TC in
order to achieve interoperable registries and repositories are the following:
– OASIS/ebXML Registry Information Model (ebRIM)53: Defines the informa-
tion model for the ebXML Registry (what kind of information is stored in the
Registry and how it is organized)
– OASIS/ebXML Registry Services Specification (ebRS)54: Defines the inter-
face to the ebXML Registry Services (how to build Registry Services provid-
ing access to the information content in ebXML Registry)

51
ebXML Messaging Service (ebMS), https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_
abbrev1⁄4ebxml-msg, last accessed February 2019.
52
ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement (CPPA), https://www.oasis-open.org/
news/pr/ebxml-collaboration-protocol-profile-and-agreement-ratified-as-oasis-open-standard, last
accessed February 2019.
53
OASIS/ebXML Registry Information Model (ebRIM), http://docs.oasis-open.org/regrep/regrep-
core/v4.0/regrep-core-rim-v4.0.html, last accessed February 2019.
54
OASIS/ebXML Registry Services Specification (ebRS), https://docs.oasis-open.org/regrep/
regrep-rs/v3.0/regrep-rs-3.0-os.pdf, last accessed February 2019.
224 6 e-Procurement

6.10.2 ebXML Key Characteristics

Features Description
Name of the standard Electronic business XML (ebXML)
Responsibility OASIS & UN/CEFACT (by UN/CEFACT Applied Technologies
permanent group (ATG) and in particular by UN/EDIFACT working
group (EWG))
Description/Main Electronic business framework
characteristics – Started in 1999
– A ‘bridge’ between EDI & XML
– Serves the interoperable exchange of electronic XML-based business
documents
Deliverables Has delivered the following specifications:
– Collaboration Protocol Profile & Agreement (CPPA) v1.0 & 2.0
– ebXML Registry Information Model (RIM) v.1.0, v.2.0
– ebXML Registry Services & Protocols (RS) v1.0, v.2.0
– ebXML Messaging v1.0, v2.0, v3.0
– XML Naming & Design Rules v1.1, v2.0
– ebXML Business Process Specification Scheme
– ebXML Core Components Technical Specification (CCTS)
Ongoing activities/Cur- – OASIS develops UBL 2.0 based on ebXML CCTS v2.01
rent status – UN/CEFACT works on Business Requirements Specification (BRS)
and Requirements Specification Mapping (RSM) based on ebXML
CCTS v2.01
– UN/CEFACT finalised on May 2006 BRS for Cross-Catalogue in
cooperation with CEN/ISSS

6.11 The “Procurement” Effect of the Internet

Before dealing with some relevant case study it is useful to point out that the
successful exploitation of the Internet has been an incredible catalyst even for a
kind of “private” procurement. Through the time a number of key players in the field
of “best buy” even for a single purchase developed their main business on-line. The
ease of achieving a “critical mass” of buyers and real-time transactions on the
network enabled both on the fly automatic comparison of offers and on-line auction.
This means that even if we do not enjoy a public or company price policy we can
compare offers and buy enjoying the best conditions. This is an opportunity enabled
by the Internet; necessary conditions in order to succeed in this sector are to ensure
secure transactions, provide a guarantee on the products and deliver them directly to
the buyer. Both on the public market and much more on the private one the
exploitation of the e-Market will slowly let the intermediaries disappear while “big
suppliers” will monopolize the scene. An additional side-effect of the proliferation of
on-line services and “appification” is a wider personal information collection
enabling highly customised marketing campaigns. Remember the funny story
about the man ordering a pizza by phone; the restaurant was recently bought by a
main on-line mall, so the waiter replies to the customer “Do you want the usual one,
6.11 The “Procurement” Effect of the Internet 225

the cheese and bacon pizza?”; customer, “How do you know that?”; waiter, “In the
last two months you ordered six time this pizza and only one time the tomato and
cheese one; I suggest you do not have bacon this time”; customer, “Why do you say
so?”; waiter, “Because I am looking at your medical exams and your cholesterol is
too high and your blood pressure is too high according to your wristwatch com-
puter”; customer, “I used to go to the gym every day to improve my health”; waiter,
“As I see here you didn’t confirm your subscription to the gym this month and your
parking APP says that you get to the office by car very day”. . . the full story is quite
long and it is very close to reality; our personal data and behaviour is disseminated
on line and, “weak” privacy policy apart, it is accessible, many times thanks to some
“Ok” we check in order to install a fancy APP or thanks to cooperation agreements
among web tycoons.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Monaqasat (2010)

The Monaqasat55 company located in the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon
has developed one of the first Middle Eastern e-Tender solution. “No more
paper-based tenders in the Middle East!” they say. As the authors stated the
vast majority of tendering in the Middle East still happens using the old pen
and paper process, which is extremely inefficient, requiring tens of thousands
of pages of paper to be printed, distributed and stored and is open to forgery
and fraud.
Monaqasat is an online tendering service that covers all middle eastern
markets, and aims to be a central hub for all tendering activities, from sharing
of documents to online bidding.
Monaqasat aims to solve these problems, first by allowing tenders to be
completed without the need to print a single page of paper and secondly by
ensuring that bidders are only allowed to enter the information that is required
of them, thus minimizing the possibilities of bidding fraud. The international
panel of World Summit Award experts recognised a great value to this
contribution to implement the information society, providing a real added
value service to both citizens and authorities and at the same time strongly
contributing to eradicate corruption and fraud thanks to a robust and well-
designed procedure.
Monaqasat aims at offering a full experience to the institutions using it, by
implementing the complete tendering process, allowing its users to create
tenders, invite stakeholders, submit and review tender documents, submit
their online bids and automatically generate tender reports the instant the
tender is completed, all from the confort of their own offices.
Monaqasat’s pricing structure and the way it generates revenue is setup as
follows:

(continued)

55
NuServ Online Tender Services L.L.C Kish Travel Building, Suite 603 Corner or Airport (2nd) &
Electra Street P.O. Box 113624 UAE.
226 6 e-Procurement

(a) Institutions using the service need to pay a yearly membership fee (AED
2000/year) to access the majority of features of the system and be able to
create and manage an unlimited amount of tenders.
(b) On the other hand, a tender access fee needs to be paid by participating
bidders; this fee is defined as a percentage of the tender documents fees
(30%).
The company recently announced that in just a year since the company
launched in 2009, Monaqasat.com has attracted more than 500 companies to
use the platform, and that project tenders worth over Dh1 billion ($272
million) have been managed and awarded through their online platform.
The platform appears well conceived; it offers an appropriate level of
security. The interface is well designed and crafted. This e-Tendering solution
enables its users to work with their tenders in an easy, secure, cost-and time-
efficient way. The platform offers a complete set of services in any phase of the
tender: issue, invite participants, upload, stamp and verify documents, submit
and compare bids and award tenders, all from one place, enabling the setup of
each offer in a private and secure way.
Organisation: NuServ O.T.S. L.L.C.
http://monaqasat.net, last accessed February 2019.

6.12 e-Procurement in Italy

6.12.1 The Scale of the Problem

Orders, values and number of items

6.12 e-Procurement in Italy 227

Looking at the gross figures for e-Commerce in the EU immediately after the year
2000, Italian e-Commerce shows a very limited success. Italy is an economy
comparable with the UK and France, considerably larger in population and GDP
than the six countries ahead of it in the same table.
In some way this can be justified by the traditional limited success of sales based
on catalogues; in the 1960s and 1970s some companies tried to launch sales based on
catalogues such as “Postal Market”, based on the American standard, but citizens
didn’t appreciate the opportunity. This was probably partially due to the “cultural”
model much more oriented to the direct evaluation and appreciation of the goods to
be purchased and partially due to the nature of goods less standardised and globally
distributed. Starting from the 1990s and much more in the new century the idea to
buy on line was much more successful; firstly it was the time of highly standardised
items such as books; if you have already chosen it you don’t need to browse it. Of
course this is not valid for passionate readers; they enjoy visiting bookshops and
spend hours browsing books and smelling their flavour.
The range of items we can buy on line widened through time from books to cars
and real estate.
Back to Italy’s poor performance; this had initially been thought to be a function
of the cost of internet access but at the time of these figures access charges in Italy
were lower than in the UK, France or Japan, and not much more than half those in
Germany.
The Italian government quickly perceived the danger of falling behind, and its
own failure as a role model. In its public presentation on the procurement revolution
in 1999 it reported that the US will have saved some US$ 600 bn from internet-
enabled re-engineering by 2002 and that Europe was in danger of falling behind,
acknowledging Italy’s poor performance within Europe itself. In addition, auditors
reported that the State was paying far too much for its goods and services. Accord-
ingly, with the Financial act for the year 2000, the Ministry of Economy and
Finance56 (MEF) started a program aimed at rationalising the public expenditure
for goods and services, recommending an increasingly higher use of e-Procurement
models. CONSIP57, a limited company, created in 1997, totally owned by MEF was
given the responsibility to put in place the above program within its division for
e-Procurement, Acquisti in Rete58 (AiR—Purchases on the Net) in mid-2000. The
aims of CONSIP are manifold:
• To provide a better service for both buyers and suppliers;
• To improve the visibility and therefore accountability of public sector
contracting;
• To reinforce the Italian government's commitment to the goals of e-Europe;
• To minimise transaction costs through standardisation.

56
Ministry of Economy and Finance http://www.mef.gov.it/en/index_en.html, last accessed February
2019.
57
CONSIP http://www.consip.it, last accessed February 2019.
58
Acquisti in Rete https://www.acquistinretepa.it/, last accessed February 2019.
228 6 e-Procurement

In 2012, CONSIP activities and duties have been subdivided between CONSIP
and another state-owned company called SOGEI59.

6.12.2 Structure

CONSIP, the first stage of the changes to the Italian governmental purchasing
scheme, has become responsible for defining innovative procurement strategies for
both central and local governments. Compared to the UK and particularly France,
Italy’s local government structure is highly decentralised and embodying three
regions, North, Central and South, of vastly different political, socio-economic and
population density profiles. This has thus been a difficult job.
However, local administrations are financed mainly by central government,
enabling change to be pushed through. However, CONSIP allows individual pur-
chasing units considerable autonomy: CONSIP is a facilitator not an intermediary.
This is the key point in order to understand the role of CONSIP. The way it works is
very simple: one of CONSIP’s roles is to draw up national frame contracts with
suppliers at very advantageous conditions after having aggregated the demand for a
specific good or service (as very good scale economies are reached). Then, all central
administrations have to purchase that good/service within the terms of the above
frame contract whilst local government may do so, but they are not forced. Anyway,
in case they don’t, whenever they purchase the same good/service they necessarily
must not pay more than the price available within the frame contract. This way, no
matter whether local governments apply, the saving on public spending is achieved.
AiR is a division within CONSIP whose outward face to the world is the gateway
site Acquisti in Rete.
The gateway is the Italian public sector’s e-Procurement marketplace. Separate
sections cover advice to would-be suppliers and a toll-free phone line, details of
existing supply contracts with copies of documentation, and a schedule of contracts
for which tenders will be requested in the coming months as well as those schemes
which are now finished. FAQs and a newsletter for registered suppliers make the
activity user-friendly.

59
SOGEI—Società Generale d’Informatica S.p.A.—is the 100% Information Technology company
of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance and operates on the basis of the in house providing
organizational model. Sole technological partner of the MEF, SOGEI has designed and
implemented the Tax Information System, which follows the management and development of
systems, applications and services for the automation and computerization needs of the operational
and management processes of the Ministry, Court of Auditors, Agencies tax and other public
administrations. http://www.sogei.it/, last accessed February 2019.
6.12 e-Procurement in Italy 229

6.12.3 Implementation/Contract Types

The key feature of the Italian model of public sector e-Procurement is the differen-
tiation of different types of purchase. CONSIP identified a number of different
e-Procurement scenarios, according to regularity of ordering and variations in
product specification, as a result of, say, price fluctuations and technological change.
For example, office furniture is rarely ordered and standardisable; computers and
printers are less rarely ordered and subject to great variation in product definition;
office stationery is regularly ordered and of limited variation, but comprising a great
many items.
The figure below shows the systems developed.

e-Procurement schema

The likes of office furniture would be procured via a simple bidding system, not
vastly different to the one previously in force. Computers and printers, with their
high variations in price and technological specification, would be the subject of a
reverse auction, with interaction of supply and demand criteria on both price and
specification whilst for office stationery approved suppliers will be able to post their
catalogues on the net.
For low value (e.g. less than 200,000 €), non-standard items an electronic
marketplace will be established for prequalified suppliers of high frequency, high
specification volatility products.
The Electronic Market
The Electronic Market of P.A. (MePA) is a digital market in which the authorized
Administrations can purchase, for values below the European Community threshold
230 6 e-Procurement

as stated in the previous paragraph, the goods and services offered by suppliers
authorized to present their catalogues on the system.
CONSIP defines the types of goods and services and the general supply condi-
tions with specific calls, manages the suppliers’ qualification and the publication and
updating of the catalogues. By accessing the Electronic Market Showcase or brows-
ing the product catalogue, the Administrations can check the offer of goods and/or
services and, once enabled, make purchases online, comparing the proposals of the
different suppliers and choosing the one that best meets their needs.
This type of purchase, due to its peculiarities, is more suitable for split purchases
and specific needs. The main advantages of the Electronic Market are:
For the Administrations:
• time savings in the process of acquiring goods and services below threshold;
• transparency and traceability of the entire purchasing process;
• widening the possibilities of choice for the Administrations, which can compare
products offered by suppliers present throughout the national territory;
• satisfaction of specific needs of the Administrations, thanks to a wide range of
available products and the possibility of issuing requests for offers.
For Suppliers:
• decrease in commercial costs and optimization of sales times
• access to the Public Administration market
• opportunity to enhance their business even if small
• competitiveness and direct comparison with the reference market
• opportunity to propose itself throughout the national territory; leverage for the
renewal of sales processes
This model is still being developed. For the time being, frame contracts have been
constructed whereby ordering of individual products can be done quickly by indi-
vidual public sector users.
To recap the benefits, the main goals in entering the world of e-Procurement were
twofold: to save money on the cost of goods supplied to the public sector, and to
promote the use of the Internet in business. As regards the business sector the new
systems have met with great success. The government knew that usage would
increase as costs of connection reduced, and these have in fact tumbled and are
continuing to fall.

6.13 PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement Online)

The most relevant initiative at European level is the Pan-European Public Procure-
ment Online (PEPPOL). Initiated in 2008, the project has been developing and
implementing the technology standards to align business processes for electronic
procurement across all governments within Europe, aiming to expand market
connectivity and interoperability between e-Procurement communities. As such,
6.13 PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) 231

PEPPOL is part of the European Commission “Competitiveness and Innovation

Framework Programme—ICT Policy Support Programme”. Individual member
states and the European Commission fund all activities jointly. A consortium of
18 project partners in 11 countries—Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom—is the driving
force behind PEPPOL.
As stated on the project website, “PEPPOL enables access to its standards-based
IT transport infrastructure through access points, and provides services for
e-Procurement with standardised electronic document formats (based on UBL and
CEN/BII), PEPPOL’s vision is to enable businesses to communicate electronically
with any European government institution in the procurement process, increasing
efficiencies and reducing costs.
Through agreement on specifications for cross-border procurement processes,
the European Commission’s pilot project PEPPOL has contributed to the develop-
ment of a pan-European, standards-based IT infrastructure. PEPPOL has not
replaced, but is built upon, the existing strengths of national e-Procurement systems
by using information and communication technologies to enable them to connect
with each other.”
PEPPOL does not compete with IT service and solution providers. In fact in
PEPPOL’s vision, IT companies will be the key enablers of PEPPOL’s connectivity,
offering new, value added services and solutions to their clients.
As an open standardised platform, PEPPOL’s infrastructure has been designed to
interconnect existing networks and bridge individual e-Business islands in Europe.
PEPPOL increases business opportunities for participants and supports interopera-
bility across borders. It facilitates electronic communication among European com-
panies and government institutions in the pre-award and post-award procurement
process.
For example:
A Danish small manufacturer of specialised microscopes could easily bid in a
tender issued by a French hospital. PEPPOL standards would ensure that the
manufacturer’s corporate attestations and product offers are securely submitted to
the hospital in a legally and technically appropriate manner. And, if this Danish
small enterprise is successful in its bid, the French hospital would be able to send
orders and receive invoices in terms of a common set of defined business rules and
processes.
Responding effortlessly to any tender across the EU improves the competitive-
ness of suppliers: they will benefit from greater efficiencies, lower costs and an
increased profit potential. Contracting authorities will benefit from increased com-
petition through sourcing across the EU, and they will reduce administrative costs
through process automation.
232 6 e-Procurement

6.13.1 EU-Wide Interoperability

PEPPOL opens up a new dimension in public e-Procurement with extended market

connectivity and EU-wide interoperability, facilitating seamless electronic commu-
nication across borders.
PEPPOL’s transport infrastructure interconnects e-Procurement systems across
the EU through common and nationally compatible standards.
Access to the PEPPOL infrastructure takes place through Access Points currently
provided by government authorities and private companies. Using common stan-
dards, these Access Points ensure legal, organisational and technical interoperability.
Best practice content standards, common processes and an open exchange platform
for electronic document transport across Europe are the foundation for standardised
software solutions.
PEPPOL efficiently interconnects existing e-Procurement communities, thus
enabling the private sector to bid for public sector contracts anywhere in the EU.

6.13.2 PEPPOL Standards

At the heart of PEPPOL is an electronic transport infrastructure allowing govern-

ments and companies to connect their IT systems and reliably exchange data and
business documents. A common agreement on cross-border procurement processes,
implemented through open standards, makes this possible.
PEPPOL has developed the BIS60 and the BusDox61 as its principal standards.
PEPPOL supports the use of UBL 2.0 documents and CEN/BII profiles. A
CEN/BII (Business Interoperability Interfaces) profile is a specification of how one
or more business processes, such as ordering or invoicing, are executed. PEPPOL
implements the CEN/BII profiles to define specific business scenarios. A PEPPOL
Business Interoperability Specification (BIS) is a CEN BII profile with additional
legal, organisational and technical requirements to support pan-European use.
The PEPPOL transport infrastructure uses a set of technical specifications known
as BusDox (Business Document Exchange) to allow organisations to securely and
reliably exchange electronic documents. BusDox is document-agnostic, meaning
users can transfer ANY kind of XML document between ANY network. These
standardised public e-Procurement processes will save time, improve transparency
and increase competition.

60
Business Interoperability Specifications (BIS) https://peppol.eu/what-is-peppol/peppol-profiles-
specifications/, last accessed February 2019.
61
Business Document Exchange Network (BUSDOX) https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/solution/peppol-
senderaccesspoint-despatchadvice-busdox-validex, last accessed February 2019.
6.13 PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) 233

6.13.3 About OpenPEPPOL62

As the Pan-European Public Procurement Online (PEPPOL) project nears successful

completion, with the PEPPOL specifications being implemented across Europe, the
OpenPEPPOL63 Association, comprised of public and private members of the
PEPPOL community, is taking over responsibilities for PEPPOL specifications,
building blocks and services and promoting implementation across Europe.
OpenPEPPOL has been established as a non-profit international association under
Belgian law (Association Internationale Sans But Lucratif—AISBL). The purpose of
OpenPEPPOL is to enable European businesses to easily deal electronically with any
European public-sector buyers in their procurement processes, thereby increasing
opportunities for greater competition for government contracts and providing better
value for taxpayers’ money.
The mission of OpenPEPPOL is to:
• Encourage European governments and their suppliers to continue implementing
e-Procurement using the PEPPOL specifications and promoting best practices;
• Promote and support the development of innovative PEPPOL-based ICT prod-
ucts and services supporting public procurement processes, promoting their use
also in the B2B context to harmonise processes across the private and public
sectors, simplifying e-Procurement adoption for SMEs;
• Ensure that the PEPPOL network continues to grow in an open, accessible and
compliant manner, supporting interoperability for European public services and
helping Europe move towards a Digital Single Market.
The Association will provide the authoritative point of reference for networks of
interoperable, PEPPOL-compliant infrastructure and the organisations that use it,
ensuring high level governance and continuation of the agreement infrastructure.
Open PEPPOL will strive to set widely accepted technology standards and specifi-
cations, ensuring sustainability while promoting and supporting the wider use of the
PEPPOL specifications, building blocks and services.
Business to business use of the PEPPOL-compliant infrastructure and use of
PEPPOL components in other areas beyond procurement are also recognised as
important and will be encouraged by the Association. Use of the PEPPOL compo-
nents and specifications outside Europe should also be possible.

62
Enrique Vich, PEPPOL PR and Recruitment Director—enrique.vich@peppol.eu, last accessed
February 2019.
63
Open PEPPOL https://peppol.eu/about-openpeppol/, last accessed February 2019.
234 6 e-Procurement

6.13.4 Long-Term Sustainability

A long-term sustainability roadmap has been agreed upon within the PEPPOL64
consortium. The roadmap describes three parallel approaches for sustainability of
PEPPOL results:
• User driven approach: Open PEPPOL
• EC-supported approach towards establishment of Connecting Europe Facility
(CEF) through:
– ISA operations and governance of centralised software components/services
(SML)
– e.g. CIP ICTPSP ‘Pilot A’ project ‘Basic Cross Sector Services’ (BCSS) (CIP
ICTPSP Work Programme 2012, topic 4.1).
Standardisation approach; continued efforts for standardisation of business pro-
cesses and semantics and e-Delivery through CEN WS BII, OASIS TC BDX and
other relevant standardisation bodies.

6.13.5 OpenPEPPOL to Guarantee High Level Governance

and Long-Term Sustainability of the PEPPOL
Infrastructure65

As part of a long-term sustainability roadmap, the PEPPOL Governing Board agreed

on establishing OpenPEPPOL as a non-profit international association. The
OpenPEPPOL association ensure high level governance and continuation of the
agreement infrastructure to promote wider use of PEPPOL-based e-Procurement
solutions in Europe. The OpenPEPPOL association is drawn up as the user driven
path towards PEPPOL sustainability, and is being supplemented by an
EU-supported path and a standardisation-focused path.
The foreseen mission statement for Open PEPPOL is to increase e-Procurement
interoperability in Europe by providing high level governance and support for the
expanding use and the long-term maintenance and evolution of PEPPOL specifica-
tions, building blocks and related legal agreements.
In more detail, one of the main purposes for the Open PEPPOL association, as it
was discussed within the PEPPOL consortium, was to ensure the long-term sustain-
ability of the PEPPOL infrastructure networks and user communities by providing
the authoritative framework of governance that supports the application and use of

64
https://peppol.eu/about-openpeppol/, last accessed February 2019.
65
For more information please contact: André Hoddevik, PEPPOL Project Director—andre.
hoddevik@peppol.no—Enrique Vich, PEPPOL PR and Recruitment Director—enrique.
vich@peppol.eu.
6.14 Interoperability in the Field of e-Procurement 235

legal agreements that underpin operations and transactions within the networks of
interoperable, PEPPOL-compliant infrastructure and the organisations that use it
within the PEPPOL communities.

6.14 Interoperability in the Field of e-Procurement

The section of the present book devoted to interoperability provides a general

overview; of course, this issue has different impacts and effects in various sectors.
The role of interoperability in the field of e-Procurement is a key role.
While many European countries already use electronic procurement to make
tendering of public sector contracts simpler and more efficient, most of these
solutions are implemented solely on a national or regional level, with limited access
to other communities. If we refer to the European Union, the full set of
e-Procurement solutions must be interoperable at least at European level. Public
procurement of goods and services must operate at European level66 as stated on the
specific web page of the European Union.

6.14.1 Public Procurement in the European Union

The official report of the European Union stated that “every year, over 250,000
public authorities in the EU spend around 14% of GDP on the purchase of services,
works and supplies. In many sectors such as energy, transport, waste management,
social protection and the provision of health or education services, public author-
ities are the principal buyers.” Public procurement refers to the process by which
public authorities, such as government departments or local authorities, purchase
works, goods or services from companies. Examples include the building of a state
school, purchasing furniture for a public prosecutor’s office and contracting cleaning
services for a public university. EU law sets out minimum harmonised public
procurement rules. These rules organise the way public authorities and certain public
utility operators purchase goods, works and services. They are transposed into
national legislation and apply to tenders whose monetary value exceeds a certain
amount defined by the EU. For tenders of lower value, national rules apply.
Nevertheless, these national rules also have to respect the general principles of
EU law.

66
Directive on services in the Internal Market: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/services/
services-directive/implementation_en, last accessed February 2019.
236 6 e-Procurement

6.14.2 Directive on Services in the Internal Market67

The objective of the Services Directive is to release the untapped growth potential of
services markets in Europe by removing legal and administrative barriers to trade in
the services sector.
The simplification measures foreseen by the Directive should significantly facil-
itate life and increase transparency for SMEs and consumers when they want to
provide or use services in the single market.
The Directive requires the Member States to simplify procedures and formalities
that service providers need to comply with. In particular, it requires Member States
to remove unjustified and disproportionate burdens and to substantially facilitate: the
establishment of a business, i.e. cases in which a natural or legal person wants to set
up a permanent establishment in a Member State, and the cross-border provision of
services, i.e. cases in which a business wants to supply services across borders in
another Member State, without setting up an establishment there.
Pursuant to the Directive, Member States are obliged to set up “points of single
contact”, through which service providers can obtain all relevant information and deal
with all administrative formalities without the need to contact several authorities. The
“points of single contact have to be accessible at a distance and by electronic means.”
This is the case of the “Polish plumber68”; any bid must be launched/open at
European level.

6.15 Some Concluding Remarks

The availability of e-Procurement at European level or even at global level may

change the way in which governments, enterprises and even single citizens will
access the supply chain. They will be able in a glimpse to select the best quality/prize
offer wherever it is posted on line; of course some control mechanisms must be
activated and an ad hoc regulation framework must be created in advance in order to
avoid misuse and drawbacks. Some problems are already in the foreground due to
the birth of a global market without a global regulatory framework and it means:
pollution, child work, less safety, diseases, etc.
There is another relevant player on the business scene due to the natural evolution
of the digital playground: communities. Such a newcomer may play the role of the

67
DIRECTIVE 2006/123/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 12 December 2006: on services in the internal market https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/
TXT/?uri=celex%3A32006L0123, last accessed February 2019.
68
This was a very popular phrase at the time of the early stages of the European Union. “Le
plombier polonais” was a phrase first used by Philippe Val in Charlie Hebdo and popularised by
Philippe de Villiers as a symbol of cheap labour coming in from Central Europe as a result of the
Directive on services in the internal market during the EU Constitution referendum in France
in 2005.
References 237

rule-breaking player. This means a crowd of citizens, even across borders, grouped
under the “community” flag. They may exercise potentially a huge influence, among
many other fields, on the market; they may very quickly put an offer in order to buy
something at a specific price or launch a campaign in order to not buy a product. It is
completely senseless to try to block or limit the power of communities.
We already witnessed to some attempt to limit or block it in some countries but it
was impossible and at the end such attempt player a reverse role. Of course, there are
risks of abuse and misuse of such a potential power. It is up to the rulers to channel
such a power within reasonable boundaries.

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2019
Index

0-9 and Symbols Community, 8, 12, 13, 22, 31, 36, 43, 49,
1984, 2 50, 56, 64, 66, 67, 69, 70, 73, 74, 83,
84, 88, 89, 97, 112, 120, 133, 142, 145,
155, 161, 167, 179, 188, 206, 210, 229,
A 233, 237
Advancing Open Standards for the Information Community building, 41
Society (OASIS), 154, 206, 210–215, Connected government, 99, 100, 122, 129
221, 223, 224, 234 Connectivity, 22, 29, 68, 95, 106–108, 133,
Appification, 224 149, 163, 184, 189, 194, 230, 231
APPs, 55, 94, 119, 129, 193, 225 Consumers, 12, 120, 186, 187, 199,
Association for Computer Machinery (ACM), 205, 236
152 Council of Europe, 9, 10, 120
Augmented reality, 20 Creative Commons, 116
Automatic teller machine (ATM), 109, 114, Cross channels, 109–110
115, 128 Crowd, 37, 39, 192, 237
Awareness, 15, 36, 50, 56, 67, 138, 162, 170, Crowdsourcing, 37, 38, 193
171, 181 Cultural diversity, 113
Cultural identity, 113
Cultural model, 113–114, 122, 125, 149, 227
B Customer Relationship Management (CRM), 3
Betrayed IT revolution, 2–4 Cybersecurity, 112, 153
Bill Gates, 110 Cyberspace, 153
Bio-diversity, 34
Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa
(BRICS), 112 D
Bureaucracy, 6, 106, 117–118, 161, 162, 168 Data, 2, 12, 35, 66, 96, 208
Data protection, 51
Decentralisation of government, 17, 18
C Department of Defence (DoD), 154
Citizens, 2, 6, 28, 62, 94, 199 Digital Access Index (DAI), 132, 133, 135, 136
Clouds, 31, 32, 52, 152, 183 Digital government, 97, 98
Clusters, 219 Digital opportunity, 62, 95, 132–135
Cognitive, 22 Digital preservation, 151, 153–155
Collaborative e-environments, 41 Digital revolution, 92, 199

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 239

A. M. Ronchi, e-Democracy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01596-1
240 Index

Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), 104 European Commission (EC), 28–30, 41, 154,
Direct democracy, 6, 7, 21, 53–58 202–204, 207, 231
Dynabook, 3 European Union (EU), 8, 27–33, 44–47, 98,
Dynamic coalition, 22, 23 122–124, 175, 199, 200, 202, 207, 235
e-Voting, 21, 41

E
E-administration, 10 F
eBESWorkshop, 215–219 Facilitating conditions, 127
e-Campaigning, 41 Fake news, 54, 124
e-Catalogues, 201–211, 221–224 Federal Communications Commission (FCC),
e-Citizens, 2, 129 23
E-community model, 11 Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), 111
Economics, 9, 11, 12, 40, 44, 51, 52, 62, 68, 69, Fruition, v
94, 95, 102, 105, 108, 113, 123, 140,
147, 148, 169, 174, 176, 178, 179, 181,
198, 199, 203, 205, 206 G
e-Consultation, 28, 41, 52, 142, 148 4G, 72, 184
e-Decision-making, 52, 142, 148 Gadgets, 18
e-Deliberation, 28, 98 Gamification, 31, 33, 56
e-Democracy, 7, 54, 64, 98 Geneva Digital Talks, 112
e-Empowerment, 62–92, 95 Geneva Internet Platform, 112
Effort expectancy, 127, 144 Geneva Plan of Action, 133, 134, 137
e-Governance, 64, 97, 98 Global e-Government Survey, 138, 139, 148
e-Government, 28 Globalisation, 3, 113, 123
e-Government Action Plan, 44 Governance, 28, 44, 51, 98, 100, 105, 110–112,
e-Government readiness, 132–138, 140–144 118, 120, 139, 150, 162, 205, 234
e-Government survey, 52, 99, 108, 138–140, Government to business (G2B), 98, 117, 131,
142, 148 140
e-Inclusion, 62–92, 95 Government to citizens (G2C), 98, 100, 113,
e-Information sharing, 52 117, 131, 140, 144, 148
e-Learning, 5 Government to government (G2G), 98, 101,
Electronic Business eXtensible Markup 121, 131, 140
Language (ebXML), 210–212, 216,
221–224
e-Legislation, 28 H
Emerging (e-Government), 99, 100 Hackers, 2, 129
Encryption, 1 Happy cyber-world, 2
Enhanced (e-Government), 99, 100 Hippies, 2
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), 199 Human capital (human capital index HCI), 141,
e-Participation, 7, 10, 96–98, 100, 138, 141, 142
143, 148, 149
e-Participation index (EPI), 52, 97
e-Petition, 28, 41, 142, 182, 183 I
e-Polling, 41 i2010, 28
e-Procurement, 198–237 ICT indexes
e-Service delivery, 10, 138 DAI, 132, 133, 135, 136
e-Services, 96, 119, 144, 149, 160, 161, 182, DOI, 52, 64, 134–137
183 ICT-OI, 133–137
Ethics, 124 IDI, 136, 137
Eurobarometer, 29, 32 ICT Opportunity Index (ICT-OI), 133–137
Index 241

Identity, 2, 44, 54, 62, 63, 114, 128, 129, 183, Media, 3, 4, 22, 31, 33, 36, 38, 47, 54, 64, 74,
204 113, 119, 124, 125, 129, 133, 145,
Improved services, 19, 20, 118 150–152, 162, 164, 166, 180, 181, 186
Information communication technology (ICT), Mediate, 6
7–9, 17, 21, 24, 28, 29, 41, 44, 48, 51, m-Government, 98
62, 64, 94–98, 101, 103–105, 108, 115, Millennium Development Goal (MDG), 96,
118, 121, 127, 128, 132–140, 142, 145, 140
148–150, 181, 186, 187, 203, 204, 206, Multi-channel, 97, 109–110, 117, 150, 177
221, 231, 233 Multilingualism, 111
Information society, 4, 28, 62, 68, 106, 108, Multimedia, 31, 78, 101, 102, 104, 119, 166,
115, 133, 134, 136, 137, 141, 147, 154, 189, 190, 192
181, 206, 212, 225
Infostate Index, 133
Instagram, 24, 92, 119 N
Intellectual property, 103 Network neutrality, 21–23
Intellectual property rights (IPR), 101, 102, New economy, 11, 112
104, 111, 116, 153
Interaction design, 106, 113, 126, 127, 144, 150
International Business Machines (IBM), 90 O
International Standard Organisation (ISO), 214, One-stop-shop, 17, 18, 143
221 One-time password (OTP), 130
Internet e-Government, 98 Online deliberation, 41
Internet governance, 22, 110–112, 120 Online democracy, 98
Internet Governance Forum (IGF), 22, 112, 144 Online governance, 98
Internet of Things (IoT), 3, 9, 22, 109, 110, 128, Open access, 21, 116, 194
129, 149 OpenPEPPOL, 208, 233, 234
Internet service providers (ISP), 21–23, 95, 111, Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and
194 Development (OECD/OCSE), 40, 62,
Internet World Stats, 120 117, 147, 148
Interoperability, 52, 99–101, 121–127,
202–206, 208, 230–232, 234–236
iPhone, 39, 177, 178 P
Pan-European Public Procurement OnLine
(PEPPOL), 208, 230
K PEPPOL standards, 231, 232
Key performance indicators (KPI), 43, 159 Performance expectancy, 127, 144
Personal computer, 62, 65
Personal data management, 129–130
L Personal digital assistant (PDA), 117, 120, 130
Languages, 33, 69, 70, 72, 73, 80–82, 91, 113, Personal E-empowerment, 62
114, 122, 143, 145, 167, 170, 171, 174, Personal, Social, Health & Citizenship
175, 180, 182, 185, 188, 192, 209–214, Education, 66
221 Planned economy model, 11
Liverpool Direct, 18, 19 Policies, 10, 37, 51, 52, 68, 80, 94, 102, 105,
108, 118, 133, 138, 139, 142–144
Principal components analysis (PCA), 136, 137
M Privacy, 3, 4, 38, 43, 63, 91, 92, 96, 97, 105,
Makers, 21, 31, 33, 41, 52, 57, 105, 159, 187, 116, 128–129, 225
205 Profile (profiling), 3, 54, 109, 115, 126, 128,
Measurement and Evaluation Tool for Citizen 143, 146, 193, 219, 222–224, 228, 232
Engagement and e-Participation Public Administration and Development
(METEP), 51, 52 Management Department (PADMD), 52
Measuring performance, 130–131 Public good, 106–108, 116
242 Index

Public opinion, 41, 144 Tunis Agenda, 134

Public procurement, 198–203, 206, 233, 235 Twitter, 64, 74, 142

Q U
QR code, 125 Ubiquitous computing, 4
UN/EDIFACT, 213, 215–219, 224
United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation
R and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT),
Radio Frequency ID (RFID), 128 206, 212, 214–217, 219–222, 224
Ranking, 130–131, 135, 205 United Nations Development Programme
Readiness index, 140–144 (UNDP), 7, 8, 39
Regulatory framework, 51, 102, 104, 236 Universal Business Language (UBL), 206,
Resource Description Framework (RDF), 209 210–215, 221, 222, 224, 231, 232
Unsuccessful stories, 144–149
User-centred design, 126
S Users as co-producers, 18
Safety, 22, 36, 86, 122, 177, 188, 190, 236
Security, 2, 16, 17, 38, 52, 54, 63, 71, 79,
95–97, 99, 111, 115, 116, 122, 123, V
128–129, 143, 163, 174, 175, 180, 181, Valuable good, 103
183, 184, 188, 189, 193, 223, 226 Victorian Electronic Record Strategy (VERS),
Service providers (SP), 87, 89, 164, 187, 236 154
Short Messages Service (SMS), 17, 36, 48–50, Virtual democracy, 98
117, 148, 165 Virtual reality, 41, 147
Smart cards, 18 Voice over IP (VoIP), 119, 194
Social influence, 115, 127
Social media, 3, 31, 33, 36, 119, 129
Social web, 53 W
Spam, 111 Web 2.0, 142
Standards, 9, 16, 22, 23, 75, 85, 98, 99, 111, Web Ontology Language (OWL), 209
121–123, 131, 152–154, 162, 167, 173, WhatsApp, 50, 92, 119
174, 186, 201–207, 209–212, 214, 216, Working Group on Internet Governance
217, 221–224, 227, 230–233 (WGIG), 110, 111
Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), 18, 185 The World Bank, 99, 105, 131, 179
Subscription, 126, 158, 219, 225 World Summit Award, 20, 174, 188, 189, 225
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators
139–141 Meeting (WTIM), 136
World wide web (WWW), 8, 108, 121, 209,
221
T
Tablets, 69, 91, 94, 95, 115, 189, 193, 198
Taxonomy, 99 X
Telecentres, 120 Xerox PARC, 3
Tele-democracy, 98
Thomson Microelectronics, 18
Training, 39, 75, 89–91, 94, 102, 119, 121, 123, Y
146, 160, 166 YouTube, 92, 142
Transactional e-Government, 99, 100, 155, 160