Just recently I fell over a short article in the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)'s journal 'New Economy' from the year 2000 (volume 7, number 1, March 2000, pp 41-45), which made me wonder if the author, Damian Tambini, had visited the Oracle at Delphi when he wrote 'The Ulysses Effect: Targets in electronic service delivery'?

He argues that target setting in the area of electronic service delivery (ESD) could be both a strength and weakness, he calls this the Ulysses effect due to the bravado of the Blair government in nailing a set of targets to the mast and having to face the whatever happens as a result. This foresight would shortly fail, making the challenge even harder, since the government then proceeded to make the targets even harder, bringing the 100% target date forward from 2008 to 2005!

The problems Tambini envisaged back in 2000 included data protection, privacy and access - I don't believe these were ever satisfactorily resolved in the timescales and we are now bearing the brunt of a very late Government Connect in local government as a sort of solution.

One thing he does remark is that the 'flexibility and fudging' required in a choppy sea of technology would mean that improvments might not be as effective in improving  ESD as expected, which I don't think it has been but mainly due to a lack of process improvement, which was not given the necessary impetus in the plans. He also realised that government advisors had done far too much comparison with the banking sector, which had resulted in naivity as to deliverables and also that costs would be added in the short term to maintain the exististing channels.

Tambini's vision can then be compared with the editorial from the Computer Law & Security Report 22 (2006) by Dr Stephen Saxby when he quotes a speaker from the Ministerial eGovernment Conference in Manchester in 2005 as saying: "I'm bored with eGovernment. There's so much bad eGovernment around and it has made things worse. If we don't learn the lessons we will carry our mistakes into the transformation era." I would ask whether we have learned and admitted the lessons from eGovernment but whilst Saxby contends that 'public value' is the aspect of transformation that has the opportunity to change services due to its focus on user needs, I suspect that there is a lot more to it than that, a particular area being having flexible and developing measures from the citizen view to replace that 100% target that I believe even in 2008 has only been reached by a great deal of fudging.

The previous Scottish government issued a consultation paper in 2006 - part of a follow up to the original Building a Better Scotland paper of 2004, which focussed mostly on cost savings as far as I can see.

• A shared approach to building a better Scotland – a consultation paper on a national strategy for shared services
  The Labour administration's proposals for taking forward shared services across Scotland. It provides evidence to support our view that shared services can release significant efficiency savings for investment in front line services, but equally highlights the potential for shared services to drive up service quality and consistency.
  (tags: 2006 scotland politics government consultation ict strategy project:smartcities)
• Report on the analysis of the responses to the consultation
  Summarisation of the 136 responses received

Potentially a good examplar for identifying strategic directions for local government.

This gives a new theme for my links, starting with these:

• Improvement and Development Agency for local government (IDeA)
  The IDeA works for local government improvement so councils can serve people and places better. It is owned by the Local Government Association and belongs to local government.
  (tags: uk policy network resource project:smartcities partner)
• esd-toolkit
  A series of integrated technologies to support local authorities in providing their services electronically (led by Tim Anderson). Creator of the infamous IPSV (Integrated Public Sector Vocabulary)
  (tags: government community project:smartcities resource framework uk)
• Interreg IVB North Sea Region Programme (2007-2013) - Home
  Four priorities: 1 - Building on our Capacity for Innovation; 2 - Promoting the Sustainable Management of our Environment; 3 - Improving the Accessibility of Places in the NSR; 4 - Promoting Sustainable and Competitive Communities - funder of the SmartCities project.
  (tags: europe development collaboration project:smartcities)

One of the partners in City of Edinburgh Council:

• Public Service - EXCLUSIVE: How Edinburgh is driving up efficiency and reinvesting savings
  Background to motivators for the e-government unit at City of Edinburgh Council
  (tags: project:smartcities edinburgh e-government)
• Shared Services - Edinburgh Pathfinder
  One half of an approach to develop service delivery that generates efficiencies from simplifying procedures to adopt best practise, standardising these approaches within and across organisations and ultimately sharing services.Benefits

  1. A simplified and standardised process model for local government
  2. Efficiencies achieved through reductions in duplication and points of integration
  3. Better services to customers through standardisation and improved technology
  4. Scaleable resilient technology able to adapt to future developments
  5. Improved quality of information
  6. Improved organisational flexibility.
  (tags: edinburgh e-government project:smartcities)

Actually, I'm finding that much of the stuff I've found in my trawling around over the last year or tow is relevant, so I've also gone back and marked them with the 'project:smartcities' tag over at del.icio.us.

Implicit in SmartCities are ideas around identity management, privacy and security, and use of Web2.0 and web services generally, so hang on in there - I'm not going away!

[1] Not the first time that 'SmartCities' has been used as a name for a project or a service, which could make things confusing...

Pertama-tama marilah dikaji terlebih dahulu bagaimana lembaga-lembaga non-pemerintah memandang ruang lingkup dan domain dari e-Government.

Bank Dunia (World Bank) mendefinisikan e-Government sebagai berikut:

E-Government refers to the use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government.

Di sisi lain, UNDP (United Nation Development Programme) dalam suatu kesempatan mendefinisikannya secara lebih sederhana, yaitu:

E-government is the application of Information and Communicat-ion Technology (ICT) by government agencies.

Sementara itu, vendor perangkat lunak terkemuka semacam SAP memiliki definisi yang cukup unik, yaitu:

E-government is a global reform movement to promote Internet use by government agencies and everyone who deals with them.

Janet Caldow, Direktur dari Institute for Electronic Government (IBM Corporation) dari hasil kajiannya bersama Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, memberikan sebuah definisi yang menarik, yaitu:

Electronic government is nothing short of a fundamental transformation of government and governance at a scale we have not witnessed since the beginning of the industrial era.

Definisi menarik dikemukakan pula oleh Jim Flyzik (US Department of Treasury) ketika diwawancarai oleh Price WaterhouseCoopers, dimana yang bersangkutan mendefinisikan:

E-government is about bringing the government into the world of the Internet, and work on Internet time.

Definisi Beragam Pemerintahan

Setelah melihat bagaimana lembaga-lembaga atau institusi-institusi mendefinisikan e-Government, ada baiknya dikaji pula bagaimana sebuah pemerintahan menggambarkannya.

Pemerintah Federal Amerika Serikat mendefinisikan e-Government secara ringkas, padat, dan jelas, yaitu:

E-government refers to the delivery of government information and services online through the Internet or other digital means.

Sementara, Nevada, salah satu negara bagian di Amerika Serikat, mendefinisikan e-Government sebagai:

1. online services that eradicate the traditional barriers that prevent citizens and businesses from using government services and replace those barriers with convenient access;

2. government operations for internal constituencies that simplify the operational demands of government for both agencies and employees.

Pemerintah New Zealand melihat e-Government sebagai sebuah fenomena sebagai berikut:

E-government is a way for governments to use the new technologies to provide people with more convenient access to government information and services, to improve the quality of the services and to provide greater opportunities to participate in our democratic institutions and processes.

Italy mungkin termasuk salah satu negara yang paling lengkap dan detail dalam mendefinisikan e-government, yaitu:

The use of modern ICT in the modernization of our administration, which comprise the following classes of action:

1. Computerization designed to enhance operational efficiency within individual departments and agencies;

2. Computerization of services to citizens and firms, often implying integration among the services of different departments and agencies;

3. Provision of ICT access to final users of government services and information.

Ketika mempelajari penerapan e-Government di Asia Pasifik, Clay G. Wescott (Pejabat Senior Asian Development Bank), mencoba mendefinisikannya sebagai berikut:

E-government is the use of information and communications technology (ICT) to promote more efficient and cost-effective government, facilitate more convenient government services, allow greater public access to information, and make government more accountable to citizens.

Manfaat e-Government

Tanpa mengecilkan arti dari beragam contoh definisi yang telah dipaparkan sebelumnya, setidak-tidaknya ada tiga kesamaan karakteristik dari setiap definisi e-Government, yaitu masing-masing adalah:

• Merupakan suatu mekanisme interaksi baru (moderen) antara pemerintah dengan masyarakat dan kalangan lain yang berkepentingan (stakeholder); dimana
• Melibatkan penggunaan teknologi informasi (terutama internet); dengan tujuan
• Memperbaiki mutu (kualitas) pelayanan yang selama berjalan.

Secara jelas dua negara besar yang terdepan dalam mengimplementasikan konsep e-Government, yaitu Amerika dan Inggris melalui Al Gore dan Tony Blair, telah secara jelas dan terperinci menggambarkan manfaat yang diperoleh dengan diterapkannya konsep e-Governmnet bagi suatu negara, antara lain:

• Memperbaiki kualitas pelayanan pemerintah kepada para stakeholder-nya (masyarakat, kalangan bisnis, dan industri) terutama dalam hal kinerja efektivitas dan efisiensi di berbagai bidang kehidupan bernegara;
• Meningkatkan transparansi, kontrol, dan akuntabilitas penyelenggaraan pemerintahan dalam rangka penerapan konsep Good Corporate Governance;
• Mengurangi secara signifikan total biaya administrasi, relasi, dan interaksi yang dikeluarkan pemerintah maupun stakeholdernya untuk keperluan aktivitas sehari-hari;
• Memberikan peluang bagi pemerintah untuk mendapatkan sumber-sumber pendapatan baru melalui interaksinya dengan pihak-pihak yang berkepentingan; dan
• Menciptakan suatu lingkungan masyarakat baru yang dapat secara cepat dan tepat menjawab berbagai permasalahan yang dihadapi sejalan dengan berbagai perubahan global dan trend yang ada; serta
• Memberdayakan masyarakat dan pihak-pihak lain sebagai mitra pemerintah dalam proses pengambilan berbagai kebijakan publik secara merata dan demokratis.

Dengan kata lain, negara-negara maju memandang bahwa implementasi e-Government yang tepat akan secara signifikan memperbaiki kualitas kehidupan masyarakat di suatu negara secara khusus, dan masyarakat dunia secara umum. Oleh karena itu, implementasinya di suatu negara selain tidak dapat ditunda-tunda, harus pula dilaksanakan secara serius, dibawah suatu kepemimpinan dan kerangka pengembangan yang holistik, yang pada akhirnya akan memberikan/ mendatangkan keunggulan kompetitif secara nasional.

Source : Beritanet.com

Angus had been considering my conference paper and was criticising my proposal about using 'satisfaction' as a measure! I admitted that I had come to agree with that - its use for things like the Place survey had reduced any value it once had, citizens probably provide the quality of their last experience with the organization as a value, not an average figure or something of use!

A very current paper by Oliver James of the University of Exeter entitled "Evaluating the Expectations Disconfirmationand Expectations Anchoring Approaches to Citizen Satisfaction with Local Public Services' supports this approach. Moving on from the classic work by Parasuraman et al and also Van Ryzin's practical testing of it, James' conclusion is that managing expectations and perceived outcomes is very important. He also reflects upon the binary measures of dissatisfaction and satisfaction.

Hence, perhaps slightly in parallel with Angus, I am getting a stronger perception that the value comes in collating dissatisfaction and measuring it as a binary by channel to consider channel use, migration and transfer. We need to have anchored expectations and determine what the gap is between that and what is delivered, these should be the variations that flag up when service improvement is required.

Vanguard (John Seddon and associates) in their latest report on National Indicator 14 (avoidable contact) make the statement that "managing value is the key to removing failure and that in managing value you need measures that relate to purpose from the customers' point of view."

Angus himself has proffered 'service promises' as a solution, which seems, coincidentally, to reflect a proposal in the new future of policing Green Paper about a policing pledge! These are not too far away the anchored expectations gap, the question is: what do we use for the actual metric for the range of services and channels, can promises or pledges be set for them all, or do we seek out dissatisfaction and cure it?

At the EiP conference we will be trying to clarify potential measures derived from promises and pledges and produce something of use to practitioners and of value to the citizen.

James, O. (2007). "Evaluating the Expectations Disconfirmation and Expectations Anchoring Approaches to Citizen Satisfaction with LocalPublic Services." Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory: 1 - 17.

Van Ryzin, G. G., Immerwahr, S., (2007). "Importance-Performance Analysis of Citizen Satisfaction Surveys." Public Administration 85(1): 215 - 226.

Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A., Berry, L.L., (1988). "SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality." Journal of Retailing 64(1 Spring): 12-40.

The paper is entitled "Realising the transformation agenda: enhancing citizen use of eGovernment". A number of quotations are appropriate, but read the paper!

Page 7.

Willingness to use electronic channels is strongly linked to age – older people are less inclined to use digital technologies than younger people. This has important implications for service designers. Strategies requiring channel migration to significantly reduce the use of (or possibly close down) conventional channels in order to yield major efficiency gains will compromise inclusiveness. New channel uptake will have to be targeted at those with the greatest propensity to migrate and traditional channels will have to continue to be made available to older people and others unwilling to migrate. Service designers will have to be aware of the channel preferences of their users and develop channel strategies accordingly.

This approach does not have to result in a trade-off between efficiency and inclusion objectives. The two are not mutually exclusive; efficiency gains are possible by transforming back-office processes and seamlessly integrating the right mix of channels together to deliver a more effective and inclusive service.

In the Omnibus survey respondents who stated they were willing to deal with government electronically were also asked what type of activities they would be willing to undertake. Ninety per cent are willing to use electronic channels to obtain information about government or services. However, willingness reduces with the sophistication of activities – three quarters are willing to book appointments online and around 60 per cent are willing to make payments to government online.

Along with three paragraphs from page 12.

It is sometimes hypothesised that those who are the most frequent users of government services are also the least likely to use the new electronic service delivery channels. This hypothesis was tested and found to be unsubstantiated by the survey. No statistical association between willingness to use electronic channels to deal with government and general contact frequency with government was found.

This is further illustrated when the sophistication of eGovernment activities on the Internet are compared with the sophistication of general activities undertaken on the Internet. Over 90 per cent of eGovernment web site visitors who have used the Internet to send an email have not sent an email to government. Over three quarters or eGovernment users that have bought something online have not made a payment online to government.

However, a quarter of non-users did not choose one of the potential benefits presented to them as a possible catalyst to start accessing eGovernment web sites. This highlights a sizeable segment of the online population who are not yet convinced of the benefits of using government web sites.

European Journal of ePractice · www.epracticejournal.eu 12 Nº 4 · August 2008 · ISSN: 1988-625X

This would suggest that we are still a long way from pushing at an open e-door!

El e-Government o Gobierno Electrónico, a mi entender, no era más que la extensión metódica de los principios del e-Business con todos los fundamentos sociológicos y políticos implícitos del rol definido por un Estado.  Desde el momento de inicio de la formación se plantearon dudas que harían trastabillar hasta al consultor más experimentado, como ejemplo:

¿será posible derribar los marcos espaciales, temporales y de relaciones entre ciudadanos y el Estado, de manera de ofrecer productos y servicios a través de relaciones fáciles, ágiles, personalizadas y localizadas en el administrado, los 7 días de la semana, las 24 horas del día, los 365 días del año?

¿Se encuentran la mayoría de los gobiernos locales en condiciones de comenzar un cambio en este sentido? ¿Qué factores deberían tenerse en cuenta en este sentido?

¿Quiénes deben involucrarse en este cambio conceptual acerca del rol que cumple el Estado en los gobiernos?

¿Debe el Estado invertir grandes cantidades de dinero en TECNOLOGIAS de Información y Comunicación existiendo tantas prioridades?

¿El uso de Tecnologías de Información y Comunicación ¿debe tener su foco en los funcionarios, las instituciones o los ciudadanos?

Para un ciudadano, de cualquier oficio o profesión, resulta difícil no tomar partido en la solución de estos interrogantes, de allí que las dificultades para la elaboración de una estrategia sean mayores por varios factores subjetivos ineludibles.

En el aula partiparon más de veinte asistentes de todos los países latinoamericanos. Una experiencia absolutamente imperdible y enriquecedora. La tutoría, llevada adelante por Cowley Villegas (Chile) fue estupenda. Y cuando me refiero a estupenda, quiero decir: siempre cordial y dispuesto a ayudarnos y, a la vez, absolutamente exigente. Una vez más, quedó claramente demostrada que la Tecnología Informática es un agente de cambio muy profundo en todas las sociedades, hasta el punto en que puedo afirmar que una sociedad que no haya superado la brecha digital estará en inferioridad de condiciones con respecto a los países más desarrollados. Sin informática, el conocimiento no existe, es decir, la resultante es una Nación limitada y una sociedad impedida de realizarse, impedida de abandonar la era de la información para introducirse en la era del conocimiento.

Más que una capacitación es una experiencia, ya que obliga a trabajar en equipos multidisciplinarios y multiculturales. Cada cultura, país, región tiene una problemática, prioridades, idiosincracia, historias disímiles entre si. Si bien el objetivo estaba planteado: armar una estrategia de gobierno electrónico para la Provincia, Región, País, etc. cada intercambio de opiniones enriquecía paulatinamente la solución.

Mi trabajo, que cedo en este espacio, giró sobre la instrumentación de un modelo de e-Government para la Provincia del Neuquén, con un análisis de la situación nacional, provincial, de recursos y de plazos. Este proyecto, que invito a leer, tiene un eje central un tanto divergente con las iniciativas que se están llevando adelante en otras provincias y naciones.

Siendo una iniciativa Estatal, y promovida por un Gobierno, se corre el riesgo de la potenciación de los brazos estatistas sobre procesos que ya son monopolizados por el Estado y también por los que aún no están en poder de Él. Este peligro no me quedó oculto en la instrumentación de un proceso de intrusión tecnológica sobre diferentes regiones con fines sociales poco claros.

Primero todo Gobierno debe superar, por si mismo, con sus capacidades, y con sus propios recursos (no los de los ciudadanos) sus propias limitaciones.

Esto es paradójico, pero al fin y al cabo, todo esto es posible gracias a que pagamos nuestros impuestos. De allí se origina como elemento balanceador de la ecuación, tal como lo postulo (me gustan los modelos de equilibrio) en que, a la par de existir un Gobierno Electrónico (término de dudosa semántica ya que un gobierno no es un conjunto de circuitos electrónicos sino una entidad con impacto sociológico, cultural, generacional, político, histórico, etc.) debe existir, también, un Civismo Digital o un concepto equivalente.

Una fuerza contrapuesta que equilibre el "largo brazo del Estado" con el "fuerte peso de la opinión pública".

Además, la mayoría de las iniciativas de Gobierno Electrónico existentes (pago de impuestos, consulta de bancos de datos, gestiones administrativas, presentación a licitaciones y concursos de precios, etc.) están dirigidas a "mejorar lo existente". En este sentido toda estrategia de e-government tiene que orientarse a suministrar lo que está ausente y  no a mejorar lo que ya existe.

Para que un habitante de nuestra Nación sea un ciudadano tiene que cumplir con un conjunto de obligaciones y se hace merecedor de un conjunto de derechos. Si analizamos el conjunto de derechos y obligaciones y le damos un puntaje de 100% a cada uno de ellos, el Gobierno Electrónico debe orientar todos sus esfuerzos a que los ciudadanos logren alcanzar ese 100%, sin exclusiones, excepciones ni limitaciones.

Es decir, una iniciativa de Gobierno Electrónico será válida siempre y cuando tenga por objetivo central aumentar las capacidades del ciudadano, tal como lo indica la Constitución Nacional, dentro del marco social en el que se desenvuelve. A partir de allí, todos son beneficios, bajos costos de gestión, eficacia y eficiencia, la aplicación de las TICs siempre supera cualquier nivel de servicio concebido en forma manual o clásica.

Bien, les dejo mi proyecto, que me valió la aprobación del curso y espero les resulte útil.

Lic. Juan Moratto

jmoratto@mercadosunidos.com

www.mercadosunidos.com

proyecto-ge_juan-moratto_neuquen

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Lebaran Sebentar Lagi.. dan tidak tahu apa yang terjadi setelah ini nantinya. Jodoh - Ajal dan rejeki hanya Allah yang Maha Tahu. Lusa Saya mudik lebaran ke jawa- Purwodadi **tempat Mertua** Do'akan Kami Sekeluarga Selamat dalam perjalanan..

Rencana Perjalanan Kami lewat Jalur Selatan, Jalan Santai sesuai janji untuk ngajak jalan anak-anak sambil berekreasi. Perjalanan dari Cianjur - Purwodadi akan kita tempuh 2 Hari, Jadi kira rancanakan Pas Hari H kita sampai di **Mertua**

Mumpung Masih ada kesempatan, tidak ada salahnya saya ucapkan sepatah kata moga dapat menghapus segala dosa.. **

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Si sta tenendo in questi giorni a Napoli (25-27 settembre) la conferenza internazionale di valutazione dei progressi del MANIFESTO dell'Agenda Locale Digitale, un manifesto per lo sviluppo della società dell'informazione sottoscritto dai governi europei lo scorso anno in Finlandia.

" Having discovered CCSR as a result of your message, I converted its "aims" (goals) and objectives to StratML format for inclusion in our collection at http://xml.gov/stratml/index.htm#Nonprofits or, more specifically, http://xml.gov/stratml/CCSR.xml

Googling for CCSR's site also prompted me to discover CPSR. Their goals, objectives, and values are now documented in StratML format as well:
http://xml.gov/stratml/CPSR.xml

They are the 361st and 362nd plans indexed in Mark Logic's StratML search service prototype -- http://xml.gov/stratml/index.htm#SearchServices -- in
which they, respectively, rank:

    1st & 8th of 97 on the term "social"
    1st & 5th of 121 on "responsibility"
    200th & 4th of 205 on "technology"
    NA & 1st of 46 on "computers"

The prospective purposes of StratML are outlined at http://xml.gov/stratml/index.htm#DefinitionPurposes Under the auspices of AIIM, we aim to establish it as an international voluntary consensus standard for potential use by all organizations worldwide, as well as individuals who choose to take *responsibility* for leading mission/goal
directed lives.  AIIM's StratML Committee page is available at http://www.aiim.org/standards/article.aspx?ID=34121
In light of their missions, it would be good if CCSR and CPSR could play roles in helping to specify and foster widespread usage of the StratML standard.

BTW, the eGov IG's plan is also available in StratML format, at http://xml.gov/stratml/WEIG.xml, and the use case I drafted for the IG's consideration is at http://www.w3.org/2007/eGov/IG/wiki/Use_Case_1_-_Strategic_Plans Also included is the plan of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA: http://xml.gov/stratml/NAPFAstratplan.xml  
It would be good if organizations like CCSR, CPSR, and the eGov IG could partner with organizations like NAPFA to ensure that government agencies are making readily available (in XML format) the information citizens need to understand and be held accountable for not only their personal responsibilities but also those their governments are imposing upon them."

Whilst Owen in the USA promotes the NAPFA perhaps the Power of Information lobby might like to consider this?

Tagging one's potential resources as one identifies them seems a constructive exercise - any takers?

Owen has also pointed out to me the Web Content Managers Council and I thought another view of metrics is always welcome - http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/improving/evaluating.shtml - its big, its commercial and its not what I'm looking for! But thanks all the same Owen!

As someone who worked in the e-Government trenches almost a decade ago, so much of what I see in Government 2.0 highlights how far we've come and how fundamental the challenges remain:

Government 2.0 is about much more than blogs, wikis and social networking. It’s about how the government sources expertise and how it orchestrates capability. It’s about marshalling the collective intelligence of society to address big issues like climate change and fiscal reform. It’s also about delivering services like education, health care and social security benefits more effectively by treating citizens as co-innovators rather than passive, inert consumers.

Social media has a role to play. But the hard problems relate to the people and institutions. A complex machinery of government has grown organically over the past century with multiple levels of government, hundreds of agencies, and overlapping lines of accountability. The complexity makes it difficult to implement reforms and change in the public sector is almost always slow and incremental.

Never was about the technology.  Still isn't.

My personal view is that whilst the CMT might be a great instrument for large governments its a little too big for those without the resoiuces to act upon the feedback.

A further reinforcement was reading relatively recent papers such as  Understanding Customer Experience by Christopher Meyer and Andre Schwager (Harvard Business Review, February 2007), which demonstrates a move from thinking about customer relationship management to customer experience management. Schwager is a founder of Satmetrix Systems that actually produces software to collect customer feedback.

I believe government organizations, despite being in a different market, need to collect the satisfaction data but instead of comparing with competitors, allow for the gap with  public expectation and monitor changes and feedback across channles. If expectation levels are managed honestly and the gap identified, management can then be attempted for any major variance. This needs to be done across all public facing channels to ensure adequate resourcing.

Primarily there is a need to be realistic with expectations.

Having completed the splendid book by Jeffrey Roy about E-Government in Canada, a great deal of which covered the above issues, particularly public trust, I'm now onto a book that Mantex promoted.(I've subscribed to Roy's newsletter since it started and its always worth a read, even if only for the 'pub quiz' questions that flow through it! 

The book by Merholz et al, Subject to Change, encourages us to use customer experience to shape the product development process. In my simple way I thought this might project an opinion around service delivery to the citizen, and it does.

My developing model has the citizen in their community of needs at the front. They approach the resolution of those needs or services approach them, potentially, via the full range of service channels depending upon the service or the citizen's needs. This will include appropriate security, it may also include Web 2.0.

Overlapping the service channels but feeding back to the citizen and the service is the performance layer that will capture information from those served and those serving about satisfaction and numbers.

Feeding into the range of service channels are the serices themselves, presented in a citizen-oriented service architecture that may allow 'invisible hands' access or third sector users, subject to secuity and legalities but taking and delivering transactions and information as required by the media of the service delivery channels.

The performance layer will tune the service layer or refine citizen expectations at the front end, according to feedback.

Where does Merholz et al fit in? Right at the beginning they state that a persons experience of a service emerges from certain qualities which are:

Motivations

Expectations

Perceptions

Abilities

Flow

Culture

This all means that we need to deliver to expectations and abilities (social inclusion), engaging well with citizens to ensure that the experience is of value! If none of these are fulfilled we want to know why, so we can try and sort it out!

On Friday morning on the 26th September my supervisors Ben and Richard will be presenting the initial research into this realm at Ethicomp 2008 at the University of Mantua. My thanks to them, I hope it is found interesting and no hard questions are asked in my absence. I'm hoping to refine the measure(s) and model at the EiP Conference in November and also at the ESD-Toolkit Customer Insight Working Group in Preston in October.

So, I'm not a lone voice crying in the wilderness, I've found a few wildernesses to cry out in!

I gained enough knowledge to be actually answer's people questions on sentencing, and especially in California.  Then I also drafted some mock legislation to make the Three Strikes more fairer and shared it with the site. 

I do not work in the criminal justice field so in reality, any real reforms should made by the experts in that area.  However, it is area of interest to me and every week, I refine my knowledge even more as I hone into prison regulations and learn those.

The one roadblock that I will run into is when I want to start doing my own analysis.  While my profession is not in the area of criminal justice, I do have formal training and actual work experience with statistical analysis and there might be areas that I want to research.  However, the one problem is that I have to rely on data that I can pull down from the internet and than, if I want any more data, I will file for FOIA request for statistical data or if I am doing a procedure review.

If I ever did such a project, I will post the results on prisontalk.com and share the results with that community.  I am just doing this out of personal curiousity and as a way to use my time constructively

The Canadians claim to examine examples in other countries, including England, before trying anything there but they must implement it so much better, since it seems to be original in many cases!

The bookpoints out two paragraphs from the Government of Ontario's web site:

"The Government of Ontario is proactively moving towards becoming an e-Government, a government that will be able to meet the challenges of the 21st century. In the e-Government Strategy, we recognize the considerable complexity of transforming the way government operates. The current focus of attention for e-Government in Ontario, as in many other jurisdictions, is what we call electronic service delivery, or ESD. ESD enables us to provide government information and services to citizens and to businesses through electronic channels."

"To make e-Government happen requires a complete re-design of the internal operations of the government and the operating systems of the broader public sector. Our I&IT Strategy guides these efforts. However, much of this re-design work is, and will remain, invisible to the general public. More visible will be another area of e-Government: citizen engagement."

A side window further emphasises this:

"To strengthen its citizen-centred approach to government, the province has begun to develop a strategy on citizen engagement. One component of this strategy is intended to expand the use of electronic channels, mainly the Internet, to help bring citizens closer to their government. The goal is to ensure citizens have access to a wide range of tools and information that will enable them to participate more fully in the democratic process."

Not a mention of 'customer' or 'insight', rock on Canada!

Testi scolastici online? Ci pensa il Codacons

Intraprendente iniziativa del Codacons contro il caro-libri: raccogliere sul proprio sito i testi in pdf o le immagini da scanner dei libri scolastici adottati nei vari istituti per renderli disponibili per il download a tutti gli studenti

Cardiologia: il medico parla su YouTube

La Società Europea di Cardiologia ha deciso di inserire un video su YouTube per spiegare ai giovani come misurare la propria frequenza cardiaca

Nuovo sistema informativo per l'Arma dei Carabinieri

Partirà entro il 2009 il nuovo sistema informativo dell'Arma dei Carabinieri che adotterà la Tecnologia di business service management e ITIL progettata dalla BMC Software

Macerata: la Provincia potenzia la rete telematica

Dodici comuni saranno collegati online grazie al potenziamento della rete telematica della Provincia regionale di Macerata

Seattle, la PA finanzia l'Rfid

A Seattle è partito un progetto che prevede lo stanziamento di fondi per l'utilizzo della tecnologia Rfid applicata al traffico delle merci nel porto della città. Tutti i mezzi pesanti in transito saranno dotati di etichettte intelligenti

Autodesk premia l'eccellenza dell'università italiana

Il concorso promosso da Autodesk premia gli studenti italiani per l'utilizzo dei software di progettazione. Un importante riconoscimento degli istituti tecnici del nostro paese

Nel Regno Unito si pagherà per ricevere chiamate?

Ofcom, l'autorità regolatrice per le società di comunicazione nel Regno Unito, sta analizzando la possibilità di far pagare agli utenti inglesi anche le chiamate in entrata che ricevono sul proprio telefonino

Nasce una nuova emittente: Licata nuova Tv

È in onda dal 1 settembre la nuova redazione giornalistica "Licata Nuova TV - Gruppo canale 10"

Entro il 2009 la Liguria non sarà più "digital divisa"

Firmato il protocollo di intesa tra Regione Liguria e Alcatel-Lucent per il superamento del digital divide. L'accordo è stato preso durante la conferenza stampa che si è tenuta nella sede della Regione

Google, ricercatori di Genova scoprono falla

I ricercatori dell'università di Genova hanno scoperto una vulnerabilità nel funzionamento di un sistema utilizzato dal noto motore di ricerca di Mountain View

Genova: online il sito Urban Center

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Regione Lazio: nasce il sistema telematico regionale degli appalti

Efficienza, trasparenza e responsabilità grazie ad un'infrastruttura tecnologica voluta dalla Regione Lazio: il Sistema Telematico Regionale degli Appalti

Brunetta: al via la "fase 2"

Il ministro Brunetta, con la conferenza stampa di oggi, ha dato il via alla seconda fase del suo piano che prevede la riduzione dei "fannulloni" nel settore pubblico

Moduli online: a rischio la privacy degli utenti

CittadiniInternet.org promuove la campagna Comunicare Sicuri per proteggere gli utenti Internet dall'acquisizione illecita di dati personali. Denunciati i primi casi di abuso della modulistica online

Pedofilia via SMS: parte campagna

Il Moige, con la collaborazione della Polizia delle comunicazioni, ha avviato una campagna sociale per la prevenzione delle pedofilia e della pedopornografia via cellulare

Promossi e bocciati dei siti Web della PA

Reso noto il monitoraggio 2008 del gruppo di lavoro della Facoltà di Lingue dell'Ateneo friulano sui siti web istituzionali

Caro-libri, il Codacons rilancia

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Piani Tlc: AgCom non la "spunta" su Tim e Vodafone

L'Authority delle Tlc ha deciso di diffidare i due operatori che hanno applicato rincari di tariffa fino al 300% e nel frattempo ha annunciato la realizzazione di un sito per confrontare i principali piani tariffari dei gestori di telefonia mobile

Progetto Winsoc: nuove reti wireless dall'Ue

Un progetto Ue prevede la realizzazione di reti wireless con capacità di auto-organizzarsi come gli organismi viventi

Bagheria. Operazione trasparenza, online bilancio comunale

Anche il Comune di Bagheria si adegua all'Operazione trasparenza. Dopo l'albo pretorio, online il bilancio di previsione 2008 del Comune nel palermitano

L'Aie diffida il Codacons per i "libri gratis"

Il presidente dell'Associazione italiana editori parla di "iniziativa illegale" nei confronti dell'operazione promossa dal Codacons. L'associazione dei consumatori, secondo l'Aie, tira in ballo una legge con un'interpretazione fuorviante

Cordis: nuovo servizio su iniziative art.169

Il Cordis, il servizio di informazione comunitario nell'ambito di ricerca e sviluppo, presenta un nuovo servizio sulle iniziative dell'articolo 169

In Sicilia si fa "alla Brunetta"

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Sicilia. Presto un network di Comunicatori pubblici

Fare rete in Sicilia per comunicare meglio. I comunicatori pubblici siciliani presto faranno rete grazie a facebook e ad un'apposita mailing list

Bimash has released a preview of the key components that will be available for their forthcoming Kazah Language Portal System (KLPS).

KLPS will be designed to facilitate a full spectrum of online language services from training all the way to an official state certification examination.

KLPS is a positive demonstration of Bimash's commitment to create innovative E-Government solutions for Kazakhstan and the rest of Central Asia.

KLPS components include the following:

• Kazakh Cultural and Historical References
• The Kazakhstan Multimedia Encyclopedia
• Latest Kazakh News and Events
• Online Kazakh-Russian-English Dictionary
• Literary, Historical & Official Document Archives
• Industrial & Technical Language Reference
• Specific Terminology Dictionaries
• Online Language Practice & Testing
• Official Online State Language Examinations

(click the image above for an expanded view)

This is, in part, stimulated by the need to use services of the long-awaited Government Connect, some four or five years in the wings, which councils are now being complelled to use if they want to exchange data with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) amongst others. A local authority cannot link to Government Connect without having completed and had approved a Code of Connection, which requires in many cases the purchase of additional hardware, software and services, none of which had been budgeted for at the time they were all sent the 'command' by the DWP a few months ago.

Hot off the press is an Experian/QAS report entitled 'Electronic authentication: bridging the technology gap' which has surveyed public sector managers and the general public to find representative opinions about security. Unsurprisingly it states that 32% of the public questioned had 'no trust at all' in central government, whilst local government it says fared 'slightly better' without revealing the figure! It also states that only 54% of customers of local government can apply online! Of course, Experian/QAS are selling an authentication system that avoids the citizen repeatedly presenting some form of identification when they apply online. This is potentially in competition with the government's own tool, the Government Gateway, which is the authentication tool pushed by central government and to some extent avoided by local government, since it is, as yet, not compulsory!

I think citizens deserve their data being held securely , which in local government's case it normally is, and on this basis they trust LOCAL government. I also think we need to remember that, according to the Data Protection Act and other legislation, much data can only be used for the purpose for which it was collected! It doesn't even get recycled around councils due to the fact that its illegal to do so!

Plot to remove Ndukwe as NCC boss thickens
By Sonny Aragba-Akpore

TELECOMMUNICATIONS regulatory agency, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is in the news again. This time not over regulatory lapses or its unwillingness to wield the big stick against errant telecommunications operators or over licencing issues, but over who heads the apex commission either now before its present head's tenure expires or after he serves his two term 10-year tenure.

Although the NCC current boss, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe was appointed towards the end of year 2000 under Decree 75 of 1992 to serve for five years, the Communication Act of 2003 empowers the President to renew that tenure and that no Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) could serve more than two terms of five years each.

But interest groups began another battle early in President Umaru Yar'Adua's administration to oust Ndukwe on the basis of age and other alleged clandestine consideration.

If that plot to illegally remove him failed between June and August 2007, those who are behind the move simply licked their wounds temporarily.

They are at it again, this time citing the age factor. Ndukwe will be 60 years old this month and those who want him out are saying he must go according to civil service retirement age of 60 years.

But is Ndukwe a civil servant or a political appointee? The Guardian sought this interpretation from government circles, legal practitioners and industry players.

"Ndukwe is not a civil servant and so not bound by civil service rules," a senior official in the Presidency who for political reasons pleaded for anonymity explained to The Guardian

"Civil service rules have retirement age of 60 years for everyone who is appointed into the service but not for political or those who are named to head agencies of the Federal Government. These appointees are usually those who have had proven professional competence in their practice and so are brought in to beef up the structures that are on ground," he explained further.

He cited cases of Dora Akunyili of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC), Maurice lwu of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). These officers are above the 60 years age bracket but still running. This authority also cited the cases of Abel Guobadia, Ephraim Akpata who headed INEC long ago.

Akpata left the Supreme Court at the age of 65 years and went on to administer INEC. Guobadia equally retired from the civil service in old Bendel State before joining INEC as its boss.

So this source wonders why the case of Ndukwe should be different.

Allegedly acting on a petition to the Presidency on Ndukwe's age, Yar'Adua was said to have minuted this to Economic Adviser, Alhaji Taminu Yakubu who in turn sent a working paper to the President on the need for a change of guards at the NCC.

He hinged this change on the age of Ndukwe, who turns 60 this month.

Taminu was said to have on this account, recommended one of the executive commissioners in the Commission, Dr. Bashir Gwandu as Ndukwe's replacement, raising suspicions that the plot may have been orchestrated from the Commission.

The calculation of some members of the group said to be seeking the position of Ndukwe for a particular section of the country, are said to have worked with the Economic Adviser who is said to wield enormous influence at the Presidency to cut short Ndukwe's tenure which will end in 2010.

The plot to remove Ndukwe has been on since the advent of the current administration mid last year, as different interest groups have aspired to the position using political sentiments and connections but have been ignored by the Presidency. The latest move is being attributed to interests from the northern part of the country who believe that it is an opportunity to let a northerner take a shot at the popular position of the chief executive of the Commission, even if it will cost Ndukwe his job.

Indications emerged weekend that the President may have rebuffed the plot as he was reported to have forwarded the memo to the Minister of State for Communications, Alhaji Dasuki Nakande, for his comments. The minister was also said to have soft pedaled on the matter since 60 years is not the mandatory retirement date for Ndukwe whose job is on appointment and not lapse till 2010. He was said to have based his argument on due process which required that Ndukwe be allowed to run his full term since he has performed creditably well.

But Nakande is said to be under considerable pressure from some quarters who favoured Alhaji Ibrahim Nahuche, former NITEL managing director under Transcorp, as his "replacement should Mr. President insist on cutting short the tenure of Ndukwe."

There were indications that the President may have put paid to the contents of their memo as the reasons advanced for Ndukwe's replacement are not tenable. Presidency sources said Ndukwe is not due for retirement on account of age as many chief executives of Commissions are above 60. The source cited the headship of different commissions like the Independent National Electoral Commission, by Professor Maurice Iwu, who is far above 60, and chairman of the Financial and Economic Crimes Commission, EFCC Mrs. Farida Waziri who is a retired police officer.

"This is a political appointment, and not career civil service where the issue of retirement age comes in,"he said. The Presidency is also said to be wary of a likely public anger over replacement of Ndukwe who has very wide industry support for his performance against widely held views that key positions in all the federal parasatals are being moved to the North.

Recently, a group of opinion leaders from the South East has moved against the rumoured plans to remove the Central Bank Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo and replaced him with a northerner when his tenure is yet to be completed.

Telecom lawyers who reviewed the situation at the weekend concluded that there is no basis for such dubious recommendation.

According to one senior telecoms lawyer who pleaded anonymity, Section 12 (2) of the Nigerian Communications Act has ample and clear provisions about the status of the Chief Executive Officer of the NCC as an appointment based on tenure. According to him, the section provides that "the chief executive shall be a person possessing sound knowledge of and ability in the organisation and management of communications matters and subject to sections 8(3) and 8 (4) of this Act, he shall hold office for a term of five years and may be renewed for another term and no more.

Section 8(2) of the Act according to the lawyer, also provides that the Board of Commissioners of the Commission "shall make recommendations to the President on suitably qualified persons for appointment as the Commission's Chief Executive and Executive Commissioners and the President shall take the Commission's recommendations into consideration for the appointment," he said.

He said the relevant sections of the law have provisions regarding the tenure and circumstances under which the tenure of the chief executive shall cease and none is applicable to the position of Ndukwe at the moment.

"It is therefore conclusive that even when Ndukwe's second tenure lapses in 2010, the provisions for the process of appointment of the new chief executive officer for the Commission is clear.

"This backdoor activity is only preposterous and tendentious, and those behind it have no reference," the senior lawyer added.

There is currently a long list of heads of various government commissions whose chief executives are above 60 years or are retired public servants.

For instance, the current former chief executive of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, Justice Akanbi, a retired Justice of the Appeal court, who is certainly above 60 years, had completed additional eight years of two tenures. His successor, Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, is also a retired Justice. Same goes for the Independent Electoral Commission whose former chief Executive, Abel Guobadia and his successor, Professor Maurice Iwu, are more than 60 years old. The current chairman of the Economic and Financial Commission, Mrs. Farida, was a retired police officer.

Industry analysts think that the scramble for the position of the current EVC of NCC before his tenure ends in 2010 are those seeking relevance so that they will get consideration when the time comes in 2010, but the achievement of Ndukwe appears to be looming much larger than those being touted as his replacement in 2010.

source: click here