Is e.government still more a dream than a reality ?

Résumé du document

Information Technology, especially the Internet, has definitely opened the political scene to the public. Its influence on politics relies on a new and widened visibility, mixed to a clearly new approach of communication. Indeed, it has become a common tool. And adding to the low cost of access, it has also become a brand new type of information and communication system, giving the choice for the users to select and interact. Facing this expansion, and following the logical way of thinking of the political actors, the new goal was then to reach the public to spread specific messages, whatever were their respective functions. That is why a lot of them really had to reconsider the Internet has the raising political highway. Behind this new reality, the British government could not avoid this U-turn. Indeed, and in a broad, large and sometimes painful effort to modernize public services, labour had to select and hold every significant way that could lead to a goal awaited by the public. If PM Tony Blair has proved a sincere conviction and concern in the development and use of IT within the governmental web, what is the situation of the so called "egov" initiative? Wondering about 'dream' or 'reality' on such an issue first requires to understand the real dynamic of this project, which could not be defined as a reform of any governmental agency but a complex, large and, most of all, global innovation dealing with the connections between the political sphere, the media and the public. Is there any better definition of the word 'challenge' ? Once this has been clarified, many alternative questions such as what are the 'targets', the main objectives, on which purpose and on which resources are effectively mobilized to reach them? Sectioning this reflection seems to be the best way to clearly analyse the meaning of the e-gov initiative. First, a further look on the project and its structure may be useful. Then, an analysis of the present possibilities could pave the way to a critical comment, which would form the last step of this essay.

Extraits

[...] Ruled by 6 of the main departments (Office of Deputy Prime Minister, Department for Education and skills, Department of Health, Home Office, Department for transport and Department for Work and Pensions), it provides a considerable amount of publications, allows an interaction between the services. It also constitutes a interactive area to provide individuals and officials information needed for the interaction between private and public services. Here is a short list of the sectors on which this site operates : Art and tourism, benefits and pension, consumer protection, crime, law and justice, emergencies, European issues This is important to keep in mind that this channel is ruled by the central government. [...]

[...] About the e.gov project and the administrative structure No doubt that the expansion of the Internet has deeply modified the exercise and portrayal of politics in many countries. If the United States were quite the first one to understand this new dynamic, the UK is one of the only ones which show such a determination both in terms of method and deadlines, determining them very precisely. Furthermore, and a fact that is not so obvious in many of its European neighbours (e.g France), the government has endowed itself with structured and specialized administrative branches to implement the whole system. [...]

[...] The arguments were first the departments, and the government generally speaking, could not raise enough money to fund the project11. Indeed, the delivery “obsession” needed a very good coordination between the many services, without which the electronic modernization could not operate correctly. Secondly, the behaviour of the public servants and their electronic “aptitudes” were supposed, according to the same detractors, to slow down the whole process to finally stem it Considering all the other elements developed in this paper, both these critics have appeared to be wrong. [...]

[...] Jean-Baptiste Buffet Subject: e.government still more a dream than a reality The Information Technology especially the Internet, have definitely opened the political scene to the public. Its influence on politics relies on a new and widened visibility, mixed to a clearly new approach of communication. Indeed, it has become a common tool. Therefore, and added to the low cost of the access, it has also become a brand new type of information and communication system, giving the choice for the users to select and interact on these very information. [...]

[...] Secondly, and this is one more time a decision the government has to take, informing the people about the online possibilities is also a priority. The Treasury asked several times for the saving of money, not spending a pound for ads or campaigns of information about e.gov. This was a mistake that led to the present situation : artistic haziness” around a pertinent system which lacks users, even if over the last two years, their number has increased significantly Note that this is not a personal comment, but a reccurent question, written in those terms. [...]