A Framework for Citizen-Centric Government Websites

Abstract

This author argues for a stronger end-user and citizen-centric approach to the development and evaluation of e-government services provided via the Internet. Over the past decade government agencies at all levels have created web sites that provide primarily information and only offer few two-way transactions. The predicted and hoped for resulting transformation of government at all levels due to the advent of Internet services seems yet to occur. The overall development of e-government services has been slow and uneven. To add value to existing and future government web sites, public administrators need to come to grips with a framework presented here and to understand the nature of and relationships among three variables: End-user, task, and channel characteristics and then consider their respective role and impact on channel selection. This framework along with an end-user perspective enables public administrators to assess not only the value of current information and service channels, but newer information and communication technologies such as those found in Web 2.0 or social media developments. Recommendations are offered.