Online Government Research Articles

Realities of Microenterprises' ICT Use for Business Activities and for Acquiring Online Government Support: A Study in Western Cape Province, South Africa

Realities of Microenterprises' ICT Use for Business Activities and for Acquiring Online Government Support: A Study in Western Cape Province, South Africa

DETERMINANTS OF CITIZEN’S INTENTION TO USE ONLINE E -GOVERNMENT SERVICES: A VALIDATION OF UMEGA MODEL

DETERMINANTS OF CITIZEN’S INTENTION TO USE ONLINE E -GOVERNMENT SERVICES: A VALIDATION OF UMEGA MODEL

How Government Surveillance Policies Modify SNS Use in South Korea

Abstract The present study examines the assumption that online users would be influenced by widely reported privacy threats; namely, that public servants might monitor personal online communications between instant messenger users, and compel the Korean domestic social network service (SNS) providers to cooperate with their surveillance efforts. Utilizing uses and gratifications (U&G) theory, we integrate previous research on government surveillance, privacy concern, and motivation variables regarding SNS use. A survey of South Korean users reveals that privacy concern is mediating the relationship between governmental online surveillance and SNS switching intention. Structural equation modeling results suggest that SNS switching intention is predicted positively by interaction motivation and negatively by convenience motivation. Privacy concern mediates the relationship between governmental online surveillance and SNS switching intention. These findings illustrate the measures that users take in response to telecommunication policy actions, particularly those that might logically pose a threat to online privacy. Study findings thus help provide support for a novel theoretical framework that illustrates the utility of media U/G variables in the context of online privacy conceptions stemming from perceived threats of online government surveillance. We conclude by discussing implications for policymakers stemming from user remedies to circumvent state surveillance initiatives.

How Government Surveillance Policies Modify SNS Use in South Korea

Abstract The present study examines the assumption that online users would be influenced by widely reported privacy threats; namely, that public servants might monitor personal online communications between instant messenger users, and compel the Korean domestic social network service (SNS) providers to cooperate with their surveillance efforts. Utilizing uses and gratifications (U&G) theory, we integrate previous research on government surveillance, privacy concern, and motivation variables regarding SNS use. A survey of South Korean users reveals that privacy concern is mediating the relationship between governmental online surveillance and SNS switching intention. Structural equation modeling results suggest that SNS switching intention is predicted positively by interaction motivation and negatively by convenience motivation. Privacy concern mediates the relationship between governmental online surveillance and SNS switching intention. These findings illustrate the measures that users take in response to telecommunication policy actions, particularly those that might logically pose a threat to online privacy. Study findings thus help provide support for a novel theoretical framework that illustrates the utility of media U/G variables in the context of online privacy conceptions stemming from perceived threats of online government surveillance. We conclude by discussing implications for policymakers stemming from user remedies to circumvent state surveillance initiatives.

Responsive Authoritarianism in China -- a Review of Responsiveness in Xi and Hu Administrations

Xi Jinping’s efforts to recentralize political power have triggered a debate over if these changes will destroy the “authoritarian responsiveness” in China credited with regime durability. This review essay assesses “responsiveness” based on empirical research on three types of mechanisms through which the Hu-Wen administration interacted with citizens – within official settings (e.g. responding through government online portals), beyond official government arrangements (e.g. responding to protesters), and channels “in between” (e.g. responding to public outcry on social media). Recent studies seem to suggest that government responsiveness has been declining due to the centralization of political control, the tightening of ideological discipline, and the intolerance of citizen participation. Through our evaluation of the literature on responsiveness of the Chinese government under Xi’s leadership, we find that although initial signs of a less responsive government do exist, there are also counter-forces both inside and outside of the political system. Our findings suggest the need for longitudinal empirical studies of responsiveness to understand if the government might be less resilient due to changing feedback mechanisms.

User Based Design Model to Enhance Satisfaction by using Government Online Information

Government information online is a transformation of relations between the internal and external public sector, through ICT, to enhance government service delivery and participation in the citizenry. By using government information online, a lot of advantages can be obtained, and it is important for users from different generations to obtain positive benefits from them. As the world is quickly growing without boundaries, the Internet and the worldwide web have become a common means of providing government information and services to the public, the companies and other governmental organizations. This paper reports a review on the analysis of the usage patterns of government online information for different generation cohort and existing work related to satisfaction of online information. The analysis were based on two questions that address the usage patterns of government online information and existing works related to satisfaction. Based on seventy selected articles reviewed, it was found that we found that ‘education purpose’ is the most commonly investigated usage pattern and most of related works of satisfaction focusing in developing model and framework.

Smart Kampung: Characterisation of Surabaya Urban Coastal Settlements through Smart City Measurement

Surabaya is a metropolitan city in Indonesia, with the 4 million population. Therefore, it takes the smart city system to help The Government to optimize their service for citizen needs, and increasing its life quality, by putting interaction in the community based on ICT. Surabaya as a coastal city located on north coast of East Java Province make this city has several district in coastal area, one of them is Bulak District which is known as the fishing settlement integrated with tourism. Their character, totally different with midtown settlement. So do the given policy, there will be a difference treatments between coastal and midtown settlement. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the characteristic of coastal settlements that will support Surabaya as a smart city. This study aims to determine the criteria of urban settlements development in Surabaya based on smart city concept, focused on coastal urban settlement. To achieve this goal, it will use qualitative and quantitative approach (mixed method) which focuses on field conditions and community preferences in the location of settlement in the study area and must be through the 3 stage analysis. The first stage is identifying the smart potentials of coastal settlement using qualitative descriptive analysis. The second is identifying influential variables with using Confirmatory Factor Analysis feature on SmartPLS Application. The third was a determination of smart coastal settlement criteria using Pairwise comparison-triangulation. The result is there are 13 criteria of smart coastal settlement, spreaded on 6 major dimension. These criteria became a basic of dynamic measurement for smartkampung prototype which has so far resulted for identification and intelligence character on Bulak coastal settlement, included an entrepreneurship activities with local resources and uses ICT in its development; good accesibility which supported by the community’s ability to follow transportation technology; ICT-based environmental management activities and community participation; creative community, open-technology-minded and able to preserve local coastal culture; sea tidal disaster free area that is equipped with mitigation facilities; developing an ICT-based tourist attraction area, and also achieving positive impact from the online Government’s service.

Human Chrysomya bezziana myiasis: A systematic review.

BackgroundMyiasis due to Old World screw-worm fly, Chrysomya bezziana, is an important obligate zoonotic disease in the OIE-list of diseases and is found throughout much of Africa, the Indian subcontinent, southeast and east Asia. C. bezziana myiasis causes not only morbidity and death to animals and humans, but also economic losses in the livestock industries. Because of the aggressive and destructive nature of this disease in hosts, we initiated this study to provide a comprehensive understanding of human myiasis caused by C. bezziana.MethodsWe searched the databases in English (PubMed, Embase and African Index Medicus) and Chinese (CNKI, Wanfang, and Duxiu), and international government online reports to 6th February, 2019, to identify studies concerning C. bezziana. Another ten human cases in China and Papua New Guinea that our team had recorded were also included.ResultsWe retrieved 1,048 reports from which 202 studies were ultimately eligible for inclusion in the present descriptive analyses. Since the first human case due to C. bezziana was reported in 1909, we have summarized 291 cases and found that these cases often occurred in patients with poor hygiene, low socio-economic conditions, old age, and underlying diseases including infections, age-related diseases, and noninfectious chronic diseases. But C. bezziana myiasis appears largely neglected as a serious medical or veterinary condition, with human and animal cases only reported in 16 and 24 countries respectively, despite this fly species being recorded in 44 countries worldwide.ConclusionOur findings indicate that cryptic myiasis cases due to the obligate parasite, C. bezziana, are under-recognized. Through this study on C. bezziana etiology, clinical features, diagnosis, treatment, epidemiology, prevention and control, we call for more vigilance and awareness of the disease from governments, health authorities, clinicians, veterinary workers, nursing homes, and also the general public.

Time-trend analysis of fruit and vegetable intake in Hong Kong, 2004–2016

ObjectivesIn 2005, the Hong Kong government launched a series of large-scale dietary promotion campaigns aiming to increase fruit and vegetable intake. This study aimed to investigate changes in mean fruit and vegetable intake in the population between 2004 and 2016. Study designTime-trend analysis. MethodsFruit and vegetable intake data from adults aged 18–64 years between 2004 and 2016 were extracted from government online databases. Descriptive analyses were conducted. One-way analysis of variance was employed to compare population-weighted age-specific and sex-specific mean fruit and vegetable intake at 95% confidence levels in SPSS. ResultsBetween 2004 and 2016, mean fruit intake (males: 0.70–1.22 servings/day; females: 0.95–1.59 servings/day) and mean vegetable intake (males: 1.80–2.51 servings/day; females: 2.10–2.83 servings/day) among Hong Kong adults across all age groups were lower than recommended. Adults aged 45–54 years and over ate more fruit than younger adults. However, decreasing fruit intake trends were observed among both females and males across all ages. The decreased mean fruit intake among males aged 35–54 years and females aged 35–44 years and below has become statistically significant in more recent years, which may indicate a slow transitioning toward significantly lower mean fruit intake across these age groups. Although statistically non-significant, increasing vegetable intake trends were observed among adults aged 35–44 years and below, which may indicate a slow transitioning process toward significantly higher mean vegetable intake among these age groups. However, there is concern about the downward vegetable intake trends among adults aged 45–64 years. ConclusionsMore research is needed to investigate the effectiveness of dietary promotion campaigns, especially in terms of promotion coverage and population age ranges. More effective strategies are needed to increase fruit and vegetable intake in the population.

Social and Networking Effects on the Online Diffusion of Opinion on a UK Government Petition - A Phase Transition?

The UK online Government petition ‘Revoke Article 50’ was both the largest and fastest growing petition ever registered, peak growth achieved 60,000 signatures per hour with the total number reaching 6,087,845. The pattern of signatures followed a sinusoidal curve, consistent with the logistic process and simple epidemic diffusion models such as S:I (susceptible, infected). This suggests that the growth rate of signatures is proportional to the frequency of contacts between actors as opposed to a direct transmission from a single source. I argue that this is also consistent with the “two step flow” (Lazarsfeld & Katz) theory of message diffusion. The assumption behind the logistics process and the S:I model is that of a well mixed homogenous population. Networks like Twitter and Facebook are: homophilic, small-world, long-tailed, exhibit one or more “large components”, and so on. As an alternative I consider threshold models. In particular the work of Watts. The two step flow theory is controversial. Watts,questions whether or not influentials are really influential. He develops simulations to sustain this. These however are centred on random (E_R) networks, and the arguments do not work so well in the context of scale free networks (A_R), where hyper-influentials do exist as the root of the largest trees in s-f distributions. Empirically hyper-influentials did play a role in disseminating Revoke Art 50 retweets. There is psychological evidence of thresholds (personality) in both voting and in following particular websites and that these traits occur in geographical clusters Clusters of vote Remain voters and Revoke Art 50 endorsers are compared. A 1000 vertex scale free network was simulated and diffusion processes with high and low density, central and marginal original tweeters (i.e., either inside or outside a giant connected component, high and low threshold barriers. The objective being to simulate whether Watt’s transition point (“cascade conditions”) would in fact trigger a global cascade as did indeed happen empirically. This did, offer support for Watt’s conjecture but in the context of scale free rather than random networks. A threshold process of this kind could be operating on social networks and that the phase change and subsequent global cascade were the result of the endorsement of “hyper-influentials” who in effect engineered a transition to a high density, low threshold giant hub. I also argue for a qualified revival of the “two step” flow model with hyper-influentials.

Reconsidering “Advanced Maternal Age”: communicating about pregnancy, disability risk and ageing

ABSTRACT In this paper, I consider the term “Advanced Maternal Age” (AMA), which appears in various avenues of information for pregnant women, including medical literature and more “common knowledge” avenues of communication, such as government websites and online forums. I explore the increasingly routine use of this phrase, and I problematize its usual definition, to mean “35 or older.” I argue that this definition—rather than being a neutral, medical fact—is socially constructed, and the number 35 is arbitrarily chosen, in a way that perpetuates stigma against older women and their bodies. The definition ignores many relevant factors for considering medical “risk” and contributes to discourses that continue to frame pregnancy as risky, requiring expert surveillance and intervention. I also argue that the widespread use of this phrase in medical literature as well as other sites of discourse perpetuates the ableist idea that children with disabilities are undesirable or less valuable.

Imagining Future Cities: Aesthetic Design Guidelines for Wireless Small Cells in Urban Landscapes

Wireless towers with big antennas and large equipment shelters are decreasing as the primary type of wireless infrastructure in favor of more diversified designs, varying in size, network architecture, and capacity. The definitional boundary between typical macro sites of the 1990s and increasingly popular small cell networks are slowly blending as the backend architecture and the equipment on a site are designed to meet a greater variety of capacity and coverage needs through heterogeneous networks. As the design of wireless network architecture is changing, so are their appearance in our surrounding environment. As a result, municipal authorities are increasingly under pressure by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and wireless carriers to adapt and evolve their siting and permitting practices to accommodate a variety of different types of facilities. This paper will evaluate how innovation in LTE and 5G equipment is changing the design of physical wireless networks, establish an understanding of ‘contextual appropriateness’ in the blending of new small cells with the previously built environment, and prescribe aesthetic design guidelines for improving people’s experience with new urban wireless facilities. The methodology will include identifying technological trajectories and possibilities in wireless small cell designs, categorization of existing available assets for their deployment, an analysis of contextual appropriateness, and the development of objective design principles that will facilitate structured guidelines for network deployment. First, the paper will consider how wireless network equipment is evolving in different types of network topologies. Second, as small cells are typically placed on poles, these deployments will be categorized based on commonly available vertical assets in the Rights of Way, types of street furniture available for small cell integration opportunities, and other types of design ideas that leverage existing structures. Third, the definition of contextual appropriateness will be examined through city planning and architectural integration principles and typical constraints within the urban landscape. This paper will heavily utilize visual examples of previously deployed designs to analyze their technological components, design elements, and methods of construction and composition. Many of these visual examples are available in FCC docket filings relating to the recent relevant proceedings (WT Docket 17-79 and related), as well as in many articles and online government resources. Fourth, this research will contribute to a systematic method of evaluating the quality of small cell designs on a methodical basis, replacing the existing common practice of relying on subjective, improvised, and often contradictory aesthetic preferences. The resulting design recommendations and architectural best practices will facilitate many local efforts to develop preferential guidelines that achieve long-term compromise between preserving the character of their community and advancing to the smart cities of the future. The guidelines will also promote a more positive public perception and a more welcoming attitude toward the widespread integration of wireless facilities. The way that wireless technology will become deployed in the future of a given urban neighborhood will become its history, its character, and its legacy for advanced technological systems yet to come.

Access to cannabis retail stores across Canada 6 months following legalization: a descriptive study.

On Oct. 17, 2018, Canada legalized recreational cannabis with the dual goals of reducing youth use and eliminating the illicit cannabis market. We examined factors associated with access to physical cannabis stores across Canada 6 months following legalization. We extracted the address and operating hours of all legal cannabis stores in Canada from online government and private listings. We conducted a descriptive study examining the association between private/hybrid (mixture of government and private stores) and government-only retail models with 4 measures of physical access to cannabis: store density, weekly hours of operation, median distance to the nearest school and relative availability of cannabis stores between low- and high-income neighbourhoods. Six months after legalization, there were 260 cannabis retail stores across Canada: 181 privately run stores, 55 government-run stores and 24 stores in the hybrid retail system. Compared to jurisdictions with a government-run model, jurisdictions with a private/hybrid retail model had 49% (95% confidence interval 10%-200%) more stores per capita, retailers were open on average 9.2 more hours per week, and stores were located closer to schools (median 166.7 m). In both retail models, there was over twice the concentration of cannabis stores in neighbourhoods in the lowest income quintile compared to the highest income quintile. Marked differences in physical access to cannabis retail are emerging between jurisdictions with private/hybrid retail models and those with government-only retail models. Ongoing surveillance including monitoring differences in cannabis use and harms across jurisdictions is needed.

The determinants and effects of online privacy concerns in the context of e-commerce

Abstract We present a model that links individual factors and government regulation with online privacy concerns (OPC) and examines consumer responses to privacy threats in Croatia, the newest European Union (EU) member state, where privacy is still an under-explored issue. The proposed hypotheses are tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). The sample includes 1990 Internet users. The results show that respondents would like to have more control over their personal information and that government online regulation is perceived as weak and increases OPC, while previous experience and demographics are less important or even insignificant. This study empirically confirms that OPC is positively related to personal information fabrication and negatively affects willingness to share information. In addition, the results show that there is no direct relationship between OPC and online purchases. OPC does, however, affect attitudes towards online shopping, which drive online purchases.

Do multilingual androids dream of a better life in Australia? Effectiveness of information technology for government translation to support refugees and migrants in Australia

AbstractWithout high‐quality translation of online information about government support and services, refugees and migrants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in Australia experience a major barrier to improved health, employment, education and social outcomes. Recent advances in the ability of Google Translate, Skype Translator and other forms of machine translation that use artificial intelligence can help translate government information to better support refugees and migrants but they bring the risk of ineffective communication, and exclusion from services that could positively impact on settlement experiences and daily life. Evidence suggests that government agencies are likely to be using human translators for most translation work, but the degree to which any form of information technology is used, how it may be best applied and the associated effects are not known. This study systematically reviewed the peer‐reviewed and grey literature to determine effective ways of using information technology for translating government information to refugees and migrants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in Australia. Included studies were analysed to identify techniques and other characteristics of translation, information technology and language support more broadly, and outcomes on education, health, social and other refugee and migrant experiences relating to translated information. Our review found a small evidence base featuring studies with strong evaluation demonstrating effective forms of ‘language support’ for refugees and migrants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in Australia in a broad sense. However, there is a major gap in knowledge that is contributing to barriers in the use of online government information in Australia. In particular, there is an absence of evidence demonstrating what is effective in the use of machine translation with artificial intelligence, websites and other kinds of information technology for translating government information with refugees and migrants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The oversight risks further excluding already marginalised groups from services and support. This paper makes a number of suggestions practitioners can take to address the issue and guidelines for future research.

Urban Competitiveness and the Smart City: An Empirical Analysis in a Developing Country Context

This paper examines whether smart city programs, and information technology in general, contribute to urban competitiveness. Using regression analysis, it investigates the contribution of different metrics of the information economy, network society, online government and digital life to the competitiveness of cities. At a more general level, it seeks to measure the benefits of the application of information technology to the economic competitiveness, livability and environmental sustainability of cities. It concludes with guidance for urban development in developing countries.

Analysis of Environmental Issues with an Application of Civil Complaints: The Case of Shiheung City, Republic of Korea.

The aim of this study was to better identify the information generated by citizens and to explore the regional social phenomenon whereby higher quality urban services focused on understanding regional issues are promoted. Citizens voluntarily and continuously communicate with local government both online and offline. We wanted to determine how civic information can be applied to urban planning. We selected Shiheung City, Republic of Korea, as our study area, as the city is formed of various types of land use: industrial areas, agricultural land, and residential areas. This area is facing developmental pressure with released development-restricted areas, and has been environmentally damaged by industrial complexes. We conducted a semantic network analysis of the top 10% most commonly used nouns in civil complaints to determine the keywords. Each thematic map we created was based on geographical information to explain the temporary, continuous, and chronic issues. The chronic problems were discussed in relation to the regional development process. The process of identifying and analyzing local issues by analyzing information voluntarily provided by citizens plays an important role in government-led urban management planning and policy formation and can contribute to decision making in the development of future urban policies.

Transforming rural housing land to farmland in Chongqing, China: The land coupon approach and farmers’ complaints

Rapid urbanization in China since 1978 has created enormous pressure on farmland, which is encroached by not only urban expansion but also rural construction of peasant housing and services. As a land-use planning and management response, the Central Government endorsed a policy that bundles the reduction of rural construction land with the increase of urban built-up area, thus making it possible to connect the two seemingly contradictory processes between adding on to and taking off from the farmland bank by reclamation of rural construction sites and urban expansion respectively. This paper contributes to an emerging literature on the study of transformation of rural construction land by examining the land coupon approach and the associated complaints from the participating farmers in Chongqing, China. Data are collected from a government online feedback platform, supplemented by public policy documents. The findings reveal that the land coupon approach is a kaleidoscope that demonstrates a wide range of players in the farmland reclamation process. Farmers go through a lengthy and complicated process shaped by historical inconsistencies of policies, rent-seeking individuals and organizations, and market uncertainties. Their complaints focused on tangible issues especially on compensation payment, but intangible issues such as local and national policy intentions were totally ignored. Farmland reclamation is set to create landless farmers with poor social and financial security, which deserves attention in rethinking the land policies.

Assessment tool for e-services take-up (ATEST): a small Island states context

e-Services help in fostering the development of a knowledge society as more citizens and businesses can access, adopt and use government services through online channels. Existing evidence in Mauritius, however, shows low usage of online government services. The goal of this research consisted of developing a framework to guide government agencies in Mauritius in increasing the likelihood of success and uptake of e-Services. This study uses a novel approach, i.e. the Real-Time Delphi method based on a consensus of expert opinions as the main research method to identify critical success factors influencing the user uptake of e-Services. Moreover, it not only proposes a framework as a solution but also operationalises the framework into a tool which can be used in practice to predict the likelihood of take-up of an e-Service implemented by a Government agency. Additionally, the tool was made flexible so that it can be used not only in the Mauritian context but can also be adapted to reflect the context of other countries. Government policy-makers can leverage on the developed framework to formulate better policies and guidelines for the successful take-up of online public services in Mauritius. Furthermore, e-Service owners can use the tool to evaluate their e-Service strategy and identify priority areas where resources and effort have to be dedicated so that their e-Services can be successfully adopted and used by citizens. The validity and effectiveness of the tool was evaluated using existing e-Services in Mauritius having varying user uptake and the results were found to reflect to a great extent the prevailing uptake situation of existing e-Services.

The Analysis of E-Government Services Adoption and Use in Slovenian Information Society between 2014 and 2017

With the increasing role of information and communication technology (ICT) in the society, ICT’s role is gaining importance in the aspect of provision and use of the public sector services for the citizens. Especially in the European Union different activities have been conducted through the years to promote ICT use in the society. It has been mainly based on the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE), which underlines the key role of ICT in the efforts to achieve its strategic objectives. Slovenia as an EU member state follows these directions but positions itself among less successful states in the EU. The well-known European Digital Economy and Society Index ranks Slovenia to the lower half of member states indicating possibilities for improvement. Although much can be said and done about the service-providers side this paper focuses on the users’ side and especially on their digital inequality. The lack of studies in the area of digital inequality and online government services adoption and use is the main motivation for this research. The research uses the data provided by Slovenian annual survey Use of Information and Communication Technology in Households and by Individuals of the last four years. The analysis of this data, presented in the paper, exhibits that changes for the better are detected in Slovenian society, but the situation in public-sector services is not optima. The results demonstrate the existence of digital inequality considering the income level of households and education level of individual users. The synthesis of the data demonstrates that the Slovenian government and its ministries should consider adding tangible actions to the already set strategies if the country wants to catch up with the leading countries of the EU and achieve goals, set by the DAE.