State E-government Research Articles

Analyzing e-government agencies’ Twitter/X engagement: A case study of Nevada

This research aims to investigate the dynamics of interactivity between Nevada’s e-government and its citizens through the utilization of social media, with a specific focus on Twitter. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the study analyzed how Nevada state agencies engage with the public on Twitter, while concurrently assessing citizens’ responses through qualitative empirical research. These responses were categorized into content features, encompassing subjective opinions and sentiments (positive/negative), and structural features, comprising objective elements like special characteristics and multimedia components. Content analysis was employed to explore these features, leading to the identification of seven themes within a hypothesized two-dimensional framework, encompassing both the reflection of interactivity and the transmission of interactivity.<br /> Quantitative methods, specifically ANOVA and multiple regression analysis, were utilized to test the hypothesis. The findings revealed that Nevada e-government agencies predominantly used Twitter for one-way information dissemination, with limited two-way communication with citizens. To enhance interactivity, it is suggested that e-government posts incorporate multimedia elements and external links to facilitate information dissemination. Public administrators in the State of Nevada should focus on providing valuable and beneficial government posts, encouraging citizens to respond and express their opinions. Continuous training for public administrators is recommended, given the rapid advancements in technology and social media platforms.<br /> Furthermore, adopting best practices from domestic and international social media companies is advised to stay innovative. Public administration should transition from merely governing individuals and information to becoming facilitators and moderators of discourse on social media platforms. State e-government can strengthen citizen interaction by consistently delivering valuable information on social media, thereby obtaining immediate feedback, and influencing public opinion.

The Rationale for Universal Access to Digital Services

The regulated telecommunication markets found in many countries often include the social principle that telecommunications infrastructure should be reasonably available to all at fair and affordable rates. In Australia, this concept of universal service aims to ensure that all people, wherever they reside or carry on business, should have reasonable access, on an equitable basis, to standard telephone services and payphones. The hallmark of the universal service regime has been the reasonable availability of public payphones and the subsidised installation of telecommunications infrastructure at premises nationwide to provide standard telephone services. With the advent and ongoing evolution of broadband technologies a new need has arisen and that is for everyone to have reasonable access, on an equitable basis, to specified digital services, including egovernment services. This paper presents a position and identifies future research necessary to support the transition from the universal service regime to a universal access regime that enshrines the principle of ensuring that federal, state and local egovernment and other specified digital services are reasonably accessible to all, on an equitable basis, wherever they work or live.

The Rationale for Universal Access to Digital Services

The regulated telecommunication markets found in many countries often include the social principle that telecommunications infrastructure should be reasonably available to all at fair and affordable rates. In Australia, this concept of universal service aims to ensure that all people, wherever they reside or carry on business, should have reasonable access, on an equitable basis, to standard telephone services and payphones. The hallmark of the universal service regime has been the reasonable availability of public payphones and the subsidised installation of telecommunications infrastructure at premises nationwide to provide standard telephone services. With the advent and ongoing evolution of broadband technologies a new need has arisen and that is for everyone to have reasonable access, on an equitable basis, to specified digital services, including egovernment services. This paper presents a position and identifies future research necessary to support the transition from the universal service regime to a universal access regime that enshrines the principle of ensuring that federal, state and local egovernment and other specified digital services are reasonably accessible to all, on an equitable basis, wherever they work or live.

State e-Government Portals in Malaysia

Most of the international e-Government benchmarking studies have focused on national government websites such as portal of ministries at the national level. This paper examines the level of sophistication of e-Government websites for different states in Malaysia, as opposed to a national level assessment, both in terms of the breadth and depth of e-Government service offering. This paper adds to the existing body of knowledge in relation to e-Government web portal assessment in two ways. First, studies pertaining to e-Government in Malaysia focus mainly on implementation issues at the Federal/National level– The authors examined State level implementation of e-Government services. Secondly, they used a predetermined instrument to assess the sophistication level of State government web portals, by consolidating different measurement items from our review of literature over the past ten years. The authors analyzed the website for a total of thirteen states in Malaysia, in relation to six different dimension measures of e-Government service offerings, as prescribed by literature. These six dimension measures are the extent of transparency, interactivity, usability and accessibility of the portal, citizen participation, security and privacy, and maturity level of services. A content analysis of the web portal was done, using a predetermined instrument developed based on our review of literature on this topic, in the past ten years. Their findings suggest that different State Governments in Malaysia demonstrate different levels of maturity in relation to the six dimensions measured.

EXPLORING THE U.S. STATE E-GOVERNMENT USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR DEMOCRACY

Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have empowered people to engage in democracy campaigns around the globe. While the totalitarian governments view social media as threats, the democratic governments consider them as opportunities for better engaging people in government affairs. This study explored the U.S. state e-government use of social media. The findings indicate that state e-government sites offered 10 information categories and eight social media tools to keep government transparent and citizens engaged. The majority of citizens’ comments on the state e-government social media were positive. The state e-government use of social media is still in the introduction stage and has a great growth potential. Therefore, the further research was recommended.

Opportunities and threats: A security assessment of state e-government websites

This study assessed the security of the U.S. state e-government sites to identify opportunities for and threats to the sites and their users. The study used a combination of three methods – web content analysis, information security auditing, and computer network security mapping – for data collection and analysis. The findings indicate that most state e-government sites posted privacy and security policy statements; however, only less than half stated clearly what security measures were in action. Second, the information security audit revealed that 98% of the sites secured users' accounts with SSL encryption for data transmission, and the sites' search tools enable public users to search for public information only. Third, although the sites had most of their internet ports filtered or behind firewalls, all of them had their main IP addresses detected and their port 80/tcp open. The study discussed the threats and opportunities and suggested possible solutions for improving e-government security.

Change Management for e-Governance

Change Management for e-Governance

A VULNERABILITY AUDIT OF THE U.S. STATE E-GOVERNMENT NETWORK SYSTEMS

This study investigated the network vulnerability status of the e-government service portals of the 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. The findings indicate that most state e-government portals had their network information, such as portal’s IP address, CIDR, and network range, publicly available on the Internet through the Google search. However, the state e-government portals had their most ports filtered or behind firewalls with very few open ports— Port 80/tcp and Port 443/tcp. To further reduce the vulnerability of state e-government network systems, this paper recommended how to hide portal’s IP address and how to secure open ports.

Information Resource Managers and E-government Effectiveness: A Survey of Texas State Agencies

This study examines the views of information resource managers (IRMs) in Texas state agencies on e-government. The existing empirical research has focused on what local governments provide in terms of e-government information and services and less on the perspectives of key e-government decision makers. This study fills this void by examining how e-government had an impact on management of state agencies. Theories and expectations are provided on what the literature argues are the most important impacts of e-government on management. Specifically, these are the reinventing government movement, external environmental pressures, resource capacity, and demographic factors. A survey of Texas state agency IRMs was administered in the late spring of 2005 and the results are reported in this study. The findings revealed that the reinventing government movement, external environmental pressures, and resource capacity were the most important factors that had an impact on e-government management capacity. In this study, the size of state agency was not found to be as important. Future research should focus more on state e-government management, an often-neglected area of research.

Potential trust barriers in US state e-government privacy policies

Online privacy and consumer trust is of concern for all types of websites when personal information is shared. Privacy policies provide an opportunity to promote consumer trust for popular uses of the web especially given the proliferation of online privacy breaches. One such use for which consumer trust and privacy is of growing concern is electronic government. This study assesses the contents and reading complexity of privacy policies posted by the US state government websites. The findings show that the lack of standardisation and complexity may pose as impediments to consumer trust in the use of these sites.

Architectural accessibility and reading complexity of US state e-government for older adult users

The US aging population can benefit greatly from e-government resources because of their immediate availability. Unfortunately, older adults may encounter web barriers preventing access to e-government resources. This study assessed potential barriers associated with state e-government in terms of link descriptions, navigational depth, and reading complexity. Results showed that most state sites were not readily accessible by older adults. Only 5% had descriptive homepage links navigating directly to senior resources. Fifteen percent required navigation through four or more secondary pages to access senior resources. Over 91% of sampled content targeting seniors had a reading grade level higher than eighth grade.