Viktor Mayer-Schönberger Information + Innovation Policy Research Centre, NUS Singapore

1. The Demise of Electronic Government
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger
Information + Innovation Policy Research Centre, NUS Singapore
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2. The Promise of Electronic Government
Higher public sector efficiency
Better service to citizens, thereby...
...facilitating economic growth
...enhancing trust in government
Deepening of citizen participation in public matters
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3. The Reality of Electronic Government
Economic Gains Unclear
Measuring Challenge / Measuring Avoidance
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4. The Measure of Success
EU(18) EU(28)
100
75
78
75 75
72 70
66 65
50 59
45
25
0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Percentage of Online Sophistication of Public Services in the EU - Source: i2010 Report 4

5. The Measure of Success?
EU(18) EU(28)
100
Two-way transactional
75
78
75 75
72 70
66 65
50 59
45
25
0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Percentage of Online Sophistication of Public Services in the EU - Source: i2010 Report 5

6. The Reality of Electronic Government
Economic Gains Unclear
Measuring Challenge / Measuring Avoidance
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7. The Reality of Electronic Government
Economic Gains Unclear
Measuring Challenge / Measuring Avoidance
Elusive Customer Value: We are building, but they won’t come...
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8. If we build, will they come?
Services Fully Online Citizen’s Use
90.0
67.5
45.0
22.5
0
Austria Estonia United Kingdom Slovenia Belgium
Source: i2010 Report 8

9. White Tails I: Austria’s E-Government
Offline Transactions E-gov Transactions
From 2001-2005 only 577
e-government transactions took
place in Austria’s rich Salzburg
province, on average less than 0.1%
three e-government
transactions a week.
99.9%
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10. White Tails II: Austria’s E-Government
E-Gov Services never used E-gov Services used
Of 60 e-government services offered
online, 23 were never used even
once in five years.
39%
61%
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11. The Reality of Electronic Government
Economic Gains Unclear
Measuring Challenge / Measuring Avoidance
Elusive Customer Value: We are building, but they won’t come...
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12. The Reality of Electronic Government
Economic Gains Unclear
Measuring Challenge / Measuring Avoidance
Elusive Customer Value: We are building, but they won’t come...
Technology Platforms Fail to Ignite Cross Agency Collaboration
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13. FirstGov
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14. Moving
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15. The Reality of Electronic Government
Economic Gains Unclear
Measuring Challenge / Measuring Avoidance
Elusive Customer Value: We are building, but they won’t come...
Technology Platforms Fail to Ignite Cross Agency Collaboration
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16. The Reality of Electronic Government
Economic Gains Unclear
Measuring Challenge / Measuring Avoidance
Elusive Customer Value: We are building, but they won’t come...
Technology Platforms Fail to Ignite Cross Agency Collaboration
Failed (Re)Birth of Strong Democracy
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17. The Reality of Electronic Government
Economic Gains Unclear
Measuring Challenge / Measuring Avoidance
Elusive Customer Value: We are building, but they won’t come...
Technology Platforms Fail to Ignite Cross Agency Collaboration
Failed (Re)Birth of Strong Democracy
The Substantively Empty Electronic Agora
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18. eRulemaking - The Promise
Bringing rulemaking to the masses
Utilizing Internet technology
Emphasis on transparency & participation (inclusion)
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19. eRulemaking - The Reality
Only a small fraction of the electorate participated,
even for the most popular draft rules
Only a tiny number of proposed rules galvanize participation, average
participation is less that 1/20 of most popular ones
Only a miniscule number of comments are original and not
boilerplate, especially on the more popular rule proposals
Broad substantive participation remains illusive
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20. The Tragedy of E-Government
Government agencies fail to cooperate on electronic government
projects, thus stalling electronic government progress.
Citizens do not embrace electronic government.
E-government as a concept fails to provide us with reasons why.
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21. Electronic Government
Conceptualizes electronic
government as novel and
distinct
Emphasizes engineered
approaches, and technical
solutions
Exudes techno-determinism
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22. Information Government
Focuses on information and
information flows, within
government, and between
government and citizens
Recognizes that people
change information flows, not
technology
Understands that people
desire to control information
flows, with or without
technology
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23. I-Gov Consequences
Refocus on Theories of Organizational Behavior: to understand
and assist in selecting and implementing projects that aim at changing
information flows
Reassess Value Propositions: outcome quality (rather than process
volume) improvements through better information variety
Reconceptualize the Citizen: appreciating the tension of customer
and citoyen
Reimagine the Role of Information Intermediaries: from the
Electronic Town Hall to Habermas’ Information Plurality
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