e government and the rise of online political engagement

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e-Government

And the Ri se of Onl ine Pol it ical Engagem ent

By EJ Odo and KC Kern

May 2013

15.565 Digital Evolution: Managing Web 3.0

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Sloan School of Management


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Table of Contents

Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 3

Part I: Public Administration and the Internet ..................................................................... 5Public Administration of Internet Infrastructure ............................................................. 5Online Public Services .................................................................................................... 8Transparency, Data, and Access .................................................................................... 10

Part II: Public Empowerment in Political Processes ......................................................... 13

The Arab Spring ............................................................................................................ 14Presidential Campaigning .............................................................................................. 16

Pre-2008 .................................................................................................................... 17

Web 2.0 and the 2008 Presidential Elections ............................................................ 18

Web 3.0 and the 2012 Presidential Elections ............................................................ 19Addressing Inequality .................................................................................................... 21

Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 23


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of the processes that support business, education, science, healthcare, and government.

Accordingly, government itself has been subject to the impact of information being

shared in new ways and at unprecedented rates. The landscape of politics as a whole is

being reshaped by the influence of the Internet and the effect of online engagement of

citizens, constituents, campaigns, and governing bodies.

This paper will explore selected areas in which the Internet has impacted, is currently

impacting, and will continue to impact government, policy, legislation and politics on

local, regional, federal, and international levels. Particular attention will be given to

emerging Web 3.0 technologies as a framework for influence on the dynamics of

politics and governments of the future.


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Part I: Public Administration and the Internet

Public administration is the branch of political science dealing with the implementation

of public policy by civil servants in the form of public services. The internet and online

technologies are relevant to public policy decisions and tactics in the contexts of (1)

providing Internet connectivity as a public service, (2) offering other public services via

the Internet (3) enabling transparency and accountability across the public sector.

Public Administration of Internet Infrastructure

For the Internet to be a relevant point in any discussion related to policy and governance,

there must exist an underlying assumption that the internet is at least moderately

available to both a substantial portion of the population and to elected officials and civil

servants.

This assumption, however, cannot always be made. Internet infrastructure is not unlike

many other aspects of national infrastructure in that it requires large-scale planning,

implementation, and maintenance, and is often subsidized if not entirely funded by

taxpayer funds. The precedence of telephone networks and even earlier telegraph

networks provided the starting point for infrastructure needs in the United States.

Governments have historically worked in tandem with private enterprises to build public

infrastructure. Telecom is no exception to this. AT&T, formally known as the American

Telephone and Telegraph Company, dates back to the earliest days of telephony spurred

by Alexander Graham Bell.3

Since then, fiber optic networks have replaced the copper

wire backbone of the US telecom infrastructure, with fiber lines positions strategically

3http://www.corp.att.com/history/


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along existing railroad lines, with Union Pacific Rail Road Companys routes used most

prolifically.4

On municipal levels, fiber optic rollout initiatives have also come to prominence recently.

The Google Fiberinitiative brings high speed Internet to communities on state-of-the-art

fiber networks promising to deliver unprecedented bandwidth. Current service is limited

to Kansas City, with plans for expansion to Austin, Texas and Provo, Utah.5

The city of

Provo has already invested in fiber lines during a failed municipal telecom initiative

known as iProvo; Google fiber will use the infrastructure already installed by the city

government to deliver its service.6

One particular study examines the establishment of broadband networks in a country that

had virtual nothing to build from: the western African nation of Togo.7 This research is

of particular interest because, unlike nations with more complex histories of internet

infrastructures, this one illuminates the issues arising from a population seeking

telecommunications specifically with the internet in mind. It begins by explaining the

governments interest in such an initiative.

In the past, countries in Africa embraced and embarked on technology policy

planning, often in isolation of larger development goals. This has changed in the

past decade where the drive to mainstream ICTs into development priorities has

pushed toward a better understanding of technologys contributions to economic

and social development.8

These contributions of technology to economic and social development are what bridges

4 http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/telecom/contacts/index.htm5

https://fiber.google.com/about/6

http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/17/4234258/google-fiber-is-coming-to-provo-utah7 Ben Akoh. Supporting Multistakeholder Internet Public Policy Dialogue in a LeastDeveloped Country: The Togo Experience. July 20128

Ibid, p1; emphasis added


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the gap between the underlying infrastructure deployment undertaken by government,

and the public benefits the government wishes to bring about. The finding of the study

bring to light some critical points about the populations interests regarding a national

Internet infrastructure:

Access to speedy, affordable, quality Internet and online trust and security arefundamental, essential and priority concerns for the growth of the Internet and

for development in Togo.

Gaps are evident on the significance of public informal and formal education,particularly on the benefits of the Internet to sustainable development.

Government is an important and key stakeholder in facilitating Internet publicpolicy in Togo, but all stakeholders are responsible for the evolution of the

Internet Internet access is important for business and education, but the existing cost

negatively impacts entrepreneurial growth.

Government remains a key stakeholder in the development, deployment andmonitoring of broadband and mobile broadband access to all Togolese.

Togolese are ready to conduct and transact business online, but cyber securityand online trust issues remain major deterrents.

Government should play a more active role in creating a public forum forInternet policy dialogue.

The Internet can significantly facilitate education and research, and it is animportant enabler for economic development. 9

In short, the national interests of supporting a national broadband infrastructure centralize

on the points of (1) facilitating business and commerce, (2) enabling widespread public

discourse, (3) empower education and research, and (4) fostering an effective legal

framework to support online services.

Given that a sustainable Internet infrastructure is in place, governments can then begin to

focus on online public services.

9Ibid p 30-31


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Online Public Services

Governments are notorious for bureaucracy, red tape, long wait-times, and substandard

customer service. The prevalence the Internet offers new opportunities to both improve

the quality and access of their public services and cut costs by implementing online

interfaces for public services. Inasmuch as Web 3.0 constitutes not only reading and

writing, but executingvia web-based tools, online public services connected with

individual citizen records becomes all the more relevant.

The Nebraska department of motor vehicles has championed these kinds of online

services with a program called ClickDMV, through which citizens may process a large

portion of their motor vehicle registration and licensing needs:

The DMV has emphasized online services for individuals. So far this year, 83,615

Nebraskans have used the ClickDMV driver licensing services. [ClickDMV] allows

Nebraskans to renew their driver licenses, obtain duplicates, check current point

totals, reinstate their driving privileges, and request a driving record. Those who live

in Douglas, Lancaster, and Sarpy counties can check the wait times at all the DMV

Examining Stations before leaving home. If the wait is more than 30 minutes, they

can take a number and reserve a spot in line from home.10

It further boasts the broader objective of these types of services in the context of the State

governments mission and objectives:

Nebraskas Department of Motor Vehicles is one more example of how our states e-

government efforts better serve the needs of our citizens.11

The State of Maryland has likewise harnessed the possibilities of the Internet beyond

simply the DMV. In a study seeking to understand the impacts of internet on public

administration, Maryland was cited as being on the forefront of prioritizing online public

10Governor Dave Heineman. Governor's Weekly Column: Click DMV. October 12, 2012

11Ibid


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services including tax management and business operation with the intent of increasing

IT investment and providing an integrated user experience.

The state of Maryland has invested for several years in providing services by internet

and offers more government services online than any other state (Center for Digital

Government, 2001). Along services on diversified areas, the state of Maryland allows

citizens to request for the opening of businesses by internet and make possible for

companies and citizens pay their taxes on line. Despite all the internet services

developed in tax area, in 2001 the state of Maryland started a project that aims the

provision of 80% of all state public services by internet in three years. The main

focus of Marylands internet portal project is integrate the services and information

provided by internet of all state agencies in order to optimize IT investment and

provide convenient services to citizens (Center for Digital Government, 2001).

According to the deputy manager of IT Department of Maryland state, the citizens

dont really have to know if one or two government agencies is involved in certain

type of service, but that service is provided by the government, so the more integrated

are the internet services provided by agencies, the better for the users.12

Web services offer a unique opportunity for governments to interact with citizens and

corporations also. While many transactions are considered in terms of B2B, B2C, C2C,

etc, the consideration of a government agency (G2B, G2C, etc) has interesting potential.

The state of Oklahoma has implement such a service, in which businesses may process

sales taxes via a web service. High-level instructions explain:

The Streamlined Sales Tax (SST) Implementation Guide allows for two methods of

transferring reports/payments to the member/associate state. These methods are

HTTP(S) POST and/or Web services (SOAP over HTTP transport). The Oklahoma

Streamlined Sales Tax EFile Service provides transmitters a method of submitting

reports/payments via Web services.13

Increased adoption of these services by governments will empower businesses to process

12Moyss De Oliveira Andrade Jnior. The Impacts of Internet on the Public

Administration Citizen Relationship: a Study at Bahias Tax Authority13

Oklahoma State Government. Streamlined Sales Tax Web Services Report/Payment

Transfer Guide.


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their taxes more effectively, reduce administrative overhead for both sides, and increase

overall tax revenue.

The issue that arises with the streamlining of data-rich transactions is that of visibility and

transparency. Security by obscurity is compounded when the volume of data to sift

through reaches unmanageably high levels. Fortunately, Internet technologies also offer

the means to address this issue with elegance and precision.

Transparency, Data, and Access

In the 1913 book Other People's Money And How the Bankers Use It, US Supreme Court

Associate Justice Louis Brandeis wrote that Sunlight is said to be the best of

disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.14

The electric light he prophetically refers to has staggering application to Internet

technologies. Governments can now be held to a higher level of scrutiny, and their

proceedings can be systematically traced with higher degree of precision. The Sunlight

foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that uses the power of the Internet to

catalyze greater government openness and transparency, and provides new tools and

resources for media and citizens, alike.15

One of their products is OpenCongress, which

addresses the issues of legislative obscurity by making it easier to understand, track, and

engage with the U.S. Congress. OpenCongress combines official government data with

news and blog coverage, social networking, and participation tools to [give users] the real

story behind what's happening in Congress.16 While OpenCongress is a third-party

14 Other People's Money And How the Bankers Use It, Chapter 415

http://sunlightfoundation.com/about/16

http://www.opencongress.org/about


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product, the government itself has produced Congress.gov, a public offering aimed to to

make federal legislative information freely available to the public.17

Mature

governments recognize the increasing difficulty of stealth and obscurity in making

decisions of public import. The internet not only supported the forces that brought about

this change, but also provides the ability for governments to proactively publish

information that can be vetted and validated by juxtaposing it with the findings those

independent groups who likewise are making public data more accessible.

Data protocols associated with the Semantic Web also acquire more opportunities for

use in government and public sector situations. In the United Kingdom, data.gov.uk has

been established to enable the public to become informed about the activities of the

government. This is done through providing linked data representing an array of public

services. The flagship example of the UKs public linked data is the postcode network,

described as follows:

The postcode is captured simply as text. However, enhancing the original data to linkto a postcode URI means the original data has the potential to contain a lot more

information. Once the URIs for each postcode is in place it is a relatively simple

matter of using some simple code to follow that link, dereference the post code URI

and ingest the linked data for that postcode into the triplestore. So just as humans will

follow links between documents on the web to gain more context and information

this simple application has followed links on the linked data web to provide more

context and information. Because the postcode linked data provides a look up

between postcode and region, it was possible to enrich the original data with

knowledge about the ward, district and county (where applicable) for each institution.

This means it is now possible to analyse research funding by local authority area aswell as European region.18

The opportunities for analysis of this linked data are now offered not just to high profile

17http://thomas.loc.gov/home/abt_thom.html

18http://data.gov.uk/blog/what-is-linked-data


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research institutes, but to the general public as well.

Using the spatial relationships in the Ordnance Survey linked data means it is

possible to start doing more complex analysis. For example, a user could compare

funding in one region with funding in its neighboring regions or use the containment

relationships to aggregate the information up to coarser grained geographies. 19

In more dramatic cases, the Internet has brought about leaks and dissemination of

information that otherwise would have remained classified or otherwise inaccessible.

Julian Assanges WikiLeaks has received attention in the past years for making public

military documents and other government-related information that may have had a

compromising effect on national security and military operations. What makes

WikiLeaks unique is the level of anonymity offered to the informants. There is nothing

modern about espionage, but the Internet offers extra protection for those seeking to

expose information. WikiLeaks explains:

WikiLeaks has combined high-end security technologies with journalism and ethical

principles. Like other media outlets conducting investigative journalism, we accept

(but do not solicit) anonymous sources of information. Unlike other outlets, weprovide a high security anonymous drop box fortified by cutting-edge cryptographic

information technologies. This provides maximum protection to our sources. We are

fearless in our efforts to get the unvarnished truth out to the public. When information

comes in, our journalists analyze the material, verify it and write a news piece about

it describing its significance to society. We then publish both the news story and the

original material in order to enable readers to analyze the story in the context of the

original source material themselves. Our news stories are in the comfortable

presentation style of Wikipedia, although the two organizations are not otherwise

related. Unlike Wikipedia, random readers cannot edit our source documents.20

The availability and access to this kind of information is an unprecedented threat to

unchecked information control that some governments may have at one point hoped for.

19Ibid

20http://wikileaks.org/About.html


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Abraham Lincolns immortal words about a new birth of freedomand that government

of the people, by the people, for the people21

take on new meaning.

The empowerment of the people is perhaps the most notable effect of the increased use of

the Internet. From the improved ability to organize, to the accelerated methods of

disseminating information, the Internets potential for disruption and innovation have

already been witnessed.

Part II: Public Empowerment in Political Processes

Given the nature of human interaction with the internet, it is important to recognize the

relation between the individual empowerment that user-driven online experiences offers

and citizen-centric political movements.

Previous forms of mass media were often based on a central distribution model, where

TV networks, radio towers, and publishers in large part controlled the content and the

variety of offering available for public consumption. The Internet and new media

offers more customization, more focus on user needs and preferences, and allows each

user to define much of their own experience in media consumption.

The applicability of this contrast to government is clear. Top-down, centrally controlled

governments mirror the former media model, and citizen-driven democracies mirror the

latter model.

An overview of the correlation between Internet access and democracy across political

21Lincoln, A. (1863). The Gettsyburg Address. In The Collected Works of Abraham

Lincoln (234-238). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP.


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entities reveals scattered results, but a trend line can nonetheless be discerned:22

The impact of Internet access and usage on political matters will hereby be examined on

a number of fronts. First, the influence of social media and connectivity on the recent

grassroots political uprisings known as the Arab Spring. Second, the new online-

driven tactics employed by the Obama campaign to micro-target potential voters. And

finally, addressing the issue of socioeconomic inequality and the solutions that the

Internet might have to offer.

The Arab Spring

The Arab Spring refers a revolutionary movement that swept across the Arab world in

late 2010 and 2011. Countries affected included Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen,

Bahrain, Syria, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, and Sudan; and to a lesser extent

in Mauritania, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, and Western Sahara. In some cases, entrie

22Davit Chokoshvili. The Role of the Internet in Democratic Transition: Case Study of

the Arab Spring. p 26


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regimes were deposed. In almost all instances, the revolts were virtually leaderless, and

were organized and promoted through web technologies.

The simultaneity of the Arab Springs revolts is remarkable enough to warrant asking the

questions of: why now? What elements were in place now that were not previously? The

answer perhaps lies in the state of technological progress and adoption in the Arab world.

The Institute of National Securities Studies explains:

With respect to knowledge, the report talked about the technological backwardness of

the Arab world: Internet penetration stood at less than 1 percent. The decade since

then brought about a dramatic change in terms of technology: the internet, satellite

stations, and the social networks brought the middle class the knowledge that thereare other ways to live, and that they deserve more more freedom, more democracy,

more human rights, progress for women, employment, and release from the grip of

tyrants. The Arab revolt of 2011 has been nicknamed the Facebook revolution,

with good reason.23

The mere existence and usage of technology among the general public seemed to be on of

the deciding factors in spurring this kind of political unrest. Other commentators have

underscored the game-changing impact of social media specifically:

The Internet, mobile phones, and social media such as Facebook and Twitter made

the difference this time. Using these technologies, people interested in democracy

could build extensive networks, create social capital, and organize political action

with a speed and on a scale never seen before. Thanks to these technologies, virtual

networks materialized in the streets. Digital media became the tool that allowed

social movements to reach once-unachievable goals.24

While it may be tempting to attribute the entirety of these movements to the internet, it is

important to acknowledge that online connectivity is but one factor among many.

23 Yoel Guzansky and Mark A. Heller. One Year of the Arab Spring: Global and

Regional Implications. The Institute for National Security Studies.

24Philip N. Howard and Muzammil M. Hussain, The Role of Digital Media, Journal of

Democracy 22, no. 3 (2011): 3536.


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Although new media can plausibly shape contentious politics, they are only one

among a number of important political factors. As this report demonstrates, there

remain massive gaps in our knowledge about their effects at multiple levels and the

interaction among those levels. The suggestions for improved research design and

data in this report are not simply the methodological complaint of academics. If

policymakers hope to act effectively, they need to get the causal mechanisms right orelse risk wasting effort and resources on ineffective actionsor even making things

worse.25

A point for further exploration might be examining these causal mechanisms and

determining which ones are amplified in response to internet activities, and which ones

bear no correlation thereto. Results from this type of study might shed further light into

the question of the pervasiveness of the influence of online interactions on seemingly

independent variables such as popular opinion, voter turnout, citizen engagement, and the

like. In any case, the Arab Spring stands out as a unique and remarkable instance of the

internet playing an important role in influencing politics and government.

Presidential Campaigning

In the political landscape of the United States, web technologies have almost become a

critical tool politicians use as they seek to reach out to the mass population and sell their

ideas in order to gain support and win elections. US presidential elections have

traditionally been very huge undertakings with huge budgets running in the millions of

dollars and with thousands of election staff. The main job of a campaign to sell the

candidate has always also been a huge undertaking as well. Prior to 2000 this had been

done through the traditional means of print and television media. With the advent of

faster computing and the internet we began to more use of web technologies as a means

of communicating with voters.

25Sean Aday, Henry Farrell, Marc Lynch John Sides. Blogs and Bullets New Media in

Contentious Politics. p 26


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Fig 1: Web Technologies through the Last 4 Presidential Election Cycles

Pre-2008

Prior to the 2004 elections, the web was at its infancy stage and most of the web use was

in the web 1.0 stage. The internet more closely resembled a television and you visited

another site when you wanted to change the channel. It was largely static, informational

and centered around a top down use of the web and its user interface. The first

widespread use of web technologies was in the 2004 elections where candidate Howard

Dean relied heavily on the web to energize large swath of supporters in meetups and

social networks. The internet was essentially used as an information sharing tool. Social

networks like MySpace and Facebook were used by people to share information and

YouTube was used albeit on a smaller scale to publish content. Websites were used to

raise large amounts of money for his campaign. These were essentially web 2.0

technologies that provided attributes and enablers that provided resources over and

beyond what we saw in the 200 elections. Howard Dean was able to rely on people far

and wide to coordinate via the internet and provide help. This web 2.0 space is typically

characterized by mass collaboration like the type we just described and a mashup of

different content and media. Here large numbers of people are willing to meet new

people and share their thoughts and ideas with the public over the internet with new

internet groups. This also facilitates engaging others in the public space and helping to

Internet/Web1.0 EarlyWeb2.0 Web2.0 Web3.0

2000 2004 2008 2012

G.W.Bushvs.AlGore G.W.Bushvs.JohnKerry B.H.Obamavs.JohnMcCain B.H.Obamavs.MittRomney

TraditionalMedia/

Computers/

Telecomms.

Traditional

Media/Computers/

InternetTechnologies

TraditionalMedia/Internet

Technologies/Web2.0

Technologies

TraditionalMedia/Internet

Technologies/Web3.0

Technologies


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form new ideas as well over this medium.

Web 2.0 and the 2008 Presidential Elections

Prior to the 2008 presidential election,

the Internet was more or less used as an

information sharing portal. However, it

all changed when Barack Obama ran his

campaign and fully embraced the

potential of what web 2.0 technologies

could do to rally communities around his

ideas. Here, web 2.0 got users to play with, create and manipulate content. The user-

oriented and dynamic web environment gave users an opportunity to be active

participants rather than passive receivers of information.

When thinking about the critical drivers for success in an election; campaigning, raising

money and coordinating supporters, we can clearly see how web tools can create a

compelling advantage compared to traditional methods. Obamas campaign essentially

allowed millions of ordinary voters become part of the campaign through blogs,

community groups and mobile applications and this eventually proved decisive as Obama

was able to not only out raise John McCain on the internet but he had millions of

supporters that were willing to knock on doors and get people out on election day. Web

2.0 forever changed the way people viewed the impact of these technologies on

campaigns thereby mainstreaming these ideas.

Fig 2: Web 2.0 in action, Obamas Campaign

Website and Interactive Activity Links


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Web 3.0 and the 2012 Presidential Elections

Coming off of a huge election victory in 2008, the Obama campaign continued off of

where they left off looking at lessons learned and potential improvements to be made as

they planned his reelection campaign for 2012. They were able to work on some of the

key problems they had in 2008, most notably having too many databases. They had

amassed all this information from 2008 and they sought to try and consolidate and

integrate them. When this was completed, they proceeded to build on the information

they already had and use that information to inform their day to day decision making.

Such is the benefit of web 3.0 as it allows for the aggregation of data such that it can

inform particular behaviors in people or groups which in turn let the campaign fit their

messages to particular groups of people. In the case of the Obama campaign, they were

able to build an enormous cache of data on individuals such that it allowed them to

become small that is to target and

galvanize specific demographics within

high-stakes regions in crucial swing states.

This included making decisions as what ads

what to buy how to buy those ads and on

what television shows and channels. All

these were done via results of the

information gleaned from the data they had

amassed.

As a result of these big data efforts the Obama campaign was able to fit its campaign

better to their constituents in a way the Romney campaign never was able to. They used

Fig 3: Consolidating the Data:Lessons Learned from Past Campaigns


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information about voters behaviors to build social graphs of people and groups and used

this social graphs to appeal to groups using social triggers that could get them to vote.

These triggers could be for example, understanding that certain constituents in an area

cared a lot about clean energy and thus having to run ads in that particular area that

informed those constituents about its programs for clean energy while in the town a

couple of miles away, running a different sets of ads based on the results of their social

graph.

Another example of a situation in which the Obama campaign effectively used web 3.0

was in the arena of canvassing. It allowed the campaign to interact with canvassers

remotely in real time by providing them with potential voters to go visit and what to

expect in terms of possible sentiments and profiles. It also allowed for real time feedback

on voters sentiments which was relayed back to build on that particular voters profile.

An example of this kind of app is the one shown below.

Fig 4: The Door Knocking App: Coordinators view of canvassing status.


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It provides canvassers real time view of potential voters and lets canvassers view and

update profiles as they canvass and this information can be shared amongst the workers

making the exercise very efficient.

We witnessed the extensive use of Web.3.0 and big data in the last 2012 presidential

elections and how it created a compelling competitive advantage for the Obama

presidential campaign. The use of Web 3.0 technologies is here to stay in presidential

elections and we expect that more and more campaigns will continue to mine data and

come up with new techniques to better understand their constituents and get them to the

polls to vote. It definitely will revolutionize campaign politics and reward users.

Addressing Inequality

On a global scale, poverty and inequality are still substantive issues that have yet to be

resolved satisfactorily. The internet and the advent of Web 3.0 offers a glimmer of hope

related to shortening the gap between poverty and the middle class.

Researchers at the Economic Policy Institute have noted the potential of broadband

internet on poverty-stricken locales:

The potential economic impact of broadband is substantial, and broadbands faster

and more convenient access to the Internet creates social benefits including high-

speed interactive uses in the K-12 classroom, distance learning, medicine,

telecommuting, and adaptive technology for individuals with disabilities.26

The factors of education alone are noteworthy in the context of empowering citizens who

otherwise would have no other viable recourse to pursue knowledge or acquire skills.

26Caroline J. Tolbert Karen Mossberger. New Inequality Frontier: Broadband Internet

Access. Economic Policy Institute.


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access problems of digital technology gradually shift from the first two kinds of

access to the last two kinds.29

By providing the framework, infrastructure, and incentives for the adoption and usage of

the these types of tools and resources, governments and municipalities can accomplish

the goals of (1) empowering citizens with knowledge and skills, (2) addressing

information inequality and (3) streamlining commercial and civic process.

Conclusion

e-Government in only in its infancy. Public-sector processes and civic bureaucracy of

often in the early laggards segment of adoption curves, but there is still progress. As the

private sector becomes more engaged with Web 3.0 technologies to streamline commerce,

customer outreach, marketing, and analytics, governments at all levels will adopt as well,

in many cases taking the lead from campaign tactics that got government officials elected

in the first place.

The future of the Internet with regards to e-government and public policy could go a

variety of directions. A briefing from the Australian Department of Communications, IT

& the Arts offers the following framework for research and analysis leading to policy

advice and decision-making:

Internet architecture and standards, including structural and institutionalarrangements, the domain name addressing system and the world wide webinterface.

29Furuholt, Bjrn ([email protected]) Department of Information Systems, School

of Management, Agder University College, Norway Kristiansen, Stein

([email protected]) Department of Economics, School of Management, AgderUniversity College, Norway. A Rural-urban Digital Divide? Regional Aspects of Internet

Use in Tanzania.


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The reliability of the Internet as public and private infrastructure, includingthe likelihood and consequences of failure.

Internet-based economic and commercial developments, including newbusiness models and distribution structures.

Internet-based social developments, including enhanced information andcommunications access.

Digital content issues including both economic and social aspects. The role of the Internet in facilitating innovation and the development of

human capital.30

The overriding themes in this type of framework can be distilled into the following

concepts:

Priority on Infrastructure Standards compliance Effective implementation Quality content and services

Inasmuch as governments and other civic entities follow these guiding principles,

countries, states, municipalities, and campaigns across the world will see increased civic

engagement, higher satisfaction with civil servants, and better data to inform public

policy makers.

30NSF/OECD Workshop proceedings .Social & Economic Factors Shaping the Future of

the Internet. 31 January 2007

e government and the rise of online political engagement

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