An Overview of E-Government 3.0 Implementation

Background

Term e-government (abbreviated from electronic government but also known as e-gov, digital government, online government or connected government), first emerged in the 1990s when many buzzwords starting with prefix “e-“ were coined during the Internet boom. E-government usually refers to the application of ICT and methods of electronic commerce in governmental and public institutions that cater for needs of citizens and entrepreneurs (Holden et al., 2009). In this view term e-government represents a novel medium for communication of government and public institutions with other entities of a society.

More general definition by West (2005) states that e-government is organizational form of government that integrates flows and interdependencies between government, entrepreneurs, citizens and public institutions through ICT. In this sense e-government is treated as a complete comprehensive business system that incorporates all the elements that can be found in any business organization with specific tasks and functions. As e-government includes various types of activities, and not only communication with citizens and entrepreneurs, it can be viewed as a specific type of e-business. As in e-business one of the goals of e-government is to increase efficiency, shorten response times and make additional value for its users – citizens and entrepreneurs – by introducing changes in its organization supported by ICT.

Early stages of the development of e-government stem from the office automation incentives and the first introduction of IT in government in 1970s (Kraemer et al., 1978). Main goals of first implementations of IT were the improvement of back office operations and establishment of automated data processing and reporting. It was not until the development of Internet and particularly the World Wide Web that the focus of ICT innovations in governments was moved towards front office and the users of public services – citizens and entrepreneurs. This type of e-government is sometimes referred to as e-government 1.0. The development and maturity of e-government 1.0 is characterized by several distinct stages.

First stage of e-government 1.0 had the goal of publishing information about public services through the use of dedicated Web sites with the only goal of informing the public about the services they provided, while the consumption of services was done only through direct contact. Web presence was added as a new medium of communicating relevant information along with public announcement through media (television, radio and newspapers). Users were able to communicate with government bodies directly or through written communication (mail) or telephone services.