A Descriptive Analysis of Contents of Asian E-Government Websites

A Descriptive Analysis of Contents of Asian E-Government Websites

Abebe Rorissa (University at Albany, State University of New York, USA), Dawit Demissie (University at Albany, State University of New York, USA) and Mohammed Gharawi (University at Albany, State University of New York, USA)
Copyright: © 2011 |Pages: 15
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61692-018-0.ch007

Abstract

Advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) continue to drastically impact the activities of individuals, families, communities, businesses, governments, as well as other national and global entities. They often give rise to new institutions and systems such as electronic government (e-government). E-government improves the efficiency of governments’ services and facilitates government-to-citizen and other types of communications. Nowhere is the impact of ICTs and e-government more pronounced than in developing countries, such as those in Asia, a continent that is home to the largest democracy in the world (i.e., India), where an appropriate use of ICTs can enable them to become part of the global information society. There had been encouraging signs in Asia with respect to e-government adoption and implementation of relevant services. Asian countries provide e-government services, mainly through websites that range from static to fully fledged web portals. However, there is a lack of e-government literature that provides detailed analyses of contents of Asian e-government services. This chapter is intended to address this. In addition to describing Asian e-government services, it also provides recommendations with respect to future works, and identifies prospects for e-government services.
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Introduction

There has been an encouraging development in Asia in terms of e-government adoptions and implementations in the last few years. Asia is home to a third of the world’s population and the largest democracy (India). Although it lags behind Europe and North America in rate of adoption and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), there are more Internet users in Asia than anywhere else (Internet World Stats, 2009). However, the Internet penetration rate (as a percentage of the total population on the continent) remains one of the lowest at 17.4% (Table 1), while the number of Internet users grew by an impressive 475% over the last decade (Internet World Stats, 2009). The continent has made such remarkable strides that the question is not whether ICTs and allied technologies (like e-government) play a role in social and economic development. It is rather how effectively and efficiently they can be incorporated into every sector of society, including business/commerce, government, education, and entertainment. All of this points to the fact that Asian countries individually, and the continent as a whole, have one of the ingredients of not only successful e-government services but also of social and economic development.

Table 1.
A profile of Asia
Asia  World
Population3,780,819,792 (56.35%)6,710,029,070
Land area17.2 million sq mi (30%)57.31 million sq mi
Internet Users  657,170,816 (41.17%)  1,596,270,108
Internet penetration (% Population)  17.4%  23.8%
Internet user growth (2000-2008)  474.9%  342.2%
E-Readiness Index  0.4467  0.4514
Web Measures index  0.3725  0.3540
Human Capital index  0.7916  0.7825
Infrastructure index0.1670  0.2104
E-Participation index  0.2084  0.1909
Telecom infrastructure index  0.179332  0.570928

Sources: (United Nations, 2007; Internet World Stats, 2009)

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