Abstract
Since the end of the last century, computers have become a widespread phenomenon in most developed and developing countries. In the last decade, all around the world, governments and private organizations have attempted to explore new searches, opportunities, and investments for making their services vibrant, independent from space and/or time, comfortable, and contemporary. These initiatives have also been done with a view to increase their services’ quality by employing the opportunities offered by the Internet technology. The electronic government (e-government) concept has developed as a result of these efforts. E-government offers the opportunities that offer citizens and the government to execute their mutual duties and obligations via electronic communication and process. E-government has several aspects, including social, technical, economic, political, and public administrative. However, most dominating concepts of e-government arise from the technical perspective and a combination of the socio-economic and public administrative perspectives. In this study; concept, structure, and frame of e-government were defined. The Networked Readiness Index was investigated, and featured topics for e-government applications were determined. Necessity of e-government in both developed and developing countries were investigated, and digital divide, which negatively affects e-government formation in developing countries, was investigated.
TopIntroduction
Change has been an inevitable human experience since the beginning of time. The motion of change has increased continuously and its speed has achieved incredible levels in the second half of the 20th Century. Technology renewed itself in every 100 years in the 19th Century, in every 20 years during 1960s and in every 10 years in 1970s. In the 2000s technology renews itself in every 2 years. Human beings have not been able to reach such change speeds during any historical period. Even the most remarkable expectations fail to determine sufficiently the scale of change we experience. Many sociologists have admitted that they have difficulties to predict the magnitude of changes of the “Information Age” (TIC, 2002).
In recent years, information and communication technology (ICT) revolution has induced transformational economic and social shifts around the world. The Internet and its allied technologies have started to transform the economy, production, trade, health, publication, tourism and entertainment, all stages of education, politics and public administration -- in short, every element of life. The effect of time and space differences is removed and business, trade, education and entertainment styles are changed in unprecedented levels. New opportunities on public administration, making public administration more transparent and serving people rapidly, efficiently and respectfully have been emerging. The rate and scope of business life is changing and globalization is affecting all types of organizations whether small or large. The entire world is becoming a potential market for the factories and also a potential source of competition (SPO, 2001).
Methods
In this study, concept, definition and scope of the e-government were determined as a result of literature review. E-government portals of the leading countries determined in line with the last three years results of network readiness index conducted throughout the world by the World Economic Forum were investigated and e-government applications of these countries were classified according to their e-government web portals. Factors impeding the establishment of e-government were determined and the world wide status of these impediments was mapped according to the research which was made by the United Nations (UN) in 2010 and various specifications were made in accordance with these maps.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Digital Divide: Economic and social differentiation between communities or nations, which are outside or back of the information age, and those, which benefit from informatics revolution completely and started information economy.
E-Government Applications: E-government applications should include all services which government is required to serve to the citizens.
Networked Readiness Index: Nations or communities’ readiness situation indices for information and communication technologies done by World Economic Forum organization regularly
E-Government Concept: E-government is a governance model which aims increasing in performance and efficiency by using information and communication technologies in information service and good exchange between public organizations, citizens and commercial organizations
E-Government: public services are developed by making organizational changes, democratic developments are ensured and public administration uses information and communication technologies for supporting public policies