Andy -- thanks for posting this. Sometimes we forget how powerful the
"old" technologies (i.e. telephones) can be. I think the thrust of this
report is important -- "which electronic channels work best" I would even
drop the word "electronic". Our goal is access to government information,
services and decision-making -- through whatever means (channels) work best.
Ken
At 12:00 PM 5/6/2005, you wrote:
From GovTech.net, a UK story on achieving E-Government for All... -ac
Want E-Gov? Pick Up the Phone
In an attempt to find out which electronic channels work best for local
governments -- and what local citizens think of the channels available for
using e-government services -- the United Kingdom's Office of the Deputy
Prime Minister conducted a study called the e-Citizen National Project.
"One piece of good news is that Britons seem to like the idea of being
e-citizens. Few, however, have tried it," writes Michael Cross in The Guardian.
The report highlights two groups of potential users -- the
"progressives" include male, high-income earners with access to
technology, and the "contenteds," who are happy with local government and
comfortable with technology. But the report says these two groups need
online government services the least, while the poor, minorities and
other disenfranchised groups who need the services most aren't using
them. That is partially because this segment of the population simply
does not have access to the technology that Britain's local authorities
want them to use when it comes to e-services. Nor do they particularly
care to use computers to interact with government.
Buried within the report is this fact: The most universal "e" channel in
the UK is the telephone, to which 94 percent of the population has
access. That percentage is about the same here in America."
<snip>
http://www.govtech.net/magazine/channel_story.php?channel=17&id=93902
--
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Andy Carvin
Program Director
EDC Center for Media & Community
acarvin @ edc . org
http://www.digitaldivide.net
http://www.tsunami-info.org
Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com
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Kenan Patrick Jarboe, Ph.D.
Athena Alliance
911 East Capitol Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003-3903
(202) 547-7064
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http://www.IntangibleEconomy.org
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