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The Metropolis 2002 conference <http://www.metropolis2002.org> for the world's major cities meets in Seoul, South Korea from May 27-31, 2002. I will be present on "Bridging the Democratic Divide Digitally" to their "The information society and the city" workshop <http://www.metropolis2002.org/work2_wc1_4.html>. I will be in South Korea from Tuesday, May 28 through the morning of Friday, May 31. * From 4 p.m. to 6:30p.m. on Thursday, May 30 I'd like to extend an invitation to anyone in South Korea who would like to informally gather to discuss e-democracy and swap stories. Drop me an e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> and I will let you know the place to meet. (I will be in Japan May 22-27 - there will be a similar gathering the evening of Friday, May 24.) A commission within Metropolis has just released an excellent "The information society and the city" report. It contains lots of examples and provides a good overview of e-government issues being faced by the largest local governments around the world. See page 15 in PDF for their "prominent results." At the very bottom I have included a clip on "Systems of electronic participation" from section 4.3 on page 25. Steven Clift Democracies Online Newswire http://www.e-democracy.org/do From: http://www.metropolis.org/ On left column select "Commission Reports" then under Metropolis 2002 - Seoul, South Korea 27-31 May 2002 select Commission 4 "The information society and the city" report Or cut and paste this on one line: http://www.metropolis.org/metropolis/meteleclib.nsf/2a6bd98dee287482ca256915001cff0c/672c5a02d76126b2ca256bb2001bc50a/$FILE/COMISION%204%20INGLES%2018.04.pdf Some background information from: http://www.metropolis.org/metropolis/gprojects.nsf/HeadingPagesDisplay/CommissionsInformation+society?OpenDocument The information society and the city The world economy is undergoing major changes, from a predominantly industrial society to one governed by new rules: the information society. Like the industrial revolution, the information revolution is having a deep impact on our way of life, our social organisation and our cultural customs. This standing commission will analyse and measure the positive and negative impact of technological advances on large urban areas. Moreover, the commission will propose specific lines of action to promote the entry of the big cities into the information society and to minimise the risks of exclusion involved in this new model of network society. The commission will suggest measures to connect every person, home and school and every company and branch of the administration to the network and bring them into the digital era, ensure the whole process reinforces social integration and cohesion and stimulate a public sector which does not generally play a very active role when it comes to developing new applications and services. The President for this study is Cordoba, with Guangzhou as Vice-President. Participant cities are Abidjan, Barcelona, Brasilia, Bucharest, Cordoba, Guangzhou, La Habana, Lisbon, Manila, Mexico, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Seoul, Shenyang, Wuhan. Report Table of Contents: CONTENTS CHAIRMANS FOREWORD.................... 5 PART I FINAL REPORT............................ 7 1. Presentation................................................ 7 1.1 Composition of Commission 4 ...................... 7 1.2 Commission 4s Work Schem 7 1.3 Reports Objective and Met 7 2. E-government Development ........... 9 2.1 Benefits of e-government............ 9 2.2 The current situation..................... 9 2.3 Future trends...................................... 12 2.4 Success factors in e-governments future.......... 12 3. Incorporating ICTs into the Administration of Large Cities.......... 15 3.1 Prominent Results ........................... 15 4. Case Study Analysis .............................. 19 4.1 General results .................................. 19 4.2 The user-based approach in website design .... 21 4.3 Systems of electronic participation 25 (CLIP BELOW) 4.4 Advanced interactive services.. 27 5. Recommendations for the Development of Websites of Large Cities............................................... 35 5.1 Development Strategy ................. 35 5.2 Relationship with the Users ...... 37 5.3 Relationship with Companies... 39 5.4 New Considerations ..................... 39 PART II CASE STUDY SUMMARY.... ... clip ... lots of large cities ... RESUME .......................................... 67 RESUMEN EJECUTIVO................................ 69 One clip: 4.3 SYSTEMS OF ELECTRONIC PARTICIPATION 4.3.1 Opinion Surveys The Internet has given rise to a new framework for the systematic collection of citizen opinion and, in general, information on persons using the services offered by the Administration. This medium offers considerable advantages over traditional survey methods. First, the cost of using it is very low. Once the information retrieval system is configured, the registering of res-ponses does not incur any costs for the Administration. Additionally, the information gathered can be analysed immediately, as long as it is in electro-nic format. This reduces the time and expense of analysing responses. Second, the agility of this system means that the questions asked of users can easily be changed. There are many cities which include this system in their websites. For example, the use that the city of Rio de Janeiro makes of the system is especially worthy of note. Access to the surveys is located on a side column of the sites homepage. Users can therefo-re find the survey on the first screen, facilitating the amount of responses. But it is especially noteworthy in this case that the system enables users to view the results and number of participants in the survey (see Illustration 7). However, online surveys which currently follow this model come up against a serious drawback, which somewhat compromises their value. The fact that the users who participate in the survey are not required to identify themselves gives rise to two problems. First, a user could vote more than once; and second, since the responses are not differentiated according to the par-ticipants profile, the same weight is given to a res-ponse from a resident as to that of a participant who does not live in the city (or who simply does not have enough information to answer the question). 4.3.2 Electronic Suggestion Box Within the system of participation, the Internet has also opened a new channel to the Administration in order to improve the receiving of suggestions from citizens. It is basically an electronic mailbox, to which citizens can send e-mail messages in order to make suggestions, requests or even complaints. Most of the websites are equipped with this system in an attempt to bring the workings of the government closer to the citizens. Advanced use of this online mailbox is seen in the web-site for the city of Helsinki. As with other websites, visi-tors can access the mailbox from the homepage. Once there, they can choose the department or agency to which they would like to direct their suggestion. Additionally, four categories of messages are establis-hed: request for a specific government action, request for specific information, putting in a public job applica-tion or registering a complaint. Visitors then write out their suggestion and provide their contact information (which is subject to complete confidentiality, according to information provided on the website itself). However, what really sets the Helsinki website apart is that the Administration has made the commitment to answer all messages in less than a week from the date that the e-mail was sent. Additionally, all suggestions are recorded and filed for subsequent verification by the users. On some websites, such as the one for Mexico, an effort has been made to use this channel for encoura-ging citizens to report infractions committed by civil servants and for reducing corruption. 4.3.3 Disseminating Information on Government Activity Some websites have made use of the Internet to provi-de information on government activity, which is disse-minated using two different methods: press releases and activity reports. The formats used include anything from text to audio and video files, as is extensively done on Guangzhous website. 4.3.4 Keeping Track of Public Records Finally, as demonstrated by various websites, the Internet is a proven, low-cost means of keeping citi-zens informed on Administration procedures and adding greater clarity to government activity. For example, Barcelona and Rio de Janeiro provide information on the state of procedures in their muni-cipal files to those citizens who have requested the service. Rio de Janeiros website also features a service through which citizens can consult the current state of their own administrative processes. *** Please send submissions to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** To subscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** Message body: SUB DO-WIRE *** *** To unsubscribe instead, write: UNSUB DO-WIRE *** *** Please forward this post to others and encourage *** *** them to subscribe to the free DO-WIRE service. ***
