Agnes Mainka et al.
Stage 5: Participation. eParticipation enhances democracy and includes services like political surveys, political discussion forums or voting( Medaglia, 2012; Saebo, Rose, & Molka‐Danielsen; 2009; Susha & Grönlund, 2012). Our instrument for evaluating Informational World Cities’ government websites has two components:( 1) Maturity and( 2) Usability. For both of these components, two different methods are considered, which are explained in the following paragraphs.
3. Maturity of e‐Government
3.1 Method
To quantify the maturity of e‐Government based on Moon’ s( 2002) five‐stage model, we formulate an extended criterion model. The goal is to define a descending ranking order of e‐Government with regard to maturity.
Each stage is divided into several sections based on Moon’ s model, and on several surveys which analyse the users ' information needs of e‐Government( Friedrichs, Hart, & Schmid,. 2002; Cook, 2000; gfs. bern, 2011; Institut für Informationswissenschaft Bremen GmbH, 2003; Stadt Münster, 2009). Each stage is valued with 100 points. Maturity was evaluated from the official websites of each of these 31 Informational World Cities, either in their native language or in English, courtesy of Google Translate. The websites were evaluated between December 2012 and January 2013.
The first stage( information dissemination) refers to the one‐way communication in which information is transmitted only from e‐Government to its users. This stage is divided into information types and user types. For the first( information) type, the government websites should offer basic data( 8.3 points, which is the sum of such sub‐aspects as contact information, current affairs, emergency number, and city map). Other aspects include transportation, health care, politics, mGovernment, push services and other services. Additionally, the website should be available in English as well as three further languages for the main immigrant groups. For the second( user) type, their informativeness for such groups of users as residents, tourists, students and businessmen was monitored( 8.3 points for each aspect).
The second stage is two‐way communication. This stage is divided into five parts:( 1) social media services, like Facebook and Twitter,( 2) fixing appointments online,( 3) email response,( 4) official email instead of snail letter mail,( 5) option of giving feedback( 20 points for each aspect).
The third stage( transaction) includes financial and non‐financial transactions via the government website. This stage is divided into six parts:( 1) online forms for filling in,( 2,3,4) taxes, penalties and online payment for other fees,( 5) library services( extending books or requesting loan cards),( 6) a personalised portal for the residents( 16.7 points for each aspect).
The next stage includes horizontal and vertical integration. Firstly, vertical integration is obtained when it is possible to reach information and services from other agencies, departments or offices from just one website, as in the integration of libraries or museums. Secondly, horizontal integration is obtained when there is one database or intranet for all departments and when all departments use standardised software. Information about integration is not available online. We were thus unable to analyse this stage without the help of personal information and will study this aspect in further research.
The last stage( participation) offers citizens the opportunity to leave feedback, make a complaint or participate in an opinion survey. This stage is divided into four parts:( 1) online surveys,( 2) forums and electronic voting platform,( 3) participating in local government meetings online, and( 4) online elections( 25 points for each aspect).
3.2 Results
Our results indicate that New York( USA), Singapore and Milan( Italy) are the top‐ranked Informational World Cities in terms of e‐Government maturity. New York took first place with 277 out of 400 potential points. Singapore follows in second with 273 points. Milan is ranked third with 272 points. Boston( USA, 143), Dubai( United Arab Emirates, 141) and Kuala Lumpur( Malaysia, 94) occupy the bottom three positions. Figure 2 summarises the maturity results for all specified Informational World Cities.
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