Kamalia Azma Kamaruddin, Ariza Nordin and Nor Laila Md Noor
Figure 1: Citizen‐centric demand model for transformational government
3.1 Transparency and openness
The essence of transparency is providing information for citizens( Parycek and Sachs 2010). It supports the political doctrine that business of government should be opened at all levels for public to view and examine effectively( Saha 2010). For citizen‐centric model, transparency is an important construct because it means government agencies are able to provide information about their operations and decisions to the public. Transparent public services and open government data allow the citizens and businesses to be informed of certain situation and permit them to act accordingly. Open datasets, whether structured and unstructured can also be utilized by third party stakeholders to innovate and add value to it for public usage. ICT is good at delivering transparency( Miller and Williamson 2008) and technology such as web 2.0 has enhanced this. However, issues such as data and privacy protection have to be carefully considered when implementing this initiative( Dais et al. 2012).
3.2 Citizen‐driven services
Government needs to recognize its citizens’ roles and perspectives in order to serve them effectively. Citizens who are technology adopters have more diverse requirements and expect better user experience with government services while citizens who are consumers of services anticipate effective and relevant amenities provided to them. Thus, government must be more responsive to citizen wants and needs. Citizen‐centric means viewing the government from outside in, where requirements and expectations of the citizens becomes the guiding principle for all government policies, programs and services( Saha 2010). Citizen‐driven services such as single authentication, consistent user interface, convenience channels and service personalization are critical examples for government’ s success and reputation. Technology such as web 2.0 is user driven by nature and it can change citizenry from being a final user to active contributor in the process of government transformation( Ferro and Molinari 2010).
3.3 Participatory democracy
Citizen‐centricity is a concept that goes well with the notion of democratic principle. One of the basic indications of democracy is citizen participation, as it is not only the citizen’ s constitutive right to participate in government but it is also their duty. Participation is the fundamental role of citizens in a democratic country and it builds a better democracy. In technology‐mediated government, citizen e‐participation may take many forms including online voting, online poll, online discussion forum and online petition, where it is ever more easier for people to access government information, provide feedback, and in effect be more involved in the political process of their countries. Another important element in participatory democracy is social inclusion. Ideally, government must provide equal access of its services for all citizens and businesses, including the disabled and socially excluded ‐ those who do not have Internet access of their own( Dwivedi and Janssen 2011). With participatory democracy concept, e‐inclusion should be considered as a strategy for t‐government planning and development.
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