Stephen H. Holden

Electronic government at the grass roots: contemporary evidence and future trends

In this article we explore the short and largely undocumented history of electronic government, discuss the literature of e-government at the local government level, and document the adoption and sophistication of e-government among US local governments. We employ data from a survey conducted in the winter of 2000 to examine local government adoption of electronic government. We compare the results of that survey to a normative model of e-government maturity. We have found that the emergence of electronic government at the local level is still in its formative stages. Local e-government offerings tended to be more basic when compared to the normative model although many local governments indicate that they have plans to develop more sophisticated offerings in the future. E-government adoption also generally tracks well with previously documented patterns of technology adoption.

Semantic integration of government data for water quality management

Normative models of e-government typically assert that horizontal (i.e., inter-agency) and vertical (i.e., inter-governmental) integration of data flows and business processes represent the most sophisticated form of e-government, delivering the greatest payoff for both governments and users. This paper concentrates on the integration of data supporting water quality management as an example of how such integration can enable higher levels of e-government. It describes a prototype system that allows users to integrate water monitoring data across many federal, state, and local government organizations and provides novel techniques for information discovery, thus improving information quality and availability for decision making. Specifically, this paper outlines techniques to integrate numerous water quality monitoring data sources, to resolve data disparities, and to retrieve data using semantic relationships among data sources taking advantage of customized user profiles. Preliminary user feedback indicates that these techniques enhance quantity and quality of information available for water quality management.

Authentication, Privacy, and the Federal E-Government

As federal agencies move toward more sophisticated e-govern- ment offerings, they must consider both policy and operational requirements for electronic authentication (e-authentication). One important consideration in designing and deploying e-authentica- tion solutions is the balance between access, security, authentication, and privacy. Public law and government-wide policy encourage e-government and e-authentication simultaneously with privacy protection, creating policy and operational tensions for e-government efforts. A review of the relevant laws and policies and analyses of the privacy implications of authentication technologies indicates that federal agencies have at least two analytic frameworks for balancing privacy concerns with e-authentication. A framework offered in the 2003 National Research Council report Who Goes There? and the privacy impact analysis requirements of the E-Government Act of 2002 provide e-government projects with the tools for navigating the path between privacy and openness, required by both e-government law and policy.

The Virtual Value Chain and E-Government Partnership: Non-Monetary Agreements in the IRS E-File Program

Abstract Electronic government (e-government) models generally espouse the principle of partnership with the private sector. What is not always clear is what is meant by partnership, though, and how public organizations should organize and manage such relationships to support e-government initiatives. The paper relies on a conceptual framework of the virtual value chain to understand how a new form of collaboration emerged in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) e-file program in 1999 and what dimensions helped to make it a success. As part of a larger, multi-nation study of public–private partnerships in e-government, this paper examines IRS e-file program, one of the largest, longest-standing (dating back to 1986), and most successful US e-government programs with tens of millions of users each year. The IRS e-file program experienced dramatic changes in its long-standing partnership with the tax preparation and related software development industries in 1999 and 2000. It is possible, using the concept of the virtual value chain, to understand how the IRS rethought its relationship with its private-sector partners. A combination of conditions in the market place, in US society, within the IRS, and among the private-sector partners helped to make this new model of collaboration quite successful. The paper concludes by examining how the dimensions of partnership in the IRS e-file case and the concept of the virtual value chain might enable other public organizations to reconceptualize their e-government partnership arrangements with the private sector using a new model of collaboration.

Distribution channel management in e-government: Addressing federal information policy issues

Abstract Part of the promise of electronic government (e-government) is its ability to transform the delivery of information services and products from government to users. E-government allows federal agencies to supplement and even supplant private sector roles intermediating between government agencies and users, creating unintended consequences in terms of policy, theory, and practice. The problem is called “channel conflict” in the marketing literature, and the typical response is called distribution channel management (DCM). After reviewing the literatures of e-government, information policy, and DCM, the paper explores differing DCM philosophies of two federal agencies: the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Census Bureau. An examination of these two DCM programs provides insights on how federal agencies may be able to manage their various channels for e-government offerings despite tensions in the current legal and policy context. The paper concludes by using DCM literature to help frame options for dealing with these tensions.