Svein Ølnes

What is the value of eGovernment – and how can we actually realize it?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to promote academic discourse around the understanding of the concept of value of eGovernment and how a diverse set of benefits or values can be realized from eGovernment efforts.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is designed as a viewpoint paper with emphasis on grounding a set of arguments on current practice and relevant scholarly papers.Findings – Although not based on a formal, structured review, the paper proposes that the concept of value in relation to eGovernment is insufficiently discussed and defined in the eGovernment literature. Based on the high failure rates of eGovernment efforts, it further proposes that structured approaches to benefits realization, in combination with increased focus on (public) value, can be fruitful avenues for future research. The complexity of the context and the research challenges makes interdisciplinary research teams a necessity.Originality/value – If addressed, the research propositions can lead to an increased unders...

Blockchain in government: Benefits and implications of distributed ledger technology for information sharing

Blockchain refers to a range of general purpose technologies to exchange information and transact digital assets in distributed networks. The core question addressed in this paper is whether blockchain technology will lead to innovation and transformation of governmental processes. To address this question we present a critical assessment of the often exaggerated benefits of blockchain technology found in the literature and discuss their implications for governmental organizations and processes. We plea for a shift from a technology-driven to need-driven approach in which blockchain applications are customized to ensure a fit with requirements of administrative processes and in which the administrative processes are changed to benefit from the technology. Having sound governance models are found to be a condition for realizing benefits. Based on a critical assessment we offer directions for further research into the potential benefits of BC applications in e-government and the role of governance of BC architectures and applications to comply with societal needs and public values.

Beyond Bitcoin Enabling Smart Government Using Blockchain Technology

The new technology Bitcoin has got a lot of attention since it was presented in late 2008 and implemented early 2009. However, the main attention has been to the currency and not so much the underlying blockchain technology. This paper argues that we need to look beyond the currency and investigate the potential use of the blockchain technology to enable smarter governments by utilizing the secure, distributed, open, and inexpensive database technology. The technology is discussed in the perspective of an information infrastructure to investigate its full potential. After a literature review of Bitcoin publications, with a special emphasis on eGovernment literature, the paper presents a relevant use case highlighting the innovation potential of the new technology. The literature review shows that Bitcoin is absent from the e-Government literature. The use case presented shows that Bitcoin could be a promising technology for validating many types of persistent documents in public sector.

The nature of public e-services and their quality dimensions

Abstract In this paper, we argue that our understanding of the concept of ‘e-service’ is incomplete and that this inadequate understanding blurs important differences between distinct types of interaction between a government and its citizens. This in turn creates difficulties when assessing the quality of ‘e-services’, as we cannot specify precisely what we are measuring. Based on a literature review, we argue that it is neither feasible nor fruitful to provide an unambiguous, precise understanding of the concept of e-service. However, in our context, ‘e-services’ is understood as a sequence of digital interactions between a service provider and service receiver which add some value to the receiver. We will accordingly inquire into the ‘e-service’ concept and examine its distinct types of communication in order to provide a better understanding of its basic characteristics. As a result, we outline a framework for categorizing the different types of digital communication that are denoted ‘e-services’ by identifying their basic service elements. This framework will also help to specify their distinct quality dimensions. We can thereby identify and model various types of interaction between citizens and public agencies based on a consistent set of service elements. As an illustration of its usefulness, we describe one of the life event services in the EU eGovernment benchmark framework in terms of our framework, including its quality dimensions.

Blockchain Technology as s Support Infrastructure in e-Government

The blockchain technology, including Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, has been adopted in many application areas during recent years. However, the main attention has been on the currency and not so much on the underlying blockchain technology, including peer-to-peer networking, security and consensus mechanisms. This paper argues that we need to look beyond the currency applications and investigate the potential use of the blockchain technology in governmental tasks such as digital ID management and secure document handling. The paper discusses the use of blockchain technology as a platform for various applications in e-Government and furthermore as an emerging support infrastructure by showing that blockchain technology demonstrates a potential for authenticating many types of persistent documents.

Interoperability in public sector: how use of a lightweight approach can reduce the gap between plans and reality

Better interoperability between systems, vocabularies, and organizations is considered necessary to most public organizations in order to better meet the demands from the users. The rapid growth of the Internet has been a driving force for both the user expectations and the enabling of such exchange. But succeeding with interoperability initiatives is hard, and the risks of failing are high, mostly because the expectations are too high and the inherent challenges are often underestimated. Many interoperability projects are over-specified and their findings are under-implemented. This paper discusses the challenges of interoperability in public sector and argues for a lightweight approach in order lower the gap between plans and reality. The Los system is illustrated as an example of this lightweight approach to interoperability.

What Is This Thing Called e-Service? Interoperability Challenges in e-Service Modelling

Electronic service, or e-service, is a key concept in todays e-Government development. The availability and quality of electronic services are important indicators of e-Government maturity. However, we argue that our understanding of the concept e-service is poor and we show that the ambiguity surrounding the concept creates problems when building ontologies and thus makes it difficult to achieve better interoperability between systems. We thus propose a model for e-services building on a framework for categorizing services using some basic terms. In this way we can describe and model various types of communication between citizens and public agencies based on a consistent set of elementary categories. Our model also draws on EUs proposed Core Public Service Vocabulary CPSV. The paper is conceptual and is mainly based on a literature review.

Blockchain technology as infrastructure in public sector: an analytical framework

The blockchain technology has evolved beyond traditional payment solutions in the finance sector and offers a potential for transforming many sectors including the public sector. The novel integration of technology and economy that open public block-chains have brought represents both challenges to and opportunities for enhancing digital public services. So far, the public sector has lagged behind other sectors in both research and exploration of this technology, but pilot cases show that there is a great potential for reforming and even transforming public service delivery. We argue that the open blockchain technology is best understood as a possible information infrastructure, given its universal, evolving, open and transparent nature. A comparison with Internet is meaningful despite obvious differences between the two. Based on some case studies, we have developed an analytical framework for better understanding the potential benefits as well as the existing challenges when introducing blockchain technology in the public sector.