IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The UK capital is trailing behind the rest of the world in quality of its city website, according to a report issued on 18 November 2003.

Launched in February 2004 and funded by the INTERREG IIIC programme, which aims to promote interregional cooperation in the European Union, the project looks to develop standard indicators for benchmarking the information society across European regions.

The OECD has published the results of its research into the performance of governments across the world. It measured expenditure, revenues, regulation, corruption and budgeting policies.

The UK has the third most sophisticated e-government service in Europe, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Only Austria and Portugal surpassed the UK in the maturity of their citizen and business-facing government services.

Along with Singapore and Spain, it will receive an e-Government Special Award for making significant progress in improving its e-service delivery and strengthening citizen engagement through e-participation.

The e-Government Special Awards will recognise the success of each world region by distinguishing the top ranked countries from Africa (Tunisia), the Americas (US), Asia (Republic of Korea), Europe (the UK) and Oceania (Australia).

According to the UN findings, Azerbaijan holds 96th place with index value of 0.4984 among the 106 countries surveyed. At that, the country received an index at 0.3660 on online service, 0.3033 on telecommunications infrastructure, and 0.8259 on human capital components.

South Korea proved to be the world leader - 0.9283 (online services - 1, telecommunications infrastructure - 0.8356, human capital - 0.9494), the 2nd is the Netherlands - 0.9125 (0.9608; 0.8342; 0.9425 respectively), the 3rd is the United Kingdom - 0.8960 (0.9739; 0.8135; 0.907). The fourth place belongs to Denmark - 0.889 (0.8562; 0.8615; 0.9489), and the U.S. closes TOP 5 - 0.8687 (1; 0.6860; 0.902).

According to the report, Nigeria dropped from 0.2687 in 2010 to 0.2676 in 2012, which indicates a decrease in the level of the acceptance by both government and private individuals in the country.

The report, which centred on e-government development in the largest population countries of the world, also indicated that Nigeria with a population of 158 million people is the least developing country among the top 11 most populated countries of the world, in terms of usage and application of e-governance by both the government and the citizens.

The survey also placed Qatar at number nine in the e-participation index for 2012.

Hukoomi, the Qatari Government’s portal, was commended in the report for undertaking to expand citizen-centric services, which was reflected in the raising of Qatar’s global rankings.

Hukoomi was highlighted as a case study in the survey for excellence in integration of e-services across government agencies and functions. These online services include visa applications, payment for utilities, settlement of traffic violations and renewal of health cards, among others.

There is a considerable lot left to be done of course, a point borne out by the fact that even nations like Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Chile, Latvia, Colombia, Barbados, Barbuda and Uruguay are ahead of India in the e-governance sweepstakes.

The UN Global E-Government Survey of 2012, released on March 6, ranked South Korea in first place, followed by the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Denmark and the United States, in that order.

The rankings are based on a measure of public sector capacity for using information and communication technologies to serve citizens. The index measures infrastructure, human capital, regulatory framework and e-participation, among other factors, based on a review of government websites.

US federal agencies are beginning to make progress on e-government, says an official management report.

The annual report that collates measurements of the impact of technology on the economic and social development of the world’s countries says that the US has fallen from prime position because of “a deterioration of the political and regulatory environment” there.

Ranking slightly behind Utah and Michigan — which earned the survey’s only A grades — were California, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia, each earning an A minus. Twenty-two states earned B or B minus grades and 18 states received a C or C minus. Florida and Idaho received the lowest grades in this year's survey, earning D grades. Results were released by the CDG on Tuesday, Oct. 2.

This year’s recipients applied innovative Web technology in order to provide citizens with an overview of local programs and businesses within the community. Hartford.gov is one of several top notch Local Government portals providing easy access to usable information in order to strengthen the local community.

Maine.gov, the State of Maine’s official web portal, has been selected by Government Computer News magazine as one of the Top 10 public sector websites. This year’s criteria focused heavily on information transparency and open government as well as data visualization, search and social media. Maine.gov (www.maine.gov) was one of only two state government sites to make the Top 10 list this year.

According to the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, Missouri ranks in the top ten states for utilization of technology in state government.

“Under Governor [Jay] Nixon’s leadership, the state’s use of information technology has made huge strides across the board,” Office of Administration Commissioner Kelvin Simmons said. “I’m proud of the rapid progress we’ve made and look forward to continuing to meet the needs of taxpayers at a lower cost, while delivering services more efficiently.”

Whether it’s from a cable, through fiber optic lines or accessed wirelessly, 99 percent of Lubbock County residents have home access to broadband Internet of 3Mbps — 768 Kbps download — or greater.

Across the state, 98.99 percent of households in such urban counties Dallas, Bexar and Harris have access to broadband Internet service.