IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Firstgov’s drops in the rankings can be attributed to its failure to add new features, said Darrell M. West, director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy at the university, who directed the study. As a result, it was surpassed by others, he said.

"The private sector has long since profited from the efficiencies of technology," said Governor Sonny Perdue. "We are proud to take full advantage of the benefits that a remarkably wired state will bring."

According to Juggle.com, this year’s recipients applied innovative web technology in order to provide citizens with greater access to government information and services. ValdostaCity.com is one of several government portals embracing the commitment to e-government services making it easier to find government information.

The federal government continues to show a gradual upward trend in online citizen satisfaction, as the aggregate satisfaction score improved quarter over quarter and year over year for the third year in a row. According to the latest findings of the ACSI special report on federal government's online performance, the e-government sector is gaining on several fronts but still faces considerable challenges

A 1.2 percent growth in the satisfaction index - from 72.6 to 73.5 - represents a 3.2 percent increase from September 2004 and is at an all-time high. The cumulative nongovernment scores for goods and services measured by the index averaged out at 73.1.

Citizen satisfaction reached an all-time high for the U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA) main Web site, www.gsa.gov, as reported in the first quarter 2008 release of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Government Satisfaction Index.

The index’s newest poll of public users of a multitude of federal Web sites indicates an aggregate satisfaction score of 72.6 on a scale of 100, up from 71.9 during the last quarter.

Some government Web sites can put their commercial counterparts to shame. The University of Michigan's quarterly American Consumer Satisfaction Index, known as ASCI, gives some government sites higher scores than commercial ones.

The biennial survey, which is in its eighth year of publication, is the original and only continuous survey of state governments’ use of information technology. This year marks Kentucky’s highest ranking in the survey and its second consecutive appearance in the top 10. The last time the prestigious survey was published in 2006, Kentucky finished in eighth position. Prior to that, Kentucky was ranked 12th in 2004 and 24th in 2002.

This year marks Kentucky’s highest ranking in the survey, which is in its eighth year of publication.

The state was ranked eighth in the last survey, published in 2006, and ranked 12th in the 2004 survey and 24th in the 2002 survey.

Metro Government placed second nationally behind Boston among cities of more than 250,000 population in the Digital Cities Survey, conducted by e.Republic’s Center for Digital Government.

The survey looks at how well city governments use information technology in improving and delivering basic services, managing budgets, providing public safety and other areas.

"Over the past two years, Maine's leadership has clearly demonstrated a commitment to eGovernment, and this is reflected in the rankings for the Sixth Annual State and Federal eGovernment Study," said Darrell M. West, director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions at Brown University and the author of the study. "The Maine.gov portal is an optimal example of how a multitude of content can be arranged well with a pleasing design."

The survey praised Maine’s state Web site, www.Maine.gov, for its overall score and gave exceptionally high marks to Maine for service delivery, citizen participation, security, and usability.

That's according to a new survey by the Center for Digital Government that compared how state governments across the country use technology to better serve their citizens.

The Digital States Survey identifies the top 25 states in terms of their best practices, policies and progress in using technology to better serve their citizens and streamline operations.

MSUFCU in East Lansing has deployed centrally managed software and readers from DigitalPersona Inc. of Redwood City, Calif., to eliminate the need to remember and type in separate strong passwords, the company and credit union said.

"Michigan has been very dedicated in this area," said Cathilea Robinett, executive director/executive vice president of The Center for Digital Government and the Center for Digital Education. "The former governor put a lot of these initiatives in place and the current governor has kept up the pace."