IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

Peru seeks to promote open source software | EU to digitally preserve cultural heritage | UK e-gov sites outperform Irish counterparts | UK develops Government Connect programme | Wales scores poorly in e-government stakes Peru seeks to promote open source software: The government of Peru has approved legislation that would oblige public bodies to consider open source software alongside proprietary software when procuring IT equipment or systems. The Peruvian Congress passed a bill that prohibits public institutions from purchasing IT systems that tie users into any particular type of software or that "limits information autonomy." Under the legislation, public bodies would also be barred from having a predetermined preference for any kind of software, whether proprietary or open source. Bids from IT suppliers would be formally assessed based on cost and suitability to the circumstances, with the results of the evaluation to be made available online providing there was no threat to national security. Congress voted unanimously in favour of the bill, which must now go before the president, who will either sign the bill into law or send it back to Congress for modification. If the bill is passed into law, Peru will join a growing list of countries who have recently begun promoting the use of open source software, including China, South Korea and France.

EU to digitally preserve cultural heritage: The European Commission has announced plans to make Europe's written and audiovisual heritage available via the internet. Under the "i2010 Digital Libraries" initiative, materials from European libraries and archives including books, films, photographs, manuscripts, speeches and music will be moved online. "Without a collective memory, we are nothing, and can achieve nothing. It defines our identity and we use it continuously for education, work and leisure," said Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding, announcing the scheme. There are three key areas for action under the project: digitisation, online accessibility and digital preservation. The Commission said that EUR36 million has already been made available for research on access to and digital preservation of cultural heritage under the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). Between 2005 and 2008, another EUR60 million will be made available via the European Commission's eContentplus programme; these funds will go towards making national digital collections and services interoperable and facilitating multilingual access to and use of cultural material.

UK e-gov sites outperform Irish counterparts: E-government websites in the UK outrank Irish sites but still leave a lot to be desired, according to a new benchmarking study from internet consultancy iQ Content. The study, "Benchmarking eGovernment Websites in the UK and Ireland: Who's getting it right? (And why?)", assessed 42 UK and Irish e-government websites in terms of content, functionality and design, with the results compiled into a league table. The UK sites performed better than the Irish sites by a wide margin, with the former scoring on average 7 percent more than the latter. The average UK site had a "good" rating, while the average Irish website was only rated "adequate", with over one-third rated "poor". Seven of the top ten sites in the table are British, while eight of the bottom ten sites are Irish. Still, the study found that UK e-government sites were dogged by a number of problems, including a lack of focus on users and customer service, along with a failure to implement best practice web design and web management techniques.

UK develops Government Connect programme: The UK government has launched a programme aimed at improving security for online transactions between public organisations. Government Connect, which is a collaboration between central and local government, hopes to introduce personalised, joined-up citizen services and transform back-office functions for government bodies. At the launch of the second phase of the programme, key partners in the project said that Phase 2 would build on Phase 1, with a series of pilots and a staggered release of products for local authorities from spring 2006 onwards. The programme aims to have rolled out products and services to around 200 councils by December 2006 and to all 388 English local authorities by the end of 2007. "[Government Connect] is a real partnership between local and central government, making use of a common infrastructure to support our vision of efficient, personalised, customer-focussed services," said Minister for Local e-Government Jim Fitzpatrick, speaking at the launch.

Wales scores poorly in e-government stakes: Wales lags behind the rest of Europe with regard to e-government services and access to information and communication technologies (ICT), according to a new study, reports Welsh IT newswire Ping Wales. The UnderStand project, which aims to develop standards for benchmarking the information society in Europe, presented the findings of its latest report to a conference held at the Welsh Assembly Government buildings. The report found that local authorities fare well in terms of web presence and accessibility, but services are mostly provided via call centres, and the use of new channels such as digital television is virtually non-existent. The study also showed that although councils are committed to the use of ICT, council staff undergo little ICT training. It was also noted that citizens have failed to take up the e-services that have been made available by local authorities. Interestingly, the report also revealed that Wales scores poorly in terms of mobile phone, internet and broadband penetration.

Autor: Sylvia Leatham

Quelle: ElectricNews, 05.10.2005