New Zealand book catalogues e-gov mistakes: A new book claims that New Zealand is failing to learn from its e-government mistakes. The authors of "Dangerous Enthusiasms: E-Government, Computer Failure and Information System Development" argue that large ICT projects generally fail and should be avoided if possible. Dr Robin Gauld and Dr Shaun Goldfinch of the University of Otago cite examples of project failures such as a police force IT initiative that was abandoned in 1999 at a direct cost of above NZD100 million and a failed health ICT project that cost NZD17 million. The authors outline four "enthusiasms" that contribute to the failure of large-scale IT projects. These are described as "technological infatuation, the myth of the technological fix, the role of technology salespeople, and managerial faddism". The authors claim these four enthusiasms mutually reinforce each other, creating a strongly held belief that new and large ICT projects will be a good idea.
London council pilots electronic records: A London borough council is trialling an electronic records scheme that enables departments to share information about members of the community who use multiple council services, reports ComputerWeekly.com. Lewisham Council wants to adopt an electronic document management system as a way of keeping track of people's social care records over the long term. The council's adoption service, older adults team and hospital department have been using the electronic social care record pilots to discover how sharing client information can improve business processes. The older adults and hospital teams supply services to the same people, but they work in different locations and had built up two different sets of social care records. "Documents are available immediately, improving the assessment process and reducing potential delays," said the council in a statement.
UNESCO to set up e-gov collaboration project: UN agency UNESCO is set to launch an international "community of practice" on local e-government. The collaborative initiative aims to help participants to exchange technical information and experience on the use of ICT for the empowerment and participation of citizens in government at a local level. The programme will be open to all interested experts but will initially bring together participants of three UNESCO e-government training courses that have been developed in co-operation with the Union Iberoamericana de Municipalidades. The "community of practice" is being funded by the Spanish government, and it is expected to be up and running for Spanish speakers at the beginning of 2007. The project will also establish a "virtual information centre" on e-governance.
Australians continue to adopt e-gov: A growing number of Australians are conducting business with the Government online, reports AustralianITnews.com. The proportion of Australians using the internet for government services rose to 48 percent for the 2005/2006 year, up from 39 percent in the 2004/2005 year, according to the latest federal e-government user satisfaction survey. In addition, 25 percent of Australians surveyed said they only deal with the Government via the internet, up from 19 percent in the previous year's study. Overall, 76 percent of respondents said they were either extremely satisfied or very satisfied with the outcome of internet interaction with the Government; just 6 percent said they were dissatisfied with the outcome of their online government dealings. However, there was some dissatisfaction expressed with regard to response times: nearly one-fifth of those who said they were dissatisfied with internet services said their source of unhappiness was either slow response or poor response.
US to increase healthcare IT spend: State and local government spending on healthcare and welfare information technology in the US is expected to flourish over the next few years, according to government market analyst firm Input. Spending is predicted to grow from USD7.6 billion in fiscal 2006 to USD12.2 billion by fiscal 2011, the research firm's latest report said, citing major programme integration, along with the advancement of health IT initiatives, as major factors driving the growth. As well as a number of recent health IT initiatives, Input projects that state and local IT spending will also be fuelled by the pressing need for programme efficiencies, along with fraud and abuse reduction, which will inevitably result in the consolidation of healthcare and welfare systems. "Vendors should keep an eye on developments with health IT over the next 12 to 18 months, as it should prove to be a watershed period as key prototypes and studies are concluded and related legislation makes its way through Congress, resulting in a large influx of funding and more clearly defined direction for the allocation of these funds," said James Krouse, acting director, public sector market analysis at Input.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Sylvia Leatham
Quelle/Source: ElectricNews, 02.08.2006
