Seoul is best city for 'digital governance': The city of Seoul in South Korea has been recognised as the top-performing city for digital governance, according to a study by the eGovernance Institute at Rutgers (State University of New Jersey) and the Global ePolicy eGovernment Institute at Sungkyunkwan University (South Korea). This is the second year running that the Korean capital has come tops in the study, which evaluated city websites worldwide in terms of five criteria: privacy and security, usability, content, service delivery, and citizen participation. New York came second in the survey, followed by Shanghai, Hong Kong and Sydney. Dublin ranked 19th in the study, down two places from the previous study in 2003. The report authors noted that "there appears to be a continued divide in terms of digital governance" between the developed and the developing world. "It is very important for international organisations such as the UN and cities in advanced countries to attempt to bridge the digital divide," the report concludes. The study can be downloaded here.
Jamaicans get emergency SMS service: Jamaican police have joined forces with Caribbean mobile operator Digicel to offer a new emergency text messaging service to the public. Users of the service can send an SMS in real time directly to the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) using the short code 119. Since the launch of the initial phase of the service in June, the JCF says it has already received 3,000 emergency messages. Subscribers to each of Jamaica's three mobile networks can use the service, and messages cost a nominal fee of JMD1 (around EUR0.01). The new service also allows people with speech and hearing impairments to immediately contact the police in emergency situations. "We are using the latest technology in order to overcome barriers for some of the more vulnerable people in our society," said Harry Smith, Digicel Jamaica's chief customer relations officer.
London launches restaurant rating system: London diners will soon be able to check up on the cleanliness of restaurants when the council launches a new online ratings system next year. All 33 London borough councils are piloting the initiative, with the support of the Food Standards Agency. The online service, due to launch in April 2007, will rate dining establishments with a five-star system, based on information compiled from annual inspections carried out by environmental health officers. Of the more than 2,000 restaurants, shops and other food businesses in the borough of London, around 15 percent are expected to achieve four or five stars under the new system, with five stars signifying that the highest standards of hygiene are being adhered to. Premises that receive a zero star rating would normally face enforcement action under food hygiene laws. Restaurateurs will also be encouraged to display their own rankings on their premises where customers can see them.
EU library project poses challenge for UK: Public bodies in the UK will find it difficult to comply with EU plans to create a digital library of cultural content for Europe, reports Headstar's E-Government Bulletin. As noted last month, the EU is calling on Member States to systematically preserve content in order to ensure long-term access to books, films, photographs, manuscripts, and other cultural material. UK public bodies face a particular challenge due to the vast backlog of paper records and a lack of the technology needed to make content available online. "The National Archives has 108 miles of shelving," Kelvin Smith, a records management expert at the National Archives, told E-Government Bulletin. "They contain records of all shapes and sizes going back 900 years." Smith also noted that even records already in digital formats may pose problems, saying that documents such as PDFs can be difficult to index, and that many records that are "born digital" are stored on discs and databases that are not accessible outside organisations' intranets.
Middle East needs long-term e-gov plan: A lack of strategic planning is a major hindrance to the rollout of e-government in the Middle East, according to the director-general of the National Information Centre in Saudi Arabia. "Our problem is we don't do strategic planning," said Khalid Al-Tawil, speaking at a Government Technology Summit in Dubai, according to a report by technology newswire ITP.net. The director-general also noted that trust in e-government projects was another stumbling block, as citizens remain sceptical about the ability of technology to deliver services. Other challenges to e-government noted by Al-Tawil are a lack of local IT professionals, a lack of affordable facilities for IT education and training, the high cost of internet access and legal issues pertaining to e-government. Echoing these sentiments, Najat Rochdi of the Information and Communications Technology Development for the Arab Region group, also spoke on the importance of adopting a long-term approach to e-government strategy.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Sylvia Leatham
Quelle/Source: ElectricNews, 13.09.2006
