Europe to up spending on e-government: Western European countries will increase their e-government budgets over the next three years, according to research by IDC. A study of the UK, France, Germany and Italy showed that spending on e-government initiatives will increase until 2006, as administrations strive to meet the EU's deadline for the electronic delivery of a wide range of services. The report predicts that the growth rate of government spending on IT in the four countries will peak in 2004, hitting double figures before settling into a steady growth pattern. The projects these governments will be focusing on include the improvement of interaction with citizens through portals and call centres, the development of e-procurement and the introduction of networks to support information-sharing across administrations.
EC proposes electronic tagging for farm animals: The European Commission has recommended the introduction of electronic tagging for livestock across Europe. The Commission said the implementation of e-tagging was feasible according to the results of the IDEA (Electronic IDentification of Animals) project, a six-nation trial of 1 million farm animals conducted between March 1998 and December 2001. European Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin said that "Individual identification of livestock in the EU is essential to prevent agricultural subsidy frauds and reinforce health and safety controls." He also noted that electronic tracking was crucial during outbreaks of disease among animals, such as foot-and-mouth. The Commission pointed out that conventional systems of tagging -- ear tags, tattooing and marking -- can be altered and are not always reliable, and the manual recording of data is both slow and prone to error.
Spain fails Web site accessibility test: The majority of public sector Web sites in Spain fail to meet standards for accessibility to users with disabilities, according to a new study. Consultancy firm Emergia examined 21 central, regional and local government Web sites for their compliance with nine basic criteria for accessibility. Not one of the sites complied fully with all nine criteria, and the average level of compliance was just 34 percent. The sites of regional authorities fared better than the others, with 49 percent compliance, while central government scored a mere 22 percent, and the sites for large cities achieved 31.5 percent compliance. The most common problems encountered include a lack of alternative text for non-text elements on Web pages, meaningless content in text-only versions of sites, the absence of clear descriptive titles in frames, and a lack of site maps.
New York launches health e-lert system: New York City has developed an electronic health alert system for the city's community of medical care workers. Established by the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), the Health Alert Network is a Web portal with over 500 registered users from the health care industry. The portal can send out health alert messages to local hospitals and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through pagers, mobile phones and e-mail. The Web site also provides e-learning facilities for health care workers, along with a searchable library of clinical material, providing access for medical professionals to documents such as disease fact sheets and clinical guidelines. In addition, the portal connects the DOHMH with the CDC, facilitating collaboration on initiatives such as national disease surveillance and electronic laboratory reporting.
Muscat hosts e-government symposium: The city of Muscat in Oman is hosting a three-day e-government symposium from 10 May. Over 400 people are expected to attend the conference, the title of which is "E-government opportunities and challenges." Delegates from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Lebanon and Malaysia will be in attendance. One of the main topics to be addressed at the conference is the use of Web portals and how they can be used to enhance access to services and information. Other issues to be explored include the obstacles hindering the implementation of e-government and the practical steps needed in order to overcome those obstacles. In addition, case studies will be presented that examine the efforts of other nations with regard to e-government. The event is presented by the Muscat municipality, in association with the Arab Urban Development Institute, the World Bank and the California Institute for Smart Communities.
Quelle: electricnews
