ICT has significantly enhanced our capabilities to collect, process, and disseminate information. The application of ICTs to enhance the quality of governments deliver services is known as Electronic-Government (e-government). Governments in the west have already moved towards implementation of e-government to deliver their services through the Internet. Citizens are able to get such services through websites 24 hours a day.
On the other hand, e-government is not just about setting up websites, investing in high tech computers, networking, and internet access. If designed properly, e-government related transformation can contribute substantially to the socio-economic advancement of our country. Yet it is impossible to meet the electronic dreams of our country without development of well-articulated programmes that are rolled out in phases. First phase of transformation to e-government should be to create web presence by building simple websites for the government organizations.
All knows how Internet is rapidly transforming the socio-economic structure of our society. Therefore, functions of government websites should be expanded from information dissemination mode to service delivery mode. Ministries, departments and related bodies, have had websites for quiet some time. But they are not effective as expected. Their effectiveness depends on what they have to offer in terms of information, interaction, and transaction. Registering a domain name and setting up a website containing organizational information that are hardly ever updated is not enough these days. Websites should be designed in such a way that citizen centricity, usefulness, effectiveness, and efficiency are assured.
Evaluation carried out from time to time has revealed a number of weaknesses of our government websites. They lack clear purpose, Meta data and contact information. These issues need major re-thinking if HMG websites are to serve its main purpose. At the same time the government should encourage development of websites that can be accessed by physically challenged citizens. Although only 20 per cent of the population have access to the Internet, enthusiasm and demand for the Internet access is growing rapidly in the rural areas. Upon surveying citizens from different parts of the country who have had exposure to the government websites findings have shown that citizens have hinted on two main demands:
- To be able to use the website fast and conveniently
- To be able to get useful, authentic and up-to date information and services (if possible).
To tackle the first demand, it is imperative that government websites be fully accessible across a broad range of technologies, platforms and audiences. Latter can be addressed by adopting a citizen-focused approach right from the conceptualization to design and development of the websites.
There is no doubt that citizen centricities of the websites have not been explored and doest not portray as a concern for anyone in any organization. Nevertheless, it is essential that principles of user interface design be investigated before working on any web related projects. There are five broad categories that need well thought-out planning. They are content, navigation, architecture, accessibility, design/layout and credibility.
The World Wide Web Consortiums (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is an internationally agreed recommendation for website accessibility for the people with special needs and it is expected that the government websites also follow the same standard. This means development of website that can be accessed through different operating systems (Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Linux etc), different browsers (Netscape, Mozilla, Internet Explorer etc) and different connection speed (56K, 512K, Cable) becomes essential. Well-carved metadata information should be created to ensure visibility in the Wild Wild Web through major search engines. Response download time of websites is of major concern as well. Most of the Nepalese citizens are far from Internet access and even if they have access, they are far from enjoying the benefits of broadband.
It is very hard to imagine disorganized websites where information retrieving becomes next to impossible. Therefore, navigation architecture should be such that users spend minimal effort and clicks to locate desired information. This is important because only people in the urban settings have reliable access to the Internet. Links of all the important information should be provide in the home page itself. The link titles should be named in a manner that they are self-explanatory to avoid confusions. The websites should also have a section on related links to facilitate access to websites of parent ministry/commission, departments and other bodies associated with the parent organizations. Once websites are up and running content will have to be updated frequently resulting into an information overload.
Due to the nature of our citizens search feature and links are not enough. Therefore, development of help section is necessary to assist citizens to get desired information. If possible, it is better to provide visitors with personalized information according to their preference.
Content in government websites have to be defined in a manner that a common man is able to understand. Apart from the quality and localized content, equal emphasis should be given to the way it is written and presented. HMG websites, if not anything should at least content comprehensive contact information (email, postal address, tele-phone, fax, URL), which maybe used by citizens to approach Government functionaries. The escalation of government websites is inevitable once need of electronic presence is understood by the government administrators.
It is usually tough for human beings to remember web URLs of many government organizations. It is of no use if citizens are not able to locate government websites. Therefore, investment in a One Stop Government Portal will prove beneficial in the long run. The portal will act as a gateway for retrieving government information.
Government websites are required to raise citizen’s confidence by abiding with the law, explaining terms, and condition clearly. These issues should be addressed with extreme urgency. Once government starts offering services and transaction online in the near future, well-worded disclaimers, privacy policies, terms and condition, and confidential information are to be uploaded to the websites to enhance the credibility. Posted information should be complemented by public friend government offices and employees. Another equally important aspect related to credibility is the website URL (Universal Resource Locator) such as “gov.np”. Such domains should not be freely available for registration by anyone. Domain name providers should not be allowed to allocate the “gov.np” domains without systematic verification. The ownership info, privacy policy and legal information should be posted on the homepage. Broken links should be checked everyday because nothing can damage credibility of a website more than a link that does not take you where it is suppose to.
Autor: Bimal Pratap Shah
Quelle: The Rising Nepal, 11.11.2005
