Blair's enthusiasm for e-government is to be lauded. But we've yet to see much evidence of this enthusiasm being translated into action. Most of the government's e-initiatives to date have been embarrassing failures. From the shambles surrounding the introduction of online tax returns to the bungled attempts by the public records office to put the 1901 census online, the high-profile failures far outweigh the successes.
And every time the government has tried to use the web as a communications channel, such as putting the case against Osama bin Laden online or its Iraq dossier on the No 10 website, the system has crashed under the weight of demand within minutes. Even last week it took five hours to get the newly published Communications Bill up on the web after another server crash - and that's a document only of interest to the media industry and those prepared to wade through 600 pages of clauses and sub-clauses.
There have been some notable successes, such as Telewest's NHS Direct pilot, but the overall feel is disjointed and haphazard, despite the best efforts of e-envoy Andrew Pinder to tie together the needs of local and national government. Establishing a new central unit to co-ordinate investment and initiatives across government should help.
But still, Blair's vision of the future in which ambulance crews would sport handheld computers on which they could check patient records, in which every child would have access to audio-visual material to help with their homework and in which police would be called to court via text message to give evidence, jarred a little. At a time when there aren't enough nurses and teachers in our hospitals and schools, such plans can't help but sound faintly ridiculous.
At the same time, many of the government's other online initiatives have suffered the opposite problem - they just can't get people interested. While half the country is happily shopping, banking and communicating online, attempts to get them engaged with government through the web have so far proved fruitless.
There are several reasons for this, from uninspiring design to the fact that a few websites on their own are unlikely to be able to halt the inexorable drift towards political apathy. But the key is the lack of will among politicians to engage with the public via the web. For every MP who has his or her own website and actually answers their emails, there are 50 still living in the dark ages. Even Blair himself made the odd ingratiating aside about how he was a "Luddite" when it came to technology.
Surely committing himself fully to the medium by, say, holding a weekly webchat or having a dynamic and engaging homepage for No 10 rather than the current turgid effort would be of more value, and a lot cheaper, than throwing millions at ill-defined and poorly thought-out UK Online marketing initiatives.
The internet has already radically transformed the way we communicate, shop and consume media but early hopes that it would also revolutionise democracy in this country have so far foundered on indifference and incompetence.
For all the government's good intentions - witness Blair's assertion that this was the key "economic and social challenge" of the age - there's as yet little evidence to suggest that it has truly grasped the potential of the web and mobile technologies.
For all the lingering remnants of doom and gloom, there is a new feeling of optimism and enthusiasm in the industry surrounding broadband take-up and the possibilities for new mobile services. It would be a great shame and a huge opportunity missed if 2006 came and went and the government had still failed to tap into it.
Quelle: The Guardian
