Building Regional Capacity for the Information Age
Issues Paper
drafted by for
The eris@ Public Administration Working Group Meeting
Organised by
erisa
in collaboration with
IT-Blekinge
Professor Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko
University of Tampere
8-9 June, 2000
Sölvesborg, Blekinge, Sweden
1. Introduction
2. Public administration in the changing arena
Governance relations at regional level
Leadership challenge
Towards online government
Technological mediation in governance
3. Focus on catalyst regional government
The role of regional government
Social capital at regional level
High-performing institutions
Building regional capacity
4. Informational logic of public administration
From data processing to structural design
Informational service delivery systems
Telehouses, portals and service infrastructure
Approaching a breakthrough in public administrations
5. Services for citizens: what and how?
Provision of telematic services
Transactions and the uses of e-documents
Citizens’ and customers’ needs
6. Epilogue
References to regions and projects
1. Introduction
This issues paper has been drafted to serve the ERIS@ Public Administration Working Group Meeting to be held in the region of Blekinge, Sweden. The workshop is to facilitate the exchange of information and experience between regions involved on public administration related issues in the context of information society development. The purpose of The European Regional Information Society Association, abbreviated to erisa@, supported by the European Commission, is to support and enhance regional economic development and social cohesion through the information society (http://www.erisa.be/).
Public Administration is one of the six thematic working groups of ERISA which were originally set up around 1998 by RISI regions (Regional Information Society Initiative). Public administration as a thematic area concerns such issues as the informational logic of public administration, the role of local and regional governments in the information society, new forms of democracy, and provision of public services with the help of telematics.
The first ERISA Public Administration Working Group Meeting was held in Murcia, Spain, in October 1998 (see the extended version of the issues paper Anttiroiko 1999 and Final report 1998). This meeting arrived at the following recommendations: a) Focussing on stakeholders’ involvement. There is need to pay attention to accessibility as a precondition of IS, to co-operation between public authorities, universities, firms and local civil society, to inclusiveness and social integration (esp. those of unemployed people), to a vital role of public schools, a new role of ‘third sector intervention’ (e.g. labour unions as in the case of Sweden), to involving the staff in public administrations, and to structure and design the virtual public space of information and services (cf. public and regional portals). b) Co-operation and new work methods. Public authorities, universities and other stakeholders should find shared interests and closer work relations. Special attention should be paid to improving public administration’s work methods. Exchange of experiences, information and good practices should be more intensive, especially in the focussed development projects. c) IT security: a key to a new stage of development. IT security issues must be targeted at the highest possible level in order to provide preconditions for trust, security and compatibility. In addition, legislation is needed to match the regulatory functions with the transactions and other practices and technological development in general in order to provide conditions for more flexible and competitive systems. d) The need for street-level IS applications. Resources should be directed to specific areas which need special support in creating street-level IS applications. Where home access is unlikely to become widespread within the next five or ten years, it is obvious that street-level applications would serve to democratise IS development. Community networks and local associations should have their say in this process.
These above mentioned recommendations are relevant even in early 2000. Yet, there are new issues, trends and discussions that need to be taken into account. The Blekinge Workshop should serve to ‘fine tune’ these themes, bring about new visions and key priorities, and keep regional strategic IS development up-to-date.
This paper discusses two main issues, those of regional governance and provision of telematic services. This is, to a large extent, motivated by the observation that during the 1990s one of the biggest changes in social relations has been increased interconnectedness and interdependency (cf. Skyrme 1999, 3; and Castells 1989; 1999). This process seems to connect two megatrends, globalisation and information society (IS), and imply that they have direct and indirect implications for local and regional processes.
As to the first theme, the emphasis is on identifying the changing governance relations and the new role of public administration, and how this is reflected in governance relations at regional and local levels in particular. Technology as such has a role in dealing with these issues.
In the second theme, discussion is directed to how the system of public administration is changing, and how this new informational logic helps to match services with citizens’ needs and demands.
One document worthy of consideration is the Green Paper on Public Sector Information in the Information Society (COM(98)585Final) which starts from the observation that a lack of transparency for citizens, employers and administrations has resulted in difficulties in some of the freedoms of EU citizens and functionality of the internal market as well. Thus, public sector information may provide opportunities for economic growth and employment. For example, according to a survey almost 60 % of companies think that it is likely that access to information would enable them to expand their activities within the EU. In addition, in the Green Paper special attention was paid to the need of creating an electronic government and telematic services. (European Commission 1999.)
Another strategic statement is the initiative known as the eEurope which echoes the endeavour to modernise the European economy as expressed in the Bangemann Report (1994). The European Commission launched this new initiative in December 1999 with the adoption of the communication ‘eEurope – An information society for all’ in order to bring the IS to all European citizens, businesses and administrations. It focuses on ten priority actions with a strong European added value which can have a significant impact on economic and social development. These are:
The European Commission launched in May the eEurope Action Plan (a draft) which should be agreed on by EU leaders in Feira in June 2000. The plan sets out a strategy to address key barriers to the uptake of the Internet in Europe. It proposes that member states and the Commission bind themselves to achieving the following objectives: (1) a cheaper, faster, more secure Internet; (2) investing in people's skills and access; and (3) stimulating the use of the Internet. All these key elements should be in place by 2002. The idea is to close the Internet gap between Europe and North America, for only 22 percent of European households have Internet access, in comparison with the US, where some 50 % of households are online. (eEurope 2002.)
Most of these objectives are of vital importance for the work of ERISA and its member regions. In fact, the priority actions mentioned above match well with thematic working groups of ERISA. The Public Administration Working Group has closest connection to the last of them, Government online, though there are also thematic connections to such actions as cheaper Internet access and secure electronic access.
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2. Public administration in the changing arena
Focus: To map out the role of public administration in the changing environment, special emphasis being on the issues of regional governance. It is also discussed how the new technology affects the roles and relationship of institutional actors.
Relevance: Understanding of the governance issues helps regional and local governments to take a proper role in promoting IS development in the region. There is a need to identify both prevalent practices and future opportunities in dealing with regional development processes.
A huge amount of literature on globalisation, restructuring government and new public management suggests that something profound has happened and is still going on in the governance relations at every institutional level. In the field of public institutions, this can be seen as an emerging pattern of multi-level governance which consists of five basic levels (Hirst & Thompson 1999, 275): agreements between major powers (notably the G3); international regulatory agencies (such as the WTO, the IMF, the World Bank); the governance of larger economic areas (e.g. the EU, NAFTA, ASEAN, Mercosur); national governments; and local and regional governments.
This is not the only dimension to be taken into account, however. There are also changes in the relationships between major societal sectors, i.e. public sector, business community, and civil society. There have been economic, political and social pressures on government and public bodies which have made broad reforms essential. According to Mayne and Zapico-Goñi (1997, 6), at least three broad interrelated trends were visible in the 1990’s: (a) a search for quality and excellence at affordable prices, (b) managerialism, and (c) partnership with the public. All these reflect a desire for more responsible and efficient government.
Governance relations at regional level
At European level regional governments are primarily designed to decentralise state functions and plan and support local and regional development (Norton 1997, 66). Even if the role of regional authorities varies from one country to another, they all have a capacity to promote IS development in their regions.
This is a dimension that has been on the agenda of many regional development projects. For example, in Yorkshire and Humberside the regional capacity has attracted some attention: Regions with regional administrations, have a strong advantage over those that have not, since they already have strategic agency capacity and position-power. So, regions in the UK are in the position of trying to persuade regional players to participate while having neither the power to act nor the resources to offer. However, as the other side of the coin there is a bottom-up approach that allows an even better engagement with the relevant sectors and actors. (CoMPRIS Project of Yorkshire and Humberside, UK.)
These views have been widely discussed since the late 1980s. For example, Manuel Castells in his seminal work The Informational City (1989) concluded that when facing the "supersession" of places by a network of information flows, cities and regions have to design new strategies. Castells focussed on two directions. First, by fostering citizen participation local authorities can mobilise local civil society to support a collective strategy. Secondly, they should connect with other organised communities in order to create networks and alliances to counterbalance the power of the networks of instrumental exchanges. In line with this, Pycroft (1996) has paid attention to local authorities chances to utilise such resources as local structures, partnerships, and articulation between local and higher level organisations.
In many instances a need to encourage innovation and co-operation between central and local service providers has been emphasised. One purpose is to spread technology standards across the public sector (cf. Modernising Government 1999). Similarly Northern Informatics has recognised a need to identify how local government can best support the region’s efforts in promoting IS development. There is also a need to identify areas where authorities can collaborate. Even in a more general sense this governance aspect is visible on the agenda of Northern Informatics, for it focusses on: rising awareness of stakeholders and promote access for all citizens, work with telecom services, network and equipment suppliers, encourage funding, and represent region’s interests in the development of an IS nationally and internationally. (Northern Informatics, a RISI project of the North of England, UK.)
Leadership challenge
In the name of New Public Management and related more or less neo-liberal doctrines a variety of market mechanisms have been proposed and adopted for the reform of state and other public bureaucracies (Walsh 1995). One characteristic feature of this trend is that territorial governments, from national to local, are said to be losing their power not only to international organisations but also to multinationals and global business networks. The role of the nation states especially seems to be diminishing, or at least changing, though they will probably maintain their position as the key players on the global scene. Along with this the roles of regional and local governments are likely to become more important in dealing with competitiveness, development and welfare policy issues.
Due to these trends in governance relations decision-making authority and service provision are more and more shared among a range of agencies. In present times local and regional authorities are working alongside other public, private and voluntary sector organisations in providing services and performing development activities. This means, ultimately, that the system has become increasingly differentiated and fragmented. Especially in Britain the Governments model for local government in the 1990s and into the 21st centrury is that of the enabling authority, and most of the European countries obviously follow suit, at least to some extent. (Pratchett & Wilson 1996, 3.)
Towards online government
Evidently the information society development poses a challenge to the public sector. In the policy report of the high-level expert group it is emphasised that the role of the public sector in the emerging information society is, among other things, to operate as a guardian of competition. Nevertheless, it has been expressed that the minimalist view of the Bangemann Report (1994) and even the eEurope (1999) needs to be broadened. Consequently, public information services can be used as the new engine of growth. This is expressed in three recommendations of the expert group’s report, viz. (a) shifting public services from infrastructure to content, (b) making public services more effective, and (c) using public services as a model of service provision. (European Commission 1997, 25-29.)
One of the key priority actions in the eEurope initiative is Government online. The idea is to improve the uses of the Internet in order to guarantee easy access to public sector information. This would make the Internet more relevant to the daily lives of citizens, and thus to boost the number of Internet users. (eEurope 1999.)
The idea of electronic government was also sketched in the Green Paper on Public Sector Information in the Information Society. In Europe experiments that aim at exploiting the potential of ICTs, especially by improving the functioning of public services and extending authorities’ interaction with the outside world, are being conducted at all levels of government. A fundamental rationale behind this concept is that it brings public sector bodies closer to citizens and businesses and leads to better public services. (European Commission 1999.)
A third view on this is the White Paper on Modernising Government, presented to British Parliament by the Prime Minister and the Minister for the Cabinet Office. Chapter 5 of this document is about information age government and the effort to use new technology to meet the needs of citizens and business. It stresses the profound influence of increased "technological mediation" and how its changes our lives. (Modernising Government 1999.)
What is especially interesting in Modernising Government (1999) is that it proposes that in public services it should by 2002 be possible to accomplish 25 % of dealings with Government electronically, then figure to increase to 50 % by 2005 and indeed 100 % by 2008. There are, of course, some elements which are strategic for achieving these goals. The following ten points show what the British Government considers to be vital for the information age government:
· Household access to electronic services through developments such
as interactive TV. But there will also be a very wide range of public
access points, with advice on hand.
· Much more user-friendly, inexpensive, and multi-functional
technology as TV, telephones and broadcasting converge.
· As part of this, less dependence on keyboard skills as remote control
pads, voice command, touch screens, video-conferencing and other
developments make it easier for users to operate and benefit from new
technology. But other skills will be built up in schools, in the workplace,
and across the community.
· Continuing dramatic increases in computing power, and in the power
of networked computing, together enabling government services to be
delivered more conveniently, accurately, quickly and securely.
· Wide scale take-up of multi-purpose smartcards, with which citizens
can identify themselves, use services, safeguard their privacy and,
increasingly, make and receive payments. Cards will also evolve into still
more powerful technologies.
· Government forms and other processes which are interactive,
guided by on-line help and advice, and collect all the necessary
information in one go.
· Smarter knowledge management across government, which
increasingly enables government to harness its data and experience more
effectively, and to work in new ways.
· Use of government web sites and other access points as single
gateways, often structured around life episodes, to a whole range of
related government services or functions.
· Repackaging of government services or functions, often through
partnerships with the private sector, local government or the voluntary
sector, so that they can be provided more effectively.
· Flexible invest to save approaches, where the huge potential of new
technology to increase efficiency is used imaginatively to fund
better-designed processes.
Source: Modernising Government 1999.
Technological mediation in governance
How does technology relate to changes in governance relations? One crucial aspect is that it helps the "reinventing government for the information age", as phrased by Bellamy and Taylor (1998, 4). In a more practical sense informationalisation helps to take care of interauthority and inter-organisational relations by facilitating communication.
According to the White Paper on Modernising Government (1999) IT will "improve communications between different parts of government so that people do not have to be asked repeatedly for the same information by different service providers." In addition, it facilitates the governmental partnerships. (Modernising Government 1999.)
Even more directly recent developments create new strategic positions among societal sectors by making relationship building more competitive and dynamic. Privileges are getting weaker because of the power of informational provision or public and private services. In addition, changes in the way we live and work together greatly influence the relationships existing within regions, as in the case of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
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3. Focus on catalyst regional government
Focus: Clarifying the role of local and regional governments and identifying strategic tools they can use in developing their areas: drafting strategies, establishing projects based on partnership, searching for improvements in social capital etc. What is the special role of regional government and how can it increase its capacity? How should the regional IS projects be managed within a broader institutional framework?
Relevance: Inter-governmental relations have a vital impact on the capacity of the political-administrative system. The more explicit rules to establish the division of labour and functional responsibilities, the better conditions there are for multi-level governance and high performance.
In the conclusion of his expert report, Einemann (1997, 46) asserts that success in regional development depends on having results-oriented people with sufficient competence, acceptance and funding engineering. Another related precondition is sufficient level of human and social capital required in increasing, exploiting and utilising local potentials. Thirdly, commitment and shared visions are needed to ensure synergy and coordination in development activities (cf. Sullivan 1998a). Lastly, there is need to emphasise the need for an attractive conditions and an innovative milieu.
In this regard an analogy on how some states have changed their strategies in governance may be illuminating. As the macro-economic tools have lost much of their efficiency in economic governance, many states have set themselves to find new ways to excercise economic control and influence. States that seek to achieve their goals less by relying on their own resources than by exerting their influence in coalitions of states, transnational institutions and private-sector groups, are called catalytic states. (Weiss 1999, 209.) If this style becomes widely adopted, it may bring to an end the era of territorially-oriented ‘integral states’ having control over their territories. In this model the legitimation of state strategy is not drawn from a close contact to grassroots or local community but from multi-level governance relations. In fact, it has been claimed by Castells (1999, 350-352) that the institutionalisation of the European Union has such essential features that allow us to refer to it as a new state formation, a network state. With the risk of oversimplification, this network state can be seen as a institutional framework of catalytic states and regions.
The same features have been visible in both local and regional governments. In fact, what regions all over the Europe have tried to do is to do their best in promoting IS development by creating alliances and inter-regional networks. A related issue is how the multi-level governance has been taken place in different European countries, and how this is reflected in regions’ capabilities in realising their visions.
The role of regional government
Together with this shift there is a need to define what the actual role of regional government is in, let’s say, promoting IS development. How does it utilise its position as a public body? Are the regions in different areas trying to be leaders, catalysts, models, partners or enabling authorities in developing IS in their respective areas, or have they adopted a sort of selective uses of different roles? This is largely affected by the cultural and institutional context of the region in question, but it is also about effective use of authority.
One of the most critical issues is how to create alternatives to fragmented forms of decision-making, and how to co-ordinate development decisions and efforts (cf. Newman & Verpraet 1999). Related issues of regional governance have been raised by many ‘eris@ regions’. For example:
Another issue that was discussed in many regions is about knowledge, capacity and information. For example:
Social capital at regional level
Social capital refers to features of social organisation, such as trust, norms, and networks that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating coordinated actions. This social form evolves simply because it lowers transaction costs and facilitates co-operation. (Putnam 1993, 167, 171-172). This has become a widely discussed theme in regional and local government studies (e.g. Lowndes 1999, Stoker 1999 and Gittell & Vidal 1998).
Social capital enables participants to act together effectively to pursue shared objectives. There are two main types of this capital: bonding capital brings closer together people who already know each other, whereas bridging capital brings together people or groups who previously did not know each other. (Gittell & Vidal 1998, 15).
There are studies which show that different forms of social capital pave the way for the information society, for flexible network production and even for economic efficiency. As suggested by Gerry Stoker (1999), access to social capital has been causally linked to improved health and quality of life, lower crime rates, the performance of political institutions and economic prosperity. Yet, establishing social capital - i.e. shared norms, social trust and strong networks - requires favourable conditions, such as long-lasting relationships and experience of the benefits provided by social arrangements (Gittell & Vidal 1998, 22).
High-performing institutions
Social and cultural factors live at the heart of economic success. Amin and Thrift (1995) have referred to this observation as ‘institutional thickness’. This kind of social infrastructure includes such elements as pluralism in the institutional presence, high levels of inter-institutional interaction, clearly defined patterns of coalition formation and shared commitment. They also claim that in the most favourable cases these four determinants will produce six positive outcomes: institutional persistence (effective institutional reproduction), a pool of explicit and tacit knowledge, institutional flexibility, high innovative capacity, the ability to extend trust and reciprocity, and finally, consolidation of a sense of inclusiveness which serve to mobilise regional resources.
One aim of the regional institutions in promoting IS is to find a consensual and inclusive approach that helps to ensure that the IS will benefit the region. This requires a mobilisation of continuing support for the IS from economic and political groups. A critical prerequisite of consensus building amongst key regional players is a sufficient degree of social capital and institutional strength (see e.g. BRISE Project of Bremen).
In regard to the role of social capital and institutions, Millock and Olson (1993, 51) have presented an interesting analysis of the region of Mezzogiorno, Italy. They argue that the fact that the large number of financial incentives have not led to an increase in the number of SMEs can be seen as an indicator of stagnation of endogenous entrepreneurship, and that one reason for this may be an unfavourable institutional environment. Their observations support the assumption that the institutional framework may explain some of the differences between rich and poor nations or regions. Millock and Olson conclude that "[t]he State cannot guarantee enforcement of property rights, which implies higher transaction costs and reduced entrepreneurial incentives. The political regulation of economic activities triggers rent seeking to transfer public resources to lobbying groups. ---. Difficulties in organizing collective action explain why a change in institutional factors is difficult to obtain." These observations are of vital importance for developing a ‘social infrastructure’ for regions.
Building regional capacity
Neither states nor local and regional governments have direct or ‘total’ control over their jurisdictions. Similarly, none of them are uniformly capable across all policy areas. This is why their capacities vary considerably from one policy area to another. These vary from economic performance and technological advancements to political stability and social equality.
According to Linda Weiss (1999, 5), from the industrial economy perspective, such a capacity refers to the ability of policy-making authorities to pursue domestic adjustment strategies that, in co-operation with organised economic groups, upgrade or transform the industrial economy. This idea can well be applied to local and regional capacity-building, too. Weiss emphasizes that more than anything state capacity depends on institutions governing domestic linkages. Much the same can be assumed also to hold for local and regional governments’ roles.
In the literature on comparative economic performance the state capacity has been explained to originate from social bargaining (corporatism), coercion (strong state), effective policy instruments (financial systems), or embedded autonomy (state and society relations). Weiss (1999, 37) stresses that what is essential here is a sort of contingency perspective: different forms of government-business co-operation and changing tasks of economic management need to be conceptualised. This is why she introduces a concept of ‘governed interdependence’.
Similar aspects are also visible at regional level. In the BRISE Project it was emphasised that the co-operation of local ‘key players’, e.g. manufacturers, operators, consumers, and the public sector, is continuously promoted through evaluating regional opportunities in the IS and through the development of a strategy and action plan. This is an expression of regional partnership and governed interdependence in the field of the IS. This means that a broad acceptance of the IS development can only be achieved through an approach which combines the policy of the decision making bodies with the representation of different interests, including that of the general public. (BRISE Project, the region of Bremen.)
With respect to regional governance, governed interdependence refers to a negotiated relationship, in which public and private participants maintain their autonomy, yet which is nevertheless governed by broader goals set and monitored by the regional government. It is intended to convey a reality in which both ‘region state’ and dominant economic groups are strong. In general, the source of the capacity is not in regional government’s ability to impose its decisions, but rather, that it can use its autonomy to consult and to elicit consensus and co-operation from the private sector. This is a kind of ‘infrastructural power’ because, through its linkages with key economic groupings, the regional government can
* extract and exchange vital information with all the stakeholders
* stimulate private-sector participation in key policy areas
* mobilise a greater level of collaboration in advancing regional strategy.
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4. Informational logic of public administration
Focus: To focus on the very core of the processes in public administration: uses of electronic documents, internal organisation of public administration, telematic services and teledemocratic processes. What will the informational service delivery system look like and what are the bottlenecks in constructing it?
Relevance: There is a need to understand how the administrative and public service systems can be designed and how this new system works, in order to be able to make knowledge-based strategic choices.
The concept of informational logic of public administration describes a new administrative and service delivery system which is based on extensive use of ICTs. Yet it implies something else, too. Namely, as important as technology is, it is not a sufficient condition for better quality, efficiency, and effectiveness in public administration and service provision. Structural and organisational reforms are also needed. This is due to the requirements in internal organisation as well as changes in the dynamics in society. Moreover, changes in the governance relations, as described in previous chapters, require new working methods and mechanisms. One of the key questions is to how to take care of collecting vital information and to share it when this conforms with data protection rules. Another question, articulated in the BRISE Project, is for what reasons the tackling of organisational change has taken so long.
From data processing to structural design
The automatic data processing (ADP) approach of past decades reflects the development in which the technological paradigm in public administration focused primarily on processing pre-existing data, dissemination based on paper printouts, and piecemeal approach to managing information in government. There were no incentives for utilising the information flow in administrative processes. PCs were introduced in public administrations around the mid-1980s, and local area networks, client/server architectures, and especially the introduction of the Internet began to revolutionise the administrative structures and processes in the 1990s. There are such ICT related trends in administration as "fractal" organization approach, networking of public administrations and their clients, up-to-date working environments and openness of the services and participation. (Reinermann 1997, 208, 220-222.)
Thus, since the late 1980s the picture started to change. Information technology began to be democratised and demystified. Introduction of computers to professional and administrative staff had a significant importance for the development of informational logic of public administration. In addition, along with this development the new public management is creating opportunities to match the new mediation techniques with organisational processes. (Bellamy 1996, 138-139, 143.) A British case shows some of the problems related to this development: "Government has so far followed a largely decentralised approach to IT development. This has allowed Departments and agencies to modernise their systems in ways that meet their own needs. But we have not developed ways of ensuring that we maximise the benefits of IT for government as a whole. As a result, we have incompatible systems and services which are not integrated." (Modernising Government 1999).
New technologies allow the provision of information and services in a more integrated form, which is a critical element where a number of different administrative bodies need to exchange information and co-ordinate their activities. For some time such concepts as ‘one stop service’ or ‘one stop shop’ have been created to meet this very challenge. (European Commission 1999.)
Informational service delivery systems
There is need to emphasise that this kind of informational system contains several elements, not only the latest technology and solutions. It goes without saying that in the long run technological convergence will bring about a profound transformation in this whole system. The informational service system thus consists of different technological mediation and service elements which form a new mediascape. As expressed in the Modernising Government (1999): "The Internet, interactive TV and touchscreen delivery should take their place alongside more innovative use of the telephone, the call centre and the paper document …".These sites of a public sphere can be tentatively group in the following way:
* Telematic services of a local/regional authority (via Internet)
* Town halls, offices, libraries, front offices and integrated service points
* Public access points, self-service points and information kiosks
* Memory card and smart card applications (libraries, transport, health care etc.)
* Telephone services (incl. call centres and smart phones)
* New media, videoconferencing, interactive TV and mass communication.
Telehouses, portals and service infrastructure
What will be the role IS applications like telehouses, front offices and integrated offices which have been discussed since the 1980s (e.g. Qvortrup 1988)? Now it seems that such "street level IS applications" are losing part of their attractiveness, especially in urban areas in which wired computers are available either at home or at workplaces. Nevertheless, in order to guarantee accessibility in rural, remote and sparsely populated areas, telehouses and libraries in particular may have their role to play. Post Offices can also be equipped with a modern on-line IT platform to facilitate electronic provision of government services across post office counters, as suggested in Modernising Government (1999). It is also useful to check whether banks, supermarkets, accountants, broadcasting companies, the IT industry and others can be partners in service delivery. These issues have been visible in such regions as Wales, UK, the counties of Blekinge and Västerbotten in Sweden (e.g. BIT-Houses in Blekinge), and North Karelia in Finland. Another example is the STAND Project of the South West Region of Ireland which has helped to equip 35 communities with Internet access facilities (County Kerry Centres).
In the early 21st century it seems that web-based solutions form the core of informational service delivery system. There is a plethora of electronic town halls and virtual cities, like for example, the one established by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, UK (see Evans 1999), the City of Tampere, Finland (URL: http://www.tampere.fi/english.htm), or the town of Sölvesborg, Sweden (URL: http://www.solvesborg.se/). Another well-known example is Ennis Information Age Town Project in Ireland (URL: http://www.ennis.ie/). Similar cases can be found in practically every European country. In this the rural regions of the EU should gain special attention (e.g. SCRIPT Project of the Shannon Region, Ireland) There is, indeed, good reason to point that municipalities are in a good position to adopt a leading role in creating a local digital community around a sort of local portal or electronic government gateway. It can be made to serve as a virtual meeting point of a community, thus, not only to collect local links, but to provide a user-friendly access to public information, and to include uses of search engines, easy access to varies sites of interest, and public discussion forums.
What seems to be among the most urgent needs in this phase of development is to broaden the perspective from technological solutions and bandwith issues to organisational solutions for logistics and customer/citizen interactions. As pointed out by Åke Grönlund, a new service infrastructure should be developed. In practice this means that e-mails should be answered without delay, services delivered promptly, complaints taken care for properly etc. Different media must be integrated in order to provide smooth service processes. If this re-engineering remains undone, web-based systems may not replace anything but just increase the work burdens of administrative and service personnel. (Grönlund 2000.)
Approaching a breakthrough in public administrations
It seems that we are approaching a breakthrough of the informational service delivery systems in most of the countries of Western Europe. Decisive steps depend on the following kind of elements:
1) Administrative transformative capacity and proactive orientation in national, regional and local governments.
2) Sufficient legal framework concerning telecommunications, privacy issues, electronic transactions and authentication.
3) Technological preconditions, not only infrastructure, but also advances in the areas of user identification and security.
4) Focussing on demand side: obtaining a critical mass (sufficent amount of users/buyers) by attractive, inexpensive, flexbile and user-friendly services.
5) Expectations of the benefits of informationalisation of all the key stakeholders: governments, industries, and consumers.
Most of European governments are proactive actors which try to ensure that an increasing number of services are capable of being delivered electronically in the next few years. In the case of Britain, the Government in the White Paper on Modernising Government (1999) has identified the following elements that are vital for successful implementation:
· A route map and a set of strategic enablers will be provided by the
corporate government IT strategy, together with the frameworks for
data standards, digital signatures, call centres, smartcards, digital TV,
web sites, government gateways and privacy […].
· Information age government services and other processes are likely to
develop increasingly around clusters of related government
functions aligned to the needs of citizens and businesses. As part of this,
more services will become available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
· This will be given impetus by stronger central co-ordination, to ensure
that best practice and consistent standards are applied across
government, that all the government bodies with an interest in a
particular set of services come together to talk to potential partners, and
that they promote compatibility across IT systems and data sets.
· Progress against targets will be regularly monitored and reported.
At the same time, it is important that targets should not be viewed
narrowly or purely incrementally. It will be necessary to plan further
ahead to make the most of the opportunities for working across
boundaries, partnership and service integration.
· Close consultation and benchmarking will continue with international,
private sector and other colleagues. It is essential that the strategy
should be implemented in ways which take full account of the changing
environment and enable government to learn continuously from best
practice elsewhere.
· Market research and user feedback will improve the design and
organisation of services and other processes, and focus them more
firmly on citizens and businesses.
Source: Modernising Government 1999.
One critical issues is whether it is possible to determine a point at which transition from supplementary role of telematic services to first priority of telematic services in the service delivery system is technologically possible and socially legitimate. This transition is relevant in order to be able to conduct a profound re-engineering process in administrations.
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5. Services for citizens: what and how?
Focus: To identify what are the services people really need and want (content) and to discuss how the 'informational service delivery system' should be constructed from a citizen-centred viewpoint, and how the sufficient access can be guaranteed.
Relevance: End users are the ones who have first-hand experience of how the services should be designed and what facilitates navigation in the virtual world. This information is of vital importance in designing telematic services.
IT is rapidly changing the faces of advanced service societies. It affects not only service delivery, but also the service concept, strategies, quality, cost and production. The potential of IT in service provision includes cost rationalisation (as a substitute for manpower), more effective quality control, and closer link-up with the customer. Moreover, it has a potential in creating the desired human behaviour and/or interactions. (Normann 1993, 97, 101-103.)
Access has long been a key issues in IS development (e.g. WIS of Wales, UK). There are also some qualifications for this, such as that there is need for a high speed capacity (fibre-optic broadband) regions wide network to ensure equality of access for all citizens (Northern Informatics, North of England, UK). There will be no critical mass needed for the full realisation of the potentials of ICTs without a sufficient level of access to the electronic networks. The penetration of Internet has happened relatively fast in Europe, but still it seems that it takes a long time until a generalised access will become a reality. As a first step in many European countries one priority has been to invest in infrastructures that provide access for all to the electronic networks. In early 2000 it looks as if there are four basic modes of access to the information networks: networked computers at home, computers at workplaces, computers available in libraries and offices, and various special access points.
Provision of telematic services
Increased uses of telematic services are becoming one of the key aspects in reshaping regional and local governments. Provided the recent developments continue to shape this field, the net will become the basic medium of society. It will enable a formation of a web-based system providing opportunities to deliver services for citizens and customers in a more flexible way 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. In addition, this system will help to increase co-operation and the uses of information resources.
At the moment there are only a limited number of services available on the net, not to mention the fact that this system is not as democratic or as interactive as it could be. Yet, we can be sure that the use of generic systems, new applications and provision of telematic services will, sooner or later, change the image and functional principles of public service provision. (cf. Taylor et al. 1996; and Bellamy & Taylor 1998, 66-67.)
Telematic services can be classified into three main groups (Miles 1991, 74; and European Commission 1999):
1) Information services: to retrieve sorted and classified information on demand.
- Providing information to citizens and target groups
- Marketing public services via Internet
- User-friendly information services
2) Communication services: to interact with individuals or groups of individuals via e-mail or electronic discussion forums.
- Electronic mail
- Electronic discussion forums
- Mailing lists
- Videoconferencing etc.
3) Transaction services: to acquire products or services on line, to send data or payments, or to submit applications to authorities.
- Initiatives, reservations and bookings via Internet
- Filling in the electronic forms
- Ordering and paying for deliveries on line
- Televoting
- Transaction services in education, health care, social welfare etc.
Nowadays most of the regional and local governments in countries of Western Europe have their own web sites. Information available in these sites include introductions to the local authority, tourism, economic development, leisure, other public services and access to local authority systems (Society of Information Technology Management 1997). In general, they concentrate on providing information services and promotional materials. This situation is likely to change dramatically in the near future, however, as the number of users increases, and as the system becomes more interactive and user-friendly.
Transactions and the uses of e-documents
For a long time now practically all routine administrative work has been executed with the help of computers (Reinermann 1997, 209). This is just a start, however, for it has not realised the potential of IT from the citizen or customer point of view. During the 1990s some administrative documents were made machine readable and available to the general public. The range of services has also increased. As important as these electronic documents are in introducing a new informational system, they may prove to be just a temporary solution which pave our way to more profound change. They are based on an old format of documentation with the help of new technology. Next step is to develop new concepts and formats which are unimpeded by the practices of yesterday. This will be a phase in which re-engineering and reinventing public services will have more room than they have now.
This development along with the changes in the public and private sectors and their involvement in IS may cause a new problem to citizens: how to find the services in the cyberspace? An ordinary citizen who is not an experienced Internet user may have considerable difficulties in finding what he or she is searching for, or in navigating in the cyberspace. This is one form of information overflow which may constitute a big problem in the near future.
Some aspects of these issues, especially the integration of applications and provision of advanced tools to enable efficient navigation to public information and interactive services, have been dealt with in the TITAN Digital Site Project of Shannon and South West Regions of Ireland. There are also such national projects as Citizen’s guide in Finland which includes all the essential information that citizens need in different situations in life, and SverigeDirekt in Sweden, a website for access to information about Sweden and to Swedish government agencies and non-governmental organizations.
Suffice it to mention here that public administration is involved in different kinds of security and privacy issues. This explains interest in dealing with authentication (e.g. citizen cards), security systems, digital signatures and signature verification over the Internet, smart card applications, and designing IT security policy. A recent report on technology in government reminded us of the following: "Infosecurity 99, Europe's largest computer security meeting, found that many local authorities do not have firewalls to prevent hacker access, and that many who claimed they did have security measures in place were not monitoring them by checking incoming and outgoing messages. ---. The survey found that 6% of local authorities have no security at all, not even anti-virus software, and one in three have no formal Internet or e-mail use policy." (Liberator 1999.) These observations are of vital importance because in the long run the development of security systems will be a critical part of IS infrastructure.
Citizens’ and customers’ needs
Citizens and customers are the ones who should matter in developing eletronic public services, of course. Service providers should continuously learn from and about their users. Consequently, the challenge in this transitional phase of development is not the development of the technology as such, but rather ensuring that it is put to really beneficial use, i.e. to exploit the technology by adding value and responding to real user needs, as emphasised by Sullivan (1998a; 1998b).
In the survey conducted by the Pew Internet Project in early 2000 it was found out that the most common Internet activities among Americans are the following (telephone interview among a sample of 3,533 adults, of which 1,690 were Internet users):
| What Americans do in the Internet? | Percent (%) |
| Send e-mail | 91 |
| Look for info on a hobby | 76 |
| Research a product or service before buying it | 74 |
| Get travel information | 64 |
| Surf the Web for fun | 63 |
| Check the weather | 62 |
| Look for info about movies, books, or other leisure activities | 62 |
| Get news | 60 |
| Research for school or training | 55 |
| Look for health/medical information | 54 |
| Do any type of research | 49 |
| Buy a product | 48 |
| Visit a government Web site | 47 |
| - - - - | - - |
| Look for information about a job | 38 |
| Buy or make a reservation for travel | 36 |
| Look for political news/information | 35 |
| Chat in a chat room or in an online discussion | 28 |
| Look for information about a place to live | 27 |
Table 1. Internet activities. (Pew Internet Project. March 2000 Poll.)
There are many ways to promote citizen involvement and increase the uses of the Internet. Thse include:
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6. Epilogue
This paper deals with several issues that are of vital importance for regional IS development. Attention is paid to governance issues and telematic services. One of the fundamental questions is what the role of public administration in the changing arena is. This issue is discussed with reference to regional level: what is the role of local and regional governments in promoting IS development and what are the strategic tools at their disposal for this purpose?
As to the second main theme, a need to conceptualise and design the informational logic of public administration was ascertained. An additional dimension of this issue is to look at it from the users’ point of view: what are the services people really need and want and how to design customer-centred electronic services?
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References to regions and projects
AC-Direkt. Västerbotten, Sweden.
URL: http://www.ac-direkt.org/Welcome1.html
BIT-Houses. Bit-världshus i Östersjöregionen. IT-Blekinge, Sweden (http://www.itblekinge.se/)
URL: http://www.itblekinge.se/BIT-Houses/Bit-vrldshusistersjr.htm
BRISE. The Region of Bremen, Germany.
ULR: http://www.bremen.de/brise/english_index.htm
Citizen’s guide. Ministry of Finance, Finland. Last updated 15.05.2000.
URL: http://www.opas.vn.fi/english/kkk/index.html
CoMPRIS Project. Yorkshire and Humberside, UK.
URL: http://www.compris.co.uk/
County Kerry Centres. Kerry Pilot Information Technology Centres. County Kerry, Ireland, 1998.
URL: http://homepages.iol.ie/~deskerry/kerry.html
Ennis. Information Age Town. Catalyst for the Future.
URL: http://www.ennis.ie/iat/index.html
IT-Blekinge. Sweden.
URL: http://www.itblekinge.se/itblek/engwebbn/enettan.htm
Karlskrona. The city of Karlskrona, Sweden.
URL: http://www.karlskrona.se/
NOKIS. North Karelia towards Information Society. Finland.
URL: http://www.carelian.fi/nokis/
Northern Informatics. The North of England’s rout to the Information Society. UK.
URL: http://www.niaa.org.uk/
Schleswig-Holstein (2000). Schleswig-Holstein’s Way Towards the Information Society - An Information Society for All. Volume 1: Initial Situation - Changes - Opportunities. Globalization and regional Initiatives. Consulted in May 27, 2000.
URL: http://www.tsh.de/initiative/sap_frames_e/sap_frame.htm
SCRIPT Project. System for Community and Rural Integrated Public access Telematics. Shannon, Ireland.
URL: http://www.shannon-dev.ie/shipp/public_services.htm
ShIPP Home Page. Shannon Information Society Partnership Programme. Consulted in May 2000.
URL: http://www.shannon-dev.ie/shipp/
SverigeDirekt. SverigeDirekt är vägvisaren till den offentliga sektorn på Internet. VirtualSweden
- the Official Gateway to Sweden.
URL: http://www.sverigedirekt.riksdagen.se/
Sölvesborg. The town of Sölvesborg, Sweden.
URL: http://www.solvesborg.se/
Tampere. City of Tampere, Finland.
URL: http://www.tampere.fi/english.htm
TITAN Digital Site Project. Tactical Integration of Telematics Applications across Intelligent Networks. Regions of Shannon and South West Regions of Ireland.
URL: http://www.shannon-dev.ie/shipp/public_services.htm
WIS. Wales Information Society. Strategy & Action Plans. Transforming Public Services in Wales.
URL: http://www.wis.org.uk/english/newbrochure/index_publicserv.htm
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Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko
Tampere, 4 June, 2000