e-what?
Recommended reading:
UN e-Government Survey 2008: From e-Government to Connected Governance
Author: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Public Administration and Development Management
© United Nations, 2007, 225 pages
ISBN 978-92-1-123174-8
What is this whole e-governance thing all about? A simple question with many answers.
People often have a specific application in mind when they think of e-government, or e-governance. It is not always easy to get beyond the gadgetry of things like mobile parking payments, or to look behind things like e-voting, or proactive service delivery. That is exactly what we do at the e-Governance Academy: show what is needed to make these things work, and help understand what it is in reality. But how do you write down all these elements that make up awareness, but that are scattered over a full five-day policy training curriculum?
One very good place to start is the 2008 UN e-Government Survey. The document does not just give rankings, but explains in a very good way what is behind the indices. Because it captures the 192 UN Member States, this explanation is necessarily well-structured and elaborate – how else to capture all the different stages of development in this field?
I am glad to say the UN did a great job at doing just that. If you have some time to spare (a long flight, perhaps?), and if you want to know more about the subject, I really recommend that you read this survey.
Tags: e-governance, reading, UN