A most interesting study – United Nations e-Government Survey 2008: From e-Government to Connected Governance – seems to suggest that overall, Singapore, and Asia in general, has slumped in how e-government and connected we are in using technology to improve governance. The report – all 246 pages of it – is interesting, but I need to read through it to understand properly. My personal experience in using e-government services here has been generally good but not quite great. When my father passed away in November, I had to get on with the paperwork needed, and I must say that the experience was closer to great than merely good.
Perhaps what is needed is a chat with the relevant “government entities” to see how best we can make this report worthwhile to impact changes. I hate to have to be told that “oh, this is all humbug, Yet another UN report in which we did not do as well. Let’s find another report that says, “rah, rah, Singapore is #1″”.
More data online
The ranking isn’t really all that important, although I’ve met senior govt officials who are measured against it. UNPAN see this report as a bit of a guiding light for gov readiness and development.
It is the age old “metrics drive behaviour” arguement.
Once you understand the survey methodology the data starts to get really interesting when you can slice and dice it against regional roll ups and comparisons to other nations. UN/PAN have an online tool to assist with this if you’re interested, it is a useful way of gaining a deeper understanding of the egov landscape globally.
http://www.unpan.org/egovkb/index.aspx
Oliver
Re: More data online
Thanks for the pointers. I will certainly look them up.