NEWSLETTER - Breaking Barriers to eGovernment - Overcoming obstacles to improving European public services

Issue No1. - July 2005

Welcome to this first edition of the newsletter of the recently launched ‘Breaking the Barriers to eGovernment' project, funded by the European Commission's e-Europe 2005 Modinis programme. In addition to findings from the project's good-practice case studies and other activities, the newsletter will contain news, information, event details and links to other relevant research, developments, information and resources. Our overall aim is to offer expert insights and practical advice on ways of overcoming obstacles to the growth of high quality and innovative uses of eGovernment capabilities in Europe .

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Creating world-class public services in Europe

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The three-year Breaking the Barriers project recognises that the advancement of eGovernment within the European Union is closely connected to the ability of actors at all levels, from citizens to public officials, to overcome legal, technical or organisational impediments to the effective use and imaginative expansion of e-enabled applications and services. A rich data source will be created by the project's focus on actual case studies, which will help to reveal the practices delivering excellence in public services most effectively. This will be analysed to define possible initiatives at a European level to overcome obstacles to achieving similar results throughout EU public administrations.

The project also seeks to:

· create awareness of potential eGovernment legal and regulatory constraints, with a focus on aspects relevant at the European level;
· build a broad, informative online inventory of significant issues within the project's scope;
· analyse and assess how such issues affect eGovernment advancement, particularly in relation to organisational and technological aspects;
· collect relevant eGovernment case studies and use them to create an eGovernment Good Practice Framework; and
· communicate and engage with a wide group of eGovernment practitioners, policy makers and legal and regulatory experts through a comprehensive outreach and consultation programme, such as this newsletter, an active website , research collaboration and the organisation of meetings with EU public administrations, the research community, industry, the Commission and other relevant actors.

We hope you will become a regular reader of the newsletter and a frequent contributor to our project. Details of how to get involved are provided below.

Editorial – Background to the Breaking the Barriers Project

Breaking the Barriers to eGovernment is part of the 'i2010' European Information Society in 2010 initiative . This provides an integrated approach to information society and audio-visual policies in the EU, covering regulation, research, deployment and the promotion of cultural diversity. Its objective is to ensure that Europe 's citizens, businesses and governments make the best use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in order to improve industrial competitiveness, support growth and the creation of jobs and to help address key societal challenges. Meeting this goal will require looking at fast and visible results and building on an optimistic outlook for ICT industries and markets that encourages rapid growth based in convergence at the levels of networks, services and devices.

Breaking the Barriers is one of five Modinis projects initiated by the European Commission to illuminate key aspects of its eGovernment agenda. The Modinis Programme monitors the progress of the eEurope initiative in order to disseminate good practices and to prepare measures to pave the way for a European policy on network and information security. It is benchmarking the performance of EU Member States in eEurope public administration activities and will compare this with the best in the world. It is also supporting efforts to improve network security and to foster the development and widespread availability of high-speed broadband telecommunications links.

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Who is involved

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The Breaking the Barriers to eGovernment project is led by the UK-based Oxford Internet Institute , a multidisciplinary department at the University of Oxford studying the Internet and society. Its project partners are: gov3 , a leading UK-based consultancy specialising in government transformation; legal experts at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society at the University of Tilburg, Netherlands; Centre de Recherches Informatique et Droit at Namur University, Belgium; and Murcia University, Spain.

The European expert team engaged in the project's activities include Professor Bill Dutton, Director of the OII, and Chris Parker and Graham Walker from gov3, who had helped to oversee the UK government's eGovernment strategy for 5 years when they worked in the UK Cabinet Office's Office of the e-Envoy.

Key researchers on the project include Professor Helen Margetts, Professor of Society and the Internet at the OII; Professor Dr Yves Poullet, director of CRID, an internationally recognised expert in IT-related legal issues who has been involved in many international, European and Belgian eGovernment research projects; Professor Dr Corien Prins, Professor of Law and Informatization at Tilburg University, who chairs the Center for Law, Public Administration and Informatization ( CRBI ) and a team of experts at Murcia University who focus on international legal aspects.

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Recent Highlights

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This section will highlight the main recent findings and activities of our project and its partners, together with news of other relevant studies and developments in areas of interest to eGovernment and EU public administration in Europe . In this first issue, we focus on the key initial project focus: the development of our online inventory.

Breaking the Barriers - Inventory of Barriers to eGovernment

The core work of the project in collecting and analysing information about legal, organisational and technological barriers to eGovernment is being supported on the project's website by an online inventory of issues affecting eGovernment adaptation and adoption, including short descriptions of the barriers identified. This is an evolving, collaborative resource where visitors are encouraged to suggest additional issues, comment on existing information and make other contributions to help take forward our inventory. These inputs will be reviewed and summarised and incorporated into the research. The on-line inventory is available at http://www.egovbarriers.org/ – click on the link to the inventory at the top of the page.

The assessment of legal issues in relation to the advancement of eGovernment will be undertaken by qualified experts from CRID, TILT and Murcia . The technological, organisational, and institutional aspects will be dealt with by socio-scientific experts from the OII and gov3, whose consultants have senior-level experience of addressing these issues for UK , Finnish and Hungarian government administrations.

An initial inventory of legal, regulatory and organisational barriers to eGovernment will be published during August.

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Online Information and Discussion

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Join in the discussion

Here are some blogs and interactive websites and information sources we have found of assistance. Please tell us about your own recommendations.

Development Gateway . Thirteen new resources have been added to the eGovernment section . http://topics.developmentgateway.org/eGovernment

UK ESRC Future Governance Programme. The following academic papers draw on research carried out by the National Audit Office (NAO) or the UK ESRC Future Governance Programme and are well worth reading. http://www.governmentontheweb.co.uk/access_papers.asp

K-Government Blog. Postings related to eGovernment, eAdministration, the information society, etc. Presenting keys to success in understanding, discussing, implementing, and evaluating eGovernment and e-administration strategies in the knowledge society.

http://www.k-government-en.blogspot.com

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For Your Diary

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‘Transforming Public Services'

EU Ministerial eGovernment Conference [24-25 November 2005]

The 3rd Ministerial eGovernment Conference is a uniquely important event in 2005 featuring achievements and Best Practices and analysing the future of eGovernment in Europe . It will bring together 800 ministers, officials, suppliers and other stakeholders involved in eGovernment in Europe together with top managers and practitioners from industry and public administrations. It is co-organised by the forthcoming UK presidency of the European Union (second semester 2005), through the Cabinet Office's eGovernment Unit, and by the European Commission.

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/activities/eGovernment_research/minconf2005/index_en.htm

More information about eGovernment events can be found here: IANIS

http://www.ianis.net/index.php?page=interest&sub=events&topic=eGovernment

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Building Best Practice Knowledge

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To help us gain knowledge on best practices in eGovernment, we are monitoring a number of projects and initiatives, such as the following:

IDABC, the new pan-European eGovernment programme, was launched on 1 January 2005. Covering the period 2005-2009, IDABC ( I nteroperable D elivery of pan-European eGovernment Services to A dministrations, B usinesses and C itizens) succeeds the previous IDA programme (Interchange of Data between Administrations). While IDA aimed at supporting efficient exchange of information between Member States' administrations and the European institutions by means of electronic networks and services, the main objective of the new programme is to identify, support and promote the development and establishment of Pan-European eGovernment Services (PEGS) .

http://europa.eu.int/idabc/

‘Your Voice in Europe ' gives access to the Commission's public consultations covering all EU policies. Interested parties can participate in consultations directly, for example, by sending comments or filling in on-line questionnaires. Once a consultation is closed, the results and associated follow-up action are made publicly available.

http://europa.eu.int/youreurope/

The eLearningEuropa.info  portal will provide information on Community initiatives in this field, such as the eLearning programme (2004-2006) which is currently being adopted, but also links to national initiatives, both public and private, and contributions from experts on subjects ranging from ‘e-Literacy' to the situation in the candidate countries.

http://www.elearningeuropa.info/

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Get involved

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Here are some ways you can contribute to the Breaking the Barriers project.

Help with our online inventory

Visit our online inventory and interact with us through it. Visit our website and click on the link to the inventory.

Enhance the project's knowledge base

The project will seek continuous improvement in its understanding of eGovernment best practices by drawing on a range of expertise. If you would like to contribute articles or web directory items, please email Rebecca Eynon, the project manager, rebecca.eynon@oii.ox.ac.uk as well as visiting our continuously updated website .

Recommend us

We would appreciate it if you would forward this email to colleagues you think would benefit from this service.

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Other relevant projects

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The following initiatives complement our work. Please contact us to let us know of other relevant eGovernment efforts.

Government on the Web: http://www.governmentontheweb.co.uk/access_papers.asp

NSF's Digital Government Research Programme: http://www.digitalgovernment.org/

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About this newsletter

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To unsubscribe, please visit our website and click on the link to the newsletter section of the website. For other queries and support, please contact gwendolyn.carpenter@gov3.co.uk

This newsletter is published under contract with the European Commission, eGovernment Unit, DG Information Society and Media. It may be copied, distributed and used for educational purposes. The views expressed may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European Commission. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on its behalf is responsible for the use that might be made of the information provided.