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

Issue No2. -  1.September 2005

Workshop confirms barriers to be an issue for eGovernment

The project held its first workshop on June the 17th 2005 as part of the 5th European Conference on eGovernment in Antwerp, Belgium (http://www.academicconferences.org/eceg2005/eceg2005-home.htm).

This well-received event provided an overview of the project and focused on some of the barriers to eGovernment that are being explored as part of the research. Representatives from each partner institution introduced key issues that can constrain eGovernment growth, and outlined the research designed to address them. Feedback from the audience on the selection of the barriers, and on good cases that might address each barrier was an important part of each session. The sessions were as follows:

• 'Breaking barriers to eGovernment' Professor Bill Dutton and Dr Rebecca Eynon, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
• 'Legal barriers relating to public administration transparency” Florence de Villenfagne, CRID (Research Centre for Computer and Law), University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
• 'Legal barriers to electronic government in the field of liability law, intellectual property rights, electronic signatures and electronic commerce', Dr Sjaak Nouwt, Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society, University of Tilburg, Tilburg, Netherlands
• 'Organisational culture as a barrier to eGovernment' Professor Helen Margetts and Dr Rebecca Eynon, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
• “Interactive session: using a wiki to overcome barriers to eGovernment” Research team.

Each of the sessions was chaired by Graham Walker from Gov3. In total, over 60 people attended the event from academia and government from a number of countries including America, the Netherlands, the UK, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Bulgaria, Italy, New Zealand, Ireland, and France.

For more detailed information about the presentations or the workshop report please see our breaking barriers to eGovernment website.

Contribute to the online inventory

The project aims at collecting information about legal, organisational and technological barriers relating to eGovernment. We have created an online inventory which allows visitors to comment on these issues, making the inventory a growing collaborative resource. The on-line inventory is available at http://www.egovbarriers.org

The assessment of each legal issue in relation to the advancement of eGovernment will be done by the most qualified experts from CRID, TILT or Murcia. The technological, organisational, and institutional aspects will be brought in by the experts from the OII, who have a socio-scientific background, and Gov 3, who have senior-level experience of addressing these issues within the UK, Finnish and Hungarian governments.

For Your Diary

Second Workshop on Barriers to eGovernment

The project is holding its second workshop on Friday, the 29th of September at the European Commission. The interactive workshop will provide an overview of the project that investigates the legal, organisational, technological and other barriers to expanding effective eGovernment. Barriers to be discussed include liability law, IPR, e-signatures and the re-use of public sector information. For more information please see the project website www.egovbarriers.org or contact mailto:rebecca.eynon@oii.ox.ac.uk to register for the event.

More information about eGovernment events can be found here:

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

A few specific examples:

• EGOV05 - International Conference on eGovernment - http://www.iwv.jku.at/events/egov2005/index.htm
• eGovernment Workshop '05 (EGOV05) - www.egov05.org.uk

….and a reminder for the upcoming Ministerial Conference - '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 analyzing 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

Get involved

If would like to get involved here are a few ways how:

EC Project knowledge keeps improving

This project keeps improving and evolving. Find our continuously updated website and newsletter here. If you would like to contribute articles or web directory items, please contact mailto:rebecca.eynon@oii.ox.ac.uk

Share Ideas, best practise and case studies

We are collecting case studies about European examples of barriers to eGov. To submit a case study please go to the project website http://www.egovbarriers.org and follow the link for the inventory.

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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.