It appears that people in the United Kingdom have little
interest in being "e-governed", so the answer could be
to make participation compulsory - surprise, surprise.

With e-government comes identification and authentication;
without authentication, there will be no access to services,
as there is a "need" to positively identify people on-line.

===========================================================

Pushing to e-government
16 July 2003

How do you get people to use e-services? Don't give them any other 
choice, says a new report  

Compulsion is not a pretty word, but it may be necessary if people are 
to use online services, according to new research.  

While the Government has recognised that low usage of e-services is a 
key problem, it may have to consider radical solutions such as 
"compelling" some people to go online in favour of the traditional 
channels, the report says.  

The Work Foundation's SmartGov report* to be available on 17 July 
2003, says that if e-government is to succeed and realise its full 
benefits, usage should come first, before the 100% e-services target.  

It points out that the majority of public services are delivered to the 
most disadvantaged in society - the unemployed and the elderly -- yet 
these people are least likely to use e-government.  

But the report also says that those in the best position to use 
e-services are failing to do so. It recommends that "the government 
must consider compelling the advantaged to use e-government" along 
with a more "aggressive" marketing strategy.  

"We're not saying that everybody should be compelled to use e-services," 
the report's co-author Noah Curthoys said. "But if the true benefits of 
e-government are to be achieved and if resources are to be freed up, 
then as much effort as possible should be made to encourage usage. If 
the better off, and people who are more computer literate use online 
services, that in turn will release resources to help the less advantaged."  

Examples of online services where compulsion would be appropriate 
include online tax self assessment, and student loans where users tend 
to have access to the internet, Curthoys added.  

The report is particularly critical of wasted effort, where obscure and 
nonessential services -- such as seed potato classification and burial at 
sea -- are put online before more useful services.  

The Office of the e-Envoy is understood to be looking at e-government 
usage, planning an "Online Government Store" to act as a single point 
of access for e-services and to encourage take up.  

It has signalled a degree of resistance towards the idea of compelling 
people to use e-services, however, instead emphasising that it is 
"committed to offering choice and flexibility to all users of government 
services via the internet".  

*SmartGov: Renewing Electronic Government for Improved Service 
Delivery is part of iSociety, The Work Foundation's IT research project. 
It was sponsored by Microsoft and PwC.  


Source: Kable's Government Computing
Publication date: 16/07/2003 03:34:08 PM

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http://www.kablenet.com/

Cheers, Steve..

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