E-Government at the Municipal Level

The purpose of this article was to examine the rhetoric and reality of e-government at the municipal level. Moon used data obtained from the 2000 E-government Survey to assess the effectiveness of e-government in delivering managerial efficiency and public services to citizens. Topics covered in this study included theory and practice, implementation (adoption and evolution), and influential institutional characteristics.

In theory, e-government includes the use of everything from fax machines to personal data assistants such as the Palm Pilot. In practice, however, it is usually limited to the operation of websites for any particular municipality or part of governance. Internally, this includes emails and the movement of large packets of information within an agency. Externally, this means the dissemination of information to citizens.

Implementation includes adopting the use of the Internet for municipal purpose. Use evolves from simple dissemination of information to exchanging information with citizens, to providing services through the website, to fully integrating the use at a horizontal and vertical level, and finally to political participation, such as online voting.

Effectiveness of implementation depends upon institutional characteristics. Moon observes that larger municipalities make better

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o some extent, this makes those websites government controlled properties that are normally regulated to some extent. The conflict then is in how far freedom of speech and the public forum extends in a sphere of what is typically controlled by the government. The authors of this article use the O'Brien test for determining those limitations. This test looks at whether the reason for restricting speech is within constitutional power of the government and what the interest is in restricting that speech. Horwood, Hopkins, and Stein suggest that municipalities be careful to avoid viewpoint discrimination or the appearance of it and advise that municipalities use legal counsel in setting up website policy. Field, T. (2002). "You Can't Outsource City Hall." CIO Magazine, June 15. Accessed online September 29, 2005 at: http://www.cio.com/archive/061502/govt.html?printversion=yes In this article, Field discusses the recent move to outsourcing in government agencies and points out both the positive and negative outcomes. Outsourcing, or contracting outside sources for different tasks within an organization, is a common practice in business. Outsourcing can be a means of making an organization more efficient and cost effective,
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1904
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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