Handbook of Research on E‐Government Readiness for Information and Service Exchange: Utilizing Progressive Information Communication Technologies

Citation

Flensburg, P. (2010), "Handbook of Research on E‐Government Readiness for Information and Service Exchange: Utilizing Progressive Information Communication Technologies", Online Information Review, Vol. 34 No. 5, pp. 819-821. https://doi.org/10.1108/oir.2010.34.5.819.4

This book is huge and heavy at 2.1 kg. At first glance I thought “Oh no, not another one of those textbooks from the USA, containing a lot of words but with very little real content!” But it turned out to be quite another book. It is an anthology of 24 research articles within the area of e‐government readiness. The area is in the prefaced defined as:

[…] the maturity of the information systems of a government in terms of physical and logical infrastructure […] preparedness of their information dynamics to be compatible with available global indices ranking the country […] better understanding in the context of strategic planning, ability to take intelligent decisions by taking dynamic strategies for ICT development […] and foremost, empowerment of communities for engaging themselves in societal developments through ICTs […].

The title of the book indicates it is a handbook of research. This is to be interpreted as a state‐of‐the‐art of research within e‐government readiness for information and service exchange. The primary goal of the book is:

[…] to assist its readers in acquiring knowledge on the significance of e‐government for developing efficient and effective government systems in recommending formulation of ICT strategies for their countries and at the same time, acknowledge the importance of e‐governance for building institutions to achieve transparency and accountability, and democratic governance.

In order to determine whether this is the case I conducted a qualitative analysis of the 24 chapters in the book. They are grouped in four main sections:

1. 1.

   Research and learning.

2. 2.

   Tools and techniques.

3. 3.

   Applications and services.

4. 4.

   Case studies.

I scanned all chapters and characterised them with a few concepts each. This was the primary categorisation. Then, I grouped the primary categories in secondary categories, rescanned the material with new categories and came up with Table I.

Concerning the research approach. One‐third is purely quantitative and deals with specific aspects in specific countries. The conclusions are mostly presented as general except for one case, where the conclusion was that a bigger sample was needed! In my opinion the research methods are valid and reliable.

“Target” means the primary area at which the article is aimed. In this case about half of the articles are aimed at the research area, which I think fulfils the stated goal. Concerning the next category, “Type of Result”, it should be noted that both “framework” and “state‐of‐the‐art descriptions” have a rather broad meaning, such as overview of concepts and descriptions of how the issues were treated in a specific country or region.

For all categories so far there is a restriction that every article must belong to one and only one of these categories, but for the next categories this restriction does not apply. Some explanations might be needed. The “specific domain” means that a certain area, as for instance number of publications about certain issues or a financial analysis of the IT industry, is treated in the article. It is to be noted that two articles dealt with non‐governmental issues, however with an influence from or to governance. Many of the articles investigate “types of techniques”, such as streaming media, while other go into specific techniques, for instance to help disabled persons to read web‐based material. Finally, some articles present overviews of certain domains. It is also to be noted that “data collection” does not apply to every article, since for instance those based on conceptual methods do not necessarily have an explicit data collection methodology.

The book presents a couple of facets on research about e‐government readiness, but is by no means an exhaustive description of the area. This is not the intention. The orientation is directed towards researchers, but the book contains many case studies which can act as inspiration for practitioners. The quality of the articles varies a bit, from short overviews to detailed statistical discussions, but there is something for everybody. The collection offers a perspective on almost every aspect of e‐governance, and as such it presents a valuable contribution to the field.