资源描述:
《The New Face of Government》由会员上传分享,免费在线阅读,更多相关内容在学术论文-天天文库。
1、TheNewFaceofGovernment:Citizen-InitiatedContactsintheEraofE-GovernmentJohnClaytonThomasGeorgiaStateUniversityGregoryStreibGeorgiaStateUniversityABSTRACTDramaticdevelopmentsininformationtechnologyaretransformingsociety,challengingournation’smanygovernmentstokeeppace.Ase-governanc
2、egrowsinpopularity,Webpagescouldwellbecomethenewfaceofgovernment.Buthowarecitizensresponding?WesuggestthatgovernmentWebsitesmayprovideanewvehicleforcitizen-initiatedcon-tactswithgovernment,and,drawingfromtheliteratureonthosetraditionalcontacts,weproposeanumberofhypothesesoncitiz
3、eninteractionwithgovernmentviatheWeb.Totestthosehypotheses,weexaminedatafromasurveyconcerninghowGeorgiansarecon-tactinggovernmentviatheWeb.WefindthatcitizenvisitstogovernmentalWebsitesareincreasinglycommon,andassuchappeartohavebecomeamajornewformofthetra-ditionalcitizen-initiated
4、contact.Todate,however,mostoftheseWebcontactshavebeenmadeonlytoobtaininformation,thuslackingtheinteractivequalitycrucialtootherciti-zen-initiatedcontacts.Asanencouragingfindingforgovernment,visitorstogovernmentalWebsitesappeartobemostlypleasedwiththeirexperiences,ratingthosesites
5、asatleastcomparableinqualitytootherWebsites.Adiscouragingfinding,however,isthatthede-mographicsofthesevisitorssuggestcauseforconcern,sincethedigitaldivideisevenmorepronouncedamonggovernmentWebsitevisitorsthanamongInternetusersingen-eral.Intheconcludingsection,wediscusstheimplicat
6、ionsofthefindingsforgovernmentandforfutureresearch.OneofthemostremarkableanddramaticchangesinrecentdecadeshasbeentheexplosionofinterestintheInternet,withthephenomenonofe-commerce—unheardofonlyadecadeago—becominginjustafewyearsaprincipalgrowthareaintheAmericaneconomy.AsuseoftheWeb
7、bytheprivatesectorhasgrown,thepublicsectorhasfollowedcloselybe-hind,andvirtuallyalllargeU.S.governmentsandtheiragencies—federal,state,andlocal—nowhavingtheirownWebsites.Aspublic-sectorWebsitesproliferateandexpandinfunction,theyarerapidlybe-cominganewaspectofgovernment.Manycitize
8、nswhopreviouslywouldvisitorcallgov-Wewishtothan