Public expectations

Thomas Riley, in a report on participation through e-government in Canada, noted that:

"... when people began to pay taxes and user fees online, fill in questionnaires, apply for jobs in the Public Service, send e-mail to elected officials or public servants, and download documents, they became somewhat more satisfied with dealing with government online. But as services improved, public expectations for online government capabilities increased" ["E-government vs E-governance, Examining the Differences in a Changing Public Sector Climate", Thomas B. Riley, Commonwealth Centre for E-governance, Canada, May 20, 2003] .

Riley suggests that the public would want governments to provide:

• "access by a person to all the personal data on that person that is held in government data banks. So far this is limited by security, privacy and confidentiality concerns;
• access to all government documentation of all kinds by anyone. At present, the storage and retrieval costs are prohibitive and there are also security, privacy and confidentiality concerns here as well; and
• information architecture that permits one-stop-shopping for all information from all governments in a simple thematic directory. There are also cost constraints, and no known technology to integrate, index and search all of this information."

The EGU is investigating the demand for e-government to find out about how different segments of New Zealanders use e-government. Increased knowledge about people's expectations in relation to e-government will allow agencies to be more citizen-focused in the way they design and provide services. Over time this knowledge will contribute to developing integrated services that meet people's needs better. The results will contribute to services increasingly being targeted at individuals based on their personal circumstances, an outcome of the E-government Strategy by 2010.

If e-government is to improve the opportunities for public and businesses to participate in government, we will need to consider what expectations should be set at the outset.