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An environmental scan

The following table presents the particular New Zealand aspects that influence opportunities for increased participation through e-government and use the models outlined above. The points in the diagram are not exhaustive but illustrate the complex nature of the issues affecting efforts to improve participation activities. This analysis was commissioned in October 2003. Some points reflect perceptions and anecdotal evidence and further research is required to further flesh out and validate their relevance or accuracy.

schematic for e-government transformation and participation: environmental factors contained in the tables below

 

Socio-Cultural/SC 3 Institutional/ I 3 Technological/ T 3
  • People are more capable than ever - more informed, more diverse, less deferential
  • Demographics – e-literate aging population, better health at retirement, more capacity and inclination to engage
  • Punching above our weight internationally - want more direct influence in our global role
  • Growing national identity – willing to be ‘first’ without international predecessor
  • Demographics – growing migrant population with differing beliefs regarding trust in government agencies
  • Role of education sector
    		•
  • Some political disengagement – declining voter turnout with youth
  • Treaty of Waitangi - partnership expectations and obligations
  • Intermediaries – burgeoning lobby sector
  • Local/central agencies - capacity and capability to engage actively, to cede monopolies of knowledge
  • Local/central agencies – fragmented but extensive work programme planned
  • Non-profit/voluntary sector – capacity and capability to engage actively
  • MMP – invites, accommodates broader representation and participation
  • MMP – list MPs more issue driven than geographic (electorate) driven
  • Private sector – no clear role articulated
  • Litigious attacks on processes that expose legal risks.
    		•
  • Digital divide being bridged from infrastructure point
  • Digital divide being bridged through intermediary, community initiatives
  • EGU – mixed mandate (suggest – persuade – coerce – monitor compliance etc); role outside technology
  • Specific disengaged groups such as youth will be the earliest adopters of new technology, online expectations strong – credibility and relevance perceptions if institutions ‘lag behind’

    •  

    Socio-Cultural/SC 2 Institutional/ I 2 Technological/ T 2
  • Privacy – a sense of freedom from surveillance and intimidation
  • Trust i.e. confidence in agencies’ ability to deliver is generally high although with an issue-dependent fickleness
  • Cultural preferences – face to face interaction preferred with some cultural groups
  • Iwi/hapu – issues of representation, mandate to dialogue on others’ behalf e.g. voice of urban Māori
  • non-English languages, and comprehension of government information
  • Education sector role
  • Privacy expectations - enshrined in legislation
  • Treaty of Waitangi – consultation expectations and obligations
  • Intermediaries – increased use, more frequent contact
  • Non-profit/voluntary sector – traditional tension between community driven vs. service delivery cultures, scepticism
  • Local/central agencies - capacity and capability to respond, deliver
  • Local Government Amendment Act (LGA) – consultation requirements, devolved decision making but capacity to deliver?
  • LGA – local government ready/able to take on community leadership role?
  • Non-profit/voluntary sector – capacity and capability to represent
  • Historical antecedents e.g. Royal Commission on GE
  • Private sector – no clear role articulated
    		•
  • EGU – mixed mandate (suggest – persuade – coerce – monitor compliance etc); role outside technology
  • Digital divide almost bridged from infrastructure point
  • Digital divide being bridged through intermediary, community initiatives
  • Authentication software
  • Shared workspace
  • Interoperability e-GIF
  • Probe, bandwidth
  • Data and information quality issues as a result of deficit in agency processes
    		•

     

    Socio-Cultural/SC 1 Institutional/ I 1 Technological/ T 1
  • Te Reo expectations and obligations
  • Demographics - multi-lingual expectations as migrant population grows
  • Literacy/information literacy for some target groups
    		•
  • Agencies – wide variation in quality, comprehensiveness of web content
  • Agencies – back office systems struggling with managing content with situation unlikely to ease
  • Agencies – for some, e-government rhetoric not meeting reality, benefits unclear
  • Intermediaries – growing use as channels to information or to enable independent access
  • Information as a public resource – enshrined in legislation (OIA etc) but still a culture of secrecy in some agencies
    		•
  • Government portals – marketing, uptake
  • EGU – unclear mandate (suggest – persuade – coerce – monitor compliance etc)
  • Information and data quality issues as a result of deficit in agency processes
  • High expectations around speed, comprehensiveness
    		•

    Treaty of Waitangi / iwi issues

    Inclusiveness - delivering equal opportunities for participation among all citizens - is important to participation, which means that consideration and incorporation of Māori views is fundamental to any initiative. This manifests itself in two ways:

    • As part of the Socio-cultural stream within the Framework - considerations include a possible preference for face-to-face interaction on some issues, the use of intermediaries such as hapu and iwi and how groups such as urban Māori can be represented within the intermediary context, the ability to participate in Te Reo, etc.
    • As part of the Institutional stream within the Framework - the Treaty of Waitangi means there are societal expectations and institutional obligations regarding consultation, equity and partnership, and there are likely to be particular issues of trust between 'government' and 'Māori'.

    The Treaty of Waitangi Information Unit within State Services Commission, and the Commission's ongoing interaction with Te Puni Kōkiri are linking mechanisms with the proposed work programme to ensure opportunities for Māori participation are enhanced.

    Comments received from Te Puni Kōkiri on the draft paper reflect that Māori groups should be adequately informed and consulted on issues affecting them. They suggest, however, that the issue is broader than iwi involvement (as currently stated in the section title), since participation involves Māori acting as individuals as well as members of iwi/hapu/whanau groups.

    The E-government Unit commissioned an independent report to explore the tikanga issues for online authentication - the report entitled Research of issues for Māori relating to the Online Authentication, and the State Services Commission's response are published on the e-government website.

    The EGU has sought ongoing input from Māori and other stakeholders as part of the Authentication Programme and wider e-government work programme. There are, and have been, numerous opportunities for Māori (and other stakeholder groups) to provide input into discussion around the wider set of issues identified, including:

    • the development of policy and project work being undertaken by EGU, including channel strategy, participation, SecureMail and strategic review work components
    • the Digital Strategy consultation (led by the Ministry of Economic Development) for which a breadth of views were sought (including social and cultural considerations).

    The EGU will continue to seek opportunities to provide consistency for stakeholder groups (including Māori) across the e-government programme, while ensuring that the needs of individual projects for specific inputs are met. Further advice is necessary on the particular Treaty of Waitangi issues and iwi involvement that must be considered when developing and improving the opportunities to participate through e-government.

    Equity issues

    While in the long term e-government does have the potential to provide greater access to information and services and to enhance transparency, the more immediate challenge is to ensure that existing disparities are not magnified through the use of tools. Examples could include closing of offline channels of interaction, providing some information only online, basic usability of tools and communication media used to convey messages.

    The importance of the guiding principles and the need for a holistic framework (Socio-Cultural, Institutional and Technological) as an analysis tool will avoid an approach of 'technological determinism' i.e. tools are the panacea for everything. A comprehensive analysis of this area has not been undertaken but relevant considerations include:

    Socio-Cultural

    Groups likely to be accessing government services most frequently tend to be the same groups who express the least interest in, awareness of or ability to use ICT and who face the biggest barriers in terms of access (e.g. cost) and accessibility (e.g. literacy, information literacy) ["E-Democracy Report of Research Findings" prepared for the e-Envoy UK, December 2002] .

     

    The most active supporters of e-government are those who are already participating in other forms of democratic activity [Ibid] .
     

    US Research suggests income levels are a greater determinant to participating in e-government than race, ethnicity and gender i.e. participation differences between ethnic or gender groups is not significantly different within the same income streams ["The effects of E-government on trust and confidence in government", Tolbert, C, Mossberger, K., Kent State University] .

    Institutional

    Some international research ["E-Democracy Report of Research Findings" prepared for the e-Envoy UK, December 2002] suggests uneasiness on the part of citizens that certain channels of participation will have more credibility or value with decision makers e.g. online contributions will be given more weight than paper submissions.
     

    The power of the lobbyist (and it is likely that professional lobbyist activities will grow if the experience of countries like the US is any indication) may become greater as their ability to marshal resources for interaction will be equal if not greater online than offline. Consider the effects of increasing lobbying by minority groups brought about by improving the opportunity to participate in government.

    Technological

    This is explored in some detail in the section on barriers and enablers.

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