1. E-Government Planning Grant ProposalLocal Government
R0, Boa: 172240
B-zeman, h17 591-1-1-2240
Telephone
(406-; 994-6694
Fax
(406'1994-1905
E-mail
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June 30, 2004
Manager and City Commissioners
City of Kalispell
P.O. Box 1997
Kalispell, MT 59903
Dear Mr. Kukulski and Commissioners:
Thank you for agreeing to place us on your meeting agenda for July 19, 2004. We have
an exciting project we would like to discuss with you. The Local Government Center, in
partnership with two MSU sociologists and RightNow Technologies has applied to the
National Science Foundation for a grant to bring e-government to four local jurisdictions
in Montana. We propose to provide four local governments with state of the art webpage
implementation as well as training and technical assistance for the technology, and to
study e-government's impact on government functioning and citizen engagement over a
three year period. We expect that the result will be increased citizen satisfaction with
their local government, better understanding of local issues, and more civic engagement.
We have provided Theresa White with copies of the grant application for your review.
We are looking forward to meeting with you, answering your questions and discussing
whether or not you would like to participate in the project if it is funded.
Sincerely,
n
Jane Jelinski
Director
Meeting Regarding E-Government Planning Grant Proposal
Monday, July 19, 2004,
City Hall, Kalispell, MT
AGENDA
1. Introductions -
2. Overview of the grant proposal, goals, potential benefits, process
Jane Jelinski, Director, Local Government Center, MSU Bozeman
3. Technology Considerations
Steve Durbin, Software Developer, RightNow Technologies, Inc. Bozeman
4. Research Process and Objectives
Sue Monahan, Associate Professor, MSU Bozeman
5. Discussion of Commitments Expected of Grant Participants:
• Send personnel (1, preferably 2 or more) to training for 1 or 2 days in Bozeman
(cost of travel will be paid by the grant)
• Council will draft a strategic plan to develop e-government (Local Government
Center will help)
• A computer that can run Internet Explorer, version 6, and an Internet connection
is required.
• Assistance from extension agents to set up community focus groups (the grant
proposal includes some funding for extension participation)
• Willingness of individual council members to participate in interviews with Sue
Monahan
• Planning for a long range e-government program at the end of the 3 year grant
(Local Government Center will help)
• Commitment to share with other local government entities the model developed
through the project.
6. Questions, answers and discussion
7. Adjourn
NSF Grant Proposal, Digital Government Program
E-Government in Rural Communities: Developing a Citizen -Centric Approach to
Enhancing Civic Engagement
Project summary
The aim of the research activities described in this proposal is to study the introduction of
a novel e-government initiative among Montana local governments. The introduction of
the new forms and technology of e-government in cities and counties with small
populations, few resources, and slight Internet experience is likely to encounter a variety
of difficulties. The initiative proposed here, by adopting a simple and flexible "customer
service" approach to providing information and communicating with constituents via the
Internet, aims to ease the transition. The risks of introducing new technology will be
mitigated through the use of highly regarded off -the -shelf software, consultation with
experienced academic and service experts, and insights provided by the ongoing
assessment research. The project will focus on two city and two county jurisdictions.
The ease of use and the socially aware nature of the new medium are predicted to
strengthen government -citizen interaction and citizen political and civic engagement,
reinforcing the motivation for e-government development.
Our research questions focus on how the introduction of e-government information
services affects the attitudes, perceptions, and practices of both citizens and government
officials. Does e-government technology change, either positively or negatively, the
openness or responsiveness of local government? How does it affect the public's trust
and engagement in local government, and the public's understanding of local issues?
How does e-government alter the practices of local government officials and agencies,
including the processes by which citizen queries or complaints are made and responded
to, and the ways government manages and disseminates information to the public?
These questions will be investigated via surveys, in-depth individual interviews, focus
groups, and web site usage analysis. Studies will cover both the general public and
government personnel, and will be carried out before, during, and after implementation of
the initiative.
The proposed activity will advance the knowledge and understanding of the effects of
implementing new technological methods of interacting with constituents, and will
provide a broader impact by developing a model of e-government services that can be
replicated by other local governments in Montana and elsewhere. Barriers to adoption as
well as ways of addressing them will be identified. As a collaborative effort involving
Montana State University, the Local Government Center, local government units, and the
private sector, this project represents the first concerted effort to advance the
development of local e-government in Montana cities and counties. It will also support
education and graduate student training in the field, and provide detailed data on local e-
government and citizen engagement that will be available to all interested researchers.
Project description
1. Overview
The objective of our project is to implement and study a novel approach to introducing e-
government in jurisdictions --typical of Montana --with relatively small and sparse
populations, few government employees, and low budgets. These cities and counties are
where most citizen -government interactions occur. Nationally, an increasing number of
citizen -government interactions are managed electronically, and it is found that effective
information technology improves citizen interactions with government. For example,
about 60% of government website users reported that such sites improve their
interactions with and trust in government, with frequent users most likely to find
electronic interaction useful [1]. Sparsely populated rural communities, however, exhibit
different patterns than larger communities in the use of the internet to access government.
Although residents of sparsely populated rural communities are as likely as those in
larger communities to have computers and internet access, they are less likely to use the
internet to access their local governments (data from 2002 General Social Survey [2]).
Given that such residents are just as likely to access other sorts of websites (e.g., news,
health, hobbies), we conclude that the "digital divide" for residents of rural communities
lies less at the individual level and more at the community level. That is, individuals in
sparsely populated rural communities have the technology to access their governments
via the internet, yet their governments have been slow to develop useful websites.
Certainly, many Montana local governments currently have little active presence on the
Internet, despite the high Internet usage of Montana citizens. According to government
statistics, 63% of Montana farnls and ranches have Internet access, the second highest in
the nation [3]. The Rocky Mountain states in general have the highest rate of home
access to the Internet of any region in the country, as well as an exceptionally high
percentage of women Internet users (62% of women are online, compared with 54%
nationally) [4]. We believe there is a pent-up and growing demand which can be
harnessed to encourage government agencies to adopt appropriate forms of e-government
services, and to bridge the digital divide experienced by rural internet users by providing
useful local government websites. The challenge is to do this in a way that provides not
only ease of use for both agencies and citizens, but also greater engagement and
interaction --all while introducing efficiencies that reduce overall costs.
Two major obstacles to e-government are the cost of the technology, including associated
infrastructure, and the difficulty of planning in a novel area without benefit of experience.
These are especially acute problems for smaller jurisdictions, such as many of those in
Montana. As a result, adoption of local e-government has been slow and scattered, and
there has been little opportunity to assess the magnitude of other potential barriers or the
effectiveness of e-government in meeting the special needs of smaller jurisdictions.
Though probably analogous to the issues in larger jurisdictions [5-7], we expect that the
issues encountered by small governmental units are significantly affected by differences
in organizational structure and culture, number and experience of staff, relationship to
constituents, and history of information technology use.
Our initiative enables study of e-government adoption by providing an experimental
system at no initial direct cost to the participating government entities, though they will
need to contribute personnel resources. The planning barrier is addressed through the
expertise and support provided as part of the proposed research. Furthermore, by
adopting a simple and flexible "customer service" approach to providing information and
communicating with constituents, we hope to ease the transition to e-government while
providing mechanisms to strengthen government -citizen interaction and citizen political
and civic engagement.
Our research questions focus on how the introduction of e-government information
services affects the attitudes, perceptions, and practices of government officials and
agencies as well as citizens. Does e-government technology change, either positively or
negatively, the openness or responsiveness of local government? How does it affect the
public's trust and engagement in local government, and the public's understanding of
local issues? How does e-government alter the practices of local government officials
and agencies, including the processes by which citizen queries or complaints are made
and responded to, and the ways government manages and disseminates information to the
public? These questions will be investigated via surveys, in-depth individual interviews,
focus groups, and web site usage analysis. Studies will cover both government personnel
and the general public, and will be carried out before, during, and after implementation of
the initiative.
The work proposed here will advance our knowledge and understanding of the effects of
implementing technological methods of interacting with constituents, particularly in the
under -studied case of governments with relatively few resources and little Internet
experience. We aim to provide a broader impact by developing a model of e-government
services which can be replicated by other local governments in Montana and elsewhere.
The results of this project will be disseminated through organizations such as the
Montana Association of Counties (MACo), the Montana League of Cities and Towns,
and the Local Government Center, as well as through presentations and publications, and
nationally through local government associations including the National Association of
Counties (NACo) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).
In addition, the proj ect's findings with respect to the effects of e-government in small
rural communities will be disseminated within the academic disciplines of sociology and
political science through conference presentations and journal articles.
This project represents a joint effort involving Montana State University (MSU), the
Local Government Center (LGC), and the local governmental units involved in the study.
Such collaborative activity fits well with the missions of the two principals. As the
state's land-grant university, a part of MSU's mission has always been "to serve the
people and communities of Montana by sharing our expertise and collaborating with
others to improve the lives and prosperity of Montanans." The mission of the Local
Government Center, of which the PI is Director, is to "strengthen the capacities of
Montana's local governmental units to deliver essential services efficiently and to provide
training, technical assistance, and research to local officials." In addition, we will select a
software partner that has a substantial staff presence in Montana, as well as extensive
experience developing information management and customer service software for both
commercial and govermmental clients. We have identified at least one such company in
order to develop the cost estimates for our proposed budget, though a final selection has
not yet been made.
Although the State of Montana is now developing its own e-government plans, there are
as yet no policies or guidelines relating to local e-government efforts. Efforts by other
statewide organizations, such as the Montana Association of Counties, to support or co-
ordinate local information technology efforts have so far been unsuccessful. To our
knowledge, this project would represent the first concerted effort to advance local e-
government in Montana, and could have substantial impact on future e-government
development, both in Montana and elsewhere.
In the following sections, we describe the e-government initiative we propose, the
research questions to be investigated, the methods to be used in our study, and the
research plan with an approximate timetable.
2. Introducing local e-government via a customer service approach
The concept of a "customer service" approach to e-government, following current
business practice, is becoming familiar. The President's 2002 Budget Blueprint issues a
call to "use the Internet to create a citizen -centric government" [8], while a recent report
from an arm of the National Research Council notes that "government services, at the
very least, are ... expected to overcome barriers of time and distance and to be customer -
oriented" [9]. This is not to imply that citizens are in the same relationship to
government as customers are to businesses. Some aspects of the relationship, however,
are quite analogous, especially as both businesses and government shift to a more
service -oriented perspective. There is also much to be learned about the organizational
aspects of new technology introduction by considering similar processes in government
and business [10].
A distinguishing feature of our project is a focus on communication and information -
providing functions as a first step toward offering a wider range of e-government
services. These functions are not only of primary importance in government's mission,
but typically consume a sizable fraction of staff time. They are also basic to supporting
other types of electronic services, which require outreach, education, and help services as
they are brought on line. Finally, enhancing an agency's communication with the public
provides a platform for exchanges concerning subsequent steps to take in e-government
development.
Specifically, we propose to deploy an integrated e-mail management and web self-service
application as a basic but highly flexible e-government starter system. State-of-the-art
software of this sort not only facilitates handling of e-mail {and other} communications,
but also the building of an easily accessible public "knowledge base" of answers to
common or anticipated questions. Since such repeated questions generally constitute a
major fraction of the daily communications handled by government staff, a significant
rd
savings in staff time would result if these could be answered in a self-service manner. In
simple cases, the knowledge base might consist primarily of such informational answers,
together with advanced searching and browsing facilities (and the option of submitting a
query if the desired information is not found). However, the knowledge base can easily
contain any type of electronic information, and thus offers a simpler means of
disseminating notices, reports, forms, etc. than conventional web site construction. Such
software is presently used not only by businesses, but by a number of governmental
agencies (e.g. Montana Office of Public Instruction, Colorado Department of Revenue,
U.S. Social Security Administration).
Companies use Internet -based self-service software to improve their customer
relationships. Similarly, we hope to strengthen the public's connection to government
through a form of civic exchange that provides advantages beyond the convenience of
anytime access to information for the public and the relief of government staff from the
burden of frequently asked questions. In the e-government context, an especially
important feature of this medium is its socially aware nature. Citizens accessing the
knowledge base not only have an opportunity to find answers to their own questions, but
they can see what questions others are asking (as these become part of the visible
knowledge base), and which are receiving the most attention, thus gaining a sense of
what are significant community concerns. This represents a new type of civic forum
which can enhance community awareness. Such a forum may be especially meaningful
to Internet -savvy young people, whose civic and political socialization can be cramped
by the lack of any convenient place to "see" their government [12]. According to the
U.S. Census Bureau, in the November 2002 elections, 67.7 percent of 18 - 24 year olds
and 56.3 percent of 25 - 34 year olds did not vote. We hypothesize that the introduction
of our proposed new civic forum may contribute to increased civic engagement of this
significant sector of the U.S. population [13-15], and will examine this through our
assessment research.
In this regard, the advantage of convenience is far from a trivial one. Providing a
knowledge base on the Web not only enables citizens to access relevant information at
any time, but also lets them do so anonymously and at times when they have no clear
articulation of what they are looking for. All three of these factors contribute to reducing
potential barriers to contact, so we expect that providing a self-service option for
government -related information will not only shift some contacts from telephone, mail,
and face -to -£ace interactions to the Internet, but will increase the total number of citizen -
government contacts. This greater number of interactions, if they are productive, should
serve to increase engagement and trust on the part of the public, building social capital
[16].
Another distinctive feature of our approach is that it provides a simple and low -barrier
mechanism not only for citizens' questions --including questions as to how to find or use
other government services --but also for their complaints and opinions. Depending on
how the system is configured, there are a variety of innovative ways to take advantage of
this capability. For example, certain sections of the knowledge base could function as
moderated public opinion forums on specific issues, with attributed or unattributed
contributions from citizens. In addition, this technology provides an easy means to
generate, distribute, and score surveys, either via email or on the Web.
We believe the approach outlined will provide both a suitable initial platform and a
natural development path for government web sites. Initially, such a system can be
configured as a stand-alone informational, interactive site. As new services are offered,
they can be readily incorporated within the public knowledge base structure. For
example, the answer page on how to obtain a passport could contain a downloadable
form, or an answer on how to locate certain records could have a link to where those
records are available online. If and when a fully developed web site is eventually needed,
the answer knowledge base (and query submission form, if used) can still fit in
seamlessly, as exemplified by the home page of the U. S. Social Security Administration.
At different points along this migration path, the use of the software, in addition to
providing improved service, can result in cost reduction through savings in staff time and
contracting or office expenses. Further benefits of the knowledge base approach are
improved consistency of information (up-to-date information is in a single location for
easy access by all staff members as well as citizens) and long-term knowledge retention
when there are staff changes that would otherwise be disruptive.
3. Research questions
Our theoretical approach to the research described in this proposal draws from grounded
theory and action research traditions. That is, we do not bring specific political, social or
organizational models to the study, but rather seek to inductively develop a model
suggested directly by our empirical findings. Furthermore, some members of the
research team will not be merely observers, but expect to participate actively in advising
participants based on their knowledge of the field and the results and insights from the
ongoing research. This stance is appropriate because our goal is really two -fold: to help
government agencies be successful in developing e-government forms, and also to
understand the nature of the process, identifying key factors and how they function in the
organizations under study. The results of our project should be not only a better
understanding of the state and the process of e-government development, but functional
as well as theoretical models, and recommendations on best practices.
The overarching question in our research is: in a local setting, how does the introduction
of e-government information services affect the attitudes, perceptions, and practices of
both government personnel and citizens? On the part of the public, how are trust,
engagement, and understanding of government operations, policies, and issues affected?
On the government side, is there a change in openness or responsiveness to citizen
questions, concerns, and complaints? How do impressions of e-government itself evolve
on both sides? And, in a practical, evaluative vein, does the proposed approach to
introductory e-government in fact succeed by such measures? How can it be improved?
Beyond merely observing attitudinal changes, we wish to understand their causes and
effects. Thus, we are particularly interested in how practices --actual behavior --may
change with the introduction of e-government technology. With regard to the
government agency, emphasis will be placed on understanding the work flow processes
by which typical citizen queries are responded to, both before and after adaptation to the
new forms. For example, in some offices, queries might be repeatedly forwarded until a
knowledgeable person is reached, who then responds directly to the inquirer. In others,
the needed information may pass back down from the subject expert to a (or the) public
contact person, who thus bears a greater burden but becomes more knowledgeable.
Though either practice can be accommodated by the proposed software, the
organizational effects of deployment may be different in the two cases. How is this
information flow affected? Do similar effects hold for the handling of citizen
complaints?
Another question concerns control over what information becomes public and how it is
presented; this control may be centralized or distributed. Previous studies of such
articulation --the balancing of publication and control --have dealt almost exclusively with
larger organizations [1'7]. How such considerations will be balanced in the local
government setting has, to our knowledge, not been explored previously. Again, the
software is adaptable to various management styles, but whether its use tends to be
stabilizing or disruptive has not been studied. Finally, in the event of departure of a key
knowledge -holder, how is the transition dealt with? Will availability of a knowledge
base improve continuity? Can it play a similar role in supporting new personnel?
We will address similar questions of practice with regard to the public. To what extent
are there changes in the processes for gathering information, or for registering an opinion
or complaint? Are the frequencies of these actions changed, or their distribution across
different channels of communication?
Answers to questions such as those posed above are important because they determine
how effective e-government technologies can become in reality. We are well aware that
the best -designed technology is at most enabling and facilitating, and much depends on
how it is used. This in turn depends on how its functionality fits into the goals and
activities of the users. A better understanding of the organizational and civic dynamics
should allow us to refine the technology deployment and the training for government
staff, as well as the educational and "marketing" efforts directed toward the public. We
hope to identify practices that will make our approach a compelling model that can be
further propagated.
4. Research methods
Methods to be used to address the research questions include surveys, interviews, focus
groups, and web site usage analysis. Our studies will include, naturally, both government
personnel and the public, and will be carried out before, during, and after implementation
of the initiative.
The creation of effective survey instruments and protocols lies at the heart of our study.
The most significant step is to define more precisely the questions to be investigated. We
wish to determine not only the status of attitudes, expectations, and practices, but also the
reasons for them. Rather than a single survey, we will need to eventually develop a suite
of surveys to provide an interlocking picture of both public and agency attitudes,
perceptions, and behaviors. Some survey elements will be constant over the before -
during -after sequence, while other elements will change appropriately.
To assess civic engagement and attitudes toward government, two populations will be
targeted: (1) general community members, from whom a random sample will be drawn,
and (2) government personnel, including elected officials, from whom the entire
population will be surveyed. Control communities not involved in the project will be
included to assess the effect of other phenomena that might also influence civic
engagement and attitudes toward government.
With the assistance of a recently -awarded SGER grant (SES-0352382, award date
1/29/04), we have begun to develop survey instruments for the general population of
citizens and for government officials. The citizen survey draws heavily on questions
included in existing surveys including the General Social Survey [ 18], the National
Election Studies [19], Harvard University's study of Civic Engagement in America [20],
North Carolina's Civic Index [21] and Maricopa County's (AZ) recent customer
satisfaction survey [22]. In addition to providing reliable and validated survey question
formats, the use of existing questions allows us to compare our rural Montana sample
with national and other samples. The survey questions will measure: (1) political
activity and engagement; (2) knowledge of and contact with local government; (3) trust
in social institutions including government; (4) perceptions of political efficacy; and (5)
demographic variables.
To manage the administration tasks for the survey of the general public, we plan to use an
experienced survey research firm for: (1) final preparation and pre -testing of the survey
instrument, (2) generation of the sample of community members, (3) distribution of the
survey, and follow-ups, (4) collection of surveys, and (5) data entry. We will aim for
approximately 400 returned surveys from each the general public in each community (to
achieve an estimated 5% margin of error). The survey administration for relevant
government staff will be a significantly smaller task, and will be carried out each time as
a research project by an MPA graduate student or post -degree intern, thus supporting
education in the field. Detailed analysis of the survey results, including content analysis
of free -answer questions, will be carried out by the research team.
In addition to the quantitative data collected via the surveys, we plan to conduct focus
group interviews with community members who have used e-government in the
participating communities. Candidates for focus group participation will be identified by
their activity on the web site (users provide their e-mail addresses when they submit a
question, request that they be notified when an information item is updated, or --
optionally --respond to a pop-up web survey). In-depth, focus group discussions will
complement the survey findings by allowing us to understand the substance of people's
participation in new technologies, its meaning to them, and what the barriers and
facilitating factors are. In each test community, we propose to conduct two focus groups
of approximately 5-7 participants each, both in the middle and at the end of the project
period.
Web site monitoring, which will give a detailed picture of how the knowledge base is
actually used by both administrators and public, will be carried out using reporting
functions that are built in to the website software. For example, we will be able to
determine how many users come with specific questions and view only the relevant
information items, and how many browse the knowledge base more widely. In addition,
we plan to use the survey tools in the website software to gather supplementary data from
site visitors, who may not be representative of the public at large. The methodology for
these web -based surveys is still under development. However, it's clear that simply
understanding which population segments are using the web sites and which are not
should suggest steps to improve education and access.
5. Project plan
The project will be carried out in four phases over three years, including two years of
active operation and data collection from government web sites. These phases are: (1)
preparation and recruitment of participants, including baseline surveys of citizens and
government officials in test and control communities; (2) training of personnel and
deployment of web sites; (3) growth and refinement of the sites, including follow-up
surveys of citizens and government officials in test and control communities; and (4)
analysis and review of results, along with transition to post -project operation. At this
time, we anticipate continuing our e-government efforts beyond the period of the project
presented here. The substance of future research will depend on the results of the work
described in this proposal.
Phase I: Preparation and recruitment
The preliminary activities for our project covers four main areas: identification of
potential local government participants and assessment of their readiness; review of
related literature and current practices; development of survey instruments and protocols;
and creation of a demonstration web site. It is anticipated that most of this work will be
completed with the recently awarded SGER funding (SES-0352382, award date 1/29/04),
However, as this groundwork is an integral part of our overall project, we describe it
briefly here. Phase I should be completed by late spring of 2004.
We plan to work with two county and three city governments that are enthusiastic about
the project, are willing to undergo study, and are judged to have a good chance of
success. Using an extensive database on cities and counties compiled by the Local
Government Center from demographic, financial, and other information, we have
identified a number of likely jurisdictions. We already have preliminary expressions of
interest and support from four of these, including one (Hilt County) that includes and has
close contacts with a tribal reservation. However, final selections have not been made,
and we have yet to visit potential participants.
9
Selection of the entities for participation will be based on readiness, resources,
commitment to project goals, and balance among geographic regions of the state, as well
as regions experiencing population and economic growth or decline. Technology
requirements are minimal; since the application will be hosted by our software partner,
only a personal computer and an Internet connection are needed. The recruitment process
will include review or preparation of an e-government plan for the jurisdiction, to ensure
that participation is consistent with longer range goals. Similarly, it will be critical for
each participating entity to define for itself the meaning of success for the project. Some
portions of these success criteria will be incorporated into the surveys to be carried out,
so that each participant will have a measure of progress according to their own
definitions.
Along with government agencies, we plan to identify community resources that can play
a role in the initiative. These could include libraries, university extension offices, news
media, schools, chambers of commerce, and other organizations. We anticipate that such
organizations can be involved in various ways in technical support, education, and
"marketing" of the initiative to the public.
We have undertaken an extensive review of the literature pertaining to e-government
projects of a similar type or in similar communities. In addition, we plan to investigate
web site practices of currently active local government entities, and examine the use of
similar software by government agencies in order to identify features which might be
effective (or ineffective) at a city or county level. To assist in our review of current
practice, we consulted with the Center for Technology in Government (CTG) at the State
University of New York, Albany and hosted a visit from Anthony Cresswell (Deputy
Director of CTG) to share information and consult with us on our project development.
During the initial SGER-funded period, we plan to develop most of the surveys,
concentrating on the first ones to be carried out. Preliminary design of follow-up
instruments will be started, but these will be subject to change depending on experience
in the early stages of the larger project. Although most of the survey questions will be
drawn from existing studies, they will nonetheless be tested on sample populations in
rural Montana communities for ease of comprehension, coverage, and discriminatory
power, and revised as necessary. To distinguish possible general trends from effects
related to our e-government project, we will identify demographically similar localities
where control surveys will be carried out.
To illustrate operationally the concept of our approach, we will develop a demonstration
site or sites. We believe it will be important in motivating participants and guiding their
planning to provide models which can be adapted to their needs. The goal is to build a
fully functional site that is engaging and easy to use, for both government administrative
users and the public. This can be presented to potential participants and other interested
groups using a laptop computer and portable projector, even in settings without an
Internet connection (the demonstration site can be loaded on the laptop's hard drive).
This same hardware will later be used in other educational and community presentations.
10
Phase IT: Training and deployment
Following selection of government participants, initial, baseline surveys and interviews
will be carried out in both participating and control jurisdictions. This should take place
in summer 2004. For consistency, schedules in different communities will be
synchronized as much as possible.
Personnel who will be responsible for the e-government web sites will receive training by
our software partner. This training will be not only technical in the sense of learning to
use the software, but will also involve information on best practices in e-mail
management and customer service, specifically tailored to the needs of local
governments. Every effort will be made to conduct the training in one or possibly two
group sessions, in order to facilitate sharing of ideas and discussions of concerns among
participants. Also part of this preparatory stage will be formulation of information
policies setting out what information will be offered on the web site and what the
approval process will be.
Web site customization, integration with existing web pages if any, and e-mail or other
back -end integration will be performed by our software partner, in consultation with the
government agency. When ready, web sites will be brought on line. The knowledge
bases will be "seeded" with standard and frequently requested information identified as
part of the training process, so that they are immediately useful to the public, and can
relieve some of the information -providing burden from staff even before becoming more
fully citizen -driven.
During this time, we will assist in raising public awareness of the new e-government
functions, presenting them to the community through libraries, media, schools, and other
organizations. Montana State University Extension agents will be involved in this
ongoing effort, as they know the communities and institutions well, and have established
contacts there. This activity is especially important as the more use it gets, the more
effective the self -learning knowledge base becomes [23]. The cycle of interest--use--
improvement--increased interest is also a strong positive feedback loop for both citizens
and government staff. As such, it must receive sustained rather than one-time activation.
Phase III: Growth and refinement
After deployment, participating agencies will continue to receive full support from our
software partner. In addition to technical assistance, this includes practical, operational
advice to improve web site effectiveness, using our software partner's expertise in
evaluating service -oriented designs from both organization and end -user perspectives.
As part of this process, findings from analytic reports of web site usage will be reviewed,
and government users instructed so that they can do so themselves on a continuing basis.
After approximately one year of operation (summer 2005), second surveys will be
administered and results analyzed, site visits made for observations and interviews, and
the first round of focus group interviews will be conducted. We will develop questions
and protocols for online questionnaires to users of the web sites.
Based on analysis of results to date, including the measures of locally -defined success
criteria, we will consult with and advise staff on ways to enhance usage and effectiveness
of e-government in their context. We will also encourage and support refinement of e-
govermnent plans and policies. We will continue public awareness efforts.
Phase IV: Review and transition
In this last phase of the project, after approximately two years of operation (late 2006),
we will carry out final surveys, including those of control populations. Second focus
group sessions will be conducted in each participating community. Full analysis and
evaluation will be carried out.
Findings will be shared via the Local Government Center's outreach activities and web
site, as well as disseminated through public and conference presentations and through
publications. Raw survey data, which may be of value to government agencies and to
other researchers, will be freely available on request. In addition, research methods and
findings will be incorporated into study materials for MPA students in courses taught by
one of the PIs.
Throughout this and earlier phases of the project, we will be working with the state and
state-wide organizations such as the Montana Association of Counties and the Montana
League of Cities and Towns to develop policies and support for local e-government. To
reduce costs, we will explore the possibility of establishing web sites shared by different
jurisdictions, for example a county and cities within it. The software should provide a
natural way of doing this, by easily managing independent administrators and allowing
division of the public knowledge base into categories (and sub -categories if desired).
Such extension could occur either downwards from a county to interested towns and
cities within it, or outwards and upwards from cities to neighboring cities and their
county. In addition to the cost sharing, this approach could facilitate inter -governmental
communication and collaboration, at least informally through the practitioners who are
dealing with a common set of issues.
References Cited
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[3] Montana Agricultural Statistics Service. 2003. "Montana Farms and Ranches With
Internet Access Second Highest Nationally." Montana Agricultural Statistics Service
12
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