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The First Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)eGovernment Conference

Muscat, 21-23 December 2009

Future eGovernment:New Models, New Challenges,

New Instruments

Jeremy MillardDanish Technological Institute

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Overview

1. The main challenge: making eGovernment serve the needs of society and not itself

2. From eGovernance 1.0 to 2.0 and 3.0: new business models of eGovernment

3. Everyday eGovernance

4. Lessons for the GCC Region

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European eGovernment service citizen use

(Source: Eurostat, 2009)

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European eGovernment service citizen use

(Source: Eurostat, 2009)

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eGovernance 1.0Technology: web-sites, email, SMS, simple online discussion (but which don’t enable adding additional functionalities)

‘Black-box’ and government-centric model:• ICT in government now mainstream….but–Expensive–Citizen take-up stalling at 20%-30%–Many successes but also many (costly) failures–Organisations and mindsets hardly changed–A ceiling being reached in type and scale of impact?

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The promise of eGovernment 2.0 – next five years

Technology: social networking, social software (enabling adding and ‘mashing’ multiple functions ), wikis, blogs, RSS, podcasting, etc.

•Visible aspects: social, professional and policy networking•Invisible aspects: mashing-up content and services•BUT, governments very VERY slow -- others taking lead

•Fully ‘open’ and user-driven: contents, services and policies, for those who CAN•Services which are (partially) self-designed, self-created, self-directed•Still user-centric, responsive and personalised for those who CAN’T

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Large scale release of PSI

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The promise of eGovernance 3.0 – next ten yearsTechnology: wide-scale seamless ubiquitous networks, networked and distributed computing, open ID, open semantic web, large scale distributed databases, artificial intelligence, etc.

• Policy modelling & simulation (‘top-down’)–Huge unexploited data reservoirs–GRID, distributed data, seamless ‘cloud computing’–Data mining, pattern recognition, visualisation, gaming–Green eGovernment – smart use of resources and policy development–Greater precision on policy choices & trade-offs–Information, consultation, polling, voting, etc.

• Mass collaboration (‘bottom-up’)–Open ID, privacy, data protection, etc., essential–‘Crowd-sourcing’, ‘wisdom of the crowd’–Large scale semantic interoperability across languages, cultures, structures–Opinion markets (specific types are bidding, decision, prediction markets)–Debate & argument mapping–Listening to, structuring, and exploiting the ‘buzz’

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Wiki debate visualisation tool

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Everyday eGovernment

• Everyday, not 3 times a year

• What makes our daily lives work – new concepts in public services

• Services we want – what is really valuable in peoples’ lives

• Reinvigorating relationships – from one-size-fits-all to precisely-my-size

• Universal personalisation – universal localisation

• People, place, community related services

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Everyday technology

• Public service ”Apps”

• Real time, augmented reality

• Mobile, GPS, Digital TV

• Smart, simple services

• Push, pull, do-it-yourself services

• Location or event creates real time opportunities for content, engagement, participation

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Lessons for the GCC Region1. Enterprises and the population should have necessary eSkills to use

eGovernment services –also necessary for sound economic and social development.

2. Staff in public agencies should have high level eSkills, including top and middle management – mainstream ICT in both day-to-day operations and in strategic development.

3. Provide proper incentives to use eGovernment, as part of multi-channel policy.

4. Exploit Web 2.0 to involve users (businesses, citizens, visitors and tourists) in using and developing services, and in smart mobile technology to ensure real time, flexible and location-driven services.

5. GCC could become a global leader in green eGovernment – economic strength, strategic focus, resource base.

6. eGovernment should be a strategic competitive factor to both attract investment and to improve the quality of business and of life.