ELECTRONIC GOVERNANCE AND ELECTRONIC DEMOCRACY: LIVING AND WORKING IN THE CONNECTED WORLD

CHAPTER THREE:

DEVELOPMENTS IN CANADA, UK AND US - A COMPARISON

1. Overview
   
2. United Kingdom
   
   1. The Role of the Champion
      
   2. The Emergence of the Single Window Concept
      
   3. Will E-Government shift to E-Governance?
      
3. Canada
   
   1. SchoolNet
      
   2. Community Access Program (CAP)
      
   3. Smart Communities
      
   4. VolNet
      
   5. Recognizing the Importance of Bandwidth
      
   6. Content Delivery
      
   7. Expanded Tax Filing Services Now Online
      
   8. The New Public Service Dynamic
      
   9. Co-operative Canada-UK Agreement
      
4. United States
   
   1. The Current Environment
      
   2. The Extraordinary Approach to FIRST GOV
      
   3. What is on FIRST GOV?
      
   4. The Lieberman-Thompson Experiment
      
   5. Addressing the Digital Divide
      
   6. Falling Through The Net - latest data on Internet penetration in the U.S.
      
   7. Comparison of Portal Site Search Engine Capabilities and Site Resources

A. Overview

^{As described earlier in this document, the Internet is the underlying infrastructure for e-government, both in information and services delivery and in fostering the exchange of information with an informed, aware citizenry. The degree of connectedness of the citizenry determines to a large extent the efficiency with which online information and service delivery systems can function and their value to bureaucracies. The extent of Internet use also determines to what extent a new form of electronic participatory democracy (e-governance) can begin to flourish among the populace.}

^{The rapid growth in Internet use in recent years has now achieved a level of critical mass where governments have felt strong pressure from many constituencies, including business and the public, to get government services online. The United States continues to lead the world in Internet penetration. Data released in March 2001 by Internet audience measurement firm Nielsen//NetRatings recorded more than 98 million U.S. citizens logged online from home computers in December 2000. 40 Japan ranked second with nearly 15 million Web surfers, followed by Germany with 13 million, the United Kingdom with 10 million, and Canada with 9 million users.41}

^{With a sizeable percentage of the populace online, the national governments of the UK, Canada and the United States have all identified putting services online in more efficient ways as a high priority item to stimulate national competitiveness, make governments more efficient and reduce costs. In fact, this has become a top priority issue for all governments as they race to increase national competitiveness in the new Internet economy.}

^{The key themes that emerge from an examination of all three countries' national e-government priorities are: the 24x7 model of government service (services online all the time); the need for a "champion" within government to push for the seamless integration of services delivery (in the form of a Chief Information Officer or in Great Britain's case an e-envoy); the use of a single window concept; and the organization of information by user-focussed categories.}

^{In all countries, a major impediment to success of the e-government efforts continue to be the chronic shortage of information technology (IT) workers and the fact that the best and the brightest have moved to the private sector. In the U.S., one out of every five government IT jobs is unfilled. A 1998 International Data Corp. (IDC) study predicted that Western Europe, already hard hit with a 5 percent shortage of skilled IT workers, will see the shortage quadruple to almost 20 percent in 2002.}

^{As of March 2001, the Government of Canada, which is also coping with a serious IT worker shortage, is also facing the prospect of a strike by its IT workers that could significantly hamper 's plans to have all government programs and services online by 2004.}

^{In this dynamic new communications environment, the thrust of e-government seems, in the main, focussed solely on more efficient information and services delivery. While this new form of information and services delivery will also increase government accountability and stimulate a new discourse with the public, this seems not to be the primary intent. While existing consultative processes such as regulatory hearings and public input to policy debates have gone online, which can greatly increases citizen participation depending on the issue, there is little indication so far that the shift to e-government will lead to a new form of e-governance.}

^{Nevertheless, the Internet has transformed the citizen's relationship with government. Greater access to information and greater speed of communication has led to greater awareness of the role, directions and impact of government.}

^{In a February 2001 report on Internet use by government in the U.S.,42 researchers Steven Cohen and William Eimicke also enumerated other specific benefits for government, including the following:}

• typically services delivered over the Internet were less expensive to deliver than those delivered in-person.
• electronic service delivery could change human resource deployment patterns and improve organizational performance. It freed up staff to provide better service to in-person customers, and allowed workers to focus less on routine tasks that could be easily handled by computers.
• In some service delivery models, service recipients would pay for the ease of use, and lower costs of obtaining service through the web. A revenue source was thus found to fund the capital, operation, and maintenance costs of a website. A second source of revenue for electronic service provision is savings generated from reduced costs. Because e-services require an investment in computers, communication infrastructure, software, and web design and expert staff, the benefits of reduced service costs tend to occur in a different fiscal year from the year that costs are incurred.

^{The rapid growth of the Internet has also led to the growth of more grassroots organizations to critique and challenge government. The Internet has become a powerful tool to increase public participation in the political process.}

^{A very topical example of this is the Hemispheric Social Alliance (HSA), a network of organizations and social movements from North, Central and South America that is making sophisticated use of the Internet to organise the Second Peoples' Summit of the Americas in Québec City in April 2001. This People's Summit took place parallel to and in opposition to the Third Summit of American Heads of State organized to pursue negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). It is doubtful that grassroots political movements spanning North and South America could have worked together to co-ordinate such an international event in the pre-Internet era.}

^{In fact, the Internet has emerged as the most powerful communications tool ever for grassroots participatory democracy. At the heart of its transformative effect is the way in which it allows information to be used. A definition put forward by the British Council succinctly explains the complex characteristics of information, all of which are enormously magnified in the Internet age. It is:}

^{infinite - it is not used up or lost when it is given to others;}

^{expandable - as it is used, more is added;}

^{sharable - it can be given away and retained at the same time;}

^{diffusive - tending to leak from control and secrecy;}

^{transportable - almost instantly.43}

^{As ambitious e-government plans continue to unfold, the dynamics of e-government will undoubtedly continue to change. Unfortunately, it is beyond the scope of this study to examine how non-governmental groups are using the Internet and how government is responding to this. In July 2000, the UK's former e-Envoy commented on this new political phenomenon by saying:}

^{[The Internet] provides unprecedented opportunities for interest groups to work together and build campaigns, something which Governments have been slow to come to terms with--as for example with the protests in Seattle against the new World Trade round. This is going to require a new look at the way Governments communicate information, and how they can build greater trust. The Internet has unleashed huge new opportunities for people to take more control over their lives. I think that can have a positive impact on many aspects of our democratic system, but it raises many challenges to how Government operates.44}

^{Unfortunately, it is also beyond the scope of this paper to section to comment on local or country, provincial and state initiatives in e-government. In some instances, especially in the U.S., individual states such as Arizona and Minnesota have moved far faster than the federal government to put interactive services online and attempted experiments in electronic voter participation. In Canada and the U.K., the role, influence and power of the central governments to facilitate change through e-government initiatives far outstrips that of cash-strapped provincial and local governments, despite many excellent exceptions to this rule.45 In the UK in particular, e-government is being addressed by a national strategy that includes central government departments and their agencies, local government, the National Health System, and non-departmental public bodies including newly created regional Development Agencies.}

^{This section on the state of e-government in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States at the beginning of 2001 will therefore focus on national initiatives and will broadly examine a range of e-government issues. In synopsis, the chart below provides a common snapshot of all three countries based on several key themes dealt with in the country by country updates.}

^{B. UNITED KINGDOM}

^{In March 2000, Prime Minister Tony Blair announced that the target date for all Government services to the citizen and to business to be available on-line had been advanced from 2008 to 2005.46 This is three years ahead of the 1999 Modernising Government White Paper target of 100 percent online services capability by 2008. However, recognition of the importance of e-government service delivery has pushed the timetable in what is a £1 billion program to get services online.}

^{In September 2000, the Prime Minister also formally launched Britain's new "UK online" campaign47. The threefold aim of this campaign is to ensure everyone who wants it has access to the Internet by 2005; that all Government services are online by that date; and to make Britain one of the world's leading knowledge-base economies. In February, 2001, a major element of this campaign reached a milestone mark when, after two months of testing, the government formally unveiled a new single window portal site known as "UK online Citizen Portal" (www.ukonline.gov.uk) - see details below.}

^{New E-Minister Patricia Hewitt has reported that, as of January 2001, 33 percent of all government services were now online. As far as access goes, targets set in July 2000 include the following:}

• ^{All schools and libraries connected to the Internet by 2002;}
• ^{80 per cent discounts on basic IT courses;}
• ^{tax breaks for companies that lent computers to employees;}
• ^{100,000 low income families to lease or buy cheap or refurbished computers;}
• ^{over 700 IT access centres to be open next year; and,}
• ^{over 100 Information Society Initiative Centres providing advice and support for businesses.48}

^{The UK government's eStat Map49 now pegs 25 percent of UK residents as having home-based access to the Internet as of January, 2001.}

^{In February 2001, the Office of the e-Envoy also released a study50 calling for the UK to have the most extensive and competitive broadband market in the G7 by 2005, with significantly increased broadband connections to schools, libraries, further education colleges and universities.51 The government supports a competitive-based approach to the wider roll-out of high-speed services with regulatory pressure on British Telecom to make its network facilities more available to resellers, the roll-out of broadband wireless services, and the innovative use of satellite facilities. To further stimulate public demand for high-speed access, the study calls for at least 3,800 of the publicly funded UK online centres and all UK online for business centres to be equipped with high-speed service. All publicly funded workplaces would be encouraged to offer high-speed Internet connectivity, and special initiatives would be undertaken to encourage roll-out of broadband services in rural areas.}

^{In March 2001, UK E-Minister Patricia Hewitt further announced a £70 million government investment in electronic technologies to keep the UK at the forefront of the high-tech revolution. This includes £20 million for a national computing grid for UK scientists (see section on Canada for comparable CANARIE investments).}

^{1. The Role of the Champion}

^{In July 1999, Prime Minister Tony Blair appointed Patricia Hewitt, former Economic Secretary to the Treasury, as the new Minister for Small Business and E-Commerce at the Department of Trade and Industry (e-Minister). In this role, Ms. Hewitt provides political leadership across Government in driving forward the Government's objectives on e-commerce, and is charged with submitting a monthly report to the Prime Minister on progress in e-commerce and e-government progress. Ian McCartney, the Minister for e-Government (e-Government Minister) has specific responsibility for delivery of the e-Government objectives.}

^{In 1999 the government, also appointed an e-Envoy to facilitate e-government development. The current e-Envoy is Andrew Pindar, appointed in 2001, who is charged with managing the UK Online campaign to ensure universal access to the internet and getting all Government services online by 2005.}

• ^{The e-Envoy reports directly to the Prime Minister, as well as reporting on a day-to-day basis to both Ms. Hewitt and Mr. McCartney.}
• ^{The specific defined roles of the e-Envoy is:}
• ^{to galvanise business in the UK to face up to the challenges of e-commerce;}
• ^{to provide strategic input into the development of e-Government;}
• ^{to promote the UK's e-commerce strategy abroad;}
• ^{to ensure that the benefits of e-commerce are spread throughout society.}

^{As e-Envoy, Mr. Pindar is working with 35 other senior government officials, known as "Information Age Government Champions," to implement the e-government agenda across all ministries. The agenda is defined more in an April 2000 strategy document52 that outlines how inclusive, citizen-focussed services will be delivered.}

^{A key role for the e-Envoy will be to identify which services offered by the government are good candidates for so-called "joined up services" - see section below on the emergence of the single window concept.}

^{The E-Envoy is expected to "own" the strategy as defined within the strategy document and report and to lead the application of e-business within government. He is expected to identify new opportunities for cross-cutting initiatives and how they should be carried forward and provide strategic prioritization of further work on infrastructure and policy issues, as well as accelerate and co-ordinate work to get services online.}

^{At the heart of the strategy is the recognition that the government should employ e-business strategies, a theme reflected in a June 2000 series on e-government in the Economist that stressed that the technologies for e-government are already working for e-business.}

^{"For example, applications for enterprise resource planning, customer-relationship management and supply-chain management, business intelligence and data-mining tools, Internet procurement and payment systems data-mining tools, Internet procurement and payment Systems are all available now and need very little adaptation for public-sector use. In the same way, the security protocols, the multi-layered firewalls and the public key infrastructures needed for authentication and the protection of data are already available off the shelf."53}

^{The focus of the e-Envoy must be, by nature, very broad based, covering such as areas as infrastructure deployment and access, development of new technologies for secure Internet transactions, and monitoring closely the business and public reaction to e-government initiatives. Progress on all these issues is detailed in the monthly reports by the e-Envoy to the Prime Minister which are all available online.54}

^{2. The Emergence of the Single Window Concept}

^{In its April 2000 strategy document, the government recognized that not all information or service delivery need occur through a single window. The report states that there will be sectoral and local portals too, and lists examples such as a business portal, a cultural site, a Community Legal Service, the NHS Direct Online (health related information) and the National Electronic Library for Health.}

^{Nevertheless, an important major development in the UK e-government initiative has been the launch of a new main government portal site.}

^{UK online Citizen Portal (www.ukonline.gov.uk), the heart of the e-government program, is a portal site that organizes all government information and services around three main themes: Quick Find - Your fast route to government services; Life episodes - A helping hand with the events in your life;55 and CitizenSpace - Take a more active role in government.}

^{This portal was formally launched on 19 February and, as stated in e-Envoy Andrew Pindar's march 5, 2001 report to the Prime Minister, the site had nearly nine million hits (123,000 visitors a day) since its pilot launch in December 2000.56}

^{Until the launch of UK online, the major government services and information access site was www.open.gov.uk, established in 1994 and managed by the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA). Open.gov.uk provides access to hundreds of other government sites, organized alphabetically, by topic and through a "Government Pathfinders' section that contains information organized under several major headings, including consumer information and health. This "silo approach" to information management often presented visitors with a bewildering array of choices. The best element of the Government Pathfinders section was the "Consumer Gateway" where government information is organized by consumer-friendly headings.}

^{The new UK online Citizen Portal is organized to provide useful in-depth information by major themes. For example, under Life episodes, the Moving home category has information organized under thinking about moving, searching for a property, and planning, making and after the move. Under "Making the move", water, gas and electricity companies are also listed by region, with their direct Internet connections. Interestingly, the Life episodes section on travel within Britain did not address the current Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak. There was ironically a direct link to the United States Department of Agriculture that had information on the impacts for the U.S., including the February 2001 ban on British swine and ruminants products.57}

^{The UK online Citizen Portal also has a link to a site known as the Government Gateway, which is the centralised registration service for e-Government services (i.e. the site where users can obtain a User ID or digital certificate to send and receive forms, such as Tax returns and VAT returns. At present, the only online Government service currently available for individuals is the Inland Revenue's Self-Assessment site.}

^{UK online is a public-private sector partnership with more than 20 commercial enterprises, including major telecom companies, and information technology software and hardware manufacturers.}

^{3. Will E-Government shift to E-Governance?}

^{In a March 2001 speech to a global e-Democracy forum, Cabinet Office Minister Graham Stringer stated that a key initiative in the launch of the new UK online Citizen's Portal was to see that the portal could interact with government online that could eventually lead to "extensive policy consultations".58}

^{So far, under the CitizenSpace section of the new IK online portal site, there is a register of consultations where citizen's can find out about and take part in various formal consultation processes. This online access certainly facilitates greater participation by citizens but, other than the electronic access to consultation documents, does not fundamentally change the relationship between the governing and the governed.}

^{A very interesting new experiment in online electronic democracy did take place under the auspices of the UK Hansard Society. This began with an examination of electronic democracy that considered how electronic forms of communication have been used so far by government to enhance citizen participation, the practical and democratic limits on the use of electronic forms of communication to discuss and debate issues, and the prospects for further developments in electronic communication - including digital television.}

^{This initial study was then followed by an online consultation on domestic violence, set up in conjunction with the All Party Parliamentary Group. Some 200 women participated in the consultation via the Internet. As of March 2001, the Hansard Society is preparing evidence for the Committee based on this consultation.}

^{Another current example of online consultations right across the UK is the online consultation for young people in Scotland, set up by the International Teledemocracy Centre at Napier University, to feed into a Youth Summit in June.59}

^{C. CANADA}

^{The 1997 Speech from the Throne to outline the legislative agenda of the previous Liberal government in Ottawa (now with a successive three terms in Office) remains the hallmark statement of the federal government's commitment to develop the necessary infrastructure for e-government. In that Throne Speech, the government said it would "make the information and knowledge infrastructure accessible to all Canadians by the year 2000, thereby making Canada the most connected nation in the world."}

^{In the four years since, under the banner of "Connecting Canadians", the federal government has established a number of specifically targeted programs to achieve this goal. SchoolNet and LibraryNet provide Internet resources to Canada's public schools, libraries and First Nations schools in tandem with provincial and territorial governments, universities and colleges, and other institutions. The Community Access Program (CAP) and Smart Communities initiative extend both primary access and high value service delivery to communities across Canada, and VolNet is intended to provide up to 10,000 voluntary organizations with computers and Internet access by March 31, 2001. There is a further initiative to bring broadband Internet access to all communities by 2004 and the federal government has established "Government On-Line" - a new portal site for government information services.}

^{The value of such initiatives is clearly high in a country where the latest statistics released report that 57 percent of Canadians had access to the Internet in 2000, with those figures over sixty percent in British Columbia and the most populated province, Ontario.60}

^{1. SchoolNet}

^{The federal government reports that, under the SchoolNet initiative, by spring 1999, Canada had become the first country in the world to connect its public schools and libraries to the Internet.}

^{Physical connection, while a worthy accomplishment, is merely the first step in this program. The real success lies in improving classroom access to online resources, through broadband Internet access, an improved computer per student ratio and more instruction for teachers on how to use the Internet as a teaching tool. Through a government-led initiative known as "Computers for Schools" 195,000 additional computers were donated by industry to Canada's schools ands libraries from 1993 to April 2000, with a target of 250,000 computers by March 31, 2001.}

^{2. Community Access Program (CAP)}

^{In 1994, the federal government established the Community Access Program (CAP) to provide free or affordable public Internet access in urban, rural and remote communities. CAP takes advantage of schools, libraries and community centres staffed by knowledgeable workers who can provide user support and advice on Internet access. The government has been surprised by the level of response from rural communities. The goal of 5,000 rural CAP sites was met by May 2000, much earlier than anticipated. The government has now met a similar target for 5,000 urban CAP sites (communities of over 50,000 population).}

^{"Success stories" about the program published by various CAP sites indicate that a primary community focus is training people how to access the Internet and use it for business and entrepreneurial information, health promotion and employment and career information. For example, a public library in rural Saskatchewan provides11,000 customers in a 200 kilometre radius with unlimited, no-fee Internet access, seven days a week. One community in southern British Columbia specifically notes that networking with other similar small communities is "the way to survive." In this community, only 15 percent of area residents had Internet access at home.}

^{An Ontario country-wide CAP network allows citizens to "check on their taxes, access government forms and services, take high school or post-secondary courses, or tap into community programs-without being put on hold or driving the length of the County." The libraries that form the basis of this Oxford County network now have considerably more visitors and have re-positioned themselves as community resource centres. With new web sites dedicated specifically to seniors, women, and children, members of the community now have new alternate ways to learn about community events. The availability of more community content (more than 47 organizations are hosted on the main server site) has also spurred greater growth in personal computer ownership and at-home connections.61}

^{It is difficult to gauge the impact of the enhanced community access of the CAP program as an element of e-government. The Oxford County site has spurred such grassroots activities as an "online dairy ode contest" for aspiring community poets. There is, however, a strong focus on providing online government information. Most nodes in the Oxford County CAP network, for example, are Service Canada sites, providing one-stop access to government services.}

^{3. Smart Communities}

^{At the other end of the spectrum, the government is supporting a number of "Smart Community" demonstration projects. Twelve communities across Canada, ranging from tiny First Nation settlements in Northern Ontario and Saskatchewan, to fishing and farming communities, and major centres such as Ottawa and Calgary. Through government dollars and other matching funds, the intent of this program is to build on the Internet infrastructure to improve delivery of high value services such as tele-medicine, distance education, and environmental monitoring and protection. The government has also set as an objective "to give all citizens a greater say in issues of governance"62}

^{How well this works remains to be seen. However, information provided by the Smart Community demonstration projects indicates that e-government is an important objective built into the operational plans. For example, in the most isolated project in Northern Ontario, five First Nations communities have expanded their Kuh-ke-nah Network (K-Net) to improve local access to health, education and information services for a scattered population of about 2,500 people. While the value of these new online services in isolated communities is unquestionable (for example, an online secondary school is giving students the opportunity to complete their high school studies at home rather than leaving for urban centres) the e-government facet is expected to improve band council decision-making and accountability. There is now broad access to e-mail, a centralized data warehouse to store band information, and a volunteer advisory group comprised of community group and industry representatives providing strategic advice to the Project Management Team to ensure accountability to the community.}

^{In Ottawa, Canada's capital and also the self-declared "High Tech Capital of Canada," a Smart Community project is being designed to provide all citizens with one-stop access to government information and what have been labelled as "E-democracy services" in both English and French. As described by the project managers:}

^{"new E-democracy technologies will also better connect residents to their governments. Through services such as webcasting, for example, the region will hold regular town hall meetings to help residents participate in the democratic process. In the face of a new megacity structure63, the possibility for this kind of participation could be invaluable. … Council minutes have long been posted on the Web. However, as another feature of the E-democracy services, the project will develop a keyword search application, enabling residents to quickly identify issues of concern to them. In this way, the project can help people stay connected to their community."}

^{The e-democracy focus is, of course, an adjunct to the many other services offered through this Smart Community project, which "borrows" surplus telephone line capacity from businesses and other government organizations after hours to expand e-mail access, integrate access to the city's 150 area libraries, and provide a single, bilingual point of contact to a services specific to students. As in other major centres, there is a strong focus on entrepreneurship support.}

^{4. VolNet}

^{A third targeted program of note is the Voluntary Sector Network Support Program (VolNet), a joint undertaking of the federal government and the voluntary sector. VolNet will help up to10,000 voluntary organizations get online by the end of March 2001, with subsidized computer equipment, a free Internet account for one year, and skills development and support services where volunteer agencies lack basic Internet skills.}

^{5. Recognizing the Importance of Bandwidth}

^{In October 2000, the government announced its commitment to ensure that high-speed broadband access was accessible to businesses and residents in all Canadian communities by 2004. This initiative will focus on those communities that, without government involvement, will not likely gain access to private sector-delivered high-speed services by 2004. This would include remote communities where methods such as satellite delivery may have to be employed to provide broadband access.}

^{This push for high speed deployment recognizes the changing nature of the Internet and the fact that lack of bandwidth hampers the deployment of advanced services such as desk top video conferencing, tele-medicine and tele-education, all of which are dependent on high speed access.}

^{Through CANARIE, an advanced Internet development organization funded by the Federal Government and private sector partners, Canada has emerged as a leader in high bandwidth and advanced networks R&D. For example, CANARIE-funded technology has already enhanced R&D Internet speeds by a factor of almost one million 1993. CA*Net 3, the newest backbone R&D network developed under CANARIE, is the fastest Internet network in the world. This fibre optic Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexed based network has up to 40 billion bit a second capability (it could transmit the entire contents of the Library of Congress in one mere second).}

^{CANARIE is attempting to stimulate the deployment of new Internet-based applications that could have a profound impact on the citizenry in a connected world. For example, in March 2001, CANARIE announced its second Learning Program competition, to award up to $26 million in funding for development of new broadband applications that promote learning at all levels. Since its inception in 1993, CANARIE has funded some 500 Internet high-speed research and development projects.}

^{6. Content Delivery}

^{With well over 50% of Canadians now on line and the rapid development of infrastructure, the next major task for the federal government is content delivery. As stated in a 1999 Throne Speech, the government's goal is to put all services and information online by 2004.}

^{Three Portal Sites are key elements of this program. They are the Canada Site (http://canada.gc.ca), Government Online (http://www.gol-ged.gc.ca) and Service Canada (http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca).64}

 

^{The Canada Site is the main portal for new e-government service delivery. Initially launched in the fall of 1995, the Canada Site has been modified on a continuous basis, with the current version launched in January 2, 2001, a much stronger citizen-focussed approach. It also includes the addition of three "gateways", each of which contains "clusters" or collections of information of relevance to three distinct audiences. The gateways (Canadians, Canadian Business and Non-Canadians) are still very broad, however, and do not follow a thematic approach to information provision. There is a section under "Canadians" call "Life Events" but the only information in this section so far is advice on how to identification or other important documents if a wallet is lost.}

^{Plans, however, are ambitious. As stated in a Government On-Line briefing note, by the end of 2004, citizens can expect the following:}

• ^{All key government services will be on-line, organized around citizens' needs;}
• ^{They will be able to process applications and financial transactions securely on-line and in "real time";}
• ^{Technical and content support will be provided through various help services, and based on published service standards;}
• ^{An easy to use, advanced search capability will be available on the Government of Canada portal and all federal departmental and agency web sites;}
• ^{Clients will be able to find information and services even if the exact name of the program or service is unknown. Common search principles and navigation rules will apply on all sites and they will have a common look and feel;}
• ^{Information on the Canada Site will be organized by types of activity, areas of interest, and common citizen needs. There will be portals for seniors, consumers, Aboriginal peoples, the environment and innovation resources for business;}
• ^{There will eventually be joint service delivery with other levels of government, businesses, volunteer organizations and international partners where appropriate.}

^{The Canada Site also has a short questionnaire where citizens can provide their feedback on how the site works for them.}

^{More important from a content perspective is an Interactive Forum where public consultation processes are identified. These consultations (as listed in March 2001) cover a broad range of issues. Some listings, such as the Atlantic Fisheries Policy Review, are designed to provide information primarily about a series of public or town hall meetings, a traditional form of public consultation. Others, such as a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications (CRTC) review of current allowable telemarketing practices, come closer to a true form of e-government.}

^{The CRTC, a specialized government regulatory agency, has streamlined its processes of public dialogue to reflect the Internet age. In an area where the public has expressed strong concerns (i.e. numerous written complaints to the Commission about telemarketing practices), the use of the Internet to solicit and receive public comments greatly facilitates public participation in the regulatory process. There is no online sharing of comments however and the weighing of the stakeholder interests and final decision-making still, however, take place behind closed doors.}

^{Another public participatory process identified on the Canada Site is the Rural Dialogue, under an entity known as the "Canadian Rural partnership" - spearheaded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The background to this initiative was derived from the 1996 Speech from the Throne inaugurating a new federal Parliament in which the federal government committed itself to the "economic renewal of rural Canada." This was followed by a 1997 parliamentary report entitled "Think Rural" under which the members of Parliament presented recommendations on how this rural renewal can be accomplished.}

^{An Internet-facilitated rural dialogue in 1998, in which close to 7,000 rural Canadians expressed their views about the challenges of sustainable rural communities, led to the development of a vision of rural Canada as "vibrant communities and a sustainable resource base" with rural citizens "sharing the benefits of the global knowledge-based economy and society, and taking full advantage of opportunities for personal and sustainable community development." The report further defined rural priorities to include "promot[ing] rural Canada as a place to live, work and raise a family recognizing the value of rural Canada to the identity and well-being of the nation."}

^{While these are laudable expressed goals for the federal government, the results of e-government public input still bump up against the hard realities of political decision-making where major economic decisions about sustainable rural development are made behind closed doors in Cabinet room showdowns.65}

^{While tracking the real success of e-government is difficult particularly where governments face complex competing stakeholder interests and narrow political considerations, there is no doubt that the federal government has made a major commitment to putting government information online.}

^{The Canada Site has a good deal of consumer information linked back to many specific government agencies, although there still appear to be many holes to fill. For example, links on privacy protection, including the federal government's new private sector privacy law, lead back to Industry Canada, the department that sponsored the bill, with no links to the office of the Privacy Commissioner responsible for oversight. On the other hand, information about the federal government's new Air Travel Complaints Commissioner is easy to find.}

^{The 2000 Federal Budget identified $160 million over two years to design and launch Government On-Line. Of that amount, approximately one third was set aside to fund projects that will facilitate cross departmental service integration, address horizontal policy issues or break new ground to help the government meet its 2004 commitment.}

^{As of February 2001, however, less than five percent of total government program information (16,000 programs and services from 126 departments and agencies) had migrated to the Internet.66 The government's priorities are the programs of the 28 largest departments and agencies, including public services provided by Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (especially online tax filing), and Foreign Affairs and International Trade.}

^{While the HRDC site now allows users to download any of dozens of income security and pension forms, the federal government's slowness in launching "Secure Channel" - the government's encrypted infrastructure to receive and process client information online - has hampered full deployment of the government online initiative.}

^{In order to move forward, in September 2000, the government appointed Michelle d'Auray, a veteran civil servant who helped shepherd the government's electronic commerce strategy, as the new government-wide Chief Information Officer. Ms. d'Auray works directly for the Treasury Board of Canada, a central agency that supports all other government departments, and co-ordinates with a steering committee of deputy ministers from these other departments.}

^{With public access to the Internet well in hand, the approach taken by this steering committee is to focus now on a series of "pathfinder projects" that will provide the practical experience in issues such as data security, certification and authentication, an area where the government has acknowledged it is already falling behind on its targeted deliverables.}

^{Unlike the UK approach, the main Canada Site portal does not organize information by citizen interests or themes. It is still largely a gateway to existing information by department or subject heading, although information is also broken out by categories such as services for Aboriginal Peoples, Canadians Living Abroad, Children and Youth, Newcomers to Canada, Persons with Disabilities, and Seniors.}

^{The information available under these headings is still rudimentary and based on existing government online data. For example, a section called "E-Services for Children and Youth" consists of access to a Social Insurance Number application form, application forms for a youth employment program called "Young Canada Works" and information from Training and Development Canada on continuous learning. There was no "youth flavour" to any of this information.}

^{In contrast, visiting an established youth-oriented site such as SchoolNet provided unique and interesting links into kids-oriented information resources such as the Butterfly Website (http://butterflywebsite.com) and grassroots projects developed by students and teachers in schools across Canada - such as "www.bullying.org - where you are not alone" (http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/jackhulland/
projects/butterflies/index.html). Environment Canada's "Great Lakes Kids" web site - also accessible through the children and youth pages is another example of excellent content, but content that still requires considerable searching to find. For example, a search under "Great Lakes," "Great Lakes and Children" and "Great Lakes and Kids" on the main Canada Site home page failed to turn up this interesting and enjoyable educational site for children.}

^{The federal government's ambitious plans to put all government information online by 2004 will benefit from more development of the search engine capabilities, more thematic approaches to information and more audience-tailored web sites.}

^{7. Expanded Tax Filing Services Now Online}

^{EFILE, the federal government's first electronic tax filing system has been available since 1993 through accountants and tax filing companies. In 2000, more than 5.7 million tax returns were filed using this service, representing more than 25% of all individual returns filed. The service can be linked to Internet or telephone banking to allow individual tax filers to send in any tax balance owed electronically by direct bank debit.}

^{In 2001, the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency launched NETFILE to allow virtually every Canadian to file their own taxes electronically from their home computer (with some limited exceptions). The only hitch in the program is that people using the service must purchase tax filing software from one of several government approved commercial vendors or Web sites. The service incorporates strong encryption (168 bit and high-level 128 bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption) along with personal PIN numbers sent to Canadians with their tax return packages.}

^{8. The New Public Service Dynamic}

^{The federal government acknowledges that a major outcome of e-government will be a changed dynamic in how public servants interact with the public.}

^{Elizabeth Richard, a director of strategic planning at the government's department of Public Works and Government Services has described the new issue of "online engagement" in which public servants need to rethink their roles and adapt the processes and structures essentially unchanged from the post-war era. Says Richard:}

^{"Officers in the traditional Whitehall model … are expected solely to explain and inform while debate is the responsibility of elected officials. However, roles tend to be blurred in online dialogues. Public servants are more tempted to participate as citizens in an online discussion where formalities are limited and spontaneity is valued. It is also not clear in what capacity a public servant would be responding: as a citizen, as the representative of the department, the minister? Internet consultations are often conducted without defining the role of program managers involved in the issue, or planning a process for a quick response by an elected official."67}

^{In this new environment, the government has started a "Government On-Line 101" course for executives and managers to consider the questions of effective leadership "in a horizontal and digital environment." A question posed by Michelle d'Auray, the government's new CIO, is "what constitutes effective leadership in situations where knowledge and information arise from a wide variety of sources?"68}

^{The government's training program helps managers understand how to support clients and citizens in a digital world, and how to ensure consistent service across all service channels - on-line, by mail, and over the telephone and over the counter.}

^{9. Co-operative Canada-UK Agreement}

^{The government has also entered into an agreement to work co-operatively with the UK on e-government development. In February 2001 Canada and the UK signed a Joint Statement on Global Electronic Commerce and E-Government. The two countries will jointly address such issues as privacy, security and consumer protection.}

^{Specifically in the area of e-government, a joint work plan calls for both countries to commit to:}

• ^{Establishing information sharing mechanisms in all areas related to e-government;}
• ^{Promoting collaborative and common approaches to international bench marking; and}
• ^{Committing to share best practice and exchange information and experiences on the innovative: use of online technologies by governments to improve service and program delivery; enhance citizen-to- government communications and accelerate the growth and development of the e-economy.}

^{D. UNITED STATES}

^{The new administration of President George W. Bush could augur a strong new push for e-government. Whether this new form of government goes beyond the concept of single window service delivery is the big question for which there seem to be few answers at this time. However, even achieving single window service delivery of a majority of federal government services will be a major accomplishment for this new administration. Nevertheless, an extraordinary entrepreneurial approach and the contributions of a single focussed Internet economy business leader are propelling this project along at lightning speed.}

^{During the Presidential Election campaign in 2000, Governor George W. Bush proposed federal government reform based on the concept of " citizen-centred, results-oriented, and, wherever possible, market-based" government. Part of this proposal was the appointment of a government-wide Chief Information Officer, and a $100 million fund to support interagency e-government initiatives, especially ones enabling individuals to drill directly into the bureaucracy. There were also proponents of this concept within the Congress. A bill was introduced in the last Congress to create a cabinet-level CIO to streamline delivery of e-government services.69}

^{The concept of a CIO or "Technology Czar" and more focus on e-government has garnered strong resonance in Washington policy and IT circles. As reported in Federal Computer Week in December 200070, "The question confronting the new president and his administration is whether the IT wave will elevate the federal government to a higher level of service and efficiency - or swamp it. The key question in moving ahead with a CIO is where to situate the office - either as a new position within the administration or by adding additional powers to the existing Office of Management Bureau (OMB).}

^{There are those within Congress who want a distinctly new office. Last year, Rep. Tom Davis, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Technology and Procurement Policy, proposed a bill that would create a new White House CIO with broad powers to develop and oversee the implementation of policies and standards with regard to information technology, privacy and security efforts at all federal agencies. Congressman Davis is now renewing these efforts and, in early April 2001, invited dozens of state-level officials to testify before his committee on their successful state-level implementation of a similar office.71}

^{OMB Deputy Director Sally Katzen has warned that separating OMB from managing and budgeting federal IT projects would doom those projects to failure. Others within government such as David McClure, the director of information technology issues at the General Accounting Office (GAO) support the creation of a new high-level CIO outside of the OMB. Current media reports suggest that the Bush administration may be poised to keep these functions within the OMB and to make the office of the OMB's deputy director (Sally Katzen) into the equivalent of a federal CIO. This office currently heads up the inter-governmental CIO Council of federal executive agencies that already plays a strategic role in e-government strategy.}

^{Despite the existence of this office, in a letter to the President on March 21, 2001, the Gartner Group, a leading international IT policy group, also called on the Bush administration to create a new cabinet-level federal CIO empowered to develop standards for data sharing and interoperability among federal agencies and with state and local governments.72 Gartner warns that "E-government initiatives will stall until the White House implements specific strategies to overcome major inhibitors. Intergovernmental workgroups will have to develop radically different policies and procedures for a knowledge-based economy in such critical areas as personnel, budgeting, procurement and interoperability."73}

^{Other experts have also warned as well that the federal government has lagged behind the state governments in pushing e-delivery of information and services. Janet Caldow, director of IBM Corp.'s Institute for Electronic Government, has called the difference between the federal government and the states "like night and day," citing Maryland which has mandated that 50 percent of its services be online by 2002 and 80 percent by 2004.74}

^{Caldow also warned that the administration must move quickly to catch up with other countries in e-government services delivery. She noted that Canada imposed deadlines on e-government roll-out and, consequently, is substantially ahead of U.S. e-government initiatives. In a report to the new administration, a group of 140 current and former government officials also warned that countries like New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom are all ahead of the United States in e-government. Even in Bulgaria, they note, "you can actually ask a question online and get an answer from a government official."75}

^{The federal government has developed a number of portal sites in recent years. However, a September 2000 White Paper by the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA) says there was no consistent look, feel, or function that transcends these sites. Commenting specifically on portal sites such as www.students.gov and www.accessamerica.gov, GEIA said its content was limited and little more than links into other sites with little or no customization possible.76}

^{As a major proponent of e-government, GEIA called on the new administration to adopt a customer-service focus and provide citizens with services "on a par with the best private-industry performers."77 As outlined in a proposed two-year plan, GEIA wanted the government to move beyond its recently launched FIRST GOV portal site (described below) to a Web portal site similar to Singapore's (www.gov.sg - also www.ecitizen.gov.sg) that permits citizens to communicate with the government in an advanced way.78 However, there is no discussion in the GEIA proposal of how improved information and services delivery will transform the relationship between government and the citizenry.}

^{1. The Current Environment}

^{As described in an article in Slate79 (August 2000), at present, the federal government maintains more than 10,000 individual Web sites,80 and many of these operate at cross-purposes. Slate also reports that state governments are moving more quickly than the federal government to make it easy to pay parking tickets or get drivers' licenses on the Web through nation-wide services like ezgov.com and govWorks.com.}

^{As in Canada and the United Kingdom, the U.S. federal government has moved forward with a number of portal sites and in September 2000 launched FIRST GOV (www.firstgov.gov), a next generation single window gateway site that organizes information by "the type of service or information that people are seeking rather than by agency."81}

^{In his first budget, President George W. Bush earmarked a $100 million three-year fund to support interagency electronic Government (e-gov) initiatives, including the new FIRST GOV portal site.}

^{2. The Extraordinary Approach to FIRST GOV}

^{FIRST GOV bills itself as "your first resource to find any government information on the Internet, with topics ranging from business and economy to money and benefits to science and technology - and everything in between!"}

^{FIRST GOV is an impressive effort, in that over 27 million federal government Web pages are now searchable through a powerful search engine that can comb over half a billion documents in less than one-quarter of a second. Even more impressive is the unique entrepreneurial approach to FIRST GOV. It is the result of a business relationship established between the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and a private non-profit charitable organization known as the Fed-Search Foundation that is the brainchild of Dr. Eric Brewer, co-founder and chief scientist of Inktomi Corporation. Inktomi provides the technology used in the powerful FIRST GOV search engine and keeps the engine functioning 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Much of the funding for this has come from Eric Brewer personally, with lead corporate support from Inktomi and Sun Microsystems. The search engine technology behind FIRST GOV is being made available to the public at no cost for a three-year period to move this portal project into full-scale operation.}

^{Dr. Brewer proposed the concept of FIRST GOV to the Clinton administration in March 2000 with a master plan of revolutionizing how government information is found, its practical availability and cost of access. Dr. Brewer set as goals for this project that eventually all public documents would be in electronic form, that up to 100 million queries per day be able to be handled by the technology, that queries from the public be at no cost to the individual, and without intrusive "banner advertising", that high levels of privacy be built in, (user tracking only with "opt-in" consent), and that initial development and management take place outside of the government, but be rolled over to the government proper to manage after an explicit two-year lifetime.}

^{In his proposal, Dr. Brewer offered the federal government a "right of first refusal" to take over the service after three years. To be initially funded by charitable contributions (there is a long list of corporate FIRST GOV partners), FIRST GOV was to be created in the summer of 2000, come on line in the fall and be in full operation by December 1, 2000.}

^{In testimony before Congress in October 2000, Dr. Brewer added that the mission of the Federal Search Foundation would be to catalyze an Internet-enabled government that will empower citizens with "comprehensive, unbiased information and interactive services that make government more responsive to the public."82}

 

^{In creating the Fed-Search Foundation, Brewer says he saw the opportunity "to promote truly American values of open, participatory democracy." In his testimony to Congress, Dr. Brewer iterated that "the Internet is a deeply American phenomenon, not because of its origin, but because it reflects our values. It is the ultimate expression of freedom of speech, it is fundamentally open, and it has transformed our economy in the classic American Way - by enabling individuals to achieve their dreams through inspiration and hard work."}

^{Fed-Search met an ambitious 90-day deadline for launch set by President Clinton in his first-ever webcast on June 24, 2000. As part of the initial three-year plan, the federal government will conduct a full and open competition in mid 2002 to determine whose services will provide the greatest value to citizens at that time.}

^{Sally Katzen, OMB Deputy Director, however is uncertain how FIRST GOV will grow to meet citizen expectations. Katzen says "The search engine will learn which pages are the most useful to the citizens and display them more readily. The topic index will grow and encompass those sites most commonly looked for and accessed by the public. … Most importantly, citizen feedback will lead our efforts to make our information and services more available online. The public will point our way, and through their direction we will give them a comprehensive and responsive electronic government that works better for the American people."83}

^{However, at this stage of the evolution of e-government, the FIRST GOV approach may be exactly in line with what the public wants. A January 2001 survey by the research firms of Peter D. Hart and Robert M. Teeter found that the biggest public focus in e-government is still the access to information and services. The survey also found that widespread use of government Web sites has laid a broad foundation of public support for e-government, with about 73 percent of Americans believing that the new Bush administration should make e-government a priority. There is also broad support for a "Technology Czar" (CIO) to oversee and encourage government use of the Internet to make information and services more readily available.84}

^{Nearly half of Americans have used a government Web site, and among Americans who regularly use the Internet, 70 percent say that they have used the Internet to access a government service or obtain information. In fact, 30 percent of U.S. adults regularly log on to government Web sites once a month or more.}

^{An earlier study for the Council for Excellence in Government conducted in August 2000 85 suggests that e-Government may improve public confidence in government, with 56 percent of the U.S. public saying that e-government would have a positive effect on the way that government operates. The survey authors state that "increased public use of e-government may lead to increased public confidence that government can solve problems."}

^{3. What is on FIRST GOV?}

^{What separates FIRST GOV from other portal sites is the fact that all 27 million existing Federal agency web pages can be searched at one time using an intuitive search approach that allows users to search by subject or by keyword. FIRST GOV can review half a billion documents in less than one-quarter of a second and handle millions of searches a day.}

^{The main page of the FIRST GOV site also allows users to browse government by broad topic headings, including: Agriculture and Food, Arts and Culture, Business and Economy, Common Interests (Kids, Disabilities, Seniors, Workers), Consumer Services and Safety, Environment and Energy, Federal Benefits and Grants, and a "Healthy People" section addressing health, insurance and disease. There is also a citizen-oriented "Home and Community" section. a Learning and Jobs section, Library and Reference, Money and Taxes, Public Service Opportunities (jobs, volunteering, military service), and sections on Recreation and Travel, Science and Technology, and the U.S. in the World, which covers Defence, Trade, and Immigration.}

^{The FIRST GOV site also has a complaints section where individuals can directly contact a number of agencies. For example, you can send a question directly to Ginnie Mae (the popular name for the Government National Mortgage Association), complain to the Federal Trade Commission about business practices, file comments with the Federal Communications Commission or directly contact the White House, your Senator or Representative. There are, in fact, over 125 direct contact points from one single access page. (In contrast, the Canada Site has approximately 450 direct links to information, programs and services, and forms.)}

^{While there is a wealth of information available online, it is hard to obtain a sense of what FIRST GOV has so far accomplished (other than the compilation of existing data and the powerful new search engine). It is also difficult to know what remains to be done. Ironically, the hardest search to perform on FIRST GOV is extracting information about the status of the project. The government's Council of CIOs 86 does maintain a web site with an inventory of electronic government initiatives. 87 However, this database is difficult to use and turns up information in piecemeal manner only in response to specific limited search parameters. There is no big picture currently existing of government progress in this area, and unlike the U.K. e-envoy reports, no east to decipher regular updates.}

^{At this early stage of its development, there are some key FIRST GOV milestones that can be noted. First, all programs offered on the FIRST GOV site are accessible to people with disabilities.88 Secondly, site traffic (250,000 visits in just the first four days of operation) has led to increased site visits for other government agencies as well. The Department of Transportation has reported a large increase and the cross-agency site Disability.Gov has reported a nearly 3-fold increase.89}

^{However, news on the big picture is still lacking.}

^{One critic's view of FIRST GOV}

^{"When we're talking about the entire federal establishment, no one is so foolish as to assert that all the Web sites are current, accurate and well organized. Quality ranges from outstanding to abysmal, but far too many sites fall at the abysmal end. FirstGov may do a superb job of accessing all those sites. But when you access garbage at nanospeed, it's still garbage. And FirstGov won't bring e-government any closer, whatever it may be."}

^{J. Timothy Sprehe is president of Sprehe Information Management Associates, Washington, D.C.}

^{4. The Lieberman-Thompson Experiment}

^{A small experiment in e-government is the Web page sponsored by U.S. Senators Joseph Lieberman and Fred Thompson. The e-Government Project91is an attempt to involve citizens as a partner in the legislative process. The site offers a series of ideas and invites comment on how Congress could help to advance the cause of e-Government. While there are lots of postings of ideas by the public, including civil servants, there is no clear indication of how any of this information will be used. 92}

^{The citizen' s voice can offer a very clear message about e-government. A posting from "Kim" on the General Discussion of Citizen Service Initiatives page was that: "Let's face it, the ordinary citizen does not know which branch of government to contact when facing a problem or question. … it makes me feel that the government is too big and too confusing a process, with which to bother. Make it simple, make it accessible and understandable to the everyday person."}

^{5. Addressing the Digital Divide}

^{In 2000, President Clinton had announced new budget measures to further lessen the gap between Internet haves and have-nots in the U.S. A Federal Communications Commission-mandated E-Rate program that provides a 20 to 90 percent discount on telecommunications services, Internet access and internal connections to public and private schools and libraries, had already committed $3.65 billion to over 50,000 schools and libraries for e-mail/Internet access between 1997 and 1999.}

^{In 2000, the former President committed the following additional support to close the digital divide93:}

• ^{$2 billion in new tax incentives to 2004 to encourage companies to donate computers to schools, libraries and community technology centers, to sponsor schools, libraries, and community technology centers in designated Empowerment Zones, and to provide basic computer training, workplace literacy, or other basic education for their employees.}
• ^{tax relief for nearly $1 billion in annual sponsorships to encourage companies to sponsor schools and community technology centers in Empowerment Zones, Enterprise Communities, and targeted low income areas.}
• ^{$150 million to help train all new teachers entering the workforce use technology effectively in the classroom.}
• ^{$100 million to create up to 1,000 Community Technology Centers in low-income urban and rural communities.}
• ^{$50 million for a public/private partnership to expand home access to computers and the Internet for low-income families.}
• ^{$45 million to promote innovative applications of information technology for under-served communities under a Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) formerly funded with one-third this level of investment.}
• ^{$25 million to accelerate private sector deployment of high-speed networks in under-served urban and rural communities.}
• ^{$10 million to prepare Native Americans for careers in information technology and other technical fields.}
  

^{6. Falling Through The Net - latest data on Internet penetration in the U.S.}

^{Falling Through The Net, Toward Digital Inclusion, the fourth report of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) paints a clear picture of both the rapid recent gains in household Internet penetration and what still needs to be accomplished.94}

^{According to this latest report, the share of households with Internet access soared by 58% since the last survey, rising from 26.2% in December 1998 to 41.5% in August 2000. More than half of all households (51.0%) now have computers, up from 42.1% in December 1998. There were 116.5 million Americans online at some location in August 2000, 31.9 million more than there were only 20 months earlier.}

^{The report also states that the share of individuals using the Internet rose by a third, from 32.7% in December 1998 to 44.4% in August 2000. If growth continues at this rate, more than half of all Americans will be using the Internet by the middle of 2001.}

^{The report also notes that the rapid uptake of new technologies is occurring among most groups of Americans, regardless of income, education, race or ethnicity, location, age, or gender, suggesting that digital inclusion is a realizable goal. Groups that have traditionally been digital "have nots" are now making dramatic gains:}

^{The gap between households in rural areas and households nationwide that access the Internet has narrowed from 4.0 percentage points in 1998 to 2.6 percentage points in 2000. Rural households moved closer to the nationwide Internet penetration rate of 41.5%. In rural areas this year, 38.9% of the households had Internet access, a 75% increase from 22.2% in December 1998.}

^{Among different races, blacks and Hispanics still lag behind other groups with the lowest household Internet penetration rates in the overall population at 23.5% and 23.6%. With respect to individuals, while about a third of the U.S. population uses the Internet at home, only 16.1% of Hispanics and 18.9% of Blacks do so. They have, however, shown impressive recent gains in Internet access. Black households are now more than twice as likely to have home access than they were 20 months ago, rising from 11.2% to 23.5%. Hispanic households have also experienced a tremendous growth rate during this period, rising from 12.6% to 23.6%.}

^{In addition, the disparity in Internet usage between men and women has largely disappeared. In December 1998, 34.2% of men and 31.4% of women were using the Internet. By August 2000, 44.6% of men and 44.2% of women were Internet users.}

^{Nonetheless, a digital divide remains or has expanded slightly in some cases. People with a disability are only half as likely to have access to the Internet as those without a disability: 21.6% compared to 42.1%. And while just under 25% of people without a disability have never used a personal computer, close to 60% of people with a disability fall into that category.}

^{Individuals 50 years of age and older are among the least likely to be Internet users. The Internet use rate for this group was only 29.6% in 2000. However, individuals in this age group were almost three times as likely to be Internet users if they were in the labour force than if they were not.}

^{In the area of broadband access, rural areas are now lagging behind central cities and urban areas in broadband penetration at 7.3%, compared to 12.2% and 11.8%, respectively.}

^{7. Comparison of Portal Site Search Engine Capabilities and Site Resources}

^{Europe's outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease was very much in the news since late February, 2001. As a precaution against the spread of this disease, over one million animals have been slaughtered in the U.K. alone. While not directly harmful to humans, governments worldwide have initiated plans to prevent and detect the spread of the disease, particularly among travellers who have picked up the virus on food or clothing while travelling in Europe. Here's how the main government portal sites in the U.K., Canada and the U.S. have handled the provision of information about this disease.}

^{In each case, the search engine on the main page of the site was asked to locate references to the exact phrase "foot and mouth disease."}

^{United Kingdom: As might be expected, the U.K. government has the most significant amount of information on the current foot and mouth outbreak in the U.K. A search on the UK online Citizen Portal "Quick Find" turned up 2,802 matches on the phrase "foot and mouth disease". The results were presented in far more user-friendly terms than either the Canadian or U.S. portal sites, however. Under top-line results, the Quick Find search engine advised that "your search suggests you may want to visit the News Co-ordination Centre page on Foot and Mouth disease?" A click on that reference (click 2) instantly brought up the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food site devoted to this outbreak. This site had current news (by hour), farming links, regional news, information on travel and tourism in the countryside, and a link to news on the outbreak from the 10 Downing Street website.}

^{Canada: Using the search tool on the Canada site main page (click 1) turned up 40 matching "hits" on foot and mouth disease." The first "hit" was the Canada Food Inspection Agency where there was up to date information for travellers, visitors and livestock owners (click 2). There was a chart of confirmed case of the disease in the U.K., including the counties, but no direct links to U.K. web sites. Essentially two clicks brought web surfers to very up to date Canadian government information on the disease.}

^{United States: Using the search tool on the FirstGov main page (click 1) turned up 1134 matching "hits" on the foot and mouth disease. The first "hit" (click 2) was the Veterinary Services home page of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), where a link to current information on the European outbreak was highlighted at the top of the page. Click 3 brought up to date information on the disease outbreak, including information for travellers, information for airlines to use with travellers, the latest incidence reports and background information, and links to U.K. sites. All of this information was essentially three clicks away. The second "hit" was the main site of the USDA where much of this information was again replicated on the front page of the site.}

^{Australia: in contrast to the above, the main portal site of the Australian Commonwealth government (http://www.fed.gov.au/KSP/) turned up no recent news or background information on the disease.}

^{New Zealand: a search of the New Zealand government portal site (www.govt.nz) turned up current and relevant information on New Zealand's response to this crisis in just two clicks (including over 66,000 individual "hits").}

Footnotes

40. Internet use figures are subject to considerable variance. Data published by Standard Media International estimated Internet use among Americans over age 12 at 60 million in December 2000. Nevertheless, the relative penetration data clearly shows how dominant the US continues to be. Trends, however, indicate the rest of the world is catching up to the U.S. The Messaging Online Year-End 2000 Mailbox Report reports that the number of e-mail service subscriptions soared by more than 88 percent in 2000 from the end of 1999 to 514.25 million mailboxes worldwide. Growth was much swifter outside the United States than within it, with the number of U.S. mail service subscribers growing by only 73 percent in 2000, while the number of international service subscribers increased by 109 percent. http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/
    traffic_patterns/article/0,,5931_710381,00.html
41. Source: Reuters news story on sSTATNEWS, March 13, 2001. http://www.emarketer.com/estatnews/enews/reuters/
    03_09_2001.rwntz-story-bcnettechnetratingsdc.html
42. The Use of the Internet in Government Service Delivery, Steven Cohen and William Eimicke, the PricewaterhouseCoopers Endowment for The Business of Government, February 2001.
43. Developments in electronic governance, The British Council, 2000. http://www.britishcouncil.org/governance/newsletter.pdf
44. Government and the Internet , Speech by e-Envoy Alex Allen to the Woodrow Wilson Center, June 26 2000.
45. A recent article on the stat