South Korea takes top rank in global E-Government Survey

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South Korea takes top rank in global E-Government Survey

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September 4, 2006 The findings of Brown University's sixth annual survey of on-line government have been released and South Korea has leapt to the top of 198 country table, displacing traditional frontrunners Taiwan, Singapore and the United States with a significantly better score. Australia, Hong Kong and China all dropped out of the top ten, with Korea, Japan and Spain the biggest climbers. The researchers evaluated government websites based on two dozen criteria, including disability access, the existence of publications and databases, the presence of privacy policies, security policies, contact information, and the number of online services.

A study of online government has just completed its sixth year, and finds that many nations are improving services and providing information for users. The United States ranks fourth, behind South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore.

Asian countries once again dominate e-government ratings and take three of the top five spots in a global e-government study undertaken by researchers at Brown University. South Korea earned the top rank, followed by Taiwan, Singapore, the United States, and Canada. The study shows that 29 percent of government agencies around the world are offering online services, compared to 19 percent in 2005.

The sixth annual survey conducted by Professor Darrell M. West of the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University and a team of researchers evaluates online government websites of 198 countries around the globe. The researchers evaluated government websites based on two dozen criteria, including disability access, the existence of publications and databases, the presence of privacy policies, security policies, contact information, and the number of online services. Previous studies of global e-government have been released annually since 2001.

This year’s study reviews 1,782 government websites in 198 countries during June and July 2006. A variety of different sites were analyzed, including executive, legislative, and judicial offices as well as departments and ministries of the government such as health, education, foreign affairs, interior, finance, natural resources, foreign investment, transportation, military, tourism, and telecommunication.

Researchers found that 94 percent of websites have online publications and 72 percent have links to databases. Only 26 percent (up from 18 percent in 2005) show privacy policies and 14 percent present security policies (up from 10 percent in 2005). Software provided by the company Watchfire, Inc. assesses whether websites provide assistance for the vision- or hearing-impaired. According to this software, government websites are still lagging on disability access. Only 23 percent of sites provide disability access, although this is up from 19 percent in 2005.

In addition to analyzing particular features, researchers rated countries for overall e-government performance. By evaluating the aforementioned features as well as others including PDA access, user fees, and foreign language translation, each country is rated on a 0 to 100 point scale. The following table illustrates the rankings of the 198 countries in 2006 and changes from the previous year. In order to improve electronic government, the report suggests that governments take several steps to reach their full potential in terms of accessibility and effectiveness. Governments should make their sites more user-friendly by improving site design. Clutter such as too much text in the navigation bars should be reduced and the number of ads on each page should be kept to a minimum. When governments have a portal page, the page should have links to other departments or ministries; this is a useful way to integrate e-government so each department is not just a single, separate entity on the World Wide Web. Sitemaps help citizens locate information.

Communication between the government and its citizens is crucial to progressing towards a more effective online presence. Feedback forms, e-mail addresses, polls, and other means of communication are vital to improving the sites to cater to citizens’ needs. Site maintenance is increasingly important in the technological age, but it is often overlooked. Web designers add features and services to sites without ensuring their constant functioning. Many sites are under construction or have not been updated. Designers should keep their sites up-to-date to ensure that all information is accurate and complete.

Numerous sites already provide services revolving around tourism, such as hotel and flight bookings. However, the government should not only target tourists, but offer services that are fully executable online for citizens as well. In some cases, online services exist, but they are not utilized by citizens. To help increase the use of e-services, countries could follow Canada’s model of publicizing its services, which posts links to personalized online services in the navigation bar of their sites. In addition, a comprehensive list of all of the services offered should be located on one page in order to make them easy to find and to increase citizens’ awareness of the available services.

The full Global E-Government Study can be downloaded here.