Web-Based Support for e-Government - CiteSeerX

Web-BasedSupport for e-Government JanParalic Tomas Sabol MarianMach TechnicalUniversityoKošice, f SlovakRepublic

Abstract:Thispaperpresentsmainideas,basicarc whichisbeingdevelopedwithintheEU-funded ParticipationinDemocraticProcesses”)onthequal

hitectureandpossibleimpactotfheWEBOCRATsyste m, projectWebocracy(“WebTechnologiesSupportingDir ect ityoservices f providedbapublic y administration institution.

1. Introduction

TheWebocracyprojectrespondstoanurgent needforestablishmentoef fficientsystemsprovidi ngeffective andsecureuser-friendlytools,workingmethods,an dsupportmechanismstoensuretheefficientexchan geof informationbetweencitizensandtheadministration s [3].This projectaddressestheproblemofprovidingnewtype s ofcommunicationflowsandservicesfrompublicadm inistrationinstitutionstocitizens,andimproves theaccessof citizensto publicadministration (PA)servicesandinformation.Thenewtypesofser viceswillincreasethe efficiency,transparency andaccountability oPA fi nstitutions andwillhaveimpacton their policies towardcitizens. In [9]athree-phasestrategy,forimplementinge-demo cracyconsistingoinitiation, f infusionandcustom isation phases,hasbeenproposed.E-governmentande-polit icsarethereidentifiedaselementsof e-democracy. eGovernmentinformscitizensabouttheirrepresentativesandh owtheymaybecontacted.Italsoimproves governmentefficiencybyenablingcitizenstomake transactionsonline. E-politicsitsheuseoW f ebtechnologyto improvetheeffectiveness of politicaldecision-mak ing supporting participation ocitizens f in this pr ocess. Thefirst, initiationphase starts , withestablishmentofaportalthatconven ientlylinkscitizensto(alllevelsof) government.Next, infusionphase means , restructuringtheorganisationinorderto accommodateinnovation.And, finally, customisationphase ofe-democracysystemimplementsaone-to-onerelat ionshipbetweencitizenand government. The WEBOCRAT systemfocusesonsupportofinfusionandmainlycu stomisationphasesbyvarious specialisedmodules.Customisation willenableciti zens tofinely focus on personally criticalissues. Ourapproachifsocussedontheconceptof strongdemocracy [2].Unlikequickdemocracythatwantstospeed upthedecision-makingprocesses,strongdemocracy wantstoslowthemdownbyinvolvingpeopleindisc ussion anddeliberationprocesses [1]. Oneofthemainnoveltiesofourapproachisthekn owledge-basedsupport [6]. Informationoall f kindsproducedbyvariousmodule ossegments r othese f documentsilsinkedtsha oa redontology representingadomainopublic f administration(loc algovernment).Suchontologyservesameans as for structuring andorganisingknowledge.Theadvantageofclearst ructuringismorepowerfulsearchandretrievaleng ine,and moreuser-friendly contentpresentation [5]. Inthispaper,currentstatusothe f Webocracyproj ectispresented.First,ha ierarchyocriteria f wh icharebeing consideredatthedesignoftheWEBOCRATsystemare introducedinsection 2A . snext,rougharchitectu reof WEBOCRATsystemasihas t beenproposedidsescribe dinsection 3.Moreover,pilotapplicationsdefinedblyocal authoritieswhoareuserpartnersoftheWebocracy projectarebrieflydescribedinsection 4F. inally s, ection 5 provides saummary othe f main conclusions of this paper. 2. Motivation

TheproposaloftheWEBOCRATarchitectureibsased kinds of criteriahavebeen considered: • User requirements • Generalcriteria

on set a ofcriteriainordertoguaranteeitsqual

ity.Two

Theformerrepresentnecessaryconditions tosupportuserstocomplywithtaskstheyfacedur Theydefineservices,whichshouldbeofferedbyth which,althoughnotexpressedinanexplicitway,i user-friendliness,speed,etc.).Allconsideredcri

–minimalfunctionalitywhichshouldbpe rovidedby ingtheiractivities(theserequirementsaredefine efinalsystem.Thelatterrepresentsadditionalre ncreasethechanceothe f finalsystem tobaedopte teriaaredepictedin Fig. 1.

Fig. 1: ACOMPREHENSIVEMODELOFE-GOVERNMENTCONSTITUENCY

thesysteminorder din [4]and [8]). quirements, dbuysers(e.g.

SATISFACTION.

Thecriteriaformahierarchicalstructureresultin ginsatisfactionofcitizens.Ifthisisachieved, itcanimply trustof citizens in e-governmentandsimultaneousl iycan t haveeffecton promoting e-democracy. “Trust”(psychologicalstatusoifnvolvedpartiesw hoarewillingtopursuefurtherinteractionstoac hievea plannedgoal)shouldbdeevelopedamongcitizens,e lectedrepresentatives,andpublicadministrationi nstitutionsonline.Thetrustine-governmentshouldbea“knowle dge-basedtrust”,i.e.groundedintheknowledgeof theother partyandproceduresiuses. t Inadditiontothist rustbetweeninvolvedparties,itisnecessarytoh avetrustinthe usedinfrastructureande-governmentenvironment. Adoptionofasystem,whichisfocusedonmeetingt heabove-mentionedcriteria,bringsdifferentkinds of benefits: Benefits tolocalgovernment(LG): • Decreaseothe f costs of creating,processing,dist ributing,storing,andretrieving information • Supportof “reengineering”ointra-organisational f andinter-organisationalprocesses.By changing the processes theproductivity oLGs, f administrators, councillors can increasesignificantly. • Improvedcitizen service

• • •

Improvedimage,increasedflexibility,expediting a Improvedknowledgemanagement,decision making iL n Supportof organisationallearning

Benefits tocitizens: • Access toinformation andLGservices (24hours da anyplace) • Increasedspeedoservices f • New quality oservices f • New types of services,customisation oservices f Benefits tosociety: • Increasedtransparency oPA f • Improvedservices for citizens,entrepreneurs ando economicdevelopment

ccess toinformation Gs

ay,allyear round)from almostany location (anyti

me,

ther user groups willresultin fostering olocal f

3. Architecture othe f WEBOCRATsystem

BasicschemeotfheproposedWEBOCRATsystemisdep ictedin Fig. 2.Thesystemisbasedonknowledge modellingtechnology.Ontologicalknowledgemodels areemployedinordertoindexalltheinformation presentin thesystem.Thereforefirstlayer - knowledgemodels aredepicteditnhecoreothe f schemeon Fig. 2.

Fig. 2THE PRINCIPALSCHEME OFTHE WEBOCRAT SYSTEM. Fromthetechnicalpointofview,thesystemwillb project(ESPRITproject29065,1998-2001)focusedo models [6].Thesemodelsplaytheroleodomain f sp

be asedonresultsachievedwithintheEU-fundedKn owWeb norganisinginformationusingdomainspecificknow ledge ecificindexes(withowninternalstructure).Their employment

enablespreciseannotationoifnformationbasedon itscontent,whichresultsinefficientandpowerfu information l retrievalcapability [4]. Thesecondlayerisrepresentedby publishing, discussion and opinionpollingspaces providingmeansfor storing,updatingandmanaging(in principlethreeslightlydifferenttypesof)docume ntsandtheirrelationsamong themselves,as wellas their relations totheknowl edgemodelin theWEBOCRATsystem. The DiscussionForum (DF)modulewillsupportintelligentcommunication processesbetweenpublic authorities,citizens andtheir electedrepresentat ives.DFwillberesponsiblefor documents in discussionspace . The WebContentManagement (WCM)modulewillsupportpublicationofdocuments ontheInternet,i.e.it willberesponsiblefor documents in the publishingspace . The OpinionPollingRoom (OPR)willenableelectronicopinionpollingfeatur ingalsowithsupportfor authentication andvoter's privacy.OPRwillberes ponsiblefor documents in the opinionpollingspace . Thethirdlayeriscomposedfromtworetrieval-focu sedmodulessupportingretrievalcapabilitiesthat needonly readaccesstothethreeabove-mentionedspacesas wellastotheknowledgemodel.The InformationDesk (ID)will retrieverelevantdocuments of differenttypes that arestoreditnhesystem. The Reporter/Summary (REP)modulewillprovidemeansforcalculationof avarietyofstatisticsaswellas somemoresophisticatedapproachesbasedon,e.g.d ataminingtechniques.Moreover,thismodulewillp rovidealso alerting functionality,which has been requiredby our user partners in [4]. Alertingmeans,thataspartotfheregistrationpr ocess,registeredusersshouldbeabletoindicate interestin specifictopics(linkedtotheknowledgemodel)and requestemailtoalertthemtonewitemsrelating tothesetopics. They shouldalsobaebletorestrictthenumberof alertsreceived,eitherby requestingonly specif a iednumber of the mostrelevanttotheirselectedtopicsinagivent imeperiod(day/week/month),orbyrequestingdig a estemail(one per day/week/month)including alltherelevantitem s. Userregisteredinthesystemasanindividualenti ty(i.e.notanonymoususer)isprovidedwithpaer sonal accesspageensuringhim/heranindividualaccesst othesystem.Thispageisbuiltinanautomaticwa yandcan contain severalparts.Someothem f can bgeeneral andtheother areperson specific. Theformercanserveassatartingpointforbrowsi ngallpublisheddocumentsaccessibletotheuser, all conferenceshe/sheiasllowedtoparticipatein,al running l pollsforwhichhe/sheiesligible,using searchfacilities ofthesystem,readhotinformation,etc.Thelatte rpartsaredevotedtouser’spersonalnewsletter, linksto documents andconferences topics of which match the user’s areaointerest. f Thepersonalaccesspagehidesdivisionofthesyst emintomodules.Terms‘publishingspace’,‘discuss ion space’,and‘opinionpollingspace’donotconfuse users.Thepersonalaccesspageenablesusertoacc essall functionality othe f system thathe/sheiallowed s toaccess in uniform a andcoherentway. 4. Pilotapplications

Thefirsttrialswillbedevotedtobasicfeatures willinvolveallfeatures on knowledgemodelling te Thetwotrialphaseswillprovidethecontextfora eachothe f userpartnerswillconducttrialsconcu design,specificationandevaluationofthetrials (LATA)andTheLocalAuthorityKosice applications andtrials in Slovak Republic. ThefirsttrialinWCCwouldmakeuseoafllthree agenciesandcitizens.Ithastheadvantageotfaki makesthingseasierformarketingpurposesandprom interesttolocalcitizens andpartner agencies,it FirsttrialinLATAwillmakeuseoWCM f andOPRmo webpublishingandcontentmanagement,inorderto theformhowtoaccessinformationasdefinedinva number211/2000othe f CodeoLaws, f TheFreeInfor administration clearer andeasier for thecitizens

ofdiscussion,publishingandpollingspaces.Thes econdtrials chnology,alerting andpersonalisation. llimplementationandevaluationactivities.Ineac hphase, rrently.WolverhamptonCity Council(WCC)isrespon sibleforthe intheUK. TheLocalAuthorityKosice C - itywardTahanovce -CitywardDargovskychhrdinov(LAFU)areresponsi bleforpilot availablemodules(DF,WCM,OPR)andinvolvespartn er ngplaceinsmall,localareasandaddressinglocal issues,which otinglocalusage.Astheissuesareoneswhichare ofdirect is hopedfor haigher than averageresponse. dules.LATAwantstofocustheirpilotapplication on effectivelyinformcitizensandallotherusers.Th isios neof lidlawoftheNationalParliamentoftheSlovakRe public mationAccessLaw.Theywanttomakethemattersof public andsupportthem by expressing their opinions.

InLAFUthetrialwillbefocusedonaspecialuse Atpresentstatenocitizencancheckontheproces Authority.Userknowsjusttheprocessingdeadline, WEBOCRATpilotapplicationshouldenabletheusert document(s).Afterpositiveauthorizationanycitiz Moreover,theWEBOCRATsystem willenableeasy elec

ofdiscussionforumplusOPRforevaluationpurpose s. singstatusofhis/herdocument(s)submittedtothe Local whichis30daysafterdocumententrydate.Thepr oposed ochecktheprocessingstatusofhis/hersubmitted enwillbeabletoseehow his/herdocumenthasbeenhandled. tronicsubmission odocuments f totheLocalAuthori ty.

5. Conclusions

Inthispaperthemainideasothe f Webocracyproje ctandbasicmotivationforthedesignothe f WEBOC RAT system as wellas its coarsearchitecturehavebeen presented. TheKnowledgeModule [7]representsthecoreotfhesystemonwhichthe othercomponentsarebuilt.This systemwillprovideautomaticroutingomessages f f romcitizenstotheappropriatepersonwithintheP A;trackingof processingcitizensrequests/complaintswithinPA; toolsforeasyaccesstoPAinformationandtocomp etitive tendering;discussionforumsinvolvingcitizensand governmentrepresentatives(DF);on-lineopinionp ollingon definedissuesopublic f interest(OPR);toolsfor publicationodocuments f ontheInternet,browsing andnavigation (WCM);toolsforidentification,authenticationand securitybuiltintothesystem(Securitymodule); intelligent retrieval(ID),calculationosummary f statistics, alertingservices(REP)andconvenientaccesstoin formationbased on individualneeds (personalizedUser Web-interfac e). TheWEBOCRATsystemwillbringPAclosertocitizen s,makingimore t accessibleandeasiertoundersta nd. Thesystemwillencouragemoreparticipationindem ocracyaw s ellasmakingadministrationmoreeffici ent.This propositionshouldbeapprovedbyvariouspilotapp lications,whichhavebeendesignedbyuserpartner sotfhe Webocracy project.Firsttrials of thesepilotappl ications havebeen alsosketchedhere. References

[1] Astrom,J.(2001)ShouldDemocracyOnlinebeQu ick,Strong,orThin? Communicationsothe f ACM Vol. , 44,No.1,pp49-51. [2] Barber,B.(1984) StrongDemocracy , University oCalifornia f Press,Berkeley,CA. [3] BeckerT(2000). . RatingtheImpactofNewTech nologiesonDemocracy.CommunicationsotfheACM,4 4 (1),39-43. [4] Cizmarik,T.,NovacekE.,ParalicJ.andThomso n,P.: Analysisandspecificationofusers’requirements . Webocracy TechnicalReportR2.1,TechnicalUniversi ty Košice,March 2001,34p. [5] Dourish,P.,eat (l 1999)Presto:anexperiment alarchitectureforfluidinteractivedocumentspac es, ACM Transactions onComputer-HumanInteraction, Vol.6,No.2,pp133–161. [6] Dzbor,M.,Paralic,J.,andParalic,M.(2000) Knowledgemanagementinadistributedorganization. Proc.of the4 thIEEE/IFIPInternationalConferenceBASYS’2000 Kluwer , AcademicPublishers,London,pp339-348. [7]MachM.,SabolT.,Parali čJ.,andKendeR.,KnowledgeModellinginSupporto K f nowledgeManagement. Proc.oftheCRIS’2000Int.Conference Espoo-Helsinki, , 84-88. [8] Paralic,Ja. ndSabol,T(. 2001)Implementation ofe-GovernmentUsingKnowledge-BasedSystem.Pape r acceptedforthe2ndInt.DEXA(ConferenceonDatab aseandExpertSystemsApplications)Workshop"On theway toElectronicGovernment",Munich,Septembe 2001. r [9] Watson,R.T.,andMundy,B.(2001)AStrategicPers pectiveoElectronic f Democracy. Communicationsothe f ACM 44 , (1),January 2001,pp.27-30

Acknowledgements: This work idone s within theWebocracy project,whi ch isupported s bE y uropean Commission DGINFSOunder theISTprogram,contract No.IST-1999-20364andwithin theVEGA project 1/8131/01”KnowledgeTechnologies for Information A cquisition andRetrieval”oScientific f GrantAgenc oyf Ministry oEducation f othe f Slovak Republic. Thecontentof this publication ithe s solerespons ibility othe f authors,andinoway represents th e view of theEuropean Commission oits rservices.