From E-Government to E-Governance

Increasing scarcity of resources and citizen demand for improved government services are leading public administrators and elected officials to search for new ways to communicate with citizens. The aim is to gain insight through the collective wisdom of the public to inform programmatic and budget decisions. What can result is the alignment of citizen preferences with government actions. E-government involves the integration of technology into government processes and services to provide information, opportunities for interactions, transactions, and transformation through collaboration. There has been much advancement in the way government incorporates technology into its operations. The availability of information and features on government websites that permit transactions are some of the areas that the public sector has vastly improved and provides to the public. Technology also offers the potential for transformation, when it is used to facilitate governance through collaboration within government, across sectors, and with citizens. Web 2.0 is one such technology that involves web-based applications to increase citizen engagement and potentially transform government. Such applications include Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. This chapter profiles three state and local government programs that are utilizing Web 2.0 technologies to bring citizens into the public policy process and record, and potentially act on, their ideas and policy suggestions. The chapter concludes with a discussion of some of the possible concerns associated with adopting Web 2.0 technologies in government processes and outreach strategies, as well as areas for future research.