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| Governments around the world are embracing the need for e-government: from providing the most basic informational website to deploying sophisticated tools for managing interactions within government agencies and beyond. E-government is already demonstrating its potential to streamline bureaucracy, improve government, act as a tool for global development and expand the public access to government information and officials. |
| While governments are well intentioned, some of their websites may be designed in a manner that the elderly and the disabled may not be able to access. Universal Accessibility is important and a government website in particular should be designed to be accessible to all its citizens. In other words, support has to be provided for users with physical, environmental and / or technical limitations. Physical limitations include varying degree of vision, hearing, mobility or cognitive impairment. Environmental limitations include poor lighting and a noisy work place, and technical limitations stem from lower version (or text only) browsers, low display resolutions and low settings for number of colours displayed etc. |
| Website accessibility for the disabled reoccurred as a major discussion theme throughout the globe and governments in the US, Europe, Australia and elsewhere have established laws or guidelines for Accessible websites. E-government for all depends fundamentally on equitable access to information and services, without discrimination because of one's abilities. Overall, participants concluded that providing access to information and services could be a pivotal step in creating and maintaining effective e-government initiatives. |
| An E-Government is successful when it is accessible by all types of disabled users, elderly citizen as well as users having slow internet connection or lowest configuration of PC. An E-Government for all not only provides access to all but also enhances USABILITY. |
| The most common obstacles to achieving e-government for all, the other addressing opportunities for achieving it: |
| Obstacles |
Opportunities |
| A Disconnect in E-Government |
Educating Government Officials |
| Unnecessary "Bells and Whistles" |
Establishing Cross-Agency E-Government for All Working Groups |
| Non-Enforcement (or Lack) of Accessibility Standards |
Employing Public Input to Improve Understanding of Audience |
| Insensitivity to Readability Levels |
Enforcing Web Accessibility and Readability Standards |
| Linguistic Barriers |
Creating "E-Government for All" Ombudsmen |
| E-Government User Unfriendliness |
Know Thy Audience Development of User "Personas" |
| "Out with the Old, In with the New" Shutting Down Offline Services as E-Government is Deployed |
Engagement with Private Sector and Civil Society |
| Funding Challenges |
Addressing the Cost of E-Government for All Prior to Deployment |
| Non-Engagement of the Private Sector and Civil Society |
Establishing standards for Digital Divide-Related Research |
| Lack of Public Engagement |
Maintaining Alternative Channels to Information and Services |
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In much the same way the governments use multi-stage models like Gartner's Four Stages of E-Government to map out their e-government goals, they should integrate the notion of "e-government for all" throughout the entire process of planning and implementing e-government. One possible example of this process might look like the following chart. |
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| Four Stages of E-Government (Gartner Group, 2001) |
Four Stages of E-Government for All (EDC Center for Media & Community, 2004) |
| Presence - Basic government information made available online resources available passively, not actively, e.g. "brochureware" |
Initiation - Basic online documents made available in multiple formats to suit all users needs; users provided access to free translation tools; Internet access provided to the public via schools and libraries, telecenters and other public institutions; promotion of volunteer programs for addressing ICT (information and communications technologies) literacy; preservation of existing offline channels for constituents to access government information and services. |
| Interaction - Constituents can manipulate online services to download documents, data, access other resources. Interactions are relatively simple and straightforward: user defines basic request and e-government resource identifies the closest match to that request. |
Engagement - Governments engage constituents to develop user-friendly, accessible interactive government services; promote opportunities for constituents to gain Internet access, improve literacy and ICT skills; partner with the private sector, civil society and academia to coordinate strategies regarding ICT literacy and the digital divide; adopt technical standards for accessibility, readability, etc; develop policy prototypes to address equity concerns; partner with the private sector to invest in advanced translation tools. |
| Transaction - Constituents can complete entire transactions with government entities (licenses, tax payments, contracting, etc) virtually. Ability for e-government resource to complete transaction based on common, predictable requests of constituents. |
Integration - Broader adoption of successful policies and practices for expanding ICT equity; long-term strategy for addressing equity in the appropriations/budgeting process; Government agencies and officials accountable for providing equitable e-government. |
| Transformation - ICTs are fully integrated into how governments do business within itself and between its constituents, businesses, other governments; users can complete all interactions with government online, tailored to their exact needs. |
Equity - All people have equal access to government information and services, both online and offline, no matter their education level, language spoken, income or disability; universal basic literacy; successful implementation of sustainable universal service policies for ubiquitous Internet access and ICT literacy. |
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| SECTION 508 EVALUATION |
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| We extend free accessibility evaluation of your website by our Expert Section 508 Consultants.... |
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| More about Evaluation |
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| E-GOVERNMENT FOR ALL |
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| An E-Government is successful when it is accessible by all types of disabled users, elderly citizen as well as users having slow internet connection or lowest configuration of PC. |
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| An E-Government for all not only provides access to all but also enhances USABILITY. |
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| More about E-Government |
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