There has been a veritable ‘boom’ in the number of new E-Government projects and initiatives in recent years.rnNot very long ago, the world witnessed a ‘Dotcom boom’ that later turned out to be ‘bubble’ predicated onrndeceptive information, faulty speculation and ‘irrational exuberance.’ A large number of E-Commerce offeringsrnwere made available that people simply had no use for, or that otherwise failed to meet expectations. In lightrnof that experience, in order to avoid the costly mistakes of the past, it may be it may be timely to examine thernphenomenon of the ‘E-Government boom’ and investigate how the E-Government agenda is being driven. Thisrnpaper posits that E-Government’s most legitimate stakeholder, I.e. The user public, is being largely left out ofrnthe loop during the conceptualization, development and implementation of E-Government programs. This paperrncalls for research in order to 1) comprehensively understand and measure public expectations from E-Governmentrnsystems 2) determine whether current E-Government initiatives deliver in accordance with publicrnexpectations from such initiatives; and 3) determine how E-Government systems may be developed such thatrnthey conform to public expectations from them. Additionally, a strategy for measuring ‘public expectations’rnfrom E-Government is offered.rnSurveys show that greater government accountability is the single most important outcome that citizens desirernfrom E-Government. However, contemporary research in E-Government has not adequately addressed thernissue of whether and how E-Government systems improve the potential for ‘public scrutiny’ over governmentrnfunctioning. This paper calls for research in order to 1) determine how E-Government initiatives impact publicrnscrutiny of government functioning and 2) determine how E-Government systems may be designed, developedrnand implemented such that they do increase public scrutiny over government functioning. Additionally, arnstrategy for measuring the potential for ‘public scrutiny’ of E-Government projects is outlined.
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