Topic : ‘SUBSTANTIATING AND IMPROVING THE e-GOVERNMENT LEARNING PLATFORM’


Background
The e-Government Working Group (WG) studies Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications in the area of public administration and analyses their impact on the relationships between government (administration) and business (G2B), government and citizens (G2C), and government departments between each other G2G). The WG has been in existence since 2002. Its geographical focus is the transition countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Their public administrations share some common problems related mainly to the transition from very rigid bureaucratic administrative practices, commonly used in the past, to modern, more flexible, governance policies and approaches. The NISPAcee countries can also profit from the exemplary ICT applications they have developed for their own use, and which could be made available to, or be a source of inspiration, for other NISPAcee countries.
Learning Platform
For this purpose a so-called “LEARNING PLATFORM” is developed on which WG members are putting, and have already put, exemplary ICT applications. Papers on exemplary cases, written by WG members, contribute to the exchange of best practices and experiences between the countries concerned. At the same time they provide valuable materials for education at a higher vocational and academic level. Last year, the WG focused its efforts on establishing a common framework for facilitating a more formal exchange of best practices, where the transfer of knowledge can be monitored, documented, and evaluated, or facilitating comparative analysis of good practices that would go beyond single country borders. The result of this effort is the establishment of a common framework, referred to as the “e-Government Learning Platform” available at http://daisy.fu.uni-lj.si/nispacee-wiki/
Call 2011
The main theme of next year’s conference is the further improvement of the established learning platform in several directions, as outlined below. Before reading the guidelines, please note that the thematic specification is not exclusive, so other contributions related to the general topic of e-Government are also welcome.
WG members and participants are invited to choose one or more exemplary cases, indicated here, to compare them with experiences in their own country, and to evaluate them as candidates in their country for the learning platform because of their problem solving capacity, their innovativeness and their transferability to other CEE countries.
1. Introducing Transfer Studies in the Platform
The presenters of the showcases included in the learning platform are encouraged to contact officials in their countries responsible for the presented projects. In each case , the presenters will study and analyse the conditions under which the showcase might be transferred to other NISPAcee countries. Other participants of the working group are encouraged to select one or more exemplary cases already included in the learning platform, which they find to be promising in their countries. The goal then is to study and analyse the conditions for establishing interest for transferring these cases. In both of the above cases on e-Kool and eVem, the resulting papers will be included in the platform and presented at this year’s (2011) conference.
2. Extending the Initial Set of Showcases in the Platform
Workgroup participants are also encouraged to extend the initial set of exemplary cases included in the platform by contributing new innovative cases of using ICT applications in the public administrative domain.
3. Addressing the Main Conference Theme
The coordinators of the Working Group are prepared to act as sparring partners of the case presenters in the development and extension of their case. They have formulated a list of questions which may be helpful in the development of case descriptions. The earlier that the extended exemplary cases, after being discussed with national and local responsible people, are sent in, the more intensive the discussions at the annual conference of 2011 will be.