[governance] WSIS, ICT4D, the IGF and other...

[Carlos Afonso]

E-governance is... a broad concept which goes beyond just governance 
through TICs of government activities. This is of concern to any 
organization. The canon you are trying to establish refers to 
"government e-governance", or "e-governance in government", or maybe 
"e-governance of public services", or...

frt rgds

--c.a.

Michael Gurstein wrote:
> Garth,
> 
> Interesting...
> 
> 'm not sure why the "perception of governments" should be a crucial element
> of the definition which I would rephrase as:
> 
> "E-governance is the uses of ICTs TO MODIFY the exercise of power so that
> all people,  
> particularly the poor and marginalized, can PARTICIPATE IN policy,  
> improve their livelihoods and gain a SHARED voice in the public  
> decision making process.  E-governance changes behavior in relation  
> to power in the direction of open and collaborative communities of  
> interaction."
> 
> I was just at a meeting where the Government of Ontario (Canada) is in the
> process of kicking off a major process to develop a "Provincial Broadband
> Strategy"... The issue of whether the process would be "consultative" or
> "participatory" took up a fair amount of the discussion time.  It was clear
> that the position of all of those not being governmental representatives was
> towards "participatory" while the government folks didn't seem to have ever
> considered anything other than a (top-down) "consultative" process...
> 
> It will be interesting to see how they respond to this initial reaction to
> their current strategy development plan. (And there may be some lessons from
> these processes and attempts at conceptual clarification/revision that would
> be of some value for CS to pursue in the IGF and ICANN contexts as well...
> 
> MG
>  
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Garth Graham [mailto:garth.graham at telus.net] 
> Sent: March 9, 2008 9:14 AM
> To: governance at lists.cpsr.org; Michael Gurstein
> Subject: Re: [governance] WSIS, ICT4D, the IGF and other...
> 
> 
> My thanks for your disagreement, Michael, because, of course, I agree  
> with it.  We're both headed toward the same definition of e- 
> governance as, I think, the second sentence of the definition  
> reveals.  I suspect my close association with national strategies for  
> the uses of ICTs for development in several counties made me overly  
> sensitive to a government view in that first attempt at a working  
> definition.  After all, the notion that we all now face distributed  
> collaborative governance is quite shocking to some.  But you are  
> right.  We can't get into the conversation unless the risk of making  
> the offensive point about shared power is taken.  With your   
> observation in hand, I can see edits to improve the first sentence so  
> that point begins to clarify, as follows:
> 
> "E-governance is the uses of ICTs TO MODIFY the exercise of power AS  
> IT IS PERCEIVED by various levels of government so that all people,  
> particularly the poor and marginalized, can PARTICIPATE IN policy,  
> improve their livelihoods and gain a SHARED voice in the public  
> decision making process.  E-governance changes behavior in relation  
> to power in the direction of open and collaborative communities of  
> interaction."
> 
> GG
> 
> On 8-Mar-08, at 8:54 AM, Michael Gurstein wrote:
>> Let me make a few other comments interspersed within an edited
>> version of
>> your note...
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Garth Graham [mailto:garth.graham at telus.net]
>> Sent: March 3, 2008 9:41 AM
>> To: governance
>> Cc: Michael Gurstein; Ronda Hauben
>> Subject: Re: [governance] WSIS, ICT4D, the IGF and other...
>>
>> ...... "E-governance is the uses of ICTs in the exercise of power
>> by various
>> levels of government so that all people, particularly the poor and
>> marginalized, can influence policy, improve their livelihoods and
>> gain a greater voice in the public decision making process.  E-
>> governance changes behavior in relation to power in the direction of
>> open and collaborative communities of interaction."
>>
>> I DON'T AGREE WITH THIS GARTH AS E-GOVERNANCE FOR ME IS NOT ABOUT 
>> GOVERNMENTS SHARING WITH CITIZENS THE OPPORTUNITY TO
>> "INFLUENCE" (I.E. TOP
>> DOWN) BUT RATHER CITIZENS DIRECTLY SHARING (VIA ICTS) IN THE  
>> PROCESS OF
>> GOVERNANCE WITH EXISTING GOVERNMENTAL BODIES HOWEVER THAT MIGHT BE  
>> ORGANIZED
>> AND WHATEVER THE RELATIONSHIP MIGHT BE OF THIS WITH EXISTING  
>> REPRESENTATIVE
>> GOVERNMENTAL STRUCTURES.
>>
> 
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