International Journal of Electronic Democracy http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=120&year=2009&vol=1&issue=2 Inderscience Publishers Ltd en-uk International Journal of Electronic Democracy 1742-4224 1742-4232 © 2009 Inderscience Publishers Ltd editor@inderscience.com https://www.inderscience.com/images/files/coverImgs/ijed_scoverijed.jpg http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=120&year=2009&vol=1&issue=2 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=28542 This paper studies the efforts of developing rural e-government in China to help local farmers, Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to grow and flourish. Three real-life case studies are used to describe the status quo of rural e-government development in China. The merits and limits of each case are assessed in terms of accessibility, usefulness and sustainability. On the basis of the analysis, we suggest the need to improve IT infrastructure in rural areas by having more stakeholder involvements and the need to encourage data and resource sharing among the service providers. Rural e-government for SMEs: case studies in China
Minyi Huang
International Journal of Electronic Democracy, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2009) pp. 124 - 135
This paper studies the efforts of developing rural e-government in China to help local farmers, Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to grow and flourish. Three real-life case studies are used to describe the status quo of rural e-government development in China. The merits and limits of each case are assessed in terms of accessibility, usefulness and sustainability. On the basis of the analysis, we suggest the need to improve IT infrastructure in rural areas by having more stakeholder involvements and the need to encourage data and resource sharing among the service providers.

]]> 10.1504/IJED.2009.028542 International Journal of Electronic Democracy, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2009) pp. 124 - 135 Minyi Huang School of Business, University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam Road, Hong Kong, China rural e-government China case study SMEs small and medium-sized enterprises electronic government electronic democracy local government rural areas accessibility usefulness sustainability information technology IT infrastructure data sharing resource sharing. 2009-09-18T23:20:50-05:00 1 2 124 135 2009-09-18T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=28543 E-governance or e-government uses the tools of Information Technology to enhance and speedup government's activities more rationally for the welfare of the people. In this paper an attempt has been made to provide a brief scenario of Indian e-governance/Panchayat (rural government), to identify the gap and requirements for e-government services for rural areas, Information Kiosk for e-governance and to recommend Policy Issues for e-government Services for Rural Areas particularly emphasising the need for Small and Medium Entrepreneurs as alternative for rural economy for sustainable development considering various aspects. Policy issues for e-government services for rural areas
Biswatosh Sengupta, Mrinal Kumar Bandyopadhyay
International Journal of Electronic Democracy, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2009) pp. 136 - 148
E-governance or e-government uses the tools of Information Technology to enhance and speedup government's activities more rationally for the welfare of the people. In this paper an attempt has been made to provide a brief scenario of Indian e-governance/Panchayat (rural government), to identify the gap and requirements for e-government services for rural areas, Information Kiosk for e-governance and to recommend Policy Issues for e-government Services for Rural Areas particularly emphasising the need for Small and Medium Entrepreneurs as alternative for rural economy for sustainable development considering various aspects.

]]> 10.1504/IJED.2009.028543 International Journal of Electronic Democracy, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2009) pp. 136 - 148 Biswatosh Sengupta Mrinal Kumar Bandyopadhyay Department of Information Technology, B.P. Poddar Institute of Management and Technology, EN 31, Salt Lake, Kolkata 700091, India. ' M.B. Technosoft Consultants (P) Ltd., 252/2, Panchanantala Road, Howrah 711101, West Bengal, India e-government services policy issues e-panchayat baseline data open systems data repository service metrics information kiosks electronic government rural e-government rural areas local government India SMEs small and medium-sized enterprises. 2009-09-18T23:20:50-05:00 1 2 136 148 2009-09-18T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=28544 The objective of this paper is the analysis and evaluation of e-Government (e-Gov) Services for Small And Medium Enterprises (SMEs). For this purpose, a survey for e-Gov services in Greece is carried out. The analysis and the classification of a sample of 56 e-Gov services is based on e-Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS) for SMEs, through the representation of their characteristics according to specific dimensions. Furthermore, the importance and the relevance of e-Gov services for the business operation are examined, while all services are classified according to SMEs' needs. Through this analysis, conclusions about the existence and relevance of Greek e-Gov services for SMEs are made. In addition, future improvements for the evolution of e-Gov services in Greece are proposed. Survey of Greek e-Government services and assessment for SMEs
Vassilios Tzoumis, Nikos Manouselis, Charalampos Z. Patrikakis
International Journal of Electronic Democracy, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2009) pp. 149 - 169
The objective of this paper is the analysis and evaluation of e-Government (e-Gov) Services for Small And Medium Enterprises (SMEs). For this purpose, a survey for e-Gov services in Greece is carried out. The analysis and the classification of a sample of 56 e-Gov services is based on e-Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS) for SMEs, through the representation of their characteristics according to specific dimensions. Furthermore, the importance and the relevance of e-Gov services for the business operation are examined, while all services are classified according to SMEs' needs. Through this analysis, conclusions about the existence and relevance of Greek e-Gov services for SMEs are made. In addition, future improvements for the evolution of e-Gov services in Greece are proposed.

]]> 10.1504/IJED.2009.028544 International Journal of Electronic Democracy, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2009) pp. 149 - 169 Vassilios Tzoumis Nikos Manouselis Charalampos Z. Patrikakis Fixed Mobile Convergence Products Section, Product Marketing Department, COSMOTE-Mobile Telecommunications S.A., 44 Kifissias Avenue, Maroussi 151 25, Athens, Greece. ' Informatics Laboratory, Division of Informatics, Mathematics and Statistics, Department of Science, Agricultural University of Athens, 75 Iera Odos Str., 11855, Athens, Greece. ' Informatics Laboratory, Division of Informatics, Mathematics and Statistics, Department of Science, Agricultural University of Athens, 75 Iera Odos Str., 11855, Athens, Greece e-gov services rural e-government SMEs small and medium-sized enterprises rural areas metadata Greece. 2009-09-18T23:20:50-05:00 1 2 149 169 2009-09-18T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=28545 In this paper, we introduce RecOrgSeed, a model for producing interesting recommendations to organic farmers/growers. The whole process has been distinguished into two stages, one off-line that includes data preparation, ontology creation and usage mining and one online that concerns the recommendations production. The knowledge about farmers/growers (users) and seeds (products) is extracted from usage mining data and semantic annotations in conjunction with user-product ratings and matching techniques between users. The preliminary evaluation experiments show that even in the case of "cold-start problem" where no initial behavioural information is available, the approach can provide users with logical and relevant recommendations. Personalised web services for agricultural domain: a case study for recommending organic seeds to farmers and growers
Konstantinos Markellos, Penelope Markellou, Aglaia Liopa-Tsakalidi, Marina Staurianoudaki
International Journal of Electronic Democracy, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2009) pp. 170 - 187
In this paper, we introduce RecOrgSeed, a model for producing interesting recommendations to organic farmers/growers. The whole process has been distinguished into two stages, one off-line that includes data preparation, ontology creation and usage mining and one online that concerns the recommendations production. The knowledge about farmers/growers (users) and seeds (products) is extracted from usage mining data and semantic annotations in conjunction with user-product ratings and matching techniques between users. The preliminary evaluation experiments show that even in the case of "cold-start problem" where no initial behavioural information is available, the approach can provide users with logical and relevant recommendations.

]]> 10.1504/IJED.2009.028545 International Journal of Electronic Democracy, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2009) pp. 170 - 187 Konstantinos Markellos Penelope Markellou Aglaia Liopa-Tsakalidi Marina Staurianoudaki Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece. ' Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece. ' Department of Agricultural Mechanical and Water Resources Engineering, Technological Education Institute of Messolonghi, 30200 Messolonghi, Greece. ' Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece organic farmers organic growers organic seeds certified farming semantic web mining web usage mining personalisation seed recommendations ontologies association rules personalised web services recommender systems agriculture. 2009-09-18T23:20:50-05:00 1 2 170 187 2009-09-18T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=28546 Online public services provide small and medium-sized enterprises with new opportunities for adding value to their business activities. Owing to limited resources, authorities in rural areas have serious obstacles to provide suitable online services. This paper proposes a shared services environment to support rural authorities to deliver digital public services. The proposed environment involves suitable Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities and expertises and a collaborative architecture for supporting the rural community needs. This results in the needed critical mass to avoid the exclusion of rural authorities from innovation processes because of their difficulties to get proper funds and suitable skills. Shared services for supporting online public service delivery in rural areas
Flavio Corradini, Alberto Polzonetti, Oliviero Riganelli
International Journal of Electronic Democracy, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2009) pp. 188 - 202
Online public services provide small and medium-sized enterprises with new opportunities for adding value to their business activities. Owing to limited resources, authorities in rural areas have serious obstacles to provide suitable online services. This paper proposes a shared services environment to support rural authorities to deliver digital public services. The proposed environment involves suitable Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities and expertises and a collaborative architecture for supporting the rural community needs. This results in the needed critical mass to avoid the exclusion of rural authorities from innovation processes because of their difficulties to get proper funds and suitable skills.

]]> 10.1504/IJED.2009.028546 International Journal of Electronic Democracy, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2009) pp. 188 - 202 Flavio Corradini Alberto Polzonetti Oliviero Riganelli Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Camerino, 62032 Camerino, Italy. ' Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Camerino, 62032 Camerino, Italy. ' Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Camerino, 62032 Camerino, Italy rural e-government rural authorities shared services business processes electronic government rural areas online public services ICT small and medium-sized enterprises SMEs. 2009-09-18T23:20:50-05:00 1 2 188 202 2009-09-18T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=28547 This paper addresses the concept of developing an efficient and effective e-democracy system. The concepts of three main e-democracy developments and control framework of COBIT 4.1 are employed for constructing our sustainable e-democracy development, which consists of four external components. Such components are development environment, stakeholder and policy, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and development methodology. The underlying e-democracy applications are introduced based on democratic principles and the OECD framework of citizens' participation. Furthermore, the quality of an e-democracy system is established by using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the e-government Web Quality Assessment Model (e-government WebQAM). This sustainable development and quality of an e-democracy system can be used as guidelines for successful e-democracy development. The sustainable development of an e-democracy system
Suree Funilkul, Wichian Chutimaskul
International Journal of Electronic Democracy, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2009) pp. 203 - 216
This paper addresses the concept of developing an efficient and effective e-democracy system. The concepts of three main e-democracy developments and control framework of COBIT 4.1 are employed for constructing our sustainable e-democracy development, which consists of four external components. Such components are development environment, stakeholder and policy, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and development methodology. The underlying e-democracy applications are introduced based on democratic principles and the OECD framework of citizens' participation. Furthermore, the quality of an e-democracy system is established by using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the e-government Web Quality Assessment Model (e-government WebQAM). This sustainable development and quality of an e-democracy system can be used as guidelines for successful e-democracy development.

]]> 10.1504/IJED.2009.028547 International Journal of Electronic Democracy, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2009) pp. 203 - 216 Suree Funilkul Wichian Chutimaskul School of Information Technology, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), 126 Prachauthit Rd., Bangmod, Tungkru, Bangkok 10140, Thailand. ' School of Information Technology, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), 126 Prachauthit Rd., Bangmod, Tungkru, Bangkok 10140, Thailand e-democracy e-government sustainable development framework COBIT 4.1 TAM technology acceptance model quality models ICT information technology communications technology methodology policy electronic democracy electronic government WebQAM web quality assessment sustainability. 2009-09-18T23:20:50-05:00 1 2 203 216 2009-09-18T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=28548 This study assesses the European Commission's Interactive Policy-Making (IPM) initiative launched in 2001 with respect to its potential to promote democratic participation in the European Union (EU). It is argued that the EU is an example of the consultative, if not participatory model of e-democracy. The first section reviews the existing literature on the implications of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) for democratic participation, followed by a brief history of e-government and e-democracy in the EU in the second section. The third section investigates the IPM project in detail, before evaluating the findings in the last section. The European Union and e-democracy: Interactive Policy-Making (IPM)
Tuna Baskoy
International Journal of Electronic Democracy, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2009) pp. 217 - 232
This study assesses the European Commission's Interactive Policy-Making (IPM) initiative launched in 2001 with respect to its potential to promote democratic participation in the European Union (EU). It is argued that the EU is an example of the consultative, if not participatory model of e-democracy. The first section reviews the existing literature on the implications of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) for democratic participation, followed by a brief history of e-government and e-democracy in the EU in the second section. The third section investigates the IPM project in detail, before evaluating the findings in the last section.

]]> 10.1504/IJED.2009.028548 International Journal of Electronic Democracy, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2009) pp. 217 - 232 Tuna Baskoy Department of Politics and Public Administration, Jor 727, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5B 2K3, Canada e-government e-democracy IPM interactive policy making EU European Union e-consultation democratic participation ICT information technology communications technology eEurope electronic democracy electronic government. 2009-09-18T23:20:50-05:00 1 2 217 232 2009-09-18T23:20:50-05:00