Title: Building government portals that work: guiding principles from Community Informatics

Authors: Umar Ruhi, Paul Takala, Brian Detlor, Maureen Hupfer

Addresses: Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, 55 Laurier Avenue East, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada. ' Hamilton Public Library, 55 York Blvd., Hamilton, Ontario, L8N 4E4 Canada. ' McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4M4, Canada. ' McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4M4, Canada

Abstract: As governments implement new digital environments as a means of delivering better information services and resources, building rich digital spaces that encourage citizen uptake is becoming an increasing challenge. This paper addresses this issue and examines the City of Hamilton|s municipal portal, called myhamilton. To understand what governments need to do to secure successful implementation of comprehensive digital spaces that are relevant to citizens, myhamilton is used to showcase practical guidelines from key managers involved in the portal project. These guidelines are discussed within the backdrop of best practices from the Community Informatics (CI) literature.

Keywords: electronic government; virtual communities; adoption; use; community informatics; electronic business; e-government; e-business; Canada; digital spaces; government portals; web based communities; online communities.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEB.2007.016474

International Journal of Electronic Business, 2007 Vol.5 No.6, pp.604 - 622

Published online: 30 Dec 2007 *

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