Home | E-Government and Citizenship (Summary)
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Community information (see also resource description, information services, and diverse cultural content)

The public needs up to date information about the range of organisations which make up the civil society in the increasingly complex and atomised urban communities and frequently poorly-serviced rural communities of modern Europe. This type of information is clearly suitable for digitisation and it is now very common for public libraries to provide information about local organisations of all kinds through the library website. 

Public libraries should focus on local organisations: national organisations are well covered by commercially or centrally-produced directories. The sorts of information provided may include:

• Local events

• Local voluntary groups including organisations for various social minorities such as older people, children, people who have types of illnesses, charities, residents organisations, sports clubs, hobbyists, etc., 

• Self help groups 

• Sexual minorities

• Political organisations and pressure groups 

• Administrative bodies

• Political representatives

• Schools and colleges, private tutors

• Tourist information

• Local newspapers

• Local government information e.g. who does what and at which office

• Transport information e.g. times of buses and trains

• Lists of businesses though there is no point in duplicating the yellow pages.

Community Information databases should be searchable by subject, place and by organisation name and should provide links to other community information pages in the same region.

Increasingly, access to community information is organised by consortia or groups of organisations which pool their resources (see also co-operation) ensuring wider and more seamlessly accessible coverage of all aspects of the life of a local community. Public libraries also need to consider the scope for co-operation with such organisations in providing these services e.g. through co-ordinating data collection from voluntary and community organizations.

The kinds of organisation involved may for example include: 

• social services departments

• health services

• colleges and universities

• citizen’s advisory bodies 

• ethnic minority organisations

• private sector organisations such as IT and local media companies

• grant-making organizations.

seamlessUK is a good example. It is developing a one-stop citizen’s gateway which integrates local and national information on health, education, employment, rights, benefits, government etc. It is funded under the NOF (New Opportunities Fund) Digitisation Programme in the UK. The project is led by Essex County Council and involves a further 8 local authorities and 14 key national information providers, working together to develop a national citizens’ gateway and 9 locally branded portals, one in each local authority area. It is hoped that the system will be taken up nationally in the UK. It focuses on public information - information produced by government agencies at all levels, public sector organisations, voluntary and community groups, and commercial organisations. 

The service operates in such a way that a single search on these distributed, multiple information sources produces an integrated results ‘hit list’. The system is standards-based and uses SOAP, XML query, Z39.50, and Harvest. The seamlessUK metadata application profile is based on the e-GMS (e-government Metadata Standard). The project team have developed a number of tools and services including a cross-sectoral citizens’ information thesaurus, a metatagging tool, and a ‘geocoder’ integrating various sources of geographic information. They are also producing a mapping between the seamlessUK thesaurus and other key controlled vocabularies such as the Government Category List and partners’ own vocabularies.

EssexOnline. The local portal for seamlessUK in Essex is called Essex Online. Further functionality is being developed by the Essex Online partnership which comprises the 15 local authorities in Essex together with the Essex Strategic Health Authority, Fire and Police. It is the community portal for Essex and is recognised as the central focal point for the delivery of e-services to the Essex citizen. An initial website is now live and two new transaction services - e-forms (for 10 public services including planning applications) and e-payments initially for payment of parking fines, other applications to follow) will be added by the end of March 2003. Other e-services will follow. 

Archives too have a unique role to play in providing people with access to decisions made on their behalf, and can make a distinct contribution to people's engagement with society. This role is strengthened by freedom of information legislation which gives people the right to see such information. The archival profession needs to market this democratic value, especially to non-users. 

GOOD PRACTICE GUIDELINES

Public libraries are a key institution in civic participation for a variety of reasons, but chiefly because they can:

• represent the public face of local government;

• sometimes be the only civic buildings in local communities, especially in rural areas;

• have opening hours that are often more user-friendly than government offices, so making services available outside normal office hours;

• be strategically placed in local communities to act as access points for e-government through Internet provision and guidance – provide such access in libraries, mobile libraries, kiosks, and other sites within the community, to ensure everyone is within easy reach, especially those in rural areas or deprived neighbourhoods;

• be well positioned to support citizen participation in new forms of governance via programmes of exhibition, interactive computer services and discussion/debate;

• provide access, increasingly online, to local and national government information, schemes and plans (e.g. laws, regulations, byelaws, council decisions, planning decisions);

• provide access to global information and research, on for example environmental and health issues, which enable people to make informed decisions;

• produce and provide seamless access to databases of community information about all aspects of the local area;

• be pro-active and seek to anticipate the needs of their users;

• prepare members of their communities to contribute to decision-making through 

• consultation, the provision of quality information and adaptation of new technologies;

• provide space for people to meet local councillors and members of parliament;

• provide meeting places for organisations to organise their own events, together with support such as access to PCs, photocopiers, catering facilities;

• provide training and support, face-to-face or on-line, for the public, for organisations, and also for public sector staff in the use of technology and the Internet etc.;

• make available resources (online guides, training materials and distance learning courses) that facilitate ICT deployment;

• provide communication channels (e.g. e-mail, video-conferencing, chat lines) for people to contact government officials etc.;

• provide e-mail addresses for local government staff;

• set up e-communities - community networks to enable organisations and individuals to share knowledge, pool resources and co-ordinate action;

• provide a platform for other local government departments to put information on the web;

• be the access points for national government ICT initiatives;

• provide an online platform for discussion groups and newsgroups;

• provide facilities for e-transactions – e.g. to pay bills, make appointments, fill in forms, make bookings for events, rooms, transport etc.;

• provide virtual access so that people can access information and services from their own homes and places of work etc.

• enable voting to be done electronically and remotely;

• provide, or be active in ensuring provision of good delivery channels e.g. broadband and wireless networks;

• be represented on local decision-making bodies dealing with this subject;

• be knowledgeable about legal aspects such as data protection, privacy, and freedom of information. 

See Links for examples of good practice.

Home | E-Government and Citizenship (Summary)
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