College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

The future of e-government

Research project will focus on demand for on-line governmental services of state agencies.
Yu-Che Chen thinks he can help out the State of Iowa when it comes to determining not only current demand for on-line governmental services, but future needs as well.

Evidently so do the State of Iowa and the IOWAccess Council.

Chen, assistant professor of political science and a faculty member in the public policy and administration program, has received a one-year, $114,000 grant to study the demand for E-Government services. The study will be conducted in conjunction with the State of Iowa’s Information Technology Enterprise (ITE).

E-Government is the growing use of information and communications technologies to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of government. The most popular form of E-Government services is income tax filing on-line.

But Chen says that additional services could become just as popular, including the selling of fishing licenses, building permits and even driver’s license renewals.

"We're trying to understand the demands of Iowa citizens and businesses for government services on-line," Chen said. "We're hoping to be able to provide some recommendations on how to meet those demands."

In addition to gauging citizens’ and businesses’ current and future needs for E-Government services, Chen, who is being assisted by graduate student Susan Olson, will identify the preferences of citizens and businesses for user charges and payment methods.

He also plans to develop policy guidance on the provision and financing of E-Government surveys.

"Governments are struggling with these types of services with the limited amount of funding that is now available. We hope this report will help ITE channel resources to high-impact E-Government projects, while developing financial mechanisms for sustaining the development of these projects," he said, "But we have to consider that taxpayers are also looking at the return on any investment in E-Government services."

Chen broadly defines "return" as whether an E-Government service will make an impact on citizens, businesses and governments.

A series of surveys will be conducted with Iowa’s citizens and businesses. Chen says those surveys will pay special attention to the varying demographics, access, business types and rural communities that encompass Iowa.

"People say that Iowa is unique in many different ways," Chen says. "We have people who are very advanced in their use of technology and we have others that aren't.

"We will survey people who don't necessarily use technology to gauge their interest to see what services Iowans will be willing to use and the barriers government will face to implement such changes."

Chen says the project will look at specific departments and challenges faced by citizens, businesses and governmental agencies.

"We'll look at what kind of on-line services the state Department of Education and the Economic Development Office provide and what they could offer in the future," Chen said. "We're trying to get a good sense of what they are offering and would offer and compare that to what the citizens really want in terms of on-line services."