Prime Zone Media Network

News Clipping: 100 Cities Survey on E-government

<North America>

U.S.: Fourteen news portals reported.

Magazines: Government Technology, ASPAnet, PA Times, This week(American Society for Public Administration)

Canada: Government of Canada Internet Guide, Journalist homepage

<Europe>

International Telecommunication Union(ITU)

e-Forum(the forum for European e-Public services)

European Commission’s IDA (Interchange of Data between Administrations)

U.K.: Guardian, Kable Net, Public Technology Net, Yahoo, School of Oriental and African Studies

Ireland: ElectricNews Net

Germany: The Institute for eGovernment at the University of Potsdam

Bulgaria: The Coordination Center for Information, Communication and Management Technologies

<Africa>

South Africa: Mail & Guardian Online newspaper

<Asia>

Korea: Chosun, JoongAng Daily Newspapers

Hong Kong: Governance in Asia Research Centre, City University, Tradelink-ebiz

United Arab Emirates: MiddleEastEvents.com

<Oceania>

Australia: Victorian Government

Yahoo news portal reported our press release at:

http://biz.yahoo.com/pz/031117/48340.html

The First Study On Digital Governance in Municipalities Worldwide Ranked Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, and Shanghai as the Top Five Cities, and Tallinn, Dubai, Jakarta as Among the Top 20 of 100 Large Cities Worldwide.
Monday November 17, 8:00 am ET

NEWARK, N.J., Nov. 17, 2003 (PRIMEZONE): ……

Press Release Network posts our press release under menu “Newsroom” on the left side at

http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com/

Smart mobs reported our press release.

http://www.smartmobs.com/archives/002063.html

November 18, 2003

A survey on digital governance has been conducted jointly by the E-governance Institute of Rutgers University-Newark and the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute of Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, and was co-sponsored by the UN Division for Public Administration and Development Management, and the American Society for Public Administration.Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, and Shanghai come in as the top five cities, with Rome,Auckland Jerusalem, Tokyo and Toronto making up the top ten.
Rutgers University E-Governance Institute Documents

Posted by Jim_Downing at 05:00 PM

HighMark Funds reported our press release.

http://sites.stockpoint.com/highmarkfunds/newspaper.asp?Mode=oecd&Story=20031116/321u3561.xml

E-governance Institute of Rutgers University-Newark: The first study on digital governance in municipalities worldwide ranked Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, and Shanghai as the top five cities, and Tallinn, Dubai, Jakarta as among the top 20. ….

Investor.stockpoint.com reported our press release.

http://investor.stockpoint.com/newsstory.asp?Mode=united%2Barab%2Bemirates&Story=20031117/321u4049.xml

M2.com reported a short article about our research at:

http://m2.com/M2/M2Web.nsf/aaf53dd4b51cd3bd85256c3d004dff44/85256a0f00242d3c80256de20044fd08?OpenDocument

Survey shows Seoul's city web site is the best in the world

Published in Internet Business News on Tuesday, 18 November 2003 at 16:45 GMT
Copyright (C)2003 , M2 Communications Ltd.
A new survey conducted to evaluate digital governance in municipalities around the world has found that three out of the top 20 areas were developing countries.
Seoul was ranked first with a score of 73.48 followed by Hong Kong with 66.57 and Singapore with 62.97, Tallinn in Estonia was 14th, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates was 18th and Jakarta in Indonesia was 20th.
The survey examined 98 countries as well as Hong Kong and Macao and evaluated them in terms of security and privacy, usability, content, services and citizen participation.
Other results show that New York was ranked first in terms of content and 67% of cities in Africa have not set up an official city web site, while just 3% in Europe have no city web site.

Prime Zone Media Network reported our press release.

http://www.primezone.com/pages/news_releases.mhtml?d=48340

The First Study On Digital Governance in Municipalities Worldwide Ranked Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, and Shanghai as the Top Five Cities, and Tallinn, Dubai, Jakarta as Among the Top 20 of 100 Large Cities Worldwide.

NEWARK, N.J., Nov. 17, 2003 (PRIMEZONE)

Web Wire reported our press release at:

http://webwire.com/TopTenView.asp?id=3228

The First Study On Digital Governance In Municipalities Worldwide

11/16/03,

The First Study On Digital Governance In Municipalities Worldwide Ranked Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, And Shanghai As The Top Five Cities, And Tallinn, Dubai, Jakarta As Among The Top 20 Of 100 Large Cities Worldwide.
Newark, New Jersey ?November 16, 2003: ……

iWon.com reported our press release at :

http://money.iwon.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_ge.jsp?section=news&news_id=pzn-48340&feed=pzn&date=20031117&cat=PRRELEASE

Monday November 17, 8:00 AM EST

NEWARK, N.J., Nov. 17, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) ……

Zawya.com reported a short article about our research.

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm?id=322u1774&Section=Main&page=Home&channel=Latest%20Press%20Releases&objectid=F441F2B1-2AAF-11D5-867D00D0B74A0D7C&l=165000031118

Survey shows Seoul's city web site is the best in the world

Nov 18, 2003 (INTERNET BUSINESS NEWS via COMTEX) -- A new survey conducted to evaluate digital governance in municipalities around the world has found that three out of the top 20 areas were developing countries.

Seoul was ranked first with a score of 73.48 followed by Hong Kong with 66.57 and Singapore with 62.97, Tallinn in Estonia was 14th, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates was 18th and Jakarta in Indonesia was 20th. The survey examined 98 countries as well as Hong Kong and Macao and evaluated them in terms of security and privacy, usability, content, services and citizen participation.

Other results show that New York was ranked first in terms of content and 67% of cities in Africa have not set up an official city web site, while just 3% in Europe have no city web site.

Radio.Weblog.com reported.

http://radio.weblogs.com/0105060/

Seoul leads in city e-government.

Seoul leads in city e-government.

Seoul has been ranked the top city for e-government in a survey of the web sites of 100 cities. The study, conducted jointly by the E-governance Institute of Rutgers University in the US and the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute of Sungkyunkwan University in Korea, claims to be the first to evaluate digital governance in municipalities throughout the world. The survey assessed the e-government Web site of the biggest city in 98 countries with the highest percentage of Internet users, along with Hong Kong and Macao. The sites were evaluated in terms of security and privacy, usability, content, services, and citizen participation. The top 10 cities in digital governance worldwide are:

Seoul (73.48)
Hong Kong (66.57)
Singapore (62.97)
New York (61.35)
Shanghai (58.00)
Rome (54.72)
Auckland (54.61)
Jerusalem (50.34)
Tokyo (46.52)
Toronto (46.35)

[via ElectricNews.net]

Government Technology magazine reported our research results.

http://govtech.public-cio.com/newsStory.php?id=2003.11.17-77710

E-Governance Institute Ranks Digital Governance Worldwide

News Release

Nov 17 2003

NEWARK, N.J. -- The first study on digital governance in municipalities worldwide ranked Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York and Shanghai as the top five cities, and Tallinn, Dubai, Jakarta as among the top 20 of 100 large cities worldwide.
This survey was conducted jointly by the E-Governance Institute of Rutgers University-Newark and the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute of Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, and was co-sponsored by the UN Division for Public Administration and Development Management and the American Society for Public Administration.
This is the first research effort to evaluate digital governance in municipalities throughout the world.
This survey examined the largest city in each of 98 countries with the highest percentage of Internet users, and Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR were included. This research evaluated the official Web sites of each city in their native languages. Our instrument for evaluating municipal Web sites consists of 92 measures over five core areas: 1.) Security and Privacy, 2.) Usability, 3.) Content, 4.) Services, 5.) Citizen Participation. Each measure was coded on a scale of four-points (0, 1, 2, 3) or a dichotomy of two points (0, 3 or 0, 1). Then, an overall score for each municipality (on a 100-point scale) was derived by giving equal weight to each of the five categories.
Professor Marc Holzer, chairman of the E-Governance Institute, said, "This joint research was helpful for reducing cultural bias in our survey methodology. During the design of the 92 measures in our e-government index, we identified some terms which people in various cultures might not understand. So, we developed an index which was 'culture-neutral.'"
Each Web site was assessed by two independent evaluators between June and October 2003, and in cases where significant variation existed on the raw score between evaluators, Web sites were analyzed a third time. Based on the evaluation of 100 cities, the top 10 cities are as follows:
Top 10 Cities in Digital Governance Worldwide
RANKING CITY SCORE
1.) Seoul 73.48
2.) Hong Kong 66.57
3.) Singapore 62.97
4.) New York 61.35
5.) Shanghai 58.00
6.) Rome 54.72
7.) Auckland 54.61
8.) Jerusalem 50.34
9.) Tokyo 46.52
10.) Toronto 46.35
New York City was ranked No. 1 worldwide in terms of content. Among the top 20 cities, three are from developing countries: Tallinn (Estonia) 14th, Dubai (United Arab Emirates) 18th, and Jakarta (Indonesia) 20th. This research identified a digital divide gap between developed and less developed countries. Although the average score for all cities is 28.10 out of 100, the average score in OECD countries is 36.34; however the average score in non-OECD countries is only 24.26. In addition, 67 percent of cities selected in Africa have not established official city Web sites, whereas only 3 percent in Europe have no city Web sites.
Sungkyunkwan University is holding an international conference to present best practices cases based on this survey and is giving a "World Cities Best Practices E-Government Award" to the top five cites on November 21 in Seoul. Professor Seang-Tae Kim, president of the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute, said, "Government services can be improved remarkably by e-government, but the digital divide is a problem to be solved. We can encourage e-government among cities in the world by measuring them and giving this kind of award."
Scores and ranking of all 100 cities are online at Web site.

PA Times, American Society for Public Administration reported in the issue of December 2003.

http://www.aspanet.org/patimes/index.html

New York One of Top Five in Digital Governance Study
ASPA Co-Sponsors First International Study on Digital Governance

Newark, NJ - The first study on digital governance in municipalities worldwide ranked Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York and Shanghai as the top five cities, and Tallinn, Dubai, Jakarta as among the top 20 of 100 large cities worldwide.

This survey was conducted jointly by the E-governance Institute of Rutgers University-Newark and the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute of Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, and was co-sponsored by the U.N. Division for Public Administration and Development Management and ASPA. This is the first research effort to evaluate digital governance in municipalities throughout the world.

This survey examined the largest city in each of 98 countries with the highest percentage of Internet users (Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR were included). This research evaluated the official web sites of each city in their native languages. The instrument for evaluating municipal web sites consists of 92 measures over five core areas: security and privacy, usability, content, services and citizen participation. Each measure was coded on a scale of four points (0, 1, 2, 3) or a dichotomy of two points (0, 3 or 0, 1). Then, an overall score for each municipality (on a 100-point scale) was derived by giving equal weight to each of the five categories.

Marc Holzer, chairman of the E-Governance Institute said, "This joint research was helpful for reducing cultural bias in our survey methodology. During the design of the 92 measures in our e-government index, we identified some terms which people in various cultures might not understand. So, we developed an index which was 'culture-neutral'."

Each web site was assessed by two independent evaluators between June and October 2003, and in cases where significant variation existed on the raw score between evaluators, web sites were analyzed a third time. Based on the evaluation of 100 cities, the top 10 cities are as follows.

Top 10 Cities in Digital Governance Worldwide

Seoul 73.48
Hong Kong 66.57
Singapore 62.97
New York 61.35
Shanghai 58.00
Rome 54.72
Auckland 54.61
Jerusalem 50.34
Tokyo 46.52
Toronto 46.35

New York City was ranked number one worldwide in terms of content. Among the top 20 cities, three are from developing countries: Tallinn, Estonia, 14th; Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 18th and Jakarta, Indonesia, 20th. This research identified a digital divide gap between developed and less developed countries. Although the average score for all cities is 28.10 out of 100, the average score in OECD countries is 36.34; however the average score in non-OECD countries is only 24.26. In addition, 67 percent of cities selected in Africa have not established official city websites, whereas only three percent in Europe have no city web sites.

Sungkyunkwan University held an international conference to present best practices cases based on this survey and gave a "World Cities Best Practices E-Government Award" to the top five cites in November in Seoul. Seang-Tae Kim, president of the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute said, "Government services can be improved remarkably by e-government, but the digital divide is a problem to be solved. We can encourage e-government among cities in the world by measuring them and giving this kind of award."

Scores and ranking of all 100 cities are online. For more information, contact Marc Holzer at (973) 353-1351/5504 x23, e-mail mholzer@pipeline.com or Chan-Gon Kim, e-mail chankim@pegasus.rutgers.edu.

ASPAnet This week(American Society for Public Administration) reported our research results.

http://www.aspanet.org/aspanet_thisweek/current.html

Seoul Tops Local E-Government Study Co-Sponsored by ASPA
Seoul was named the best city for electronic government services in a recent international research study conducted on behalf of ASPA and the United Nations Division for Public Administration and Development Management. Hong Kong was second, followed closely by Singapore, New York and Shanghai. The assessment was based on five major categories - information protection, convenience of use, information content, administrative services and citizen participation. The E-Governance Institute of Rutgers University-Newark and the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute of Sungkyunkwan University in the Republic of Korea conducted the survey. (information courtesy of JoongAng Daily)
URL: http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~egovinst/Website/researchpg.htm

MuniNetGuide.com reported.

http://www.muninetguide.com/NewAndNoteworthy/NewAndNoteworthy.asp

New York named in top five cities for digital governance …Digital Governance in Municipalities Worldwide – An Assessment of Municipal Web Sites throughout the World is the result of the first research study that looks at e-government in municipalities worldwide. Other cities rounding out the top five included Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. The survey was conducted by the E-governance Institute of Rutgers University-Newark in conjunction with the e-government institute of Sungkyunkwan University in Korea. The complete 100-city report can be accessed at here.

SurfWax.com reported.

http://gov.surfwax.com/files/Department_of_Economic_and_Social_Affairs.html

Seoul Ranked as Best 'E-Gov' Nov 17, 2003
The Seoul Metropolitan City Government announced on Sunday that it has been selected as the best ¡°e-government¡± out of 100 cities worldwide, in a recent survey on assessing websites and measuring the e-government indexes of global cities. The survey was conducted on 100 cities worldwide, from last March until October, jointly by the Global e-Policy and e-Government Institute of Korea¡¯s Sungkyunkwan University and the e-Governance Institute of Rutgers University, in the United States, under... (Chosun Ilbo, South Korea).

Blogspot.com reported.

http://sirc.blogspot.com/2003_11_01_sirc_archive.html
Singapore Ranks Top 5 in Digital Governance in Municipalities Worldwide
In a joint study by the E-governance Institute of Rutgers University-Newark and the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute of Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, and was co-sponsored by the UN Division for Public Administration and Development Management, and the American Society for Public Administration, Singapore ranked in the top 5 and Jakrta in the top 20 countries of 100 countries world wide. This is the first of such research.
- posted by Shahiraa @ 9:41 AM

Government of Canada Internet Guide posts an article from Korean newspaper.

http://www.cio-dpi.gc.ca/ig-gi/gs-cd/es-ae/es-aewrapperfile_e.asp?p=m&hl=4869#A4869

International:
Seoul Ranked as Best 'E-Gov'

The Seoul Metropolitan City Government announced on Sunday that it has been selected as the best "e-government" out of 100 cities worldwide, in a recent survey on assessing websites and measuring the e-government indexes of global cities. The survey was conducted on 100 cities worldwide, from last March until October, jointly by the Global e-Policy and e-Government Institute of Korea’s Sungkyunkwan University and the e-Governance Institute of Rutgers University, in the United States, under the sponsorship of the United Nations’ Division for Public Administration and Development Management, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Appraisals were made in five areas: security, usability, content, service and citizen participation. The survey listed Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, Shanghai, Rome, Auckland, Jerusalem, Tokyo and Toronto, ranking second to 10th. ( Source: english.chosun.com )

A Canadian journalist reported.

http://davidakin.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2003/11/27/7411.html

Seoul tops, New York 4th, Toronto 10 in digital city ranking

by DavidAkin at 08:25AM (EST) on November 27, 2003 |

The e-governance Institute at Rutgers University and a Korean university surveyed the online presence for 100 of the world's biggest cities and determined that Seoul, Korea is the model cities should emulate when it comes to providing services and information to its citizens. New York was 4th, and Toronto was 10th. But here's something: New York was the only U.S. city evaluated and Toronto was the only Canadian city evaluated. The study's authors. The authors say they "selected 98 countries with the highest percentage of Internet users, and examined the largest city in each of those countries as a surrogate for all cities in the country." I don't know about the rest of the world, but I guarantee you when Montrealers or Vancouverites hear that Toronto is acting as a surrogate for the rest of the country, they ain't going to be happy. Seriously, though, municipal governments are usually among the most independent of any jurisdiction, particularly in Western democracies and derive their revenues from vastly different and incomparable resources. For that reason, it seems pointless to have cities stand in as surrogates for others in as artifical a division as a country. (Why not have New York stand in as the surrogate for the northeastern part of North America, including Toronto, and let San Francisco stand in for the southwest). You can read the survey results here. The researchers claim that, based on their survey, there is a digital divide and the divide is drawn, in this case, along wealthier countries and less wealthy countries. (Apparently, they needed some research to come to that seemingly obvious conclusion.) But even if that conclusion is obvious, the lousy rationale for their city selection makes it easy to poke holes in their methodolgy and, as a result, their conclusion.

International Telecommunication Union(ITU) reported.

http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/2003/11/27.html#a358

27 November 2003

Seoul leads in city e-government

Seoul (73.48)
Hong Kong (66.57)
Singapore (62.97)
New York (61.35)
Shanghai (58.00)
Rome (54.72)
Auckland (54.61)
Jerusalem (50.34)
Tokyo (46.52)
Toronto (46.35)

[via ElectricNews.net]

1:30:32 PM

e-Forum(the forum for European e-Public services) reported our research results.

http://www.eu-forum.org/area_news_display.cfm?ID=763&headline=Y

Rome top European e-gov city says new report

21 Nov 2003

Rome is the only European city to make the world top ten of e-government cities, according to a new report. The first study on digital governance in municipalities worldwide ranked Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, and Shanghai as the top five cities, whilst Tallinn, Dubai, Jakarta are among the top 20 of 100 large cities worldwide.

This survey was conducted jointly by the E-governance Institute of Rutgers University-Newark and the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute of Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, and was co-sponsored by the UN Division for Public Administration and Development Management, and the American Society for Public Administration. This is the first research effort to evaluate digital governance in municipalities throughout the world.

The survey examined the largest city in each of the 98 countries with the highest percentage of Internet users. Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR were also included. This research evaluated the official Web sites of each city in their native languages. The instrument for evaluating municipal Web sites consists of 92 measures over five core areas: 1. Security and Privacy, 2. Usability, 3. Content, 4. Services, 5. Citizen Participation. Each measure was coded on a scale of four-points (0, 1, 2, 3) or a dichotomy of two-points (0, 3 or 0, 1). Then, an overall score for each municipality (on a 100-point scale) was derived by giving equal weight to each of the five categories.

Professor Marc Holzer, Chairman of the E-Governance Institute said, "This joint research was helpful for reducing cultural bias in our survey methodology. During the design of the 92 measures in our e-government index, we identified some terms that people in various cultures might not understand. So, we developed an index which was ´culture-neutral´."

Each website was assessed by two independent evaluators between June and October 2003, and in cases where significant variation existed on the raw score between evaluators, websites were analyzed a third time. Based on the evaluation of 100 cities, the top 10 cities are:

Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, Shanghai, Rome, Auckland, Jerusalem, Tokyo, Toronto.

To access the full ranking and survey, go to: http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~egovinst/Website/researchpg.htm

European Commission’s IDA (Interchange of Data between Administrations) reported.

http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/ida/jsps/index.jsp?fuseAction=showDocument&parent=whatsnew&documentID=1817

European Cities are no e-government champions, finds new global survey

eGovernment News – 19 November 2003 – Global

Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, and Shanghai will receive the “World Cities Best Practices E-Government Award” at an international conference to be held on 21/11/2003 in Seoul, Korea. The five cities were declared e-government champions in a new survey conducted jointly by the E-governance Institute of Rutgers University-Newark, and the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute of Sungkyunkwan University, Korea. The survey, entitled ‘Digital Governance in Municipalities Worldwide’, was co-sponsored by the UN Division for Public Administration and Development Management and the American Society for Public Administration. According to its authors, this survey is the first research effort to evaluate digital governance in municipalities throughout the world.

The survey assessed the e-government websites of 100 cities chosen for being the largest in each of the 98 countries with the highest percentage of Internet users, plus Hong Kong and Macao. These municipal websites were evaluated between June and October 2003 against a set of 92 criteria, grouped in the following five core areas:

Security and privacy: privacy policies, authentication, encryption, data management, and use of cookies.
Usability: user-friendliness of design, branding, length of homepage, links or channels for targeted audience, and site search capabilities.
Content: access to current accurate information, public documents, reports, publications, and multimedia materials.
Services: transactional services involving purchase or registration, interaction between citizens, businesses and government.
Citizen participation: online civic engagement, Internet-based policy deliberation, and citizen-based performance measurement.

The maximum possible scores were 100 (overall) and 20 for each of the five core areas.

Rome emerged as the highest-ranking European city, with an overall score of 54.72. The following table shows the ranking and detailed scores achieved by the first 10 European cities, overall and for each core area (scores achieved by top performer Seoul are also provided for comparison purposes).

Ranking	City	Score	Privacy	Usability	Content	Services	Participation
1	Seoul	73.48	11.07	17.50	13.83	15.44	15.64
6	Rome	54.72	6.79	14.69	9.57	13.16	10.51
11	Helsinki	45.09	8.57	15.94	11.70	6.32	2.56
13	Stockholm	44.07	0.00	13.75	14.68	10.00	5.64
14	Tallinn	43.10	3.57	13.13	12.55	6.67	7.18
15	Copenhagen	41.35	4.64	13.44	9.79	5.79	7.69
16	Paris	41.34	6.43	14.38	7.66	5.44	7.44
17	Dublin	38.85	2.50	13.44	11.28	7.02	4.62
22	Bucharest	35.96	3.93	13.13	7.02	7.02	4.87
23	Lisbon	34.63	1.07	12.50	9.36	6.32	5.38
25	Vienna	33.43	5.71	16.25	8.51	1.93	1.03

The average score achieved by the top ten European cities in each core area shows that security/privacy and citizen participation are the areas most in need of urgent improvement.

Average score of top 10 European Cities per area (/20)
Privacy	Usability	Content	Services	Participation
4.32	14.06	10.21	6.96	5.69

At global level, researchers identified a gap between developed and developing countries: average scores are 36% for cities located in OECD member countries, and 24% for cities in other countries. In addition, only 33% of selected African cities have official websites, whereas the figure for their European counterparts is an overwhelming 97%. “Government services can be improved remarkably by e-government, but the digital divide is a problem to be solved” said the President of the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute. The survey states that “it is very important for international organisations such as the UN and cities in advanced countries to make an attempt at bridging the digital divide”.

Further information:

Digital Governance in Municipalities Worldwide
Press release by the authors of the survey

Newspaper Guardian in U.K. reported.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1093535,00.html

Thursday November 27, 2003

IT news

London's failing
London is 55th out of 84 cities worldwide in provision of e-government, behind Dhaka in Bangladesh and Tehran in Iran, according to a UN-backed report. London's rating may have been affected by e-government functions being split between several websites: it is currently piloting a single portal. The study, by Rutgers University in New Jersey and Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea, looked for the official site of the biggest city in 100 countries or territories, and judged on issues including usability, content and citizen participation. Seoul in South Korea was rated top, followed by Hong Kong, Singapore and New York. Sixteen cities had no site.
www.andromeda.rutgers.edu

Kable Net.com in U.K reported an article about our research and analysis on London website at:

http://www.kablenet.com/kd.nsf/Frontpage/3E7D1D5A665F428880256DE3004318C0?OpenDocument

London hits website low
19 November 2003
A UN backed global survey of city websites has placed London behind just about everywhere else
The UK capital is trailing behind the rest of the world in quality of its city website, according to a report issued on 18 November 2003.
The study, backed by the United Nations, ranks Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore and New York at the top with London down in 55th place out of 80 cities.
London is behind several cities not usually recognised for their e-government ambitions including Vilnius in Lithuania, Tegucigalpa (Honduras) and Tehran.
The comprehensive survey, undertaken by academics at the e-Governance Institute of Rutgers University and backed by the UN and the American Society for Public Administration is the first attempt to evaluate municipal websites globally.
Researchers looked at the official websites for each of the 80 cities using an index of 92 measures over five core areas.
Areas analysed were: security and privacy, usability, content, services and citizen participation.
London's overall score was 19.08, compared to Seoul's 73.48, New York's 61.35 and Rome – the highest ranking European city – at 54.72.

While London has put much work into its official website, which is adorned with several pictures of Mayor Ken Livingstone, the low score may be in part explained by the city's arrangements for e-government.
"London is organised differently to most cities," a spokesperson for the Greater London Authority told Government Computing News.
"You can only really compare like with like…and we have a separate site for e-government."
The official Mayoral site highlights news and features links to the London Assembly while the main site for e-services is provided by London Connects, the official e-government agency.
The agency is attempting to set up a single portal for accessing e-services which, despite many months of development, is still not fully running and only available as a "demonstrator".
Source: Kable's Government Computing
Publication date: 19/11/2003 12:11:25 PM

Public Technology Net in U.K. reported.

http://www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=229

London's web site compares dismally vs other global cities says report

A big study of 100 major worldwide city websites ranked Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, and Shanghai as the top five cities, with London trailing in 55th place, and Dublin 17th.
London scored poorly on its web site www.london.gov.uk because it does not excel in any area, has distinctly poor usability, and just doesn't stack up to better designed sites. Looks like Ken should get his site re-designed having had a serious chin-wag with Jakob Nielsen or Jared Spool, those gurus of usability.
This survey (www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~egovinst/Website was conducted jointly by the E-governance Institute of Rutgers University-Newark and the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute of Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, and was co-sponsored by the UN Division for Public Administration and Development Management, and the American Society for Public Administration. This is the first research effort to evaluate and rank city websites in municipalities throughout the world.
This survey examined the largest city in each of 98 countries with the highest percentage of Internet users, and Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR were included. This research evaluated the official Web sites of each city in their native languages. Our instrument for evaluating municipal Web sites consists of 92 measures over five core areas: 1. Security and Privacy, 2. Usability, 3. Content, 4. Services, 5. Citizen Participation. Each measure was coded on a scale of four-points (0, 1, 2, 3) or a dichotomy of two-points (0, 3 or 0, 1). Then, an overall score for each municipality (on a 100-point scale) was derived by giving equal weight to each of the five categories.
Professor Marc Holzer, Chairman of the E-Governance Institute said, "This joint research was helpful for reducing cultural bias in our survey methodology. During the design of the 92 measures in our e-government index, we identified some terms which people in various cultures might not understand. So, we developed an index which was culture-neutral."
Each Web site was assessed by two independent evaluators between June and October 2003, and in cases where significant variation existed on the raw score between evaluators, websites were analysed a third time. Based on the evaluation of 100 cities, the top 10 cities are as follows;
Top 10 Cities in Digital Governance Worldwide
1 Seoul
2 Hong Kong
3 Singapore
4 New York
5 Shanghai
6 Rome
7 Auckland
8 Jerusalem
9 Tokyo
10 Toronto
New York City was ranked No. 1 worldwide in terms of content. Among the top 20 cities, three are from developing countries: Tallinn (Estonia) 14th, Dubai (United Arab Emirates) 18th, and Jakarta (Indonesia) 20th. This research identified a digital divide gap between developed and less developed countries. Although the average score for all cities is 28.10 out of 100, the average score in OECD countries is 36.34; however the average score in non-OECD countries is only 24.26. In addition, 67% of cities selected in Africa have not established official city websites, whereas only 3% in Europe have no city Web sites.
Sungkyunkwan University is holding an international conference to present best practices cases based on this survey and is giving a "World Cities Best Practices E-Government Award" to the top five cites on November 21 in Seoul.

Yahoo news in U.K. reported our press release at:

http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/031117/290/ee5hi.html

Monday November 17, 01:10 PM
The First Study On Digital Governance in Municipalities Worldwide Ranked Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, and Shanghai as the Top Five Cities

NEWARK, N.J., Nov. 17, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) --

School of Oriental and African Studies in U.K. reported. http://www.soas.ac.uk/library/index.cfm?navid=353

The E-Governance Institute
Access to the full-text report by E-Governance Institute of Rutgers University and the Global e-Policy e-Government institute Sungkyunkan University. It presents the results of 100 cities survey data and local government web sites. Make the government services and latest information accessible.

ElectricNews Net in Ireland reported our press release.

http://www.enn.ie/frontpage/news-9382930.html

Wednesday, November 26 2003
by Sylvia Leatham

Seoul is tops for e-government survey

Seoul has been ranked the top city for e-government in a global survey of the Web sites of 100 cities. The study, conducted jointly by the E-governance Institute of Rutgers University in the US and the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute of Sungkyunkwan University in Korea, claims to be the first to evaluate digital governance in municipalities throughout the world. The survey assessed the e-government Web site of the biggest city in 98 countries with the highest percentage of Internet users, along with Hong Kong and Macao. The sites were evaluated in terms of security and privacy, usability, content, services, and citizen participation. After Seoul, the top-ranked cities were Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, and Shanghai. Dublin was ranked 17th in the study. Three cities from developing countries made the top 20: Tallinn in Estonia (14th), Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (18th), and Jakarta in Indonesia (20th). The survey noted that there was a digital divide between developed and less developed countries: the average score for cities in OECD countries was 36.34 out of 100, while the average score in non-OECD countries was 24.26.

The Institute for eGovernment at the University of Potsdam in Germany posts our news release.

http://www.e-lo-go.de/html/modules.php?name=News&new_topic=100

First Study On Digital Governance in Municipalities Worldwide

This survey was conducted jointly by the E-governance Institute of Rutgers University-Newark and the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute of Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, and was co-sponsored by the UN Division for Public Administration and Development Management, and the American Society for Public Administration. This is the first research effort to evaluate digital governance in municipalities throughout the world.

The Coordination Center for Information, Communication and Management Technologies in Bulgaria reported our research results.

http://www.ccit.government.bg/news.asp?lng=en

25.11.2003 г.
Sofia ranked 36th in e-government among 100 world cities

The first study on digital governance in municipalities worldwide ranked Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, and Shanghai as the top five cities, and Tallinn, Dubai, Jakarta as among the top 20 of 100 large cities worldwide.

This survey was conducted jointly by the E-governance Institute of Rutgers University-Newark and the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute of Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, and was co-sponsored by the UN Division for Public Administration and Development Management, and the American Society for Public Administration. This is the first research effort to evaluate digital governance in municipalities throughout the world.

This survey examined the largest city in each of 98 countries with the highest percentage of Internet users, and Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR were included. This research evaluated the official Web sites of each city in their native languages. Our instrument for evaluating municipal Web sites consists of 92 measures over five core areas: 1. Security and Privacy, 2. Usability, 3. Content, 4. Services, 5. Citizen Participation. Each measure was coded on a scale of four-points (0, 1, 2, 3) or a dichotomy of two-points (0, 3 or 0, 1). Then, an overall score for each municipality(on a 100-point scale) was derived by giving equal weight to each of the five categories.

Professor Marc Holzer, Chairman of the E-Governance Institute said, "This joint research was helpful for reducing cultural bias in our survey methodology. During the design of the 92 measures in our e-government index, we identified some terms which people in various cultures might not understand. So, we developed an index which was ‘culture-neutral’."

Each Web site was assessed by two independent evaluators between June and October 2003, and in cases where significant variation existed on the raw score between evaluators, websites were analyzed a third time.
The ranking list of all cities you can find here.

Mail & Guardian Online newspaper in South Africa reported our research results.

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=23976

SA scores low on city website survey

A joint study by researchers at Rutgers-Newark and Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, of the official websites of the world's major cities has ranked Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York City and Shanghai as the top five municipalities in "digital governance".
Digital governance is the degree to which a website -- in this instance those of 100 large cities worldwide -- enhances citizens' ability to learn about and participate in governmental affairs. New York's website was ranked first worldwide in terms of content.
Twelve African cities were included. In South Africa, Cape Town was selected, and its website was ranked in 31st place -- the highest-scoring African city. Johannesburg was not selected for evaluation by the researchers, despite having a thriving website.
Researchers examined the largest city in each of 98 countries with the highest percentage of internet users, as well as Hong Kong and Macao.
Collin Hossack, an online journalist and web editor with Big Media, the company that runs Johannesburg's website, sent an e-mail to survey researcher Chan-Gon Kim about the fact that Johannesburg was not included, pointing out that the best website may be that of a city with a low online population density.
Hossack also objected to the survey being labelled "worldwide" when only one city per country was selected. The report's title reads "Rutgers-Newark and Korean researchers name top five municipal websites worldwide".
"I do not object to your research. I object to the manner in which you've announced your research to the world," Hossack said.
A short reply from Kim simply referred Hossack back to the survey website.
The survey was conducted by the E-Governance Institute of Rutgers-Newark and the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute of the Korean university, and was co-sponsored by the United Nations Division for Public Administration and Development Management and the American Society for Public Administration.
It is the first study to evaluate digital governance in municipalities throughout the world, according to Kim.
The study evaluated the official websites of each city in their native languages. Investigators applied 92 measures that covered five important areas: security and privacy, usability, content, services and citizen participation.
Each website was assessed by two independent evaluators between June and October 2003, and in cases where significant variation existed on the raw score between evaluators, websites were analysed a third time.
Based on the evaluation of 100 cities, the researchers ranked the top 10 cities in digital governance (in order) as Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York City, Shanghai, Rome, Auckland, Jerusalem, Tokyo and Toronto.
The research also identified a predictable digital divide between developed and less developed countries. For example, 67% of the cities originally selected in Africa have not established official city websites, whereas only 3% in Europe have no municipal websites.
Professor Seang-Tae Kim, president of the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute, said: "Government services can be improved remarkably by e-government, but the 'digital divide' is a problem to be solved. We can encourage e-government among cities in the world by measuring them and giving this kind of award."
On the web: www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~egovinst/website
Contact author: E-mail the author of this article

Digital Chosun Ilbo(Daily Newspaper) in Korea reported as follows.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200311/200311170020.html

Seoul Ranked as Best 'E-Gov'

by Shin Hyung-joon (hjshin@chosun.com)
The Seoul Metropolitan City Government announced on Sunday that it has been selected as the best “e-government” out of 100 cities worldwide, in a recent survey on assessing websites and measuring the e-government indexes of global cities.

The survey was conducted on 100 cities worldwide, from last March until October, jointly by the Global e-Policy and e-Government Institute of Korea’s Sungkyunkwan University and the e-Governance Institute of Rutgers University, in the United States, under the sponsorship of the United Nations’ Division for Public Administration and Development Management, Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Appraisals were made in five areas: security, usability, content, service and citizen participation. The survey listed Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, Shanghai, Rome, Auckland, Jerusalem, Tokyo and Toronto, ranking second to 10th.

“It was the first research comparing e-government indexes of international cities. Seoul City was awarded top place as a result of its work since last year to remake its Internet homepage,” a city official said. The award ceremony is to take place at the 600th Anniversary Hall of Sungkyunkwan University on Nov. 21.

JoongAng Daily in Korea reported as follows.

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200311/16/200311162254140209900090609061.html

E-government study puts Seoul at the top
Seoul was named the best city for electronic government services in a recent international research study backed by the United Nations.
But the study said that Seoul had room for improvement in privacy protection and the convenience of services.
Research centers under Sung Kyun Kwan University in Korea and the State University of New Jersey evaluated the electronic government systems of 100 cities in 100 countries from March to October. Seoul topped the chart, with a grade of just under 75 percent, the universities said yesterday.
Hong Kong was second at 66 percent, followed closely by Singapore, New York and Shanghai. Rome was placed sixth and Auckland, New Zealand, seventh.
The assessment was based on five major categories ― information protection, convenience of use, information content, administrative services and citizen participation. Seoul was ranked first in the categories of convenience and frequency of use, but was third in information protection, after Hong Kong and Singapore.
The American Society for Public Administration and the United Nations Division for Public Administration and Development Management also took part in the research, along with 150 researchers speaking 44 languages.
Based on the results of the study, the UN plans to launch a campaign to encourage governments around the world to build electronic government service sites.
by Choi Hyung-kyu <arjuna@joongang.co.kr>

2003.11.16

Governance in Asia Research Centre, City University of Hong Kong reported.

http://www6.cityu.edu.hk/garc/issues/updates122003.htm

I. Pan-Asia Development

Three Asian cities came top in digital governance study
The E-governance Institute of Rutgers University-Newark, United States, and the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute of Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, jointly conducted a survey to evaluate digital governance in 100 municipalities around the world. The study covered 98 countries with the highest percentage of Internet users, and examined the official websites of the largest city of each of these countries (Hong Kong and Macau included), focusing on five core areas, namely: Security and Privacy, Usability, Content, Services and Citizen Participation. 3 Asian cities came top in the evluation. On a 100-point scale, Seoul scored 73.48, followed by Hong Kong (66.57) and Singapore (62.97).
http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~egovinst/Website/researchpg.htm

Tradelink-ebiz in Hong Kong reported.

http://www.tradelink-ebiz.com/english/331n08or3m9a51l/newscast/rd_kn_0312d.html

Seoul Rated Most Excellent e-Government Among Global Top 100 Cities

Seoul has been selected as the most excellent electronic government among 100 major cities in the world, according to an evaluation made jointly by the Global e-Policy.e-Government Institute in Sungkyunkwan University and Rutgers University's Electronic Government Research Institute.

Supported by the UN and the American Association for Public Administration, the two research institutions jointly conducted evaluation on world top 100 cities, based on 92 evaluation items such as degree of participation by citizens, security of information, online services, availability and content.

Seoul obtained a total of 73.48 points, the highest mark, and it is followed by Hong Kong (66.57 points), Singapore (62.97 points), New York (61.35 points), and Shanghai (58.00 points). Other top ten cities include Rome, Oakland, Jerusalem, Tokyo and Toronto. Six of top ten electronic government cities are in Asia, 2 in North America, and 1 each is in Europe and New Zealand.

Seoul received the highest points in online service ahead of Hong Kong and Singapore, and higher mark in citizens' participation than Rome. Seoul, however, rated third and fourth in availability and content, respectively.

"The evaluation on electronic government of top 100 cities this time was made objectively applying extensive and detailed appraisal criteria, overcoming the limitation of previous evaluations," said Director Kim Seong-tae of Global e-Policy.e-Government Institute.

Meanwhile, another evaluation made by the Global e-Policy.e-Government Institute on 15 largest cities and local governments in Korea applying the same criteria used for appraising world top 100 cities showed Busan gained the highest 67.98 points, which was followed by Gyeongsangnam-do Province, Daejeon, Incheon, and Jeollabuk-do Province in rank.

"Top 15 cities and local governments in Korea, except Seoul, obtained 53.12 points in evaluation on an average, a figure higher than average points of 52.85 earned by world top 15 cities," said a researcher at the institute.

Dec 2003

MiddleEastEvents.com reported our press release at:

http://www.middleeastevents.com/site/pres_dtls.asp?pid=60

The First Study On Digital Governance In Municipalities Worldwide Ranked Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, And Shanghai As The Top Five Cities, And Tallinn, Dubai, Jakarta As Among The Top 20 Of 100 Large Cities Worldwide.

Newark, New Jersey, Others - November 17, 2003: …….

The Victorian Government in Australia reported.

http://www.egov.vic.gov.au/whatsnew/whatsnew2.htm

100 Cities Survey. The e-governance Institute, November 2003 - in pdf format. (To view this document you will need to have Acrobat Reader installed on your computer) (file size 3351 Kb)

The 100 City Survey, The e-Governance Institute. Newark, New Jersey. Press Release, 15 November 2003. "The first study on digital governance in municipalities worldwide ranked Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, and Shanghai as the top five cities, and Tallinn, Dubai, Jakarta as among the top 20 of 100 large cities worldwide..."
London hits website low. Kablenet, 19 November 2003. " A UN backed global survey of city websites has placed London behind just about everywhere else. The UK capital is trailing behind the rest of the world in quality of its city website, according to a report issued on 18 November 2003. The study, backed by the United Nations, ranks Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore and New York at the top with London down in 55th place out of 80 cities..."
London's web site compares dismally vs other global cities says report. Public Technology, 20 November 2003. "A big study of 100 major worldwide city websites ranked Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, and Shanghai as the top five cities, with London trailing in 55th place, and Dublin 17th..."