Abstract
The people involved in the move to citizen-centric e-government tend to belong to a more skilled and affluent section of the community than do those in the most need of the benefits that should result from the new approaches. This paper sets out to provide a wider picture of the population being served and its needs. It will illustrate the ways in which citizens access local government services (telephone, face to face, by letter, email, web-sites) When looking at e-government solutions we need to take into account the accessibility to the internet by geographical location, age and income But more importantly we need to be much more aware of the levels of skill, numeracy, literacy and functional illiteracy amongst our citizens. We need to avoid providing information, choices and services in complex ways that may make them inaccessible to those who most need them. This paper will discuss all these challenges facing those of us wanting to deliver citizen focused services and suggest ways in which they may be overcome. It will also suggest how the e-technologies can be used to improve delivery across the full range of delivery mechanisms |
