SGER: E-Government in Rural Communities: Developing a Customer Service Approach to Enhancing Civic Engagement

本提案中所述研究活动的双重目标是评估蒙大拿州地方政府的准备情况，并为新的电子政务倡议奠定基础。 在人口少、资源少、互联网经验不深的市县，电子政务新形式、新技术的引进可能会遇到各种障碍。 该倡议通过采用简单灵活的客户服务办法提供信息和与选民沟通，旨在便利过渡，同时提供加强政府与公民互动和社区意识的机制。 在主要倡议下研究的研究问题涉及采用电子政务信息服务对政府机构和公民的态度、看法和做法的影响。 政府方面的开放性或反应能力是否有变化？ 公众对问题的信任、参与和理解如何受到影响？ 如何改变实际做法，包括公民提出询问或投诉并作出答复的程序，以及管理向公众传播信息的程序？ 这些问题将通过调查、访谈、人种学观察和网站使用分析进行调查。 研究将涵盖政府人员和公众，并将在实施该倡议之前、期间和之后进行。 根据目前的提议将进行的评估和筹备活动包括：确定可能的城市和国家参与者并评价其准备情况;审查有关文献和当前的地方电子政务做法;设计和测试调查工具和协议;以及创建一个示范网站。 拟议的活动将提高地方政府官员对采用与选民互动的技术方法的效果的认识和理解，并将通过开发可供其他地方政府效仿的电子政务服务模式产生更广泛的影响。 作为蒙大拿州州立大学、地方政府中心、地方政府单位和私营部门之间的合作，该项目提供了一个独特的机会，在人口稀少、地理位置有限的地方推进地方电子政务的发展。

The two-fold goal of the research activities described in this proposal is to assess readiness and lay the groundwork for a novel e-government initiative among Montana local governments. The introduction of the new forms and technology of e-government in cities and counties with small populations, few resources, and slight Internet experience will likely encounter a variety of obstacles. The initiative, by adopting a simple and flexible customer service approach to providing information and communicating with constituents, aims to ease the transition while providing mechanisms to strengthen government-citizen interaction and sense of community. The research questions to be studied under the main initiative concern the effect of introducing e-government information services on the attitudes, perceptions, and practices of both government agencies and citizens. Is there a change in openness or responsiveness on the part of government? How are public trust, engagement, and understanding of issues affected? How are actual practices altered, including the processes by which citizen queries or complaints are made and responded to, and by which dissemination of information to the public is managed? These questions will be investigated via surveys, interviews, ethnographic observation, and web site usage analysis. Studies will cover both government personnel and the public, and will be carried out before, during, and after implementation of the initiative. Assessment and preparation activities to be undertaken under the current proposal include: identification of potential city and county participants and evaluation of their readiness; examination of related literature and current local e-government practices; design and testing of survey instruments and protocols; and creation of a demonstration web site. The proposed activity will advance the knowledge and understanding of local government officials of the effects of implementing technological methods of interacting with constituents, and will provide a broader impact by developing a model of e-government services that can be replicated by other local governments. As a collaboration among Montana State University, the Local Government Center, local government units and the private sector, this project offers a unique opportunity to advance the development of local e-government in sparsely populated, fiscally limited