FUTURE TRENDS

Generally speaking, e-government refers to the use of
technology, particularly Web-based Internet applications,
to enhance a specific agency’s Web site, for access to and
delivery of government information and services to indi-
viduals, businesses, and other organizations and govern-
ment agencies. E-government has been seen as promising
a wide range of benefits based largely on harnessing the
power of the Internet to facilitate interconnections and
information exchange between citizens and their govern-
ment. A variety of actions have been taken in recent years
to enhance the government’s ability to realize the poten-
tial of e-government, culminating in the enactment of the
E-Government Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-347), which
includes provisions addressing everything from funding
of e-government initiatives to measures for ensuring
security and privacy. In addition to the E-Government
Act, President George W. Bush designated e-government
as one of five priorities in his management agenda for
making the federal government more focused on citizens
and results. The goals of President Bush’s e-government
initiative are summarized in Table 1.
Schelin (2003) discusses the rapid growth of e-gov-
ernment and provides an overview of the historical pre-
mises, theoretical constructs, and associated typologies
of e-government that are a framework for understanding
e-government and its potential benefits and related chal-
lenges. While the Internet opens new opportunities for
streamlining processes and enhancing delivery of ser-
vices, federal executives and managers must also be
cognizant of the responsibilities and challenges that
accompany these opportunities (Garson, 2003; Pavlichev
& Garson, 2004; U.S. General Accounting Office, 2001a).
Some of the responsibilities and challenges associated
with managing e-government are summarized in Table 2.