So far, what happens when Web 2.0 meets e-government is mostly turning out to be a lot of wikis. That’s one of Martha’s Good Things, to be sure; who knew intranets could be so easy, not to mention useful. But there are other circles to be squared out there.

 

Like, f’rinstance, politics. Or: Politics, with a capital P.

 

The public sector has made great strides in the wired world over the past 15 years or so, moving from simple information pages to ever more complex adventures in transaction. But it’s happened without much in the way of input from those elected folk – MPs, MLAs, city councillors – who are supposed to be at the top of the food chain.

 

Not that the relative absence of politicians hasn’t been useful. It’s given CIOs and such a fairly free hand for the heavy lifting that goes with pilot projects and leading edge architecture. Indeed, more than one senior bureaucrat has argued that politicians would only gum up the works.

 

That argument was good for a long time, as e-government found its feet. Now, though, it’s matured, to a point where it arguably could use a little something from the legislators who are supposed to represent the will of the people. It wouldn’t take much; a meeting of ministers responsible for e-government, maybe. Or a high-level public airing of the possibilities of digital democracy.

 

Meanwhile, there’s a lingering irony in the absence of politicians at the shrine of e-government: Most of them have their own web pages these days, and of course they’re as Blackberry-crazed as anybody else. All that’s needed is a formal touch to get a little something going at the big tables. What the hey; they do it for everything from fiscal management to tourism; why not e-government?

 

 

 

Tags: eGovernment