Reading the paper by Fountain and thinking about the Circle of Need from the NWEGG report, I started to recall Heraclitus’ quotation that one can’t step into the same river twice.
This might been seen as an analogy of the public sector customer, who has a changing set of needs, rights and obligations. If the needs are met and the rights upheld, the citizen is satisfied, if the citizen meets their obligations, the government is satisfied and this is is reflected upon the citizen.
The river is bounded by the passage of time and its contents those needs, rights and obligations. The public servant, in this analogy, is therefore the trustee, warden or bailiff of that everflowing stream, attempting to make sure that the citizen gets what they deserve and the water keeps flowing.
Where does electronic government fit into all this? We need to be able to make the citizen aware of their obligations electronically, whilst providing for their needs through joined-up processes and observing their rights whilst doing this, and that is the role of the public servants on behalf of the politicians. What about the politicians? Well, they act as lifeguards making sure everyone gets what they need in and out of the river, whilst observing their rights are preserved and they deliver their obligations…
The Great E-mancipator
A discussion point on electronic government performance
About me
The blogger is Mick Phythian, a Research Associate at De Montfort University in Leicester, U.K. and former ICT Manager at Ryedale District Council in North Yorkshire, England. He was also a founder member of the Local CIO Council and regional Chair of Socitm.Any opinions expressed on this weblog are purely those of the author.
He is not the Great Emancipator! The Great Emancipator was President Abraham Lincoln. The blog is so-called because some people perceive e-government, transformational government or, heaven forbid, government to be the emancipator of us all...
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