Reconnecting to the Public

Abstract

New information and communication technology can be used to improve the productivity of public services and the responsiveness of government. However, as this paper suggests, without substantial re-engineering of the organisational relationship to the public, IT on its own will achieve little. The paper examines three issues about the use of ICT to reconnect the government and the public. Why is reconnecting so important? What are the issues standing in the way of this reconnection using ICT? And what can be done to address these issues? The paper examines the whole nexus of the nature of government-public interactions rather than simply exploring the strategic utility of IT in the governmental sector.