Enlisting on-line residents : Expanding the boundaries of e-government in a Japanese rural township
By: Christopher S. Thompson
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ArticlePublisher: New York : PERGAMON, 2002Government Information Quarterly 19, 2, p. 173-188Abstract: The purpose of this article is to analyze and learn from an unusual way in which local bureaucrats in a Japanese rural township are using the Internet to serve their constituents by enlisting the support of "on-line residents." Successful e-government requires not only rethinking the potential uses of computer technology, but in adopting new patterns of decision-making, power sharing, and office management that many bureaucrats may not be predisposed to make. The main thesis of this article is that necessity and practicality can play a powerful motivational role in facilitating the incorporation of information technology (IT) at the level of local government. This case study of how bureaucrats in Tôwa-chô, a small, agricultural town in Northeastern Japan, have harnessed the Internet demonstrates clearly the fundamentals of building a successful e-government framework in this rural municipality, similar to many communities in Europe and North America today
The purpose of this article is to analyze and learn from an unusual way in which local bureaucrats in a Japanese rural township are using the Internet to serve their constituents by enlisting the support of "on-line residents." Successful e-government requires not only rethinking the potential uses of computer technology, but in adopting new patterns of decision-making, power sharing, and office management that many bureaucrats may not be predisposed to make. The main thesis of this article is that necessity and practicality can play a powerful motivational role in facilitating the incorporation of information technology (IT) at the level of local government. This case study of how bureaucrats in Tôwa-chô, a small, agricultural town in Northeastern Japan, have harnessed the Internet demonstrates clearly the fundamentals of building a successful e-government framework in this rural municipality, similar to many communities in Europe and North America today
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