| dc.description.abstract | Driven by the four-phased e-government policies introduced by the Research, Development and Evaluation Committee of Executive Yuan, Taiwan’s practice of digital governance has been repeatedly acknowledged in international evaluations. One example is the Global E-governance Report conducted by Taubman Center for Public Policy of Brown University in the United States. Taiwan was ranked the first worldwide in 2002, 2004, and 2005 and the second in 2001, 2006, and 2008. The ranking reflects the advancement of Taiwan’s information and communication technology as well as the emphasis the government has put on digital services.
Whether local digital governance in Taiwan, propelled by the national policy, also takes a leading role ahead of other countries’ municipalities is worth analysis. Based on the assessment method adopted in Holzer’s Digital Governance in Municipalities Worldwide, this research evaluates the maturity level of e-governance in Taipei, Taiwan’s most representative municipality, and compares it with other Asian municipalities including Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Recommendations for improvement are provided in areas where performance is below expectations following an interview with the Department of Information Management at Taipei City Government.
The results show that Taipei is ranked the second among Asian municipalities regarding the maturity level of municipal e-governance. The overall performance is close to Seoul, the highest ranked city, especially in the categories of Security/Privacy and Services. For Content and Citizen Participation, Taipei’s performance is at the average level like other Asian municipalities but behind Seoul in the first place. It should be noted that Taipei is the lowest ranked in the area of Usability. An interview with the Department of Information Management at Taipei City Government leads to a conclusion that the reason is because the municipal website is not designed according to national regulations. Given the difficulty in cross-department communications, the website that contains information and services is not user-friendly.
The Taipei City Government website is recommended to be designed based on the regulations of the Research, Development and Evaluation Committee. By providing services to citizens in a service-oriented website, the Taipei City Government may expand the scope and access of the website information. The city government may also be able to exchange opinions with citizens about policies through the on-line platform. Overall, this research provides conclusions and recommendations for Taipei City Government, other city governments, and future studies. | en_US |