A project to make government more responsive through mobile information technologies:
Among the many promises of the digital revolution is its potential to strengthen democracy and make governments more responsive to citizens’ needs. An open service platform for mobile users aims to partially deliver on that promise, making public administrations more accessible, effective and accountable.
“The idea is essentially to support and encourage access to new e-government services at any time and any place through the use of mobile communications and internet technologies,” explains Dirk Tilsner, project coordinator for the IST programme-funded project, USE-ME.GOV.
To this end, the project has developed an open service platform for mobile users that can be shared by networked authorities and institutions in terms of technical infrastructure, information and other content, while also providing a framework for commercial exploitation.
From the outset, the emphasis was placed on creating a platform that would be easy to use and specifically tailored to the needs of administrations and service providers. That meant designing software that incorporated features such as usability, openness, interoperability and scalability, and would allow for networked operation.