Source: http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~egovinst/Website/researchpg.htm

Sponsored by the United Nations, the E-Governance Institute of Rutgers University and the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute of Sungkyunkwan University collectively produced a ranking of cities based on their digital governance in 2007 (the third in the series). Researchers focused on the official websites of 86 cities.

Digital governance includes a measure of digital government (the delivery of public services) and a measure of digital democracy (citizens’ participation in governance). Cities were chosen based on their population size and the number of people using Internet: the most populous cities in the ‘top 100 most wired nations’ (identified by the ITU) were chosen. 86 of these cities had official websites. The rationale for choosing the most populous cities stems from the literature on e-governance which suggests that the more populous a city, the more inclined it will be to employ e-governance schemes.

The report breaks down digital governance into 5 categories equally weighted:

• Security: includes the existence of privacy and disclosure of data policies, the encryption of data, and the authentification procedures of users.
• Usability: centres on the user-friendliness of the website measured with best-practices (structure, consistency, colours, length, search tools)
• Content of websites: covers the access to contact information, public documents, disability facilities, multimedia materials and time-sensitive information.
• Type of online government services on offer: distinguishes between (i) services that allow citizens to interact with the municipality, e.g. online payment of taxes, reporting of crimes, access to private information online; and (ii) those that allow citizens to register for events or online services, e.g. apply for permits and licences, online competitive bidding for public procurement
• Citizen response and participation through website: assesses whether citizens can engage with the municipality. Still in its early stages with few cities offering such a possibility. Examples include the capacity for online comments, personal feedback to elected officials, Internet-based polls, chat capabilities.

Results show Seoul, Hong Kong, Helsinki, Singapore and Madrid on top but noticeable changes took place compared to results in 2003 and 2005. Cities grow more and more accustomed to the possibilities offered by the digital age. Cities in non-OECD member countries especially saw an increase in their capacity for digital governance. As a result, the digital divide between those cities in OECD countries and those outside identified in 2005 narrowed in 2007.