Suchergebnisse

Personal and organizational perspectives; focus on microcomputer usage; 6 articles. Includes evaluation of geographic information systems.

The uses and effects of microcomputers were examined in case studies in eight American cities. Most departments in these cities used the microcomputers for financial management activities of one type or another. Other important findings were that microcomputer uses were related to departmental functions, and that the effects of microcomputers on work, people and the organization were largely positive.

United States. Use of computers in cities under 50,000 and counties under 100,000.

Research into e‐government is relatively new. Nevertheless, much contemporary thinking and writing about e‐government is driven by normative models that appeared less than a decade ago. The authors present empirical evidence from three surveys of local e‐government in the United States to test whether these models are accurate or useful for understanding the actual development of e‐government. They find that local e‐government is mainly informational, with a few transactions but virtually no indication of the high‐level functions predicted in the models. Thus, the models do not accurately describe or predict the development of e‐government, at least among American local governments. These models, though intellectually interesting, are purely speculative, having been developed without linkage to the literature about information technology and government. The authors offer grounded observations about e‐government that will useful to scholars and practitioners alike.

This article discusses the arguments for and against the introduction of elected mayors in England, as encouraged in the Local Government Act 2000. It analyses how the government'. mayoral proposals have been diluted in such a way that 'strong mayors' parallels from the USA are now less relevant. It examines the evolution effectiveness and extent of the current use of the mayoral office in the USA, and draws out the implications of this evidence for the way in which elected mayors are likely to operate in England (whilst recognising the problems of cross-national 'policy transferability'.. The particular impact of party politics on the mayoral project in England is highlighted; it is argued that the highly personalised approach to the mayoral office which is apparent in the USA is unlikely to develop in England. It is concluded that although there is a plausible case for the introduction of elected mayors in England on a voluntary and experimental basis, the case for their widespread introduction in the immediate future cannot be sustained.