Joachim Pfister
email: pfister@ifi.uzh.ch

Gerhard Schwabe
email: schwabe@ifi.uzh.ch

Electronic Data Safes as an Infrastructure for Transformational Government? A Case Study

Keywords: electronic data safes, transformational government, user-managed access, case study, barriers

des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

Introduction

In many countries, electronic government (e-government) initiatives have been introduced that are progressing from the stage of information provisioning and simple transactions to more customer-centric stages of integrated service delivery [START_REF] Veenstra | Barriers and impediments to transformational government: insights from literature and practice[END_REF]. Several egovernment maturity models and e-government definitions have been proposed [START_REF] Yildiz | E-government research: Reviewing the literature, limitations, and ways forward[END_REF] but, actually, many e-government initiatives resulted in digitizing existing practices and were not able to reach more mature stages. In recent years, the idea of "transformational government" (t-government) gained momentum which is defined as "[…] the ICTenabled operations, internal and external processes and structures to enable the realization of services that meet public-sector objectives such as efficiency, transparency, accountability and citizen centricity." [START_REF] Weerakkody | Transformational change and business process reengineering (BPR): Lessons from the British and Dutch public sector[END_REF] The realization of t-government entails fundamental changes in the public service sector's practices and structures, for instance organizations need to cooperate and integrate their activities [START_REF] Dhillon | Realising transformational stage e-government: a UK local authority perspective[END_REF]. This means to overcome data silos, take a holistic view on the relationships between the public sector and citizens or private sector stakeholders and to empower the citizens [START_REF]CS Transform: Citizen Service Transformation: A manifesto for change in the delivery of public services[END_REF]. This results in a more efficient service delivery and a more transparent and responsive government [START_REF] Veenstra | Barriers and impediments to transformational government: insights from literature and practice[END_REF].

In this paper, the concept of active electronic data safes (AEDS) as an infrastructure to support t-government is introduced and will be explored empirically. These AEDS are based on the paradigm of user-managed access, i.e. that an individual decides which information items are shared with an organization. Using the genre of a case study, a prototypical implementation of an AEDS connecting citizens, the public administration and private sector companies will be analyzed. This concept of user-managed access put into practice will be used to identify challenges with respect to t-government. Therefore, the research questions is: What are the challenges with respect to t-government when the concept of user-managed access with an AEDS is put into practice?

The contribution of this article is to identify challenges for solutions supporting tgovernment that follow the paradigm of user-managed access based on a user study with ordinary citizens. Such an approach helps to complement existing literature-based approaches. For electronic data safes, to the best of our knowledge, no evaluation exists helping to identify this new class of tool's implementation challenges. Heath et al. [START_REF] Heath | Digital Enlightenment, Mydex, and Restoring Control over Personal Data to the Individual[END_REF] describe evaluation results from an AEDS-like tool but not with a focus on user perceptions. And research concerning the adoption of an electronic postal service, which also goes into the direction of an AEDS, has been carried out by Berger and Hertzum [START_REF] Berger | Adoption Patterns for the Digital Post System by Danish Municipalities and Citizens[END_REF], but they are focusing more on the challenges of the organizational introduction.

Existing research on the adoption of t-government and the identification of potential barriers to t-government is performed on a very high level such as analyzing the policies of national governments to assess their t-government readiness [START_REF] Parisopoulos | An investigation of national policies on transformational government (t-Gov) in Europe[END_REF]. Other research contributions use case studies in which they interview experts that are responsible for designing and running e-government services [START_REF] Veenstra | Barriers and impediments to transformational government: insights from literature and practice[END_REF][START_REF] Dhillon | Realising transformational stage e-government: a UK local authority perspective[END_REF]. Moreover, technological solutions that support t-government's service delivery are also researched: For example a platform-based approach [START_REF] Bharosa | Developing multi-sided platforms for public-private information sharing: design observations from two case studies[END_REF][START_REF] Janssen | Lean government and platform-based governance -Doing more with less[END_REF] to exchange data is discussed but only from a G2B perspective and with a focus on platform governance and information infrastructure. Hence, in existing research with respect to t-government, the individual as a citizen is rather put aside although user-centricity is a widely heralded tenet of t-government. We argue that a thorough understanding of the socio-technological issues is needed before services are designed. A deeper understanding of the citizens' needs and preferences contributes to successful service design which will entail adoption by the citizens. This point of view has been recognized in IS research [START_REF] Brenner | User, Use & Utility Research: The Digital User as New Design Perspective in Business and Information Systems Engineering[END_REF] and needs to be embraced in the t-government context, too. To achieve this, early testing and gaining feedback from potential end-users of t-government services is needed to uncover yet unknown barriers that may surmount existing categories such as organizational and managerial or technical. This is done in exploratory research that will navigate through the problem domain, discover unknown phenomena and suggest hypotheses or propositionsan approach we have chosen to follow in this article.

Therefore, this article closes the gap of having a lack of understanding in the context of t-government what potential end users think of tools following the user-managed access paradigm. T-Government practitioners and policy makers can use the newly identified challenges to address them in the service design of solutions, for example an AEDS, that are needed to realize the vision of t-government.

Background

This section provides background information on the concept of an AEDS. We suggest that an AEDS can serve as an infrastructure component to support t-government. Existing barriers identified in the literature to achieve t-government will be presented, too.

Active Electronic Data Safes

In the domain of e-government, electronic data safes have been proposed as a cloudbased service to securely store documents and data [START_REF] Breitenstrom | Elektronische Safes für Daten und Dokumente[END_REF][START_REF] Schulz | Dienste auf Basis elektronischer Safes für Daten und Dokumente[END_REF]. These services are evolving from portals [START_REF] Lucke | Portals for the public sector[END_REF] and plain document storage solutions to an infrastructure component for user-managed information and process management [START_REF] Kuppinger | Life Management Platforms: Control and Privacy for Personal Data[END_REF][START_REF] Pfister | The Landscape of Electronic Data Safes and Their Adoption in E-Government and E-Business[END_REF]. The user-managed access paradigm is the central design principle of an electronic data safe which means that the safe owners decide with whom and with which e-business or e-government processes they share their information items. This article uses the term "active electronic data safe" in order to emphasize the process support capabilities that transcend mailbox-like document reception and storage. Thus, an AEDS serves as an "one-stopshop" [START_REF] Kohlborn | A Comparative Study of Governmental One-Stop Portals for Public Service Delivery[END_REF][START_REF] Wimmer | Integrated service modelling for online one-stop government[END_REF], i.e. an individual's single contact and interaction point for information items and processes related to organizations from the public and the private sector. Active electronic data safes act as an intermediary replacing many point-to-pointconnections and they serve as a multi-sided platform (MSP) to connect individuals and organizationsboth, from the private and the public sector [START_REF] Brunzel | Intermediäre Geschäftsmodelle an den Schnittstellen zur öffentlichen Verwaltung[END_REF] (see Figure 1). Connecting the public and private context via a MSP in the e-government context was diagnosed as an embryonic research area [START_REF] Bharosa | Developing multi-sided platforms for public-private information sharing: design observations from two case studies[END_REF]. The simultaneous use of an infrastructure component, such as an AEDS, by the private and public sector makes sense because one organization alone often has too few customer contacts in order to justify the development and maintenance of such an infrastructure. For example, a German citizen is said to have one to two contacts with the public administration per year [START_REF] Lenz | E-Government und E-Nonprofit. Management von Internetprojekten in Verwaltung und Nonprofit-Organisationen[END_REF]. AEDS are a network good: The more organizations offer services on an AEDS' platform, the more attractive it will become for customersand vice versa. Postal services or telecommunication providers who consider themselves as established and natural intermediaries are complementing their portfolio of electronic document delivery solutions, for example, by providing electronic payment, authentication or secure storage for individuals and organizations [START_REF] Finger | Postal Services in the Digital Age[END_REF], thus, also moving into the direction of AEDS. Nevertheless, these classic intermediaries often stick to a document-centric "mailbox" metaphor which is extended in the AEDS' vision by process support capabilities or value-added services to assist in personal information management [START_REF] Pfister | The Landscape of Electronic Data Safes and Their Adoption in E-Government and E-Business[END_REF] tasks.

AEDS as an Infrastructure for T-Government

With an AEDS, individuals benefit from a reduction in information fragmentation [START_REF] Tungare | Mental Workload at Transitions between Multiple Devices in Personal Information Management[END_REF], something that happens, for example, when electronic bills are distributed over several provider-specific online portals. Now, customers are equipped with a tool for exerting informational self-determination in the sense of "vendor relationship management" [START_REF]Project VRM: Main Page -Project VRM[END_REF] which is an inverse of the provider-centric idea of customer relationship management (CRM). An AEDS as an intermediary (a) reduces transaction costs and increases the entire transaction value for all participants [START_REF] King | A Trade Value Perspective on Ecommerce Research: An Integration of Transaction Value and Transaction Cost Theories[END_REF] and (b) overcomes the problems of information silos [START_REF] Bannister | Dismantling the silos: extracting new value from IT investments in public administration[END_REF]. Using an AEDS, service provider-specific information silos are replaced by a collaboration of autonomous organizations forming a value chain network [START_REF] Veenstra | Barriers and impediments to transformational government: insights from literature and practice[END_REF] glued together by the individual's decision for sharing. This also supports t-government's aims of citizen empowerment: With an AEDS, individuals have the power to decide with whom they will share information items while, at the same time, they still will have an overview which organizations stores what about them. Moreover, this will also contribute to realize the t-government's aims to benefit from fully (horizontally and vertically) integrated government services and citizens having only one contact point for interacting with the public or private sector. To achieve this, all the stakeholders are required to undergo considerable changessomething that needs to be sparked by the introduction of citizen-centric services [START_REF] Weerakkody | Transformational change and business process reengineering (BPR): Lessons from the British and Dutch public sector[END_REF]. Following this line of argumentation, an AEDS will serve as a tool to surmount "the wall" placed in between a governmentcentric CRM view and the vision of a citizen-centric, co-production oriented, empowered and engaged citizen [cf. 23].

Related work that employs the user-managed access paradigm can be found in the domain of electronic health [START_REF] Duennebeil | Strategies for development and adoption of EHR in German ambulatory care[END_REF]. Therein, collaboration between different stakeholders (patients, health care providers, insurance companies) is needed but information silos prevail. To overcome this situation, personal health records (PHR) have been suggested. They contain the lifelong medical information of a patient and are maintained and shared by the patients themselvesin analogy to an AEDS. These PHRs can be stored with private sector based intermediaries such as Google Health or Microsoft HealthVault, also supporting the user-managed access paradigm. Research in the ehealth domain [START_REF] Weitzman | Acceptability of a Personally Controlled Health Record in a Community-Based Setting: Implications for Policy and Design[END_REF] has shown that the acceptance of such PHR systems suffers from issues related to privacy, autonomy, and accessibility.

Barriers to T-Government

Veenstra et al. [START_REF] Veenstra | Barriers and impediments to transformational government: insights from literature and practice[END_REF] developed a literature-based categorization of impediments to achieve the stage of t-government and added empirically derived impediments on the basis of three case studies which involved interviewing three key people from line management and ICT staff. In total, they identified 23 impediments which were grouped into three main categories: governance (7 impediments), organizational and managerial (9 impediments), and technical (7 impediments). Veenstra et al. could confirm twelve literature-based impediments and identify eleven new ones. On the governance level, the main barriers were identified as a lack of a government-wide strategy and vision enabling collaboration in forms of networks and value chains. On the organizational and managerial level, huge and joint efforts of stakeholders embedded in complex relationships are needed which creates many barriers. In addition, on the technological level, the lack of knowledge to achieve innovations, for instance due to an organization's dependency upon legacy systems, has been diagnosed. Moreover, Weerakkodyet al. [START_REF] Weerakkody | Realising transformational stage e-government: challenges, issues and complexities[END_REF] identified challenges and issues for achieving t-government. They carried out a case study to empirically identify challenges that added to the literature-based ones. Therefore, they interviewed e-government practitioners on their experiences but no citizens. 48 change barriers have been identified which were grouped into four categories (in brackets: number of identified change barriers): organizational challenges [START_REF] Tungare | Mental Workload at Transitions between Multiple Devices in Personal Information Management[END_REF], process change challenges [START_REF] Kuppinger | Life Management Platforms: Control and Privacy for Personal Data[END_REF], IS/IT integration challenges (8), and cultural and social challenges (10; such as fear of information technology or organizational resistance).

Research Design

As presented in the previous sections, current research on t-government seems to neglect the individual as a citizen who interacts with t-government services. To overcome this weakness, we will carry out an exploratory user study involving twelve citizens and three representatives of public and private sector organizations which will serve as this case study's empirical foundation. In order to enable an in-depth and hands-on experience with the concept of an AEDS, the user study participants (six male and six female; average age 27.6 years) worked in a lab-based setting with a prototype. The three tasks they worked upon were designed to realistically mirror exceptional, but nevertheless, common business transactions with a sufficient degree of complexity: (a) to report a theft to the Police, (b) to file a claim with an insurance company and (c) to get a quote from a security company based on some fictitious vulnerabilities of the home such as a weak door. Three representatives of organizations (Police, insurance and a security company) were involved to interact with the study participants through the AEDS prototype (answering/asking questions through a messaging component) and to evaluate the usefulness of the exchanged information items that have been captured by the study participants (taking photos of valuables and electronically attaching receipts to build an inventory list). After the tasks have been carried out, all the participants completed a questionnaire with respect to technology acceptance which also contained additional items to ask about the participant's attitude towards a possible future adoption of an AEDS. Finally, a semi-structured interview was carried out and audio recorded. The interviews were transcribed and qualitative content analysis was performed using the method of a thematic analysis [START_REF] Braun | Using thematic analysis in psychology[END_REF] which has proven to be successful in the field of HCI [START_REF] Fitzgerald | Governance structures and innovation in the Irish Software Industry[END_REF]. Following the transcription, initial codes were assigned using the software MAXQDA. After iteratively reading and refining the coding, themes were assigned in a "data-driven" manner. Writing internal project reports served to review the emerging themes and to discuss them with fellow researcher before defining, naming and compiling them in a final report.

Barriers to T-Government in the Context of an AEDS

Based on the empirical data elaborated in the user study and applying the thematic analysis as a method, four barriers to achieve the stage of t-government using an AEDS were identified. We acknowledge that other factors originating from other components that contribute to t-government might lead to further barriers. However, we argue that due to our research design the identified barriers are related predominately to the AEDS. The participants were primed by the quasi-realistic tasks in the user study that enabled them afterwards to thoroughly reflect upon the experienced and future suitability of the user-managed-access paradigm. Quotations are added in order to illustrate the identified themes based on the interpreted data, an approach that is common in qualitative analysis [START_REF] Braun | Using thematic analysis in psychology[END_REF]. They have been translated into English by an author of this article.

Offering Unfamiliar Services Having the Character of Experience-Goods

The results from the user study show that the study participants preferred clearly structured processes like filing a claim with an insurance company. The study participants were asked to rate which future business transactions they would like to carry out with an AEDS (Likert-scale ranging from 1 = no, never; 4 = undecided; 7 = yes, absolutely), which resulted in the following ranking: Obtain a quote from a security company (3.36); Manage personal information items in an AEDS (4.55); Report a theft to the Police (5.00); Inventory important objects or documents (5.00); File a claim with an insurance company (5.45). Citizens and service-providers disliked openly structured or largely unknown business processes which lack prior experience or that require a highly individualized configuration. This has been observable with the task of obtaining a quote from a security company. Looking at the interview data, an explanation for this observation can be given: In such open and unknown business processes, the study participants feared to receive the wrong product or the wrong service. Under such circumstances, participants emphasized the need for having a human providing trust and guidance, something which is not necessary in well-known and already experienced formbased business processes such as filing a claim with an insurance company. "Especially the security company, I would like to have personal contact with. With bureaucratic processes, like in an insurance company, I would more readily accept guidance by a program." (P11) Furthermore, obtaining a quote from a security company can be regarded as a service that needs substantial explanatory support for which not every necessary detail can be transmitted via online channels to achieve satisfying results. Thus, such a kind of service falls into the category of delivering experience goods [START_REF] Girard | Relationship of type of product, shopping orientations, and demographics with preference for shopping on the Internet[END_REF]. It seems unlikely that experience good-like services can be fully supported via intermediaries such as an AEDS; a partial support in less critical transaction phases such as billing might be possible. Because citizens seem to prefer known business process transaction schemes, an AEDS should first provide transactional processes that support self-services which will help to familiarize with an AEDS. Complex services transaction schemes with a higher degree of individualization should be provided later. Summing up, we conclude in barrier 1: Offering unfamiliar services that have a character of experience-goods will be a barrier to an AEDS' adoption.

Failing to Fulfil Common Service Expectations of the Customers

The participants in the user study complained about having too little information about the current status of a business process they had started because the prototype did not implement such a functionality. The different philosophies for delivering an effective and efficient service can be identified quite prototypically following a traditional private/public sector distinction. "The claimants want something from us [the Police]therefore it is their duty to provide correct information." (Police representative) Private sector organizations, such as an insurance company, aim at customer satisfaction: "Customers should always know about the current status of their case." (insurance company representative) Therefore, providing status updates comes natural to them. In contrast, the Police as a public sector organization neglects providing such established success factors in e-business [START_REF] Liu | Exploring the factors associated with Web site success in the context of electronic commerce[END_REF] because yet, they did not need to embrace a customercentric view. This is due to various reasons (resources, strategy etc.). Therefore, we conclude in barrier 2: Not fulfilling common service expectations of the customers will result in a barrier to an AEDS's adoption.

Failing to Establish Contextual Integrity for Data Sharing

In the user study, the participants raised privacy and security concerns. They wanted to know what happens with their shared data: where is it stored and who can access it? Using a cloud-based service, such as an AEDS, for storing personal information items was criticized and rationalized at the same time. Some participants (five out of twelve) felt generally unsafe having stored personal data in the cloud. One participant framed this feeling of insecurity as follows: "I would like to control my documents. I would like to know who has access to it. Nobody can guarantee this if I am using Dropbox or Skydrive. And if it rains, then 'the cloud' has gone. I do not trust them. I use cloud services, but only for insignificant stuff." (P02) If an end-to-end encryption exists, as stated by a tech-savvy participant (P12), he would not have any concerns. The service's geographic location was the decisive factor for another participant: "Probably, I would inform myself before I would use such a service. I would prefer such a service being located in Germany, Switzerland or the European Union." (P08) Thoughts about security influenced their decision what should be stored in an AEDS and what not. The same participant (and three more of twelve) explained his preference for having a public sector organization to run an AEDS instead of a private sector company or a start-up company: "I consider a public authority to be more qualified than a private sector company. With a private company, I feel afraid that they might abuse my data for advertisement or their own purposes because they want to exploit them commercially. That seems less probable with public sector organizations." (P08) We conclude therefore that creating transparency for information storage and use is an essential design principle for information systems following the user-managed access paradigm. To meet this expectations, already established knowledge of privacy enhancing technologies [START_REF] Rannenberg | Privacy and Identity Management for Life[END_REF] must be combined with the process-oriented transaction support in an AEDS. The participants in the user study had concerns where and by whom a service is provided. This observation can be attributed to an individual's aim for keeping "contextual integrity", a concept developed by Nissenbaum [START_REF] Nissenbaum | Privacy in context : technology, policy, and the integrity of social life[END_REF]. Therein, information items can be shared guided by norms of appropriation and distribution tied to a certain context. The context is formed by the source, destination and the appropriateness of the content. By exerting control and having transparency, people are able to maintain contextual integrity. This point of view also gains momentum in other areas of research, such as HCI [START_REF] Barkhuus | The mismeasurement of privacy: using contextual integrity to reconsider privacy in HCI[END_REF]. We, therefore, conclude in barrier 3: Failing to establish contextual integrity will cause a barrier to the adoption of an AEDS.

Failing to Establish and Run a Multi-Sided Platform

Taking the customer perspective, the study participants generally recognized the advantages of creating and receiving information items digitally and their re-use in digital business processes. Having everything at one place and being able to forward information items was judged by nearly all (nine out of twelve) participants as something positive and beneficial: "Forwarding things, for instance to the Police or to an insurance company, would not have been possible with my system [Dropbox]." (P09) Another participant stated, that if he had all his digital belongings and documents organized neatly in an AEDS, he would not like to suffer from a vendor lock-in. The information items as well as all the effort to organize them should not be lost when, due to some reason, a change of the AEDS provider is necessary. Looking at the service-providers, a mixed picture arises: In general, the Police representative was critical about the current prototype. Without a deep integration into the Police's back-end systems (which has not been done in the prototype), he concluded that the AEDS prototype only brings advantages to the citizen and not to him. The insurance company representative was convinced by the concept of an AEDS and its prototypical implementation but wondered about the need for critical mass: "If the usage numbers are big enough, such a concept would be beneficial to us. The problem is to motivate a substantial number of our customers to use such a tool to achieve enough usage." (insurance rep.) To summarize, an AEDS as a multi-sided platform faces challenges to find a suitable business model that satisfies all relevant stakeholder: (a) the AEDS platform provider, (b) the service-providers from the private and public sector that offer services using the AEDS platform, and (c) the customers willing to engage in business transactions and/or store personal information items. Attracting a sufficient number of customers and service-providers, which is vital for a network good, resembles the well know chickenand-egg problem. In an free market, where many AEDS platform providers compete for customers, they need to differentiate by offering "value-added" services going beyond the simple storage of information items [START_REF] Pfister | The Landscape of Electronic Data Safes and Their Adoption in E-Government and E-Business[END_REF]. For example, individuals can be supported in their personal information management by breaking down larger information organizing tasks into smaller tasks that can be worked upon using different devices at different locations, for instance, tagging photos and grouping them into galleries. This strategy is called "Selfsourcing" [START_REF] Teevan | Selfsourcing personal tasks[END_REF]. It could be complemented for specific tasks with the concept of crowd sourcing which served as the original inspiration for the selfsourcing concept. We summarize these challenges in barrier 4: Failing to establish and run an AEDS as a multi-sided platform with an attractive business model will be a barrier for the adoption amongst all stakeholders.

Discussion

In order to categorize the four barriers that have been elaborated in the previous section we argue for the creation of a new, "citizen-oriented service design" category. The four newly discovered barriers do neither resemble impediments on the governance, organizational or managerial or technological level as categorized by Veenstra et al. [START_REF] Veenstra | Barriers and impediments to transformational government: insights from literature and practice[END_REF]. Nor, they can be understood as "organizational and social" challenges within an organization, a category used by Weerakkody et al. [START_REF] Weerakkody | Realising transformational stage e-government: challenges, issues and complexities[END_REF]. The character the four impediments share is related to the citizens, their service expectations, needs or fears. Therefore, we suggest to summarize these four barriers under the new category "citizen-oriented service design". Reflecting upon the newly discovered barriers contributes to the design of AEDS and to t-government at the same time which will be discussed in the following.

Electronic data safes have the potential to help citizens in overcoming the problem of information fragmentation. The ability to interact with business processes transforms electronic data safes into active electronic data safes. Certainly, these tools provide more capabilities for information sharing under the user-managed access paradigm than ordinary portals or electronic data safes. Nevertheless, they will face challenges related to the governance, organizational or managerial, technological or social level. But our results also indicate that the service design needs to pay attention to the individuals as users or customers of an AEDS. Using the perspective of a "citizen-oriented service design", we interpret our findings as a call for action to come up with research to identify further barriers that are related to the citizen who makes use of new technologies and services. In doing so, the following question can be answered to shape new services before they are rolled out: With respect to a new service delivery paradigm, such as an AEDS, which character of services do citizens favor under which conditions?

T-government can benefit from integrating the citizen-oriented service design perspective, too, in order to develop solutions that are truly citizen-centric. As our example with an exploratory study of an AEDS has shown, innovations or new technologies to support t-government need to bring utility not only to the organization but also, and foremost, to the citizen as service users. Thus, they need to have a satisfying degree of maturity. Therefore, we conclude that an assessment of t-government readiness from a user-perspective needs to be integrated in the discussion of future barriers. Instead of just looking back on what went wrong after new services and technologies have been launched, t-government research should take an active stance to identify unknown barriers ahead. User studies in a quasi-realistic setting seem promising to achieve this.

Limitations

As a limitation to this study, the participants in the user study do not reflect a representative part of the population, and the number of service providers might seem too limited and narrow to come up with results having a high internal validity and, thus, not being fruitful for generalization. Nevertheless, (single) case studies produce rich observations and propositions can be derived from all observations helping to guide further theory development, for example, by pointing to new research challenges that arise and would not have been found otherwise. This argument reflects this article's exploratory approach to identify future challenges and impediments of an emerging class of tools following the user-managed access paradigm, such as an AEDS. Furthermore, the tasks in the user study were purposefully chosen to cover realistic problems and that the participants could work in a nearly realistic setting (mock home-office).

Conclusion

In this article, we identified four new impediments or challenges related to an AEDS when such a tool is used to support t-government by offering a technical solution to put the paradigm of user-managed access into practice in order to overcome data silos: 1.) offering citizens unfamiliar services having the character of experience-goods; 2.) failing to fulfil common service expectations of the customers; 3.) failing to establish contextual integrity for data sharing; 4.) failing to establish and run a multi-sided platform. Without our exploratory approach involving a user study with a prototype, those impediments would have been not identified. Therefore, we argue that t-government projects benefit from early prototyping and evaluation with all relevant stakeholders in order to avoid misconceptions leading to unusable and not accepted solutions. Usercentered design methods and design science research [START_REF] Hevner | Design science in information systems research[END_REF] help to uncover "hidden" assumptions or problematic areas which need to be addressed. Applying such methods and paradigms helps to understand better specific contexts but they may also generate transferable knowledge for other contexts or domains. The study participants welcomed the concept of an AEDS helping them in organizing their administrative burdens. This gives confidence that the concept of an AEDS and its user-managed access approach will fall on fertile grounds. Nevertheless, further research is needed to come up with solutions that tackle the newly identified and existing impediments to t-government.

Fig. 1 .

 1 Fig. 1. Active electronic data safe as an intermediary.


Laurence Brooks
email: 1laurence.brooks@brunel.ac.uk

Alexander Persaud

Comparing Local e-Government Websites in Canada and the UK

Keywords: local e-government, web diagnostics, UK, Canada

de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

Introduction

Over the last decade, increased expectations of online services can be attributed to the growth of e-Government services [START_REF] Heeks | Analyzing e-government research: Perspectives, philosophies, theories, methods, and practice[END_REF]. The dramatic growth in academic investigation of e-Government, as a field, provides significant opportunities to build upon existing research. Indeed, web developers' understanding of the conceptualization, delivery, management, and evaluation of e-Government is in a constant state of change as governments and their affiliates adopt new technologies, standards, and practices. The internet has become an invaluable resource in the daily lives of citizens across the world, in both private and increasingly public sector services [START_REF] Henriksson | Evaluation instrument for e-government websites[END_REF]. In acknowledging this appreciation, it is easily recognizable that e-Government practices are an important option for public access and engagement. Jati & Dominic [5, p.85] state, 'The immediacy of the Web creates an immediate expectation of quality and rapid application delivery, but the technical complexities of a website and variances in the browser make testing and quality control more difficult, and in some ways, more subtle.' Whether it is at a local or federal level, governments have increasingly acknowledged the need for providing services through the Internetcommonly known as e-services [START_REF] Choudrie | Evaluating global e-government sites: A view using web diagnostics tools[END_REF]. With e-Government services offered through web interfaces, evaluation has become a: …necessary activity for ensuring returns from investments over time. Financial investment includes spending on equipment and technology necessary for delivering Web-based e-government services. Organizational investment, on the other hand tends to be unobservable, and includes the time and energy that government agencies need to rethinking, reorganizing and streamlining the service delivery system for the Webbased e-government initiatives [7, p.2].

While the scale of e-Government investment may not match initiatives at a federal level, local e-Government investment still must, '…be able to justify some form of return on investment, which typically requires evaluation of the Web-based e-government services' [7, p.2]. Early iterations of local city websites in the 1990s adopted a bureaucratic paradigm, where the website was administratively oriented. This has changed more recently as cities that have adopted, '…the e-government paradigm, design their Web sites differently' [8, p.434]. These new websites tend to use '…portal designs' [8, p.437].

Wang et al. [7, p.2] state that, '…despite the importance of the evaluation of Webbased e-government services, especially the performance of government Web sites in facilitating public-government interaction, little research has been generated', with most web-based service evaluation focusing on the private sector. Web diagnostic tools have become a method of evaluation for general websites and e-Government websites. Evaluative methodologies have been developed for e-Government websites (see [START_REF] Panopoulou | A framework for evaluating web sites of public authorities[END_REF], [START_REF] Ma | The usability and content accessibility of the e-government in the UK[END_REF] and [START_REF] Wang | Evaluating web-based e-government services with a citizen-centric approach[END_REF]). Other research studies have all specifically explored e-Government evaluations using web diagnostics at a federal level for multiple web portals [START_REF] Jati | Quality evaluation of e-government website using web diagnostic tools: Asian case[END_REF][START_REF] Choudrie | Evaluating global e-government sites: A view using web diagnostics tools[END_REF][START_REF] Al-Radaideh | Evaluating Accessibility of Jordanian E-Government Websites for People with Disabilities[END_REF]. Web diagnostic tools for local e-Government evaluation has significant room for further research and exploration as few studies investigate e-Government evaluation with web diagnostics, specifically at a local level.

This paper aims to provide a comparative case study analysis of local e-Government websites in Canada and the United Kingdom in terms of accessibility. In this context accessibility is defined in general terms as well as at a technical level. A comparative case study analysis will not only indicate the strengths and weaknesses of each respective website but will also suggest the varied or similar approaches local officials take in the conceptualization of e-Government websites in Canada and the United Kingdom. Eight local e-Government websites in Canada and the United Kingdom were evaluated using selected web diagnostic tools. The two localities selected for interviews were Calgary, Canada (http://www.calgary.ca/SitePages/cocis/default.aspx) and Hillingdon, UK (http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/residents). The interviews conducted with local officials from Calgary and Hillingdon were relatively general, as a way to obtain unforeseen information.

2

Literature Review

Conceptualizing e-Government Services

In simple terms, e-Government services can, '…deliver information and services online through the Internet or other digital means', [11, p.64]. Venkatesh et al. elaborate, stating that: e-Government services can be broadly categorized into informational and transactional services. Informational services refer to the delivery of government information via web pages and transactional services involve two-way transactions between government and citizens (e.g. submission of electronic forms) that may require horizontal or vertical integration of multiple government agencies [START_REF] Venkatesh | Designing e-government services: Key service attributes and citizens' preference structures[END_REF].

E-services are often centralized within a government portal where citizens can access a particular service. Kumar et al. state that the challenge of e-Government is not technical. It is '…to use technologies to improve the capacities of government institutions, while improving the quality of life of citizens by redefining the relationship between citizens and their government' [11, p.64]. While e-Government has grown from being another option or choice for communication with citizens, global trends have made e-Government a necessity for any country wishing to enter the 21 st century as a competitive nation. Beyond the functional benefits of citizen interaction, increased adoption of e-Government services have the potential for enormous savings and cost reduction [START_REF] Kumar | Factors for successful e-government adoption: a conceptual framework[END_REF]. Important considerations of web navigation, accessibility, aesthetics, and content fit within website design. An exemplary website design increases perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use among citizens, directly impacting e-Government adoption.

Certain user characteristics such as perceived risk and control may depend on perceptions of financial risk, psychological risk, social risk, convenience risk, and overall risk. The use of services may be discouraged due to perceptions of risk related to online security. In the case of the Canadian Government, trust via user identity is verified through an authentication code via the ePass government system, as well as the implementation of the Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) Policy which outlines assessments for any new or redesigned service that may raise privacy issues [START_REF] Kumar | Factors for successful e-government adoption: a conceptual framework[END_REF]. Kumar et al. present a conceptualization framework for e-Government adoption in a Canadian context, though it can apply to other nations as well. Furthermore, while the conceptual framework may focus at a federal level, it can be applied at a local level due to the identification of important considerations in high-quality service delivery, engagement, and growth for e-Government in general.

The provided information and services via e-Government carry a vital purpose within the public sector, enabling citizens and businesses the completion of important and necessary tasks. It is therefore important that the conceptual design of e-Government services carry thoughtful consideration so that user satisfaction is maintained at a high standard. As more services are brought online, governments' ability to maintain accessible and usable services is important for user acceptance, satisfaction, and trust. The preference towards self-service can be partly attributed to the significant saving in time and effort, ease of use, and increased personal control [START_REF] Meuter | Self-service technologies: understanding customer satisfaction with technology-based service encounters[END_REF]. With self-service in mind, e-Government websites require thoughtful design considerations to positively communicate usefulness, as they often act as an entry point towards available e-services. Wang et al. [7, p.2] acknowledge the financial benefits of e-Government service implementation in stating that in order to make investments worthwhile, '…government agencies must be able to justify some form of return on investment, which typically requires evaluation of the Web-based e-government services.' It is further noted that the performance of government websites in facilitating exchanges between the pub-lic and government agencies are directly related to the return on government's investment in its development of websites and delivered online services [START_REF] Wang | Evaluating web-based e-government services with a citizen-centric approach[END_REF]. Wang et al. [7,p.2], state that, 'At a minimum, assuming the unit cost for a delivered service is less on a website than through alternative traditional means, each web interaction represents a cost savings.'

In recognizing the benefits of e-Government, its inevitable growth and ubiquity, and its importance in developing a meaningful relationship between government and citizens, government must ensure that its e-service websites are accessible and usable for adoption as well as overall customer satisfaction among citizens. However, even if the website provides the information necessary to complete the intended task and a consumer struggles when searching or retrieving desired information, the website will be abandoned [START_REF] Mckinney | The measurement of web-customer satisfaction: An expectation and disconfirmation approach[END_REF]. The website must compensate for lack of physical contact experienced by online shoppers and at the same time make the shopping experience easy and enjoyable. In this context, online shoppers are citizens exploring e-services options. Great importance is placed on the perceived usefulness of a service.

Methods of Evaluation for e-Government Service Websites

Public authority web evaluation has seen few attempts to propose and use specific metrics for assessment [START_REF] Panopoulou | A framework for evaluating web sites of public authorities[END_REF]. Of the various criteria and metrics utilized, Wood et al. [START_REF] Wood | A practical approach to e-government Web evaluation[END_REF] describe 4 major classes of web evaluation methods, including usability testing, user feedback, usage data, and web and Internet performance data (Fig. 1). These methods relate to practical evaluation solutions that can work within an existing methodology. The authors identify the utilization of these four classes in creating a robust, multidimensional strategy to web-based evaluation of e-Government [START_REF] Wood | A practical approach to e-government Web evaluation[END_REF]. This multidimensional approach focuses particularly on web evaluation of e-Government websites rather than the conceptual assessment of web services [START_REF] Halaris | Classification and Synthesis of Quality Approaches in E-government Services[END_REF]. The evaluation of e-Government websites can be attributed to both the Technical Performance and Site Quality layers.

Usability testing primarily involves feedback on website design, functionality, and navigation, wherein information can be obtained through methods of heuristic or expert review, informal usability testing, and usability lab testing [START_REF] Wood | A practical approach to e-government Web evaluation[END_REF]. Using a heuristic review encourages an independent, outside perspective towards website development, which provides web developers a larger context towards their considerations in web design. This can benefit the site layout and structure, navigation tools, search function, fonts and colors, among others. This type of usability testing allows a Web usability expert to review the website, compare it Fig. 1. A multidimensional approach to web evaluation [START_REF] Wood | A practical approach to e-government Web evaluation[END_REF].

against generally accepted web design and functionality principles, and suggest design improvements.

Usage data is included among the variety of web evaluation classes with multiple methods including web log data analysis (in which web log software is installed on the website server to collect usage data such as page views, total visits, and unique visitors), and internet audience measurement (in which private companies collect usage data from large panels of web users who agree to have their web surfing monitored). Usage data can provide a range of quantitative data at relatively low cost and provide useful evidence of web trends in relation to the offered e-services.

Pearson et al. [START_REF] Pearson | Determining the importance of key criteria in web usability[END_REF] identify 6 key criteria in evaluating web usability: Ease of use; Navigation; Accessibility; Download Speed; Gender; Customization and personalization. They state that navigation, download speed, personalization, ease of use, gender, and accessibility are integral to web usability evaluation. Navigation is an important consideration relative to consumer preference. Websites aim to achieve customization and personalization as a way of establishing an ongoing relationship with the customer. The findings recognize ease of use as the most important in assessing web usability while personalization and customization as less important. A clear emphasis is placed on the various criteria's impact on user satisfaction, with the most notable being download speed/technical performance. These criteria have commonalities with similar evaluative methodologies [START_REF] Panopoulou | A framework for evaluating web sites of public authorities[END_REF].

Panapoulou et al. [START_REF] Panopoulou | A framework for evaluating web sites of public authorities[END_REF] propose an evaluation framework that synthesizes five other authors' approaches to e-Government website evaluation (see fig. 2).

The framework consists of three different levels of detail. The first (higher) level '…consists of four axes that measure four different aspects of e-Government websites…' while the second '…consists of factor that measure each distinct axis' [START_REF] Panopoulou | A framework for evaluating web sites of public authorities[END_REF], p.520).' The third level consists of the particular metrics used to carry out the evaluation. The highest level is titled the General characteristics axis, which include five factors with particular metrics of evaluation: accessibility (with metrics evaluating technical accessibility, accessibility for disabled and non-Internet savvy users), navigation (metrics evaluating searching capabilities, functionality and ease of use features, web page design consistency), multilingualism (metrics evaluating number of foreign languages and content completeness in them), privacy (metrics evaluating privacy statement, secure connections, information on data usage), and finally, public outreach (metrics evaluating contact information, response agility) [START_REF] Panopoulou | A framework for evaluating web sites of public authorities[END_REF]. This proposed framework provides a comprehensive overview of public authority/e-Government websites.

This synthesis of e-Government website evaluation literature includes public outreach, citizen participation, content, navigation, accessibility, privacy and security, and Fig. 2. Concept matrix of e-government website evaluation methods [START_REF] Panopoulou | A framework for evaluating web sites of public authorities[END_REF]. online services. Though these evaluative criteria provide a strong basis for e-Government website evaluation, the framework lacks an emphasis on technical performance aspects that heavily influence user satisfaction. The evaluation framework can add this seventh metric to provide a holistic overview and better gauge of e-Government website evaluation. In the context of local government websites, an updated Panapoulou et al. framework incorporating the technical performance criteria described by Pearson et al. [START_REF] Pearson | Determining the importance of key criteria in web usability[END_REF] constructs a suitable and well-rounded framework for evaluation. Perhaps the most important area of consideration for web developers is accessibility and usability, ensuring that navigation and content is clear and disability access, as well as technical aspects, are in compliance with popular web standards.

Methodology

A version of the iterative accessibility evaluation methodology from Al-Radaideh et al. [START_REF] Al-Radaideh | Evaluating Accessibility of Jordanian E-Government Websites for People with Disabilities[END_REF], is used here, including selected websites from two countries. It also incorporates aspects from Fan, using interviews to provide further insight. This hybrid of quantitative and qualitative data provided a holistic perspective of local e-Government accessibility considerations. In this case, web diagnostic tools are utilized to investigate local government website compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG) and W3C Guidelines, browser compatibility, acceptable markup language, and download times. Accessibility, in the context of the study, refers broadly to access to information and services as well as technically with consideration of disability access (e.g. visual impairment, etc). The results of the diagnostics offered comparative insight between local e-Government websites in Canada and the UK. As is the case with many previous e-Government evaluations, web diagnostic tools were used to gauge accessibility and usability. The selected web diagnostic tools comprised of AChecker (http://achecker.ca), W3C Markup Validator (http://validator.w3.org), and Netmechanic (http://www.netmechanic.com).

Selection of Local Government Websites for Evaluation

The study investigated accessibility of local e-Government websites in Canada and the UK using web diagnostic tools. A total of ten e-Government websites (five in each nation) were carefully selected to provide a comprehensible and effective comparison between the two countries. The attributes of the cities that were considered had to be comparable, namely in size (in terms of population) as well as be representative of the country (in terms of geographical location), in order to account for inherent regional disparities. Furthermore, all local government websites had to offer e-services in order to be considered. With the decreasing significance of homepages (due to search engine queries and redirection), web diagnostic tools are utilized on e-service specified pages where less than two clicks are required to access an online service. The presence of eservices in the context of accessibility is important as it provides the study with insight into whether local government websites give all citizens the best chance of engaging with online services. An assumption was made that local government websites that have similar populations within their jurisdiction will have baseline similarities in budget, technical infrastructure, and resources in order to serve citizens effectively. In using population similarity, the scale of e-Government in terms of potential citizens served was balanced and fair. This process aided in the selection of websites for evaluation. Therefore, the results of the study better served comparisons between Canada and the UK. The population mean of the selected English cities is 906,500 citizens. 55% of English regions are represented.

With a comparable total population for citizens served across Canadian and United Kingdom regions, the selection of local government websites for evaluation provided a good foundation for a valid and meaningful study.

WCAG Evaluative Criteria Background

According to the W3C, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) state: …explain how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities. The guidelines are intended for all Web content developers (page authors and site designers) and for developers of authoring tools. The primary goal of these guidelines is to promote accessibility. However, following them will also make Web content more available to all users, whatever user agent they are using (e.g., desktop browser, voice browser, mobile phone, automobile-based personal computer, etc.) or constraints they may be operating under (e.g., noisy surroundings, under-or over-illuminated rooms, in a hands-free environment, etc.). Following these guidelines will also help people find information on the Web more quickly. These guidelines do not discourage content developers from using images, video, etc., but rather explain how to make multimedia content more accessible to a wide audience (W3.org).

The WCAG 1.0 May 1999 guidelines were updated in December 2008 to 2.0 and further say it: covers a wide range of recommendations for making Web content more accessible. Following these guidelines will make content accessible to a wider range of people with disabilities, including blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, learning disabilities, cognitive limitations, limited movement, speech disabilities, photosensitivity and combinations of these. Following these guidelines will also often make your Web content more usable to users in general (W3.org).

Though it is possible to conform either to WCAG 1.0 or to WCAG 2.0 (or both), the W3C recommends that new and updated content use the latter. The W3C also recommends that Web accessibility policies reference WCAG 2.0.

Web accessibility compliance is prioritized into three categories, as seen in Table 3. W3C symbols are used to certify web pages that meet Priority 1 'A', Priority 2 'Double-A', and Priority 3 'Triple-A' standards.

Priority Description Symbols

Priority 1 A Web content developer must satisfy this checkpoint. Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic requirement for some groups to be able to use Web documents.

Priority 2

A Web content developer should satisfy this checkpoint. Satisfying this checkpoint will remove significant barriers to accessing Web documents.

Priority 3

A Web content developer may address this checkpoint. Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to Web documents Table 3. WCAG Criteria Accessibility descriptions with WCAG 1.0 symbols (W3.org)

Selection of Web Diagnostic Tools and Background

The AChecker tool was chosen from the W3C recommended list of web accessibility evaluation tools (W3.org). AChecker was primarily chosen because of its free use and open source license. It provides evaluator diagnostic reports according to WCAG guidelines which can be exported in multiple formats. The AChecker can utilize WCAG 1.0 and 2.0 guidelines as well as Priority 1, 2, and 3 standards also known as 'A', 'Double-A', and 'Triple-A' (W3.org). While for each priority issues are categorized as 'Known Problems', 'Likely Problems', and 'Potential Problems' (achecker.ca), only 'Known Problems' were considered for this study.

The W3 Validator tool, also known as the W3C Markup Validation Service, checks the '…markup validity of Web documents in HTML, XHTML, SMIL, MathML…' and so on (validator.w3.org). The W3 Validator verifies websites in accordance with specified markup language rules. Markup validity implies a 'quality criteria for a Web page' among others (validator.w3.org). The important distinction is made that '…a valid Web page is not necessarily a good web page, but an invalid Web page has little chance of being a good web page (validator.w3.org).' For the purposes of the study, markup validity is one of the defined evaluation criteria when assessing local e-Government websites for accessibility and usability.

The third diagnostic tool, Netmechanic, conducts a free website speed test in which download time and browser compatibility are calculated (netmechanic.com). For this study, only download times for the selected e-Government websites were assessed at a standard 56K connection speed.

The three selected web diagnostic tools offered a comprehensive overview of accessibility considerations. A clear insight into local e-Government websites' compliance to WCAG 2.0 standards as well as performance considerations (as described in previous studies) was gained through the utilization of these tools. As customer satisfaction is heavily dependent on web performance, usability, and accessibility, these tools play a critical role in ensuring proper implementation of local e-Government websites and access to e-services.

Interviewees Selection and Approach

To obtain added insight into the collected data via web diagnostic tools, interviews were conducted with web development officials in Canada and the United Kingdom, specifically in the localities of Calgary and Hillingdon. An interview was conducted with the team lead for web and digital services in Calgary. A joint interview between the project manager on the access channel migration team and team lead for web development in Hillingdon was also carried out. Interviews were recorded and performed in a semi-structured approach with prepared general, open-ended questions. The purpose of the interviews was to gain insight into the strategies regarding local e-Government website conceptualization, as well as, to learn of the special considerations that are made with regards to usability and accessibility towards services. For the interviews, qualitative data analysis took place through thematic analysis and data coding. The thematic analysis process begins with a collection of data, an identification of data that relate to classified patterns, sub-themes combination and cataloguing, and the construction of a valid argument for chosen themes based on related literature [START_REF] Taylor-Powell | Analyzing qualitative data[END_REF]. The identified themes in the study build upon those discussed in the literature review. The transcribed interviews categorized information into common themes of preset categories, although room was left to identify emergent categories. By codifying persistent themes, an identification of connections between categories and their relative importance was conducted with some visible overlap.

Interview Analysis: Thematic Analysis

Utilizing a thematic analysis method, interview transcripts were studied for common themes. Initially, preset data categories were used via Fan's local government study [START_REF] Fan | An evaluation analysis of e-government development by local authorities in Australia[END_REF]. Fan's themes include 'top leadership support and management capacity', 'organizational and technical challenges', 'user-centred e-government approach', and 'bridging the digital divide' [START_REF] Fan | An evaluation analysis of e-government development by local authorities in Australia[END_REF]. While these preconceived themes aided in categorization, new themes became apparent through further analysis. Through data coding and identification of subcategories, five major themes were identified from interview transcripts. These themes were, (1) a user-oriented approach, (2) organizational challenges, (3) integration expectations and challenges, (4) adaptation and growth of access channels, and (5) evaluative methods/tools. The fifth theme can be considered a subcategory of organizational challenges. The interviewees identified evaluative tools utilized for e-Government website improvement with statistic and analytic tools playing a major role in identifying web trends. Based on interview data, the Hillingdon web development team takes more into consideration with regards to accessibility at a technical level than the Calgary team. This is consistent with acquired web diagnostic data, indicating greater accessibility compliance in the UK.

Findings

Diagnostic Results

The following graphs show the results of the diagnostics on the Canadian and UK local e-Government websites, using AChecker, Netmechanic and W3 Validator. Both the UK and Canadian websites were both compared internally within country, as well as between countries. The results will also be discussed in light of their interpretation.

Results Overview

The graphs illustrate the stark differences between Canada and the UK in the context of WCAG accessibility compliance metrics, with an overall advantage to the UK. The thematic analysis of interview transcripts produced five key areas of insight. Interviews were conducted with the purpose of providing insight into conceptualization of e-service delivery and accessibility. Interestingly, three out of four metrics of evaluation identified greater accessibility compliance in the UK. While diagnostic data identified an advantage in technical compliance, interview data suggested that the Canadian city of Calgary web and digital services team have a better integrated organizational structure, allowing for quick and responsive changes to e-service delivery. In short, while Calgary's technical presentation of e-services is relatively poor in terms of accessibility, its organizational structure allows for greater flexibility. Conversely, in the London borough of Hillingdon, there are more organizational challenges in managing third parties and integrating services. Third party services are presented and organized on Hillingdon's homepage, acting much more as a web portal in relation to Tat-Kei Ho's description of the user-oriented approach than Calgary's post-homepage user-oriented approach.

Discussion and Conclusion

The research builds upon evaluative e-Government studies using previous web diagnostic tools by [START_REF] Jati | Quality evaluation of e-government website using web diagnostic tools: Asian case[END_REF][START_REF] Choudrie | Evaluating global e-government sites: A view using web diagnostics tools[END_REF][START_REF] Ma | The usability and content accessibility of the e-government in the UK[END_REF][START_REF] Al-Radaideh | Evaluating Accessibility of Jordanian E-Government Websites for People with Disabilities[END_REF]. Further, the study provided insight into local web development teams perspectives on user-oriented approaches, organizational and integration challenges, adaptation and growth of access channels, and evaluative methods and tools used. This interview approach emulated a previous investigation into local official insight regarding e-services conceptualization [START_REF] Fan | An evaluation analysis of e-government development by local authorities in Australia[END_REF].

Future research opportunities include conducting interviews with other local officials to compare e-service conceptualization sentiment across regions. As interview data suggests, the homepage is no longer a major area of consideration in the delivery of e-services. Therefore, one can examine the implication of this shift in website presentation and what it means for accessibility at a technical and conceptual level.

This paper offered an exploration of the use of web diagnostic tools as an evaluative method for local e-Government websites, which provides local officials and webmasters a valuable and feasible option for internal evaluation. The results revealed greater accessibility compliance for local e-Government websites in the UK. For individual cities, interview data suggests the organizational structuring in Calgary better served effective, efficient, and responsive online service delivery as opposed to Hillingdon, which faces added organizational and integration challenges. For both parties, exploration of new access channel strategies and platforms provide encouraging prospects for the future of local e-Government development.

Fig. 3 .

 3 Fig. 3. The evaluative methodology used in the study.

Fig. 4 .Fig. 5 .

 45 Fig. 4. AChecker results identifying known accessibility problems for Canadian local e-Government websites, according to WCAG Priority 1 -'A' and WCAG Priority 2 -'AA' Fig. 5. AChecker results identifying known accessibility problems for UK local e-Government websites, according to WCAG Priority 1 -'A' and WCAG Priority 2 -'AA' Graphs in Figs. 4 and 5 clearly show that Canada clearly leads known accessibility problems in terms of the WCAG metric.

Fig. 6 .Fig. 7 .

 67 Fig. 6. Netmechanic results for browser compatibility issues for Canadian local e-Government websites Fig. 7. Netmechanic results for browser compatibility issues for UK local e-Government websites Graphs in Figs. 6 and 7 clearly show that the UK clearly leads in browser compatibility issues. The reverse is seen for an equivalent analysis of download times, with the UK having generally shorter download times.

Fig. 8 .

 8 Fig. 8. W3 Validator results identifying browser markup language issues for Canadian local e-Government websites

Fig. 9 .

 9 Fig. 9. W3 Validator results identifying browser markup language issues for UK local e-Government websites

Table 1 .

 1 Canadian cities ranked by population (statcan.gc.ca, 2015).The population mean of the selected Canadian cities is about 1,079,960 citizens. 50% of Canadian provinces are represented. The local websites selected in the United Kingdom were the London borough of Hillingdon (http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk), Birmingham (http://www.birmingham.gov.uk), Bristol (http://www.bristol.gov.uk), Sheffield (https://www.sheffield.gov.uk), and Norwich (http://www.norwich.gov.uk). The UK cities were similarly selected to provide a broad geographical overview of the country and provide a comparable average population size in relation to each other as well as the Canadian cities.

	#	City (CAN)	Province	Population
	1	Vancouver	British Columbia	2,470,300
	2	Calgary	Alberta	1,406,700
	3	Winnipeg	Manitoba	782,600
	4	London	Ontario	502,400
	5	Regina	Saskatchewan	237,800
	#	City (UK)	Region	Population
	1	Birmingham	West Midlands	2,453,700
	2	Sheffield	Yorkshire & the Humber	818,800
	3	Bristol	Southwest England	706,600
	4	Hillingdon	London	292,000
	5	Norwich	East of England	261,400

The local websites selected in Canada were, Calgary (http://www.calgary.ca), Vancouver (http://www.vancouver.ca), London (http://www.london.ca), Winnipeg (http://www.winnipeg.ca), and Regina (http://www.regina.ca). These Canadian cities were chosen to provide a broad geographic overview of the country and, for the most part, have comparable municipalities by measurement of population (ww12.statcan.gc.ca, 2015).

Table 2 .

 2 UK

	cities ranked by population 2013 (centreforcities,
	http://www.centreforcities.org/data-tool/#graph=table&city=show-
	all&indicator=population\\single\\2013)