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Charles Kaylor, founder and Director of the Public Sphere Information Group, presented some of the most recent data from the Municipality eGovernment Assessment Project (MeGAP) at a recent conference held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The organizers of the event, the International Conference on Public Participation and Information Technologies 2003 (ICPPIT03), "aim[ed] at bringing together researchers and practitioners interested in the use of information technologies to support public participation, as well as researchers in fields related to participatory democracy models and information technology developments targeting public participation."
Kaylor discussed the progress of the largest cities in the United States at providing participation opportunities to their constituents. The progress was measured utilizing the most recent (Wave 3) MeGAP data that is currently being released by the PSI Group.
Some general findings:
- Even large US cities are doing very little to encourage public participation via their official websites.
- Smaller cities and towns are doing even less
- In fact, an enormous percentage of smaller cities and towns have no official web presence still, suggesting a big and growing gap between small and larger communities.
Kaylor reported exciting new data from over 29 cities and towns that currently constitute the Wave 3 MeGAP analysis (soon to be followed by the release of data for all US cities over 100,000). The presentation provides a snapshot of current egovernment "best practices" among leading edge innovators.
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