Call for Papers: International Journal of Electronic Governance A Non-APSA Publication

Special Issue on “Users and uses of electronic governance”, 2009

Website: http://www.inderscience.com/ijeg 

Guest Editors
Dr. Stéphanie Wojcik
Céditec, Université Paris-Est
e-mail: stephanie.wojcik@orange.fr  

Mr. Giles Moss
New College, Oxford
e-mail: giles.moss@new.oxford.ac.uk 

The potential benefits of e-government and e-democracy, from improved public service
delivery to new opportunities for citizenship participation, all presuppose the role, competence and engagement of citizens as users. E-governance technologies and practices are designed with different uses in mind, and the user may be imagined and cast in numerous ways: as active citizens, consumers, workers, members of particular social groups, and so on. Beyond the question of Internet access and ‘the digital divide’, any beneficial effects of e-governance are contingent on the motivations and prior expectations of users, and their experience and actual use of e-governance technologies. User’s experiences are likely to be shaped by their perceptions of egovernance, including, inter alia, confidence in government, other political actors, and in the technology itself.

Much research on e-government and e-democracy focuses on the supply side. Research would benefit from placing analytical attention on the users and concrete uses of e-governance technologies. In this special issue, we welcome original unpublished papers on how to conceptualize ‘the user’ in studies of e-governance, and research on users’ expectations and motivations, competencies and know-how, and actual experience and use of e-governance. Contributions may refer to a range of ‘types’ of egovernance, at any scale and institutional level (international, national, regional or local).

Research papers may be either qualitative or quantitative in approach, and come from
any disciplinary or inter-disciplinary perspective. 

Subject Coverage
Contributions to the special issue may address, but are not exclusively limited to, any of
the following topics concerning the ‘users and uses of electronic governance’:

• The prior assumptions that developers and designers of e-governance technologies
  have about users and uses, and how e-governance configures and privileges
  particular forms of use; 
• The motivations, prior expectations and perceptions of the users of e-governance; 
• Users’ actual experiences of e-governance systems, including, for instance,
  questions of usability and accessibility, and any unintended forms and
  consequences of use; 
• The role of e-governance technologies and practices in the everyday life of citizens; 
• Uses and perceptions of e-governance across different social groups and cultural
  contexts; 
• Influence of (user or text-based) interactivity on the user.

Notes for Intending Authors
Submitted papers should not have been previously published or be currently under
consideration for publication elsewhere. All papers are refereed through a double blind process. A guide for authors, sample copies and other relevant information for submitting papers are available on the IJEG Submission of Papers web-page. All papers must be submitted online through the IJEG On-line Submissions System. If you experience any problems submitting your paper online, please contact submissions@inderscience.com, describing the exact problem you experience. Please include in your email the title of the Journal.

Important Dates
Deadline for paper submission: September 30, 2008 (extended)
Notification of acceptance / rejection: November 10, 2008
Final (camera-ready) papers submission: December 30, 2008
The special issue will be published in 2009.

IJEG Editor-in-Chief
Prof. Panagiotis Georgiadis
University of Athens, E-Government
Laboratory

IJEG Executive Editor
Prof. Dimitris Gouscos
University of Athens, Department of
Communication and Media Studies