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Online Journal of Space Communication

Abstract

Many governments, including my own that serves a population of about 200,000 Central Iowans, have been reluctant to invest in technologies supporting e-government services. The operating assumption for this reluctance is that the "digital divide" delivers the benefits of e-government to the wealthiest and often most educated citizens, effectively diverting resources to constituencies traditionally less reliant on government services than the poor who are often left on the down side of the "digital divide". While "digital divide" considerations are and should continue to be a focal point in deciding allocation of scarce financial resources supporting technological improvements, reallocation of resources to bridge the "digital divide" should be a countervailing consideration in debates about the impact of e-government. Without doubt, this use of technologies to communicate citizen requests for service is more direct and arguably more effective than the process available to more affluent residents, effectively using technologies to turn the digital divide to the advantage of those less likely to have ready access to their own technologies.

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