| The
revolution of business processes brought on by the Internet in the
past few years has sparked a trend in government called electronic
government, or e-government. This term refers to the application of
Internet-based technologies to improve the efficiency, effectiveness,
transparency and accountability of government. While most local, state,
and national government agencies have a web site at this point, the
content is generally limited to static information such as: addresses,
phone numbers, operating hours and types of services offered by the
various agencies, links to other sites and publications.
More
advanced sites offer interactive access to property appraiser databases
and public records of the county clerk of court. Still, the focus
of those sites is on delivery of information or one-way information
retrieval operations rather than providing real online government
services. However, in order to achieve a truly "efficient government,"
available digital technologies need to be fully exploited to enable
two-way interaction and online transactions including procurement,
permitting, and payment services.
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