Part I The UN Global E-government Survey 2004 assesses the use of e-government, as a tool, to further the dissemination of information and service delivery. It ranks 191 member states according to egovernment readiness and e-participation indices. Part II Access for Opportunity presents a new paradigm of development which explores the disparity in real access to information and telecommunication technologies (ICTs). Key imperatives for governments, according to the report’s authors, include: (1) Governments must specifically identify and address issues of real access—utilizing the Access Model put forth herein—rather than issues of technology; (2) Governments need to re-think and re-engineer their development strategies towards building knowledge societies; and (3) To improve access-for-opportunity, countries must recognize the centrality of ICTs to development. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
In the UN Economic Commission for Europe region, Canada, Denmark, United Kingdom and the United States stood at the top of the rankings. Outside of the UNECE region, Australia, Mexico, Republic of Korea and Singapore were top-ranked in e-government readiness and e-participation.
For further information and to download the report, please see