M-government

Mobile government, sometimes referred to as mGovernment, is the extension of eGovernment to mobile platforms, as well as the strategic use of government services and applications which are only possible using cellular/mobile telephones, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and wireless internet infrastructure.

Proponents of mGovernment argue it can help make public information and government services available "anytime, anywhere" and that the ubiquity of these devices mandates their employment in government functions. An example of such beneficial use of mobile technologies would be the sending of a mass alert to registered citizens via short message service, or SMS, in the event of an emergency.

To quote mGovernment theorist and proponent Ibrahim Kushchu, "As e-business evolves towards m-business, eGovernment seems to follow the trend with a few but significant mobile government (mGovernment) applications."

1 Benefits of mGovernment
2 Issues with mGovernment
3 Issues with Capabilities of Services, Hardware, Operating Systems and Browsers
4 Potential Standard for mGovernment
5 References
6 See also

Benefits of mGovernment

added convenience and flexibility
ability to reach a larger number of people through mobile devices than would be possible using wired internet only

Issues with mGovernment

wireless and mobile networks and related infrastructure, as well as software, must be developed
to increase citizen participation and provide citizen-oriented services, governments need to offer easy access to mGovernment information in alternative forms
capabilities of hardware, operating systems and browsers
mobile phone numbers and mobile devices are relatively easily hacked and wireless networks are vulnerable because they use public airwaves to send signals
many countries have not yet adopted legislation for data and information practices that spell out the rights of citizens and the responsibilities of the data holders (government).

Issues with Capabilities of Services, Hardware, Operating Systems and Browsers

Typical functions to be delivered to mobile devices include:

displaying information of a public or secure nature
providing interactive services not requiring forms
transacting with forms.

Fairly basic phones are adequate for the first two functions but:

usually cannot handle secure data (because they cannot cope with SSL)
can be difficult to use where the device does not use a touch screen

More advanced devices include input through:

full keypads (e.g HTC Touch Dual),
on-screen finger touch screens (e.g. iPhone), or
on-screen stylus touch screens (e.g. HTC Touch Cruise).

Of these options, keypads and stylus touch screens are more viable for mgovernment transactions requiring form filling. The finger touch virtual keyboard in, for example, an iPhone occupies too much of the screen - see Text Input in the Wikipedia entry for iPhone.

More advanced devices with screens of at least 240 pixels width support more advanced browsers (such as Safari (typically Apple) and Internet Explorer Mobile and potentially Minimo, Mozilla's mobile browser). These more advanced browsers support SSL but the mobile browsers may not support JavaScript.

High value mGovernment interactions (especially transacting) is now much more viable with more advanced mobile devices ... however, as with any internet systems, it is necessary to determine a standard of device compatibility for mGovernment.

Potential Standard for mGovernment

eGovernment and eBusiness sites with mGovernment and mBusiness extensions are likely to require selectable sites specifically designed for mobile devices.

A standard for mGovernment sites for more advanced mobile devices (e.g. Smartphones) is likely to include:

screen width: at least 240 pixels,
web browser: Safari, Internet Explorer Mobile or similar capability,
transport layer security: ability to handle 128 bit encryption,
client-side scripting: assume not enabled (no JavaScript or client-side VBScript),
web accessibility: at least WAI Level 1 within the limitations of no client side scripts,
printing capability assumed: none,
file transfer capability assumed: none.

The .mobi standard may be applicable for many mBusiness and mGovernment functions, but is too limited for transactions requiring form filling.

References

I. Kushchu and M. H. Kuscu (2003). "From e-Government to m-Government: Facing the Inevitable". The 3rd European Conference on e-Government: 253-260.
K. Roggenkamp (2004). "Development modules for Mobile Government". The 4th European Conference on e-Government.

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