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Quantitative assessment of European municipal web sites Development and use of an evaluation tool

Quantitative assessment of European municipal web sites Development and use of an evaluation tool Purpose – The internet is becoming increasingly important in the communication between local governments and citizens, which makes the usability of municipal web sites a critical factor in government‐citizen communication. The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a model for evaluating the potential of municipal web sites. Design/methodology/approach – In this work an objective investigation of the issue has been conducted by manually accessing and evaluating 84 European municipal web sites. Quality of web home pages was determined using an original Web Assessment Index, which focuses on four categories: accessibility, speed, navigability and content. Findings – A detailed report of the results arising from this investigation is presented and systematically analyzed. Originality/value – The most valuable output from this paper is not the ability to identify the best sites, but to see how each municipal site is compared to related sites and to spot ideas and practices that can improve city sites. These findings will be useful for both researchers and practitioners who seek to understand the issues relevant to municipal e‐government. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Internet Research Emerald Publishing

Quantitative assessment of European municipal web sites Development and use of an evaluation tool

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Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
1066-2243
DOI
10.1108/10662240910981380
Publisher site
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Abstract

Purpose – The internet is becoming increasingly important in the communication between local governments and citizens, which makes the usability of municipal web sites a critical factor in government‐citizen communication. The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a model for evaluating the potential of municipal web sites. Design/methodology/approach – In this work an objective investigation of the issue has been conducted by manually accessing and evaluating 84 European municipal web sites. Quality of web home pages was determined using an original Web Assessment Index, which focuses on four categories: accessibility, speed, navigability and content. Findings – A detailed report of the results arising from this investigation is presented and systematically analyzed. Originality/value – The most valuable output from this paper is not the ability to identify the best sites, but to see how each municipal site is compared to related sites and to spot ideas and practices that can improve city sites. These findings will be useful for both researchers and practitioners who seek to understand the issues relevant to municipal e‐government.

Journal

Internet Research – Emerald Publishing

Published: Aug 14, 2009

Keywords: Worldwide web; Internet; Local government; Europe

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