|
Special Section:
E-Government
Michigan
: A Recipe for
E-Government Development
by Eric Frederick
Eric
Frederick is a graduate student in the Urban and Regional
Planning Program,
Michigan
State
University
. He can be reached by email at frede110@msu.edu
Michigan
: the
Wolverine
State
, the
Great Lakes
State
, the
Auto
State
, the
Digital
State
? TechNet’s State Broadband Index ranked
Michigan
’s policy toward information and communications technology (ICT)
first in the nation in 2001. More and more
Michigan
residents are able to access the Internet via high-speed
connections and are therefore logging on to e-government sites
for municipalities all over the state for a variety of services.
Not only do
Michigan
residents have access to governmental websites, but they also
have the desire to conduct government business and view
government-related information online. This article reports on
the positive and negative aspects of
Michigan
’s policy on technology infrastructure and Michiganders’
attitudes toward that technology and e-government.
Progressive Policy – Two Cups
The
Internet, importantly the way in which the Internet allows
society access to a plethora of information, is only as good as
the user’s connection to it. With 43% of Michigan residents
using the Internet daily, and 89% of residents having access at
home (compared to the national average of 50.5%), the types of
connections these users have is important. In a recent survey,
over 900 Michigan Internet users were asked what type of access
they have at home. A majority of users (59.8%) indicated they
have a dial-up, narrowband connection. Only 1.4% has no
available connection at their residence (meaning that there is
no access to a narrow- or broadband network), leaving 38.8%
having some form of broadband connection (either DSL, cable,
ISDN or any combination thereof) (See Figure 1.) These broadband
connections give residents high-speed access to government
information, educational tools and other forms of media with a
faster Internet connection.
Figure 1: State of the State Survey: Connection Type
Distribution
Michigan
residents not already using broadband technology were also asked
how likely they are to gain broadband within the next year. More
than one-third of residents (36.4%) indicated they are either
“very likely” or “somewhat likely” to acquire access to
broadband in the next year. In some areas, broadband can be a
costly monthly expense. Considering these potentially high
costs, 36.4% is a relatively high percentage. This response
shows that
Michigan
residents want and are willing to pay for high-speed access to
the Internet. This attitude is consistent with two other
questions asked in the survey.
The survey asked several questions to capture the
significance of the Internet to
Michigan
residents. Respondents of the survey, produced by Michigan State
University Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, were
asked to evaluate the following statement: “All
Michigan
residents should be able to access the Internet.” More than
four-fifths (82.8%) responded either “strongly agree” or
“somewhat agree.” (See Figure 2.) The second question
indicative of
Michigan
’s attitude toward high-speed technology and online access was
“Is the Internet essential in the function of today’s
society?” Eighty-eight percent of Michiganders responded with
“strongly agree” or “somewhat agree.” Both of these
questions support
Michigan
’s readiness to accept policy aimed at deploying broadband
technology to the entire state (Figure 3.)
Figure 2: State of the State Survey: Is the Internet
Essential?
Figure 3: State of
the State Survey: All
Michigan
Access
The
State Broadband Index, produced by TechNet and Analysys
Consulting, examines and ranks states according to their
broadband policies in three areas: deployment, supply-side and
demand-side. TechNet compiled a list of “best practices” for
states to follow when implementing broadband policy. The
following is a condensed version of that list:
Deployment Policies
·
States should adopt policies that standardize and
expedite rights-of-way permitting
·
States should limit the fees imposed for
rights-of-way access
Supply-Side Policies:
·
States should adopt a broadband strategy and
formal plan
·
States should assess their broadband status
through a map or catalog of existing infrastructure
·
States should allow municipalities to provide
wholesale services with their own broadband networks
Demand-Side Policies:
·
States should adopt initiatives that provide
incentives for public-sector and private-sector users to access
broadband networks
·
States should actively encourage broadband usage
by citizens through e-government initiatives
·
States should encourage government usage of
broadband applications
After
establishing these “best practice” benchmarks, TechNet then
ranked each state’s policy for each category.
Michigan
received the highest marks in each category and therefore the
highest overall score across all states. The action that set
Michigan
apart from the other states is the LinkMichigan initiative of
the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. The LinkMichigan
2001 initiative analyzes
Michigan
’s current status of high-speed technology use and provides
recommendations to the
Michigan
legislature as to the course of action necessary to position the
state as a leader in broadband infrastructure. Below are the
summarized recommendations made in the LinkMichigan report:
Statewide Public User Aggregation & Request for Proposals (RFP)
·
Aggregate collective purchasing demand of the
state, higher education users, K-12 users, local government
users and any other public partners and ask (through an RFP)
private-sector bidders interested in serving the state to
provide advanced telecommunication services to each.
·
Require by contract that providers build and
maintain a high-speed backbone infrastructure that extends to
most regions of the state to serve these customers.
·
Require by contract that winning vendor resell
excess network capacity on a non-discriminatory wholesale basis
to increase competition and encourage investment in regions that
might not otherwise attract new service providers.
Tax and Permitting Fairness
·
Establish level regulatory playing field for all
telecommunications and information carriers.
·
Enact one-stop right-of-way permitting system to
create common rules for all carriers.
·
Establish one common tax and fee system to replace
differing systems in place around the state today.
Access to Information
·
Enact laws and/or rules requiring all
telecommunications and information carriers to provide specific
network location and capability information.
·
Develop and enforce quality-of-service standards
so that businesses and other purchasers of advanced
telecommunication services are able to plan and not have
business operations disrupted because of continual installation
delays.
·
Link reporting to the approval of right-of-way
permits.
Community Assistance
·
Provide local community planning grants so that
local officials can develop their own last-mile solutions for
their communities.
·
Encourage communities to link or leverage their
local strategies to the statewide backbone initiative.
·
Assistance should not be given to communities that
have established barriers to new telecommunications investment.
By
examining the “best practices” developed by TechNet and the
recommendations of the LinkMichigan initiative, the strong
correlation between the two helps one understand how Michigan
ranks highest among all other states in implementing aggressive
policies toward broadband deployment.
Michigan
still has a majority of residents without broadband and
therefore still has some distance to cover to improve access for
these citizens. Most of this effort will come from last-mile
initiatives to reach residents in more remote areas of the
state. Policy, however, is only good if there is legislation
enacted to help implement the ideas.
Legislation – 3 Tablespoons
From
the LinkMichigan initiative a package of legislation, entitled
the Michigan HI Speed Internet Package
(2002), was enacted that includes three separate bills: the
first bill, known as the Metropolitan Extension
Telecommunications Rights-of-Way Oversight (METRO) Act, sets
common fees and a maximum permit delay for municipalities and
also creates the METRO Authority to oversee the new system. The
second bill creates the Michigan Broadband Development Authority
to control a fund that grants incentives for broadband
deployment, and the third bill increases an incentive for
deployment of broadband services that gives a property tax
credit to offset rights-of-way fees. These bills demonstrate
Michigan
’s active acceptance of broadband policy.
A Pinch of Community Aggressiveness
Some
Michigan
municipalities also are emerging as their own Internet Service
Provider (ISP) to the residents of their communities. One
example is the City of
Coldwater
,
Michigan
. The Coldwater Board of Public Utilities (CBPU) provides the
residents of Coldwater with cable television and high-speed
Internet access via cable modem. Wireless opportunities for
residents also are becoming available through the CBPU. This
gives the citizens of the community a choice in ISPs between the
private sector and the public sector. This development shows the
active involvement of public-sector entities in stimulating the
deployment of ICT.
Preheat the State for the Future
Even
though
Michigan
has incorporated some of the “best practice” principles
developed by TechNet, there are key elements the state has yet
to expand upon.
Michigan
currently does not have a formal, comprehensive plan for the
development of broadband technology. Such a plan would aid the
state in setting clear goals and timelines for future
development. A statewide strategy would also set unified
standards to which public- and private-sector ISPs would be held
accountable. Benchmarks could also be set to gauge the progress
of the plan and broadband deployment. Despite relatively high
numbers of broadband users across the state, a majority of users
still use dial-up or a narrowband connection.
A
story recently printed in the
Detroit
News tells the tale of a woman living in a rural county
in
Michigan
not so distant from the suburban life of
Detroit
and the academic and highly educated environment of
Ann Arbor
. Both of these more developed regions have more or less
excellent access to broadband technology; however, a woman
living not 25 miles from an extensive digitally developed region
cannot access a dial-up network from her home at a reasonable
cost. She must dial a long distance number, which can cost great
sums of money for extended Internet use. In short,
Michigan
still has a long way to go in terms of last-mile digital
infrastructure development. While more densely populated areas
have readily available access to broadband networks, more rural
areas of the state are lacking these critical connections.
Positive, Forward Thinking – 1/2 Cup
The
discussion here, so far, has been about digital infrastructure
development in
Michigan
and the state’s role on the leading edge of policies to
implement broadband technology. However, providing the physical
infrastructure is not enough for the state to maintain its
position as a technology leader for development. The next step
after digital development is intelligent development, which is
the smart and innovative use of technology. A prime example of
this development is e-government. The following is an analysis
of how the state of
Michigan
is using its digital infrastructure to promote e-government as
well as
Michigan
residents’ attitudes toward e-government development and
usage.
A
survey prepared for Cyber-state.org, a nonprofit, non-partisan
advocate for information technology in
Michigan
, examined Michiganders’ attitude toward e-government and
Internet use. Two similar surveys were conducted, a random phone
survey and an online survey. The online survey was much more
comprehensive and asked three particularly significant questions
regarding citizens’ use of e-government.
The
first question asked residents to rank local government services
they would be interested in being able to access via the
Internet, on a scale from one to five, with five being “very
interested.” These services included reading city policies and
regulations, checking on construction and development including
permit and inspection status, accessing property tax data and
assessments, paying local fees or fines, filing complaints,
applying for permits and licenses, and emailing local officials.
Respondents answering with a four or five ranged from 49% to 73%
for each of the aforementioned government services.
Michigan
residents want to be able
to conduct government business online.
The
second significant question listed government sectors and
whether respondents wanted the government to put more effort
into offering more services online for each of the sectors.
Respondents could answer with “little effort,” “moderate
effort” or “great effort.” The government sectors included
education, economy, health care, human services, natural
resources, tourism, homeland security and transportation. With
the exception of natural resources and transportation, receiving
44% and 41% respectively, every government sector received more
than 50% of respondents saying that the
government should put great effort into improving the online
services of these sectors.
The
final significant question related to e-government asked
residents if they would make greater use of government services
online if the services were available from a single site, one
that linked local, state and federal information from a single
point of access. More than two-thirds (69%) of the respondents
answered “yes,” they would be more likely to utilize these
services if available from a single site. Ease
of use is an important characteristic when residents decide to
conduct government business online.
Just a Dash of Skepticism
The
results from this survey solidify the fact that
Michigan
residents are ready to use e-government services and access
government related information via the Internet. However, with
more information available online and more residents entering
their personal information into a public medium, the issues of
security and confidentiality immediately arise. The survey also
asked
Michigan
residents how concerned they are with computer-based service
websites not keeping personal records confidential. More than
half (54%) of those surveyed said they were “very concerned”
with information not being kept classified while 14% stated they
were “not at all concerned.” Along these same lines,
residents were asked if government agencies keeping public
records such as driving records, property tax records and court
cases should make these records publicly available on the
Internet. An overwhelming 81% of respondents indicated that
these records should not be available over the Internet.
Michigan
residents seem to want to use e-government services but have
concerns when it comes to the confidentiality of their personal
information and public records. When
and if government websites can offer higher levels of security
regarding private information, citizens would be more likely to
use the services provided by these sites. Confidentiality
concerns aside,
Michigan
municipalities have begun to employ e-government services to
their citizens.
Quality Examples to Follow – 1/4 Teaspoon
Michigan
has 1,859 local government agencies. In 2004, 29% of these
municipalities had a presence on the Web. In 1999-2000 this
number was only 5%, in 2000-2001, 13% and in 2002-2003, 20%. The
number of government agencies providing services online has
risen at a steady rate, but is still not high enough. The
catalyst for this growth has been
Michigan
’s progressive policy toward broadband technology deployment,
as discussed earlier, and
Michigan
residents’ progressive attitude toward the use of
e-government. Cyber-state.org also has compiled a report
entitled Michigan’s
Online Local Government. This report ranks all levels of
government – county, township and city – using the Website
Attribute Evaluation System (WAES). This evaluation examines the
ease of use and content of websites as they relate to the
average user. From these website examinations it was found,
unfortunately, that most
municipal websites offer lots of content and data for users to
access but do not have a logical information architecture for
users to follow. Also, the data flow between users is mostly
one way. That is, the government is providing information to
users but users are not able to give feedback to officials, file
complaints or fill out forms. Some municipal sites, however, do
offer advanced interactive features for users. Below is a
listing of
Michigan
e-government sites that have innovative features pertaining to
each category of service:
Filing a
Complaint Online
·
Sterling Heights
: www.ci.sterling-heights.mi.us/
(click on “Contact Us”)
·
Grand Rapids
: www.grand-rapids.mi.us/683
Code and Ordinance Information
·
East Jordan
: www.eastjordancity.com/html/city_ordinances.html
·
Dearborn Heights
: www.dhol.org/ (click on
“Ordinances Online”)
Police and Crime Information
·
Ann Arbor
: www.ci.ann-arbor.mi.us/Police/
·
Waterford
Township
: http://twp.waterford.mi.us/police/unsolved_crimes.htm
Interactive Functions (permits, applications and GIS online)
·
Auburn Hills: www.auburnhills.org/info/default.aspx
·
Northville: http://ci.northville.mi.us/Services/Clerk/BusinessLicenseRegistration.htm
·
Grand Rapids
: www.ci.grand-rapids.mi.us/index.pl?page_id=1450
Maps and Documents
·
Marquette:
www.mqtcty.org/
·
Alpena: www.alpena.mi.us/docs/helpdocpage.htm
E-Commerce (online payments and bidding)
·
Muskegon
: www.ci.muskegon.mi.us/financial/payments/default.asp
·
Washtenaw: www.ewashtenaw.org/government/departments/finance/purchasing/online_bids/open_bids.html
These municipal websites offer residents quality services
and important information for conducting business with
government.
Stir All Ingredients Together
The
development of e-government in
Michigan
is the first step toward intelligent development utilizing the
state’s extensive broadband infrastructure. With only 29% of
Michigan
municipalities online, the state has a long way to go in
creating a comprehensive e-government environment for citizens
of all communities. However, with the progressive policy aimed
at the extension of the physical infrastructure of broadband
technology recommended by the LinkMichigan initiative and the
package of bills enacted by the legislature,
Michigan
has the “regulatory backbone” for building a successful
e-government atmosphere.
Along with
broadband infrastructure, the citizens of
Michigan
also support the “user-friendly backbone” for e-government.
Most Michiganders want to see government functions available
online, and this positive attitude gives communities the
confidence needed to pursue such endeavors. Municipalities
currently lacking a comprehensive government website have
examples of quality sites already developed by other communities
in the state as a reference. E-government is only the first step
toward e-governance, the synthesis of intelligent development
including e-commerce, e-business and other creative uses of
digital technology. The state government should set an example,
using e-government for the promotion of intelligent development
and to spark other imaginative and inventive uses of digital
infrastructure. With the combination of broadband infrastructure
and policy, Michiganders’ positive attitude toward
e-government and quality examples of already developed community
websites, the state of
Michigan
is transforming itself into a state of technological growth. Now
bake at a statewide level and serve to all citizens.
For Further
Reading
Public
Sector Consultants, Inc. (2001 May). Information
technology in
Michigan
: Findings from the 2001 Cyber-state survey.
Ann Arbor
,
MI
: Cyber-state.org. Retrieved October 19, 2004, from www.pscinc.com/Documents/cyberstate/2001/report.pdf
.
Michigan
Economic Development Corporation. (2001 May). LinkMichigan.
Retrieved October 19, 2004, from http://medc.michigan.org/cm/attach/94595AF5-BAE2-4BEE-856A-22DA8A130538/linkmichigan2.pdf
Cyber-State.org. (2004 June). Connecting
the dots in Michigan: Michigan’s online local government: An
evaluation of the state’s localities on the Internet – 4th
egovernment review.
Ann Arbor, MI: Cyber-State.org. Retrieved October 19,
2004, from www.cyber-state.org/1_0/2004%20Local%20Government/2004LocalGovReport.pdf
TechNet,
& Analysis Consultants. (2002). The
State Broadband Index: An assessment of state policies impacting
broadband deployment and demand. Retrieved October 19, 2004
from www.technet.org/resources/State_Broadband_Index.pdf
Michigan State University, Institute for Public Policy and Social
Research. (In press). State
of the State Survey Results. (In press). To be made
available at www.ssc.msu.edu/~espace/SmartMich.htm.
|
