OTROS ORGANISMOS QUE BRINDARON INFORMACIÓN

This section will present the cases, their context and the results of the research that was conducted. The results of this thesis show a number of different and interesting results when taking into account the factors for usability as identified in the previous section. By testing the three hypotheses in an empirical manner, we can assess the usability of the websites of the three case studies. In addition to the observations made on the websites, this thesis will also test the usability by seeking answers to the three frequently asked questions as taken from Canadian government websites to see how easy it is to find an answer. Full sets of screenshots of the process can be found in the appendices (part 7 of this thesis). Provision of information is an important aspect of online government services and is strongly reflected here. After the results, they will be analysed within the theoretical frameworks discussed in the literature

The Usage of e-Government Services in the Baltic States 39

review in the context of institutional capacity, e-government, data readiness, the digital divide and the overall usage of e-government services.

3.2.1 Estonia

Estonia is a small country in the north east of Europe on the Baltic Sea. With a population of just 1.3 million, it is one of the smallest countries in Europe (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018a). It declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, taking the opportunity to transition to a market economy and political democracy (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018a). Estonia is a particularly interesting case study for this topic due to its strong interest in e-government technologies and sophisticated frameworks for implementing online services. As one of the countries at the “forefront of digitalising government” (Björklund, 2016, p.914), Estonia presents the opportunity to analyse how governments that are enthusiastic about and fully embrace technologies in governance are able to implement to most effective solutions for citizens.

Estonia’s technical progress and enthusiasm is considered to be indicative of their institutional changes in the post-Soviet period - with high levels of investment into technical solutions (Björklund, 2016), Estonia was able to take the opportunity to restructure their governance systems in order to make them internet based. Without the path dependency associated with western nations and their years of established structures (which can be problematic for quick change and innovation), Estonia was able to build their systems more or less from scratch, starting with the latest technologies (Björklund, 2016). A lack of legal constrictions and high technical competencies are attributed to these changes (Björklund, 2016) and have contributed to “more strong central government, high internet diffusion and a modern tradition of innovative use of ICTs” (Åström et al., 2013, p.17). By removing institutional barriers to progress and change, Estonia has become one of the countries with the highest levels of internet access. In 2013, 78% of the population was online (Åström et al., 2013); by 2016 it was 88% (European Commission, 2016a), showing the extent to which the infrastructure is supporting the closing of the digital divide in Estonia. Estonia still experiences a digital divide between urban and rural users (6%) and between ages, while just 27% of those aged 65-74 were using the internet in 2013, this went up to 93% of those under the age of 44 years (Loit and Siibak, 2013, p.18). With such high overall levels of internet usage in Estonia, it is clear that people are strongly living out their day-to-day lives increasingly online. Therefore, it is

The Usage of e-Government Services in the Baltic States 40

vital that the government is prepared and ready to be able to function the same, if not better in an online environment when it comes to the provision of public services.

This commitment to electronic services is at the centre of the government’s innovation. According to their Digital Agenda for 2020 (2014), Estonia is already leading the way in government factors such as e-ID cards, e-voting and other participatory methods of online services. As former president of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves joked in 2016, the percentage of GDP they have saved through digitalisation of their online services is approximately two - or enough to neatly cover their NATO contribution (Heller, 2017). This indicates a level of top down, government initiated technical progress that reflects positively on Estonia’s usage levels of online government services of 88%.

The three websites under observation for the Estonian case are: ● Healthcare

(Sotsiaalministeerium, [Ministry of Social Affairs in Estonia], n.d.). ● Finance

(“Rahandusministeerium” [Ministry of Finance], n.d.) ● Education

("Haridus ja- teadusministeerium" [Ministry of Education and Research], n.d.)

OBSERVATION HEALTH FINANCE EDUCATION

1a. Is the website available in a (more than one) foreign language(s)?

English Yes Yes Yes

Russian Yes No Yes

1b. Are there provisions for people with disabilities? (e.g. large text, speech-to- text)

Yes Yes Yes

2a. Is there an overview of the actions of the agency?

The Usage of e-Government Services in the Baltic States 41

2b. Is there a search function? Yes Yes Yes

2c. Does the site have a menu? Yes Yes Yes

2d. Is there a constant colour scheme? Yes Yes Yes

2e. Does the site run easily (no lagging, error 404 etc.)?

Yes Yes Yes

3a. Is information freely available and accessible?

Yes Yes Yes

3b. Is it possible to contact the agency? (e.g. contact forms, email addresses)

Yes Yes Yes

3c. Is it possible to download or complete forms online? Alternatively, is a link provided?

Yes Yes Yes

3d. Is there the possibility of open discussion? (e.g. forums, discussion boards)

No No No

TOTAL 11 10 11

% 91.6 83.3 91.6

Different departments work closely together, as can be seen by the fact that the studied ministries have the same layout, design and similar content. It is extremely clear how the high quality of Estonian websites reflects positively on their ease and practicality of use. With a clear design and information that can be found in the same place on every websites, it can be seen that Estonian websites have a shared layout across government departments. When looking at the percentages of usability attained by the three websites, both the Ministries of Health and Education achieved the high scores of 91.6%, whereas the Ministry of Finance achieved 83.3%. In the case of accessibility in the Estonian case, the three websites present options to access their information in English, and in two out of three cases, Russian (the only

The Usage of e-Government Services in the Baltic States 42

website that did not have a Russian translation was the Ministry of Finance). While the extent of the information is restricted in the other languages (even with limited language ability, it can clearly be seen that there is less text), it shows that the websites are at least possible to read with other language abilities. The websites have a number of options for people with disabilities, such as voice to text options and different text sizes for the hard of sight. This shows a level of awareness about the needs of the disabled community when providing information on government websites.

In terms of the functionality of websites, Estonia scored highly, achieving perfect scores across the websites. In terms of the websites, there is a comprehensive overview of the actions and activities of the ministry, a search function, the option to search for specific information pages via a menu and a constant colour scheme. In addition, when using the website, the author experienced no 404 errors, lagging of pages nor not-yet built pages. This indicates a well- designed website from a functionality point of view. The factors being looked at in regards to the provision of services on Estonian websites were another factor where Estonia performed strongly. Information is open and freely accessible, and it is easy to contact the relevant agency (the Ministry of Education even has individual contact addresses and telephone numbers for multiple members of staff). The websites provided a link to the external website eesti.ee, which is the Estonian online portal for e-government services, such as renewing prescriptions, filing taxes and requesting child support (Estonian State Portal, n.d.). The only area where none of the Estonian websites performed was on the existence of online, communal messages or discussion boards on their websites.

When looking at the usability of these websites in regards to seeking out particular information (information on the flue, budget and scholarships for international students), the results from the Estonian cases are displayed below:

Flu Budget Scholarships

Homepage Homepage Homepage

↓ ↓ ↓

The Usage of e-Government Services in the Baltic States 43

↓ ↓ ↓

Search brings nothing

Search brings nothing First result: Extension of scholarship

opportunities for international students (News)

↓ ↓ ↓

Health Board Activities Activities

↓ ↓ ↓

Search “flu” State Budget and Economy Higher Education

↓ ↓ ↓

Result: How to avoid Influenza

PDF link “State Budget Strategy 2018-2021” Link to studyinestonia.ee ↓ Study ↓ Scholarships

By assessing how easy it was to answer common questions faced by the public engaging with their governments, it was able to reflect on the usability, and thus ICT capacity of the different government departments. A common theme among the Estonian examples is a search bar that either brought no or irrelevant results. This could be put down to the language barrier - searches were only made in English. While the website is available in English, it reflects that it is not entirely translated. This reflects more negatively on the infrastructure of the website and may be just a badly programmed search function. Beyond the questionable search bar however, the three websites were very easy to follow a chain of requests in order to obtain the requested information. This was indicative of information that is well stored and well planned out.

The Usage of e-Government Services in the Baltic States 44

3.2.2 Latvia

Latvia is located just south of Estonia on the Baltic Sea to the north of Lithuania. It is a relatively small country of just under 2 million people - a population that has been declining in the past decades (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018b). Like Estonia, it declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, joining NATO and the European Union in 2004 (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018b). Due to its historical, political and geographical similarities with Estonia and Lithuania, it provides an interesting comparative study to look into the way institutional factors manifest themselves in the provision of online government services to citizens. With a usage rate of 69% (Eurostat, 2017), Latvia has shown large gains in their numbers in the past years, from 52% in 2015 (Eurostat, 2015). They have increased spending in ICT infrastructure, trying to improve and modernise Latvia’s online systems in order to make them more efficient and competitive (Moore and Vanags, 2007, p.22).

Latvia is still being impeded by stovepipe systems, whereby each government sector is responsible for their own ICT projects and their implementation (Moore and Vanags, 2007). This is clearly seen on the government websites, whereby each one has vastly different layout, design and practical functionalities. This contributes to a lack of communication between government ministries as well as their ICT departments. This is not positively reflected in the Latvian example, as a lack of commonality is present on the websites. However, this does not appear to discourage usage, nor affect the usability ratings to an extensive degree as, while scoring lower than its Estonian counterparts, it the differences are relatively small.

The digital divide can still be felt quite severely in Latvia, with usage not being spread among all people equally - there exists still quite extensive socio-cultural barriers, particularly in remote areas due to a lack of technical ability among some users (Moore and Vanags, 2008). However, as Balina (2014) notes, there has been a significant increase in the levels of digital literacy in Latvia from 18.7% in 2005 to 60.9% in 2011 - in reference to the percentage of individuals with medium or high levels of ICT skills. When compared with the EU averages of 22.3% and 42.6% respectively (p.414), it can be seen that Latvia is quickly moving to become more and more tech savvy as they embrace technical solutions in their everyday lives. Latvia recognises the importance of online inclusion among the wider population and this is evident in the large number of stakeholders among different sectors of society such as national and

The Usage of e-Government Services in the Baltic States 45

local governments, non-government organisations and businesses who aim to engage the local population to ensure nobody is left behind (Balina, 2014, p.414).

The three websites under observation for the Latvian case are: ● Healthcare

("Veselības ministrija [Ministry of Health]", n.d.) ● Finance

("Finanšu ministrija [Ministry of Finance of Latvia]", n.d.) ● Education

(“Izglītības un zinātnes ministrija” [Ministry of Education and Science], n.d.)

OBSERVATION HEALTH FINANCE EDUCATION

1a. Is the website available in a (more than one) foreign language(s)?

English Yes Yes Yes

Russian Yes No No

1b. Are there provisions for people with disabilities? (e.g. large text, speech-to- text)

Yes Yes Yes

2a. Is there an overview of the actions of the agency?

Yes Yes Yes

2b. Is there a search function? Yes Yes Yes

2c. Does the site have a menu? Yes Yes Yes

2d. Is there a constant colour scheme? Yes Yes Yes

2e. Does the site run easily (no lagging, error 404 etc.)?

Yes Yes No

The Usage of e-Government Services in the Baltic States 46

accessible?

3b. Is it possible to contact the agency? (e.g. contact forms, email addresses)

Yes Yes Yes

3c. Is it possible to download or complete forms online? Alternatively, is a link provided?

No No No

3d. Is there the possibility of open discussion? (e.g. forums, discussion boards)

No No No

TOTAL 10 9 8

% 83.3 75 66

The three websites studied from the case of Latvia were completely different in layout and design. All three pages has different colour schemes, menus, layouts and use of pictures in comparison to the others. All three pages resulted in different percentage results in terms of the usability - the Ministry of Health obtained 83.3%, the Ministry of Finance obtained 75% and the Ministry of Education obtained 66%. In terms of accessibility, the Latvian websites had all three available in English (although like the Estonian case, the information was restricted with less text). However, only one out of three of the websites (Ministry of Health), had its content translated into Russian. In terms of the provision accessible functions of users with disabilities, the Latvians received a positive observation, as there was the option to change the size of the text for people who were hard of sight. However, beyond this there were no other options for other disabilities.

The functionality aspect of the websites scored extremely well on the three Latvian cases, only losing one point. The Latvian Ministry of Education was unable to receive the points for errors and 404 messages, as it was offline for two entire days during this research. When it came back online after a weekend, the website worked perfectly, however it cannot be ignored that the site’s facilities were offline for at least 24 hours. It is important however to

The Usage of e-Government Services in the Baltic States 47

recognise the high standards of the other factors, search bars, menus, neat overviews of the activities of the departments and constant (if not appealing) colour schemes, even if there was the occasional slow loading of a page. Latvia had a lack of open discussion forums or other types of interactive consultation. Latvia had no clear option to download forms or other government documents, nor a link to Latvia’s external portal (like Estonia’s eesti.ee - Latvia has their own state portal at latvija.lv) where the interactive activities could be carried out. However, they are well informed and have links through to other websites for further information meaning that Latvian citizens can at least be informed before they contact the relevant government authorities. Their contact information for the department is easy to find and gives and address, e-mail address and telephone number for the department as well as the names of key politicians. Information is freely accessible and open, meaning that Latvian citizens can see the actions of the relevant government ministry.

When looking at the usability of these websites in regards to seeking out particular information (information about the flu, budget and scholarships for international students), the results from the Latvian case are displayed below:

Flu Budget Scholarships

Homepage Homepage Homepage

↓ ↓ ↓

Search “flu” Budget Search “scholarships”

↓ ↓

No results First result: “Latvian

scholarships and fellowships”

↓ ↓

Healthcare Link to State Education

The Usage of e-Government Services in the Baltic States 48

↓ ↓

Healthcare in Latvia Latvian Scholarships

↓

Link to National Health Service

↓ Useful Links

↓

Disease Prevention and Control Centre of Latvia

↓

Infectious Diseases ↓

Flu (Gripa)

By following a logical and commonly ask question through the three websites, it was able to see how easy it is in practice to answer the frequently asked questions as posed by citizens to the respective government departments. The Latvian websites brought quite different results, reflecting the unique designs that distinguish the separate departments. The Ministry of Health required extensive clicking through to find information on the flu - this is not a positive sign, as information that is not clear and easy to find is essentially useless. In comparison, the Ministry of Finance has their budget information front and centre, with just one click required. Similarly, the Ministry for Education has a clear layout and accessibility when it comes to obtaining information on obtaining scholarships; while there are a number of steps that need to be taken, then are all clearly marked and do not require guessing or trying multiple options as seen by the Ministry of Health.

The Usage of e-Government Services in the Baltic States 49

3.2.3 Lithuania

Lithuania is the southernmost of the three Baltic states, located to the north of Belarus and east of Poland. With a population of 2.8 million, it is the largest and most populous of the case studies (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018c). Like Estonia and Latvia, it declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 before eventually becoming a fully-fledged member of NATO and the EU in 2004 (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018c). Out of the three studied cases, Lithuania had the lowest usage rates of online government services at just 44% (Eurostat, 2017). While Lithuania has long been interested in the potential problems and solutions that e-government can provide (Augustinaitis and Petrauskas, 2002), it has not resulted in the same level of usage as its Baltic neighbours.

Policy making in Lithuania is understood as being highly legalistic - with the adoption and preparation of legal acts being central to the creation of public policy. This has consequently resulted in lower levels of institutional capacity when it comes to policy making and development as the legalistic nature results in slower working times and a different skill set being used in the process (Pivoras and Saulius, 2013). In comparison to the other two countries, there is limited literature on the uptake of e-government solutions in Lithuania,