This book explores the main elements of e-Democracy, the term normally used to describe the implementation of democratic government processes by electronic means. It provides insights into the main technological and human issues regarding governance, government, participation, inclusion, empowerment, procurement and, last but not least, ethical and privacy issues. Its main aim is to bridge the gap between technological solutions, their successful implementation, and the fruitful utilization of the main set of e-Services totally or partially delivered by governments or non-government organizations. Today, various parameters actively influence e-Services' success or failure: cultural aspects, organisational issues, bureaucracy and workflows, infrastructure and technology in general, user habits, literacy, capacity or merely interaction design. This includes having a significant population of citizens who are willing and able to adopt and use online services; as well asdeveloping the managerial and technical capability to implement applications that meet citizens' needs. This book helps readers understand the mutual dependencies involved; further, a selection of success stories and failures, duly commented on, enables readers to identify the right approach to innovation in governmental e-Services. With its balanced humanistic and technological approach, the book mainly targets public authorities, decision-makers, stakeholders, solution developers, and graduate students.

Autorentext
Alfredo M. Ronchi is a Professor at the Politecnico di Milano, Secretary General and Head Representative of the MEDICI Foundation at ITU headquarters in Geneva and UNESCO IFAP, Director of the JRC S2D2 (Safety & Security), and former main representative of OCCAM at the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva (1999-2016). He is a member emeritus of the WSA Board of Directors and President of eContentAwardItaly, member of the Scientific Committee of Global Forum (F-USA), Sacred World Foundation (India), Fondazione Nuove Comunicazioni (Italy) and coordinator of several international projects. He has collaborated with the Council of Europe, the World Bank, UNESCO, Austrian Ministry of Culture, Finnish Ministry of Culture, Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Culture Counts, Florence '99), and the Municipality of Christiansand (Norway). He has published more than 400 papers and books on e-Culture, e-Government, e-Learning (and other e-Services), and has been a (co-)organizer and programme chair for international conferences and workshops run by W3C, the ACM and IEEE.

Inhalt
1 Being Human in the Digital Age: e-Democracy.- 2 Governance and e-Governance.- 3 e-Participation.- 4 e-Inclusion & e-Empowerment.- 5 e-Government: background, today's implementation and future trends.- 6 e-Procurement.- Index.