New technologies are being created to help manage information. Governments have unique needs in this field.
Better information management can help officials identify barriers to more efficient government. In Egypt, officials realized that while data was plentiful, there was no information management framework to make sense of it. Without this framework, policy makers could not derive useful analysis quickly enough to react to social and economic developments.
Accurate official records should provide the basis for the rule of law, economic development, and accountability. Governments should take advantage of technologies that facilitate the cataloguing of records and the flagging and retrieval of information.
Evidence-Based Governance in the Electronic Age
is a five-year project initiated by the World Bank in partnership with the International Records Management Trust. It involves coordinating a global network of institutions and organizations to provide support for modernizing records management systems in parallel with measures to improve public sector management. http://www.irmt.org/evidence/
Land/Property Registration in Andhra Pradesh, India: Computerizing and making readily accessible registration and record keeping of land titles.
Land registration offices throughout the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh now operate computerized databases to help citizens complete registration requirements within an hour instead of several days under the paper-based system. Antiquated procedures such as manual copying and indexing of documents, along with storing these documents under inadequate conditions, have been replaced. This system has not only streamlined records management, but also has given a once opaque system prone to corruption a much greater degree of transparency.
Case study: http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/egov/cardcs.htm
Independent Electoral Commission, South Africa: Using ICT to support fair and open elections, from registering voters to quickly and accurately recording and tabulating national results.
Determined to conduct free and fair elections, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) used ICT to register voters and collect and tabulate their votes quickly, with integrity and transparency. The IEC made effective use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the creation of a multitude of spatial management reports required for election planning, logistics, registration, and results processing. The IEC also effectively applied call center technology, including an 800
number for the public with where to register
details, illustrating the importance of combining computer and telephone technologies to address the realities faced on the grass-roots level. A GIS application helped desk operators pinpoint the exact location of a voting station for registration purposes by referencing the municipality name, suburb and cross-streets as supplied by the voter. Recognizing low literacy levels (and other information access problems in South Africa), this facility assisted the voter in identifying the voting station within his/her voting district by merely making a toll-free call.
The geographical database compiled for election purposes is a national asset that can be used by various state departments and private organizations for spatial planning. For example, the GIS can be used to spatially determine the best location for a clinic based on the proximity of young children and people over 60 years of age in a particular area.
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