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Web Sites of UK Local Authorities Low on Interactivity, Focus on News and Information Dissemination
31. March 2004

Self service and the enhancement of democratic processes take second place to news and information dissemination on the web sites of UK local authorities.

There are regional differences in the way what content and services are the most prominent on the web sites of UK local authorities and indications that the size of local authority may be a significant variable the extent of online content and services offered by local authorities in the UK. Percentage of content and services available on the surveyed UK local authority sites.

A few findings from the survey:

  • Content in other language than English: 50%
  • Application forms filled out and submitted online: 50%
  • Online Poll: 21%
  • Enlarge text (for the visually impaired): 31%
  • Login to a service web: 14%
  • Online newsletter which users can sign up for: 0%

These are one of the findings of an new survey of 15 randomly selected of web sites of major local authorities in the UK. The survey was conducted by Jon Thorsteinsson, an independent researcher who has surveyed web sites of Icelandic local authorities since 2002.

Download an extract from the new survey (18KB on the pdf-format)

Purchase the survey
Send me an e-mail expressing interest in purchasing the survey (to jonhth @ simnet.is).

I will send you the survey on the PDF format via e-mail ASAP before payment is made and an invoice (via e-mail on the pdf-format or via the post) for a direct payment to a UK Barclays bank account.

Price of the survey is 190£ (280$ or 118€)

You can also send a cheque in the post to the following address:

Jon Thorsteinsson
Asgardur 145 1
108 REYKJAVIK
ICELAND

Coverage of previous study of Icelandic Local Authorities

Þeir sem þegar hafa keypt úttekt á vefjum 30 fjölmennustu sveitarfélaga landsins (sjá hér að neðan) geta keypt nýju úttektina á 5.000 kr.

More About the Survey
The survey for the UK web sites was conducted in March 2004 while the Icelandic sites were surveyed in January and March 2004.

A separate paper in Icelandic covering the Icelandic sites in detail has already been published. It is the third consecutive survey of web sites of Icelandic local authorities Jon Thorsteinsson has conducted and published online since 2002.

The 15 UK local authorities web sites surveyed (randomly selected)

Icelandic Local Authorities Surveyed

Reykjavík Kópavogur Hafnarfjörður
Akureyri Reykjanesbær Garðabær
Akranes Sveitarfélagið Árborg Snæfellsbær
Seltjarnarnes Rangárþing eystra Sveitarfélagið Ölfus
Mosfellsbær Bessastaðahreppur Siglufjörður
Dalvíkurbyggð Hveragerði Sveitarfélagið Skagafjörður
Austur-Hérað Sveitarfélagið Hornafjörður Sandgerði
Fjarðabyggð Garður Húnaþing vestra
Rangárþing ytra Borgarbyggð Vestmannaeyjar

Population a key variable for online services for Icelandic local authorities
The sites of local authorities for the more populated municipals have more content and services than the less populated ones. The difference between the services and content offered on web sites of local authorities of more populated and less populated Icelandic local authorities has increased considerably over the last year.

This is one of the main findings from a survey of web sites of twenty Icelandic local authorities. The survey was conducted by Jon Thorsteinsson, and is largely comparible to a survey of these sites published in Icelandic in April 2002.

Three roles of web sites of local authorities
The survey estimates to what degree the local authoriy sites surveyd fulfill three different roles. These are Democratic role, Service Centre Role and the News and Information Role, This framework can be applied to any web site of a local authority.

The survey includes the following:

  • Detailed comparison of the municpials and findings from the survey published in April 2002
  • A to do list for local authorities employing online services
  • Recent material on e-government
  • List of issues relevant for local authorities with web sites and online services

More findings from the survey, media coverage and purchase information

Download Table of Contents, Introduction, Executive summary, Methodology and Bibliography for free

Coverage of the study

Purchase the survey
You can send me an e-mail expressing interest in purchasing the survey (to jonhth @ simnet.is). I will send you the survey on the PDF format via e-mail ASAP before payment is made and an invoice (on pdf or via the post for a direct payment to a Barclays bank account.

Price of the survey is 80£ (128$ or 118€)

You can also send a cheque in the post to the following address:

Jon Thorsteinsson
Asgardur 145
108 REYKJAVIK
ICELAND

Some findings:

  • Many of the local authority sites are still built around organisational structure
  • 70% of the web sites had a list of elected officials with their e-mail addresses
  • 50% of the sites now have maps of the municipality
  • Fewer sites offer constituents discussion forums
  • Only three sites have some kind of information/IT policy available


 


 

 
© Images and text by Jon Thorsteinsson