Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Accessibility Issues in E-Government

  • Conference paper
Electronic Government and the Information Systems Perspective (EGOVIS 2014)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 8650))

Abstract

Government services are almost always monopoly services, and as a result, it is important to maximize inclusion. However, substantial numbers of people are unable or unwilling to use internet services. Usability and accessibility issues are a major deterrent to internet use and are important in users’ perceptions of websites. These are particularly important for older people, many of whom have reduced visual acuity, loss of fine motor control and other disabilities that make it more difficult to deal with poorly designed websites. We undertook two sets of experiments, the first involving an assessment of the accessibility and standards compliance of local and national e-government sites in the UK. The second focuses on sites in several other European countries. Results show significant differences between different levels of government and between standards compliance and accessibility.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Digital landscape research (2012), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/digital-landscape-research/digital-landscape-research

  2. Acsi federal government report 2013 (2014), http://www.theacsi.org/news-and-resources/customer-satisfaction-reports/customer-satisfaction-reports-2013/acsi-federal-government-report-2013

  3. Abou-Zahra, S., Brewer, J., Arch, A.: Towards bridging the accessibility needs of people with disabilities and the ageing community. In: Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A), pp. 83–86. ACM (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  4. AlFawwaz, B.M.: Evaluation of egovernment websites usability in Jordan (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  5. AlJarallah, K., Chen, R.C.C., AlShathry, O.: Cognitive-based approach for assessing accessibility of e-government websites. In: Stephanidis, C., Antona, M. (eds.) UAHCI 2013, Part II. LNCS, vol. 8010, pp. 547–554. Springer, Heidelberg (2013)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  6. Becker, S.A.: E-government usability for older adults. Communications of the ACM 48(2), 102–104 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Bélanger, F., Carter, L.: The impact of the digital divide on e-government use. Communications of the ACM 52(4), 132–135 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Caldwell, B., Chisholm, W., Slatin, J., Vanderheiden, G., White, J.: Web content accessibility guidelines 2.0. W3C working draft 27 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Choudrie, J., Ghinea, G., Songonuga, V.N.: Silver surfers, e-government and the digital divide: An exploratory study of UK local authority websites and older citizens. Interacting with Computers 25(6), 417–442 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Davey, B., Parker, K.R., Lukaitis, A.: e-government and the elderly: A two country comparison. e-Government 8, 6–2011(2011)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Garcia, A.C.B., Maciel, C., Pinto, F.B.: A quality inspection method to evaluate E-government sites. In: Wimmer, M.A., Traunmüller, R., Grönlund, Å., Andersen, K.V. (eds.) EGOV 2005. LNCS, vol. 3591, pp. 198–209. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  12. Gatto, S.L., Tak, S.H.: Computer, internet, and e-mail use among older adults: Benefits and barriers. Educational Gerontology 34(9), 800–811 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Gay, G., Li, C.Q.: AChecker: Open, interactive, customizable, web accessibility checking. In: Proc. Int.Cross Disciplinary Conf. Web Accessibility, W4A 2010, pp. 23:1–23:2. ACM, New York (2010), http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1805986.1806019

  14. Granizo, C.J., Yanez, P.L., Ramirez, D.P., Machado, P.C.: Usability in e-government sites. In: 2011 Eighth International Conference on Information Technology: New Generations (ITNG), pp. 453–458. IEEE (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Holzinger, A., Searle, G., Kleinberger, T., Seffah, A., Javahery, H.: Investigating usability metrics for the design and development of applications for the elderly. In: Miesenberger, K., Klaus, J., Zagler, W.L., Karshmer, A.I. (eds.) ICCHP 2008. LNCS, vol. 5105, pp. 98–105. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  16. Isa, W.A.M., Suhami, M.R., Safie, N.I., Semsudin, S.S.: Assessing the usability and accessibility of Malaysia e-government website. American Journal of Economics and Business Administration 3(1), 40 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Kamoun, F., Almourad, M.B.: Accessibility as an integral factor in e-government website evaluation: the case of Dubai e-government. Information Technology & People 27(2), 5 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Kuzma, J.M.: Accessibility design issues with UK e-government sites. Government Information Quarterly 27(2), 141–146 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Lines, L., Ikechi, O., Hone, K.S.: Accessing e-government services: Design requirements for the older user. In: Stephanidis, C. (ed.) Universal Access in HCI, Part III, HCII 2007. LNCS, vol. 4556, pp. 932–940. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  20. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP: for digital inclusion: The economic case for digital inclusion (2009), http://www.parliamentandinternet.org.uk/uploads/Final_report.pdf

  21. Loranger, H., Nielsen, J.: Prioritizing Web Usability. New Riders (2006) ISBN-10: 0-321-35031-6

    Google Scholar 

  22. Money, A.G., Lines, L., Fernando, S., Elliman, A.D.: e-government online forms: design guidelines for older adults in Europe. Universal Access in the Information Society 10(1), 1–16 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Nariman, D.: Analyzing text-based user feedback in e-government services using topic models. In: IEEE CISIS, pp. 720–725. IEEE Computer Society, Washington, DC (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/CISIS.2013.129

    Google Scholar 

  24. Phang, C.W., Sutanto, J., Kankanhalli, A., Li, Y., Tan, B.C., Teo, H.H.: Senior citizens’ acceptance of information systems: A study in the context of e-government services. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management 53(4), 555–569 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. de Róiste, M.: Bringing in the users: The role for usability evaluation in egovernment. Government Information Quarterly 30(4), 441–449 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Sayago, S., Blat, J.: About the relevance of accessibility barriers in the everyday interactions of older people with the web. In: Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibililty (W4A), pp. 104–113. ACM (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Taylor Sr., A., Miller, L., Nilakanta, S., Sander, J., Mitra, S., Sharda, A., Chama, B.: An error detection strategy for improving web accessibility for older adults. International Journal on Advances in Intelligent Systems 6(3 and 4), 376–393 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Tinholt, D., Colclough, G., Oudmaijer, S., Carrara, W., Tol, T., Schouten, M., van der Linden, N., Cattaneo, G., Aguzzi, S., Jacquet, L., Kerschot, H., van Gompel, R., Steyaert, J., Millard, J., Schindler, R.: Public services online: Digital by default or by detour (2013), doi:10.2759/13072

    Google Scholar 

  29. W3C: Web content accessibility guidelines (wcag) 2.0 (2008), http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/

  30. Youngblood, N.E., Youngblood, S.A.: User experience and accessibility: An analysis of county web portals. Journal of Usability Studies 9(1), 25–41 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

    Eleanor Leist & Dan Smith

Authors
  1. Eleanor Leist
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Dan Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Corvinus University of Budapest, Fővám tér 13.-15, 1093, Budapest, Hungary

    Andrea Kő

  2. ITTIG - CNR, Institute of Legal Information Theory and Techniques, Italian National Research, Council, Via de’ Barucci 20, 50127, Florence, Italy

    Enrico Francesconi

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Leist, E., Smith, D. (2014). Accessibility Issues in E-Government. In: Kő, A., Francesconi, E. (eds) Electronic Government and the Information Systems Perspective. EGOVIS 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8650. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10178-1_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10178-1_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-10177-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-10178-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation