Call for papers: Usability and Privacy Issues in Electronic and Mobile Government

Call for papers: Usability and Privacy Issues in Electronic and Mobile Government

A special issue of Electronic Government, an International Journal

Electronic government refers to the use of the Internet and related technologies by federal and state governments for purposes of exchanging information and providing services and transactions for individuals, businesses and other entities. Over the years, paper-based transactions, services and information exchanges involving the government have moved to the Internet platform, allowing easier accessibility and interactions for individuals and companies. This has resulted in speedy development of the e-government concept on a global basis. Web-based platforms allowed individuals to electronically file their taxes, apply for services and grants, learn information on government-related issues and take advantage of a high number of additional services offered.

With the ubiquity of cell phones and other mobile devices, the mobile platform offers a new domain for e-government to thrive. Voice and data communication technologies of mobile devices offer services for individuals regardless of where they are and when they would want or need the services. While electronic and mobile government concepts are rapidly evolving, a number of usability and privacy issues require research to ensure secure, easy-to-conduct transactions.

The goal of this special issue is to address concerns involving privacy and usability as well as additional issues within the broad user-related scope as they relate to electronic and mobile government. At this age of rapid growth in electronic and mobile commerce, the special issue will be a timely contribution to government entities, private entities and users alike to make transactions, information exchanges and services easier to be completed in a more effective, user-friendly, efficient and secure manner.

The special issue provides a global forum for presenting authoritative references, academically rigorous research and case studies in both theoretical development and applied research. The purpose of the special issue is to discuss the effective and timely development of state-of-the-art electronic and mobile government platforms to accelerate the popularity of these concepts in every layer of society. Specifically, it intends to disseminate research and studies in the emerging electronic and mobile government platforms from users’ perspectives and develop techniques and solutions that directly address difficulties currently encountered in these platforms.

The subject coverage of this special issue includes, but is not limited to:

• Effective design of electronic and mobile government environments
• Emerging electronic and mobile technologies such as wireless network and mobile devices that directly facilitate e-government activities
• Application of e-government systems in industries
• E-government and health care
• User perceptions of electronic and mobile government
• Usability studies involving user performance and preferences in electronic and mobile government
• Privacy and corresponding concerns in electronic and mobile government and solutions
• Development of new electronic and mobile government tools and applications
• Web-based technologies in electronic government and user perspectives
• The future of electronic and mobile government
• Design and evaluation methodologies for e-government and m-government interfaces
• Platform-based e-government and m-government applications
• Education and electronic government
• E-government for specific populations, including the elderly and disabled
• Collaborative e-government
• Authentication and privacy in e-government
• Cross-cultural e-government issues
• Comparisons between electronic and mobile government from users' perspectives
• Assessment of e-government and m-government in multiple contexts
• Human-computer interaction issues in electronic and mobile government
• Ubiquity of e-government
• E-government and industry interactions and user issues
• Support for e-government-user interaction
• Critical success factors in electronic and mobile government
• End-user software development for e-government
• Knowledge management in electronic and mobile government

Important Dates
Proposal deadline (optional): 1 November, 2008
Early submission deadline : 1 February, 2009
Full paper deadline: 15 April, 2009
Notification of status & acceptance of paper: 1 June, 2009
Final version of paper: 15 July, 2009