E-Government Portals in Mexico

Electronic government has become a powerful administrative tool for governments around the world (Dawes & Pardo, 2002; Fountain, 2001; UN & ASPA, 2002). Governments at all levels are attempting to improve services and increase their interactions with citizens using information and communication technologies (ICTs). In Mexico, state and local governments are expending large amounts of money to introduce ICTs in operational tasks, as well as in the provision of public services. Many of these governments have created Web pages, which provide information about government agencies and, in some cases, allow transactions. Unfortunately, in Mexico, there is no systematic or rigorous research program that measures and assesses the evolution and impact of e-government. As an initial step of a broader research effort, this study focuses on the functionality of state portals, looking at technical aspects, as well as their potential to improve the quality of the services provided by states. Gant and Gant (2002) state, “A Web portal serves as the integrated gateway into the state government Web site and provides visitors with a single point of contact for online service delivery within the state.” Therefore, these portals contain an interesting mixture of applications and are good examples of current e-government efforts. Accordingly, taking an evolutionary approach, this study provides an initial assessment of e-government at the state level in Mexico. This article is organized into six sections including these introductory comments. In the second section, three approaches to e-government assessment are described briefly. The third section explains our method of analysis. In the fourth section, we present some preliminary results. The fifth section includes some future trends and areas for research. Finally, section six provides some concluding remarks.