New ICTs Policies

First, we briefly explore issues of infrastructures of information polity, informatisation of public administration, civic networking, regulation, information inequalities and ‘digital divide.’ Next, we sketch the perspectives of a socially accountable policy for the new ICTs and we conclude with the value of ‘democratic rationalisation.’ It is generally accepted (Dutton, 1996) that the development of infrastructures of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is linked to national and regional economic development. Therefore, policies for infrastructure provision and management might enable the best policy actions to contribute to urban/regional and civic/national developments. An important role is played by an increasing number of intermediaries as, for instance, public services brokers, who act as gateways to public service and provide citizen identity validation, resources authentication, etc., together with storing and sharing of data in a secure environment for eGovernance services. According to Paul Frissen (1997), examples of political-administrative developments enacted by uses of new ICTs can be seen in transformations of internal organisation, operations, transactions, policies, monitoring, surveillance, regulation and deregulation, provision of information to politicians, citizens and societal groups and organisations and creation of independent intermediary agencies for development and implementation of public policies. Concerning the spectrum of public processes that can be mediated by the new ICTs, Bellamy and Taylor (1997) distinguish in general the following five sets of relationships lying at the heart of the information polity: (i) internal relationships in the machinery of government; (ii) the relationships of government organizations to the consumers of their services; (iii) the relationship of government to citizens of a state; (iv) the relationships between governments and the providers of ICT infrastructure, equipment and services; (v) the relationship between existing information systems, patterns of communication and technical infrastructures to the