Assessing UK e-government websites: classification and benchmarking

Classification permeates us: our being and our world. This paper seeks to extend the information systems literature on classification by suggesting classification as a quest, involving man, in a process comprised of both finding and producing truth. Drawing on Martin Heidegger’s etymological enquiry, classification is reinterpreted as a dynamic movement towards order. The essence of technology is an ordering based on such dynamic classification. By exploring two exemplary UK governmental website benchmarking projects, our analysis identifies the means involved in producing the classifications inherent to these benchmarking projects. It further highlights the regulatory implications of dynamic classification within the information systems field.