The e-government online presence comprises a web page and /or an official website; links to ministries/departments of education, health, social welfare, labor and finance may/may not exist; links to regional/local government may/may not exist; some archived information such as the head of states' message or a document such as the constitution may be available on line, most information remains static with the fewest options for citizens.

The Economist Intelligence Unit has published an annual e-readiness ranking of the world's largest economies since 2000. The ranking model evaluates the technological, economic, political and social assets of 69 countries-including this year's newest addition, Malta-and their cumulative impact on their respective information economies. E-readiness is the "state of play" of a country's information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and the ability of its consumers, businesses and governments to use ICT to their benefit.

This report presents the findings of a research study, funded by The Electoral Commission, looking at the extent and nature of men and women's political participation in the UK and examining the existence of any political activism ‘gap' by gender.

The article reviews the role of virtual communities as a knowledge management mechanism to support e-government in developing countries. It explores the need for knowledge management in e-government, identifies knowledge management technologies, and highlights the challenges for developing countries in the implementation of e-government and especially knowledge management solutions.

The government has embraced e-democracy as a way of reaching out to citizen constituencies - such as young people - who are currently opting out of the party political process. But just how much can we expect e-democracy to deliver, and where would it lead us in terms of representative democracy? Does technology by itself have the power to change behaviour, or do people need a 'fun factor' to convince them to take part in the democratic process in the era of Big Brother and Pop Idol?

eGovernment has already arrived in Africa, though it is essentially an imported concept based on imported designs. There are growing numbers of e-government projects, some of which are contributing to public sector reform and delivering gains of efficiency and/or effectiveness across a broad agenda. However, this positive picture must be set alongside significant challenges.

Representative democracy seems troubled. People are ignoring it. It is not exactly hip with the kids. A little like the unfortunate uncle who gate crashed the party, it hangs around trying to convince people that its magic tricks are interesting.

The arrival of the 2.0 paradigm seems to have a strong influence on all activities related to knowledge sharing. Good practice exchange is one of these activities. In Web 2.0 what we find is collective creativity oriented not only to new forms of content creation and access, but also to the explicit building and fostering of new social forms of collaboration.

In nine official votes between January 2003 and November 2006, authorities in Geneva invited up to 90,000 citizens to test a remote e-Voting system as a complement to traditional voting methods. Multidisciplinary teams composed of legal, political, PR, security and computer science specialists, strongly supported by the Government, participated in creating the system which has been positively appraised by the Geneva Parliament in 2006.

The ‘Commune' of Waterloo, in Belgium, has launched a European first - Watson, the ‘virtual local councillor'.

The new service was launched on 4 October after several months of preparation by the Commune's IT team. Baptised Watson, the ‘virtual councillor' is available to answer questions asked by the citizens of Waterloo 24 hours a day. The service uses innovative technologies which represent a major contribution to the promotion of greater interactivity between local authorities and their citizens.