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“Web tools and strategies” value is 29.29 over 100
in 2012, 32.53 over 100 in 2013). This moves an
emphasis from the individual for whom information
equates to power to a more collaborative, collective
“group cooperation culture” that is hard to be
understood and accepted by most public employees.
Surprisingly, also a limited diffusion of mobile
applications was registered. This finding moves in
the same direction of Web 2.0 tools adoption since
also mobiles, especially smartphones, if properly
used, can turn citizens into active players in the
relationship with the Administration, involving them
in service co-creation, evaluation and use.
Although there is theoretical and practical
recognition that citizens must be more involved in
public decisions, many administrators are, at best,
ambivalent about public involvement or, at worst,
they find it problematic. Administrators need help in
addressing problems but find that the help they seek
from citizens often creates new sets of problems. As
a result, although many public administrators view
close relationships with citizens as both necessary
and desirable, most of them do not actively seek
public involvement. If they do seek it, they do not
use public input in making administrative decisions.
Overcoming the highly significant limits shown
above may turn out to be a prerequisite for concrete
development of the provision of services for
empowered citizens.
The CWEI index (if further evaluated) could be
used also at international level to benchmark and
monitor the web strategies of smartcities across
countries. Furthermore the CWEI index could
support a citizen-centered web design of information
and services. This could help a faster development
of official web solutions aimed to citizen
empowerment, developing trust and partnership
relationships, which are essential to deliver quality
and value for money.
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