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Notes Notes to Introduction 1 New blogs are continuallybeing created.One recent surveyby Business Week suggests that perhaps as many as 8million Americanshave one, cateringto the more than 30million online readers in the United States alone. In essence, a blog is an online platform for publishing, communicating, and discussing that allows 'bloggers' to have their say on any given issue or theme deemed worthy ofattention. Morerecently, 'vloggers' have been added to this virtual spectrum, bringing a video dimension that may offer content ranging from a corporate focus (Microsoft operates a vlogfor software designers — attracting 900,000 viewers a month, accordingto Business Week) to the provocativeand absurd. 2 As with the downloading of music and movies, some of these traditional structures perceive the threat and are responding in kind. AppleComputers has launched legal actionagainst a long-timeblogger (thinksecret.com) with a history of releasing new product informationin advance of the company. The case raises fundamentalquestions about freedom of expression and proprietary knowledge in a virtualworld—one suchquestion being whether bloggers are to enjoy the safeguardsofjournalistic activityaccordedto those in more mainstream publishing outlets. 3 An exception to this claim could be online voting, which involves an e-government application that does little to alter the representational parameters of electoral processes. Accordingly, however, the vast majority of e-democratic visions put forth go far beyond such incremental change. 4 For those readers unfamiliar with the Canadian governance structure, Canada is a federal system with a central government (usually referred to as the Government of Canada or the federal government), ten provincial governments with extensive independent powers, three territorial governments in northern Canada that are more dependent on central government funding, and municipal governments that are creationsof provincial governments and have only limited relations with the federal government. 296 E-GOVERNMENT IN CANADA Notes to Chapter 1 1 Source:StatisticsCanada (http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/040923/ d040923a.htm). 5 Organizations such as Accenture Consulting that have ranked the Government of Canada as the world leader in e-government (as defined predominantly by online presence and service delivery strategies) rely heavily on self-assessments undertaken and shared by the federal government itself. These assessments include citizen satisfaction surveys (e.g., polls and focus groups) used to benchmark the perception and quality of the public's encounter as a 'customer7 of government. For examples of this evidence, review the various annual reports of the Government Online (GOL) initiative, leading up to the final report in 2005 (available online at http://www.gol-ged.gc.ca/index_e.asp). 6 This passage was written by John Reid in his final annual report submitted to Parliament in 2005 (although his term has subsequently been extended by the government). For accessto this report and further informationon the information commissioner, please see www.infocom.gc.ca. 7 Only in recent years has the Government of Canada attempted to measure its overall level of ITspending. In a Treasury Board report prepared in 2004 by the Chief Information Officer Branch,Government of Canada IT Spending, the total amount for that year was estimated to be $4.9billion (inclusiveof hardware, software, and associated human resourcecostsboth internally and externally via consultants). This amount represents a four percent increase over 2002-03. 8 As discussed later in the book, the challenge has thus far proved largely elusive. Interjurisdictional service integration was promised within the initial GOL program created in 1999, and it is now once again referenced as a key direction for Service Canada. The reality is that all governments have been sufficiently challenged by their own internal strategies and reforms toneglect this next frontier (although over the past several years a number of pilot initiatives have been undertaken, and within public services dialoguesacross government levels on issues of shared importance have multiplied). 9 In his first week as Canada's new ambassador in Washington, Frank McKenna caused a political firestorm in Ottawa by stating that Canada was already part of ballistic missile defence by virtue of joint North American defence structures (aview categoricallydenied by the government during the same week that Prime Minister Martin would announce Canada's decision not to participate in the system). Other examples, such as the proposed formation ofjoint border security units, also underscore this point. [52.90.181.205] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 08:31 GMT) END/VOTES 297 2 The article discusses IBM's plans to rely less on sales of computer products and systems (increasinglyviewed as a commodity industry oflower margins and intense competition both in...