【精品】[外文4]Quantitative assessment of European municipal web sites_ Development and use of an evaluation tool.docx

The?current?issue?and?full?text?archive?of?this?journal?is?available?/1066-2243.htmQuantitative?assessment?ofEuropean?municipal?web?sitesDevelopment?and?use?of?an?evaluation?toolFrancisco?Javier?Miranda,?Ramo′n?Sanguino?andToma′s?M.?Ban?egilFacultad?de?Ciencias?Econo′micas?y?Empresariales,?University?of?Extremadura,Badajoz,?SpainAbstractPurpose?–?The?internet?is?becoming?increasingly?important?in?the?communication?between?localgovernments?and?citizens,?which?makes?the?usability?of?municipal?web?sites?a?critical?factor?ingovernment-citizen?communication.?The?purpose?of?this?paper?is?to?propose?and?test?a?model?forevaluating?the?potential?of?municipal?web?sites.Design/methodology/approach?–?In?this?work?an?objective?investigation?of?the?issue?has?beenconducted?by?manually?accessing?and?evaluating?84?European?municipal?web?sites.?Quality?of?webhome?pages?was?determined?using?an?original?Web?Assessment?Index,?which?focuses?on?fourcategories:?accessibility,?speed,?navigability?and?content.Findings?–?A?detailed?report?of?the?results?arising?from?this?investigation?is?presented?andsystematically?analyzed.Originality/value?–?The?most?valuable?output?from?this?paper?is?not?the?ability?to?identify?the?bestsites,?but?to?see?how?each?municipal?site?is?compared?to?related?sites?and?to?spot?ideas?and?practicesthat?can?improve?city?sites.?These??ndings?will?be?useful?for?both?researchers?and?practitioners?whoseek?to?understand?the?issues?relevant?to?municipal?e-government.Keywords?Worldwide?web,?Internet,?Local?government,?EuropePaper?type?Research?paper1.?IntroductionThe?greatest?potential?for?internet?use?in?public?organizations?lies?in?applicationsdesigned?to?facilitate?open?communication?between?agencies?and?create?dialoguebetween?citizens?and?their?government.So,?the?internet?has?become?an?important?communication?channel?betweenmunicipalities?and?citizens.?Municipal?web?sites?enable?to?make?enormous?amounts?ofinformation?available?at?relatively?low?costs,?to?maintain?an?easil