MobileActive.org

This paper examines the use of mobile phones, particularly the short messaging system or SMS, in promoting democratic governance - organizing institutional frameworks to achieve democratic ideals. The objective of this paper is to document how mobile phones is being used to promote popular participation in Philippine politics.

The paper looks into the various SMS-based services that enhance citizen participation. Specifically, SMS services that provides the following were examined: 1) Provision of Public Information; 2) Delivery of Public Service; 3) Amplifying Voice; 4) Vigilantism. 5) Elections and 6) Mass Action and 7) Developing Political Accounts.

Previous studies of SMS in government show that over half of Philippine government agencies use SMS-based services. Most of these national government agencies use SMS as a mechanism for providing information and receiving feedback. In a few instances SMS is used to enhance the delivery of public services.

The notable examples of SMS-based services that provide information are the Department of Agriculture’s Presyo and Panahon Text and the Department of Trade and Industry’s TextDTI. The PAYBIR is an SMS-based service that allows citizens to pay taxes through their cell phones. The Office of the President’s TXTGMA and the office of Marikina Mayor’s TXTMCF elicit complaints, comments and suggestions from constituents. These two are examples of SMS-based services that amplify the citizens’ voice. On the other hand, the DILG’s Patrol 117 is an example of a government service that promotes citizen participation in crime prevention.

The role of SMS in elections as well as its role in mobilizing political action is also discussed. Examples of how text messaging was used as the medium for organizing rallies, spreading information, and stating political positions were given. The discussion on how SMS help develop political account or interpretation of current events was considered through an analysis of political jokes spread through SMS.

While the focus of the paper was on how SMS is being deployed to promote citizen participation, it was noted that SMS is also used in anti or counter-democratic projects.

In sum, this paper documents the role played by SMS in the overall effort at creating an effective set of rules for managing voluntary political exchanges in the Philippines.

This paper identifies the factors that determine citizens’ acceptance of SMS-based e-government services. It reports on a web-based survey, paper-based questionnaires, and phone-call interviews that collected 159 responses from 25 countries. The results indicate that there are fifteen perceptions toward using SMS-based e-government services that may influence citizens to use or to reject the services:

• perceived ease of use
• perceived efficiency in time and distance
• perceived value for money; perceived usefulness
• perceived responsiveness; perceived convenience
• perceived relevance, quality and reliability of the information
• trust in the SMS technology
• perceived risk to user privacy
• perceived reliability of the mobile network and the SMS-based system
• trust in government and perceived quality of public services
• perceived risk to money
• perceived availability of device and infrastructure
• perceived compatibility; and
• perceived self-efficacy in using SMS.

Whether or not a citizen adopts an SMS-based e-government service is influenced by these perceptions. To increase the acceptance of SMS-based e-government services, the systems should address all of these belief factors. An intensive advertising campaign for the services in all mass media channels is critically important to make citizens aware of and to provide detailed knowledge about the services. The advertising campaign should involve people who influence individuals’ decision making. These people include friends, family, teachers, experts, public figures, and government officials. This study found that Notification services are the most frequently used followed by Pull SMS, Listen, and Transaction SMS services. Notification services could be an appropriate starting point for governments who want to establish SMS-based e-government services.

Mobile telephony has emerged as the new frontier where governments around the world are making themselves more accessible through the remote delivery of government services and faster rate of data transfer. In developing countries, the lower cost of mobile technology as compared to Internet has allowed for the expansion of mobile government or m-government services to the poorer segments of the population. From a literature review on m-government, including the various strategies required and successive practices across the world, we build five parameters for a framework for evaluation of m-government services. These include Infrastructural Investment, Regulatory and Political environment, Awareness and Acceptance, Security and Privacy, and Equitable Acceptance.

Using these factors, we review the m-government initiatives in selected countries both in the West, Asia and India. This paper provides an updated review of the current mobile government initiatives, including: m-government’s facilitation of development; the issues and challenges in India; and, finally, proposes some strategies that can be adopted by India.