ABSTRACT
Purpose: The present study aims to clarify the following two research objectives: (1) the user behavior of government websites during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) period and (2) how the government improved government's website design during the COVID-19 period. Design/methodology/approach: The authors used website analytics to examine usage patterns and behaviors of the government website via personal computer (PC) and mobile devices during the COVID-19 pandemic. In-depth interviews were conducted to understand the user experience of government website users and to gather users' opinions about how government websites should be redesigned. Findings: With the rising of the COIVID-19 pandemic, most studies expect that the use of government websites through a mobile device will grow astonishingly. The authors uncovered that the COVID-19 pandemic did not increase the use of government websites. Instead, severe declines in website usage were observed for all device users with the declines being more pronounced in mobile device users than in PC users. This is an admonitory caveat that reveals public health and pandemic prevention information announced on government websites cannot be effectively transmitted to the general public through official online platforms. Originality/value: The study highlights the gap in information behavior and usage patterns between PC and mobile device users when visiting government websites. Although mobile devices brought many new visitors, mobile devices are ineffective in retaining visitors and continuous long-term use. The results of localize experience is helpful in the improvement of government website evaluation worldwide. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: The recognition of the COVID-19 disease as a pandemic posed a challenge to the National Drug Regulatory Authorities (NRAs). They had to develop guidelines, procedures, create working groups and partnerships to maximize the efficiency of vaccine evaluation, review and licensure. The aim of this article is to present the procedures used in the United States, European Union and Latin America to license the use of vaccines against COVID-19;in order to determine whether the multiplicity of procedures has led to the registration of a large number of vaccines. Method: A review of the pharmaceutical legislation used for the issuance of COVID-19 vaccines licenses during the health emergency was carried out. The information was collected up to October 15, 2022. The sources consulted were government websites of the NRAs: United States, European Union, and Latin America. Results: The United States and the European Union used activities included in their standard flows, such as pre-Investigational New Drug, scientific advice and rolling review, respectively. Latin America, on the other hand, made extensive use of reliance and emergency use authorization in order to access as many vaccines as possible. Conclusions: The procedures used are diverse, but all of them are oriented to provide a rapid pandemic containment product. This diversity results in the presence of different vaccines in the United States, European Union and Latin America. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR]
ABSTRACT
There has been rapid progress in local government websites, especially in terms of services provision and resident engagement. The assessment of local government websites can help to ameliorate effectiveness of municipality services and be used as a mechanism to understand the critical needs of residents. To this end, our research is focused on assessing features of local e-Government development in some of the largest cities worldwide based on their responses to a questionnaire. The findings are discussed suggesting possible ways to improve the level of local e-Government development. An examination of responses for 42 cities reveals that e-Government is prominently practiced. The results indicate that local governments organise their web presence and service provision applying a variety of e-Government strategies based on their needs and priorities. They mainly align with the national legislation covering e-Government regulations. Online services provision, usage and citizens' satisfaction need more systematisation. Social media platforms are tools with an increasing application perspective, especially in residents' engagement in decision-making. COVID-19 initiatives provided a pathway on how to apply technologies, in a relatively short time period, facing critical situations. Emerging technologies provide tools that can be used to solve critical urban problems. Finally, the present study contributes towards an ongoing discussion for the development of a common worldwide assessment scheme that would measure the level and sophistication of local government digital development. © 2022 ACM.
ABSTRACT
The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has seriously affected countries all over the world. In Japan, a state of emergency has been declared several times in some prefectures. Information related to the spread of infection is provided to the public via central or local government websites and social media accounts. In particular, some prefectural governors have used Twitter accounts to provide information related to the pandemic, and this use of social media has been attracting attention. One of the advantages of Twitter is its ability to disseminate information instantly. In order to prevent the spread of infection, it is desirable to respond to changes in the situation and provide information in a timely manner. In this study, we focused on three Twitter accounts used by prefectural governors in Japan and aimed to clarify users’ reactions to posts (tweets) related to the state of emergency posted from those accounts. We collected quote retweets for the top quote-retweeted tweets posted between January 1, 2020, and July 31, 2021, and classified them as either positive or negative. © 2022, IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.
ABSTRACT
Information disclosure is crucial in China's official response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the early phase of the pandemic, the government's method of communication has relied heavily upon its analysis of information disclosed during past public health emergencies. This approach was proposed to better inform and prepare citizens during the crisis. This study aimed to study the effectiveness of China's information disclosure by examining themes, interconnection, and timeliness of information as posted on the Weibo microblogging platform between January and April 2020. The Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model analysis for social networks revealed six main characteristics including a shift from 'scattered' to 'focused' communication. Three main themes surrounding experience were highlighted, namely social governance, medical expertise, and encouragement, although experiential knowledge disclosure was timelier than other topics. This study broadens the dimension and scope of empirical theory by examining government information disclosure practices and provides a reference for further research.