Gap analysis methodology for identifying future ICT related eGovernment research topics – case of “ontology and semantic web” in the context of eGover

http://ecom.fov.uni-mb.si/proceedings.nsf/Proceedings/874F789164F6DD6DC12572EE007A6BB2/$File/Paper95.pdf

This study evaluates the the gaps between the current state of government e-services to those proposed by numerous European conventions. The authors review how they defined and identified those gaps, how they were interrelated, and the methodology used to draw conclusions.

The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) currently employed by governments is poor. The future needs demands placed on governments to meet constituent demands require the streamlined implementation of ICT. The results of this study are part of the eGovRTD2020 project for which this work was commissioned.

For the sake of the study, a gap was identified as either expressing a mismatch between issues of consideration, or an issue of research currently not under consideration. There are five main steps the authors undertook to identify gaps and actions toward future scenarios. Generally speaking, they are:

• where are we at?
• where can we go?
• how do we get there from here?
• this is how we get there.
• this is what we need to do to get there

The researchers then grouped the gap areas together and conducted conclusions on how they were interrelated (the later via a SWOT-esque approach).

The authors highlight four key steps they considered while conducting their gap analysis. They are:

• understand the current environment
• understand the broader context of the environment (for a holistic view)
• base the results on a clear assessment framework
• support the analysis quantitatively