Sheffield City Council's Public Data Web project has been held up
as a model of e-government best practice by the European
Commission.
Council officials have been invited to exhibit the citizen portal
at the From Policy to Practice e-government conference in Brussels
this week.
The portal, which is available from kiosks and council offices,
provides local people with e-mail and Web access as well as
information on services such as transport.
Ken Bellamy, head of ICT strategy at Sheffield City Council, said,
"The selling point from our point of view was that we were trying
to bridge the digital divide by giving access to people that don't
have a PC at home."
There are 10 kiosks providing access to the portal in Sheffield and
another 50 will be in service next year.
Bellamy believes the Public Data Web is playing a crucial role in
helping Sheffield meet Tony Blair's e-government agenda.
"The idea that everything on the Internet provides e-government is
only part of the story, you have to provide access when and where
people want it," he said.
Launched in February last year, the next version of the Public Data
Web will deliver the service over the Internet although council
officials have an ambitious plan to eventually link the portal to
satellite technology.
Bellamy said, "The street kiosks will be connected to satellites as
part of a European Commission-funded pilot scheme into satellite
broadband."
The technology has been identified as a key means of delivering
broadband to rural areas and under-developed countries, he said.
The scheme, which is scheduled to begin in the middle of next year,
will be piloted in Sheffield and three Greek islands.