Part 1: FoundationsInternational audienceThis paper presents a study of the development in leading e-government papers from 2001-2010. Inspired by a study by Heeks and Bailur, the analysis uses a different sampling method, adds new themes, and focuses on changes over time. Through an iterative process known as template analysis the five most cited papers from each year are analyzed according to themes such as perspectives on the impact and impact causes of e-government, methods used, underlying research philosophies and recommendations. Findings indicate that the papers are still somewhat optimistic regarding the impact of e-government, but no longer as technologically deterministic. Discussions of research philosophies start to appear, as do social constructionist studies, although most papers are still positivistic. There is an increase in the use of primary data, and some movement in focus from infrastructure and services towards citizens. There is little development in the discussions of generalization of results and recommendations offered

Digital communication between government and citizens is pivotal to e-government. The Danish egovernment initiative Digital Post aims to digitize all communication between government and citizens. We surveyed local government staff about how Digital Post affects the service delivered to citizens. As much as 82% of the 448 respondents considered digital communication with citizens using Digital Post a good idea, yet 47% reported concrete incidents in which they perceived a decrease in service with Digital Post. This result shows the importance of distinguishing between the overall service relationship and the concrete incidents of which the service consists. We discuss interactions between the relationship level and the incident level of Digital Post on the basis of a content analysis of the respondents' incident descriptions.

Action research is widespread in many of the background disciplines that underpin the e-Government field and is beginning to take root as a legitimate e-Government research method. Canonical Action Research (CAR) is the most widely used form of action research; however it relies on premises that can be problematic in the e-Government context. This article details some of those underlying assumptions, and shows the difficulties that result when applied to a relatively typical e-Government

The delivering of public services to citizens through the internet -also known as e-government -has gained serious momentum, driven by political ambitions of improved efficiency. E-government, however, is considered complex and e-government failures are well known from media. Research of how e-government is enacted inside government is sparse. Technology mediated public services in real world entail ethical dilemmas. By extracting ethical dilemmas from a qualitative e-government participatory design study, this paper shows how ethical dilemmas may inform future egovernment design and design processes. The case, adoption of digital post in a local e-government setting, showed that design flaws, staff's concern for citizens and political fear of citizens' critique had an impact on egovernment adoption.