Managing citizen-initiated email contacts

Citizen-initiated contacts, often with requests for services or information, complaints or opinions, occupy a great portion of citizen involvement with local governments. The ease and low cost of emails opens a new agenda for the contacts. Governments not only have to provide convenient and friendly access points on the websites to receive these voices, but also have to respond to them in a timely and responsive way. Responsiveness invites more usage and imposes more caseloads on bureaucrats and governments as well. How can a government develop and manage an efficient, timely and responsive citizen-initiated email handling system? We conduct a longitudinal in-depth case study of Taipei City Mayor's Mailbox, a successful citizen-initiated email handling system existing for over 12 years. Through the study of the development process, we find the actors, humans and non-humans, and their interplays shape the Mailbox. Several important issues are identified including an evolutionary, incremental and emergent process, citizens' dissatisfaction as an actor, continuous involvement of Mayor and Commissioners, and engaging street-level bureaucrats. The study contributes greatly to understand the evolution of E-Government which is underspecified in the E-Government literature.