Abstract
Since 1990s when e-government concept was offered various possible models of interactive services have been suggested both by practitioners and theorists all over the world. But the key challenge has been the same - how to find the effective way of citizens engagement using the digital government platform?
The ultimate goal of any e-government project is promotion of transparency and participation. But the paradox of the concept is a traditional one way mechanism of its realization. In fact, all efforts to further the idea in its various forms all over the world are driven by standard top-down administrative commands or directives practically without any input from the civil society itself. Many projects, theoretically intended to be successful, failed basically because of a lack of interest from citizens themselves even despite the fact that huge financial resources were invested for their realization.
In this respect, the recent financial and economic slowdown makes many governments to rethink the whole model and seek not only a more cost-effective, but also a more sustainable way to promote e-government. In this respect, citizen-sourcing concept may address the challenge.
In fact, with minimum of investments and harnessing the collective knowledge of the local society the open data projects are resorting to, the local communities will be able to change the traditional political communication channels between governments and citizens.