Abstract

The present paper discusses the potential benefits of interaction among citizens on the Internet in the area of public administration. Its arguments are supported by a study previously conducted on a Bulletin Board System (BBS). Special reference is made to two instances where citizen interaction succeeded in prodding public administration into helpful action. Although e‑Government policy in Japan has already accomplished information disclosure and digitization of documents, the latter mostly cover common requests and procedures. However, requests that are hard to classify or altogether non‑conforming cannot be handled by local governmental websites because of functional disorder stemming from case complexity or lack of human resources. Making a case for resident collaboration and mutual aid, this paper takes its cue from studies of customer interaction in the field of business management. Finally, the paper proposes a specific collaboration and information storage model (TKAS) as a solution for functional disorder in e‑Government.