Edinburgh Napier University

  This chapter presents a case study of the use of interactive digital television (iDTV) to deliver electronic public services in the UK. It reviews a number of innovative iDTV initiatives which have sought to test the feasibility of using iDTV technology to deliver ‘interactive’ electronic services directly to citizens and service users homes, thereby potentially making public services more accessible, universally available and cheaper to administer. The introduction of these new service delivery arrangements, based on the capabilities of new information and communication technologies, present a challenge to established organizational structures and ways of working. In particular, the emergence of iDTV as an electronic service delivery channel is forging a new citizens-state relationship, based around the transformed role of the television, a medium typically associated with entertainment. In this chapter the authors argue, that although the iDTV initiatives demonstrate that it is possible do deliver electronic services via iDTV, and although there is evidence that citizens are interested in using IDTV to access public services, the current provision of IDTV is not yet sufficiently advanced to support widespread provision and use. Despite this, the rapid take-up of digital television and the emergence of iDTV services suggests that iDTV will be an important complementary medium for the future delivery of electronic government and public services.