The current limits of e-government have to do with people's preferences, Internet access, and the variety of problems people bring to government, not all of which lend themselves to e-government solutions. Of the 54 percent of Americans who contacted government in the past year, telephone or in-person visits were preferred to the Web or e-mail by a 53 percent to 37 percent margin.

Additionally, the report finds that the more complex or urgent a problem a citizen has, the more likely he is to pick up the telephone or visit a government office to address the problem. For the one-third of American adults without Internet access, non-cyber means are the only options they have to contact government.

"When citizens think about a tool to contact government, they have a Swiss Army knife in mind," said John B. Horrigan, senior researcher for the Pew Internet & American Life Project and principal author of the report. "People want multiple means at hand when they want or need to turn to government. The Internet's main benefit is arming people with more information; this helps people move through their dealings with government more efficiently."

The Pew Internet & American Life Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts to explore the social impact of the Internet.

Publication date: 05/31/2004