Reconnecting to the public

New information and communication technology can be used to improve the pro ductivity of public services and the responsiveness of government. However, as this paper suggests, without substantial re-engineering of the organisa tional relationship to the public, IT on its own will achieve little. The p aper examines three issues about the use of ICT to reconnect the government and the public. Why is reconnecting so important? What are the issues stan ding in the way of this reconnection using ICT? And what can be done to add ress these issues? The paper examines the whole nexus of the nature of gove rnment-public interactions rather than simply exploring the strategic utili ty of IT in the governmental sector.