ABSTRACT
A puzzling but faulty question ... how do ‘ICTs’ affect public administration? Many articles, books and policy documents on information and communication technologies (ICTs) begin with mantra-like sketches of ubiquitous, revolutionary effects of microelectronics-based, digital ‘smart machines’ (Zuboff, 1988). Apparently, they offer unlimited benefits to individuals, functional units, organizations, governments or even the fabric of our society. For example, Burstein and Klein (1995: 254) enthusiastically claim that ‘[t]here is no disagreement on the essentially revolutionary nature of the forces unleashed by the new technology’. Similarly, Tapscott (1995) has heralded the information revolution in glowing terms:
Today, we are witnessing the early turbulent days of a revolution as significant as any other in human history. A new medium of human communication is emerging, one that may prove to surpass all previous revolutions – the printing press, the telephone, the television, the computer – in its impact on our economic and social life.
