The Use of Internet as a Means of Communication in Local Governments and the Comparison of Two Different Cities Istanbul-Vienna

The local governments are the administrative, political and the social institutions providing public service to the local community and managed by the organs selected by the local people in order to meet the needs of the local people effectively. The reasons of their existence are providing service based on the participative, democratic, the wishes and the requests of the people and their recommendations by providing the confidence and the support of the people. The "governance" understanding of the information society, which has principles such as participation, transparency, citizenship and accountability, shows itself in the restructuring of local governments as it is in almost every other area. Local governments are the closest public administration units to the public. Local governments' restructuring can also be observed in e-municipality applications where they reflect service offerings to electronic media. The local governments that are the institutes providing service intensely in Turkey and also the institutions where the people apply the most have entered into the search of healthy service production with a homogeneous structure where the citizen is participative and based on information by making investments to the information technology for the purpose of expanding the service fields, increasing the efficiency, raising the service quality. When considered in this point of view, internet is one of the most effective methods that can be used in establishing communication between the citizen and the local governments. The change in communication technologies has led many of the urban functions to virtual presence. Today, it has the functions of existing institutions with the communication network, high-speed machines, internet connections and on-line databases, web sites, search engines, e-mails that exist everywhere, providing people with access to the distant places from the same place in the virtual environment. The local governments of two different cities Istanbul and Vienna, the way of internet usage of the different cultures and the way of management and at what fields their similarities and the differences will be evaluated by putting forward in this study.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Local Governments, Communication, Internet, Istanbul, Vienna

The local governments are the administrative, political and the social institutions providing public service to the local community and managed by the organs selected by the local people in order to meet the needs of the local people effectively. The reasons of their existence are providing service based on the participative, democratic, the wishes and the requests of the people and their recommendations by providing the confidence and the support of the people. The "governance" understanding of the information society, which has principles such as participation, transparency, citizenship and accountability, shows itself in the restructuring of local governments as it is in almost every other area. Local governments are the closest public administration units to the public. Local governments' restructuring can also be observed in e-municipality applications where they reflect service offerings to electronic media. The local governments that are the institutes providing service intensely in Turkey and also the institutions where the people apply the most have entered into the search of healthy service production with a homogeneous structure where the citizen is participative and based on information by making investments to the information technology for the purpose of expanding the service fields, increasing the efficiency, raising the service quality. When considered in this point of view, internet is one of the most effective methods that can be used in establishing communication between the citizen and the local governments. The change in communication technologies has led many of the urban functions to virtual presence. Today, it has the functions of existing institutions with the communication network, high-speed machines, internet connections and on-line databases, web sites, search engines, e-mails that exist everywhere, providing people with access to the distant places from the same place in the virtual environment. The local governments of two different cities Istanbul and Vienna, the way of internet usage of the different cultures and the way of management and at what fields their similarities and the differences will be evaluated by putting forward in this study.

Keywords: Local Governments, Communication, Internet, Istanbul, Vienna