The focus of this paper is on seemingly mundane but essential aspects of network formation between actors in E-government contexts. It is based on a qualitative case study of portal development in public healthcare. The theoretical framework applied is Actor-Network Theory (ANT). The research question is: What factors contribute to the enrolment of strategic local actors in technology development in E-government? It was found that seemingly simple but basic functionalities like e.g. information about illnesses, rights, healthcare providers as well as personal e-services were of strategic importance for enrolling local actors to the process and to the portal, serving as a kind of “enrolment devices.” The reason is their capacity to provide useful functionality and communicate usefulness. Due to the complexity of the environment, local support based on perceived and future usefulness as well as long-term project organization safeguarding future development were seen as critical success factors.
Paper som beskriver formering av nätverk i samband med utveckling av en hälsoportal inom e-Government. En fallstudie med teoretiskt ramverk hämtat från Actor Network Theory (ANT). Diskuterar conceptet "enrolment devices" och dess tillämpning i komplex nätverkverksformation och behovet av lokalt stöd för en positiv utveckling av en hållbar projekt organisation.