This paper, published in the International Journal of Computer Applications, presents a paper on the usability, accessibility, and web security of Tanzanian e-government websites. The author, Noe Elisa, from the University of Dodoma, addresses the problem that while the Tanzanian e-government agency (ega) promotes ICT use within public institutions, web developers often neglect accessibility, usability, and security considerations.
The paper's primary objective is to assess these three aspects in a selection of Tanzanian e-government websites. The methodology involves using automatic diagnostic tools like Pingdom, Google Speed Insight, WAVE, W3C Checker, and Acunetix to evaluate 79 selected websites.
The results reveal significant shortcomings in all three areas. Usability problems are prevalent, with all websites having broken links and a majority (52 out of 79) exhibiting main page loading times exceeding five seconds. Accessibility is also lacking, with all websites containing accessibility errors that violate W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0. In terms of web security, a concerning 50.6% of the websites have high-severity vulnerabilities like SQL injection or cross-site scripting (XSS), while 64.5% have medium-severity vulnerabilities such as cross-site request forgery (CSRF) or Denial of Service (DoS).
The paper provides a detailed profile of Tanzania, including its population, the number of people with disabilities, internet penetration rates, and its e-government Development Index (EGDI) score. It highlights that despite a medium EGDI level, internet usage is growing, emphasizing the need for usable, accessible, and secure government websites. Existing studies on government website usability in Tanzania are mentioned, noting that they often lack specific recommendations for improvement.
The literature review examines studies on e-government website usability and accessibility from various regions worldwide, highlighting the importance of these factors in building user trust and adoption. It also points to research indicating that e-government websites are frequently vulnerable to attacks like XSS and SQL injection, both in developed and developing countries.
The methodology section describes the selection criteria for the 79 websites (providing online services, high user access, and belonging to public administration) and the specific tools used for each aspect of the assessment. The results section elaborates on the findings related to broken links, accessibility errors (including images without alt text, form controls without labels, and moving content), website loading speed, loading time, page size, and web security vulnerabilities. The loading speed assessment used Google Speed Insight scores, with the majority of websites scoring poorly. Loading time was evaluated using Pingdom, with over 37% of the websites taking more than 10 seconds to load. The Acunetix scanner identified numerous high and medium severity vulnerabilities.
The discussion section synthesizes the findings, emphasizing the low priority given to usability and accessibility in Tanzanian e-government website development. The paper concludes by recommending improvements in usability, accessibility, and security, with a focus on addressing problems during the design and development phases rather than after deployment. The author also suggests training and awareness programs for web developers on usability and accessibility standards. The paper ends by suggesting future work focused on evaluating usability and accessibility on mobile devices and analyzing the user experience with respect to accessibility.