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Résumé Many governmental organizations are changing their service channel management strategies to multi-channel management. However, very few empirical studies exist that explore how these multi-channel strategies should be shaped. In this article we test a number of hypotheses on citizens' channel use behaviour and the determinants of this behaviour. Further, we take into account the differences between citizens with and without a personal computer. In our conclusions we call for multi-channel strategies that do not only incorporate the features of service channels and the front—back office integration, but also deal with personal characteristics and task characteristics. Further, digital divide issues still influence channel usage by citizens, so it is necessary to keep all channels open for citizens. Finally, our study reveals that multi-channelling is a very complex subject on which research is still in its infancy. Points for practitioners Multi-channel management may benefit most from channel integration. Channels have different characteristics that render them suitable for different (parts of) services. sComputer `have-nots' still rely on traditional service channels, so these should remain accessible.

Many governmental organizations are changing their service channel management strategies to multi-channel management. However, very few empirical studies exist that explore how these multi-channel strategies should be shaped. In this article we test a number of hypotheses on citizens' channel use behaviour and the determinants of this behaviour. Further, we take into account the differences between citizens with and without a personal computer. In our conclusions we call for multi-channel strategies that do not only incorporate the features of service channels and the front—back office integration, but also deal with personal characteristics and task characteristics. Further, digital divide issues still influence channel usage by citizens, so it is necessary to keep all channels open for citizens. Finally, our study reveals that multi-channelling is a very complex subject on which research is still in its infancy. Points for practitioners • Multi-channel management may benefit most from channel integration. • Channels have different characteristics that render them suitable for different (parts of) services. • Computer `have-nots' still rely on traditional service channels, so these should remain accessible.

ue to the massive uptake of online communication, people receive countless notifications on a given day. Governments also send more and more information via computer mediated communication instead of writing a paper letter to citizens. As a consequence, governments are increasingly exposed to the risk that citizens do not notice or act upon notifications that refer to governmental (sometimes legally binding) messages. This in turn may result in non-compliant behavior. Through a vignette study in three large scale surveys held in the Netherlands in 2015 and 2016, we have investigated how the channel (paper letter channel vs. e-mail channel that notifies that there is a digital letter available at a web portal) influences the speed with which people intend to read the actual content of a message while taking digital skills and expectations of the contents of a message into account. Results show that the channel has a significant and strong impact on the speed with which citizens read the contents of the message. This means that there is a risk that the efficiency gains that are won by communicating electronically are lost in effectiveness due to increased non-compliance because people do not actually see the government information that is sent to them. Therefore, it is important to think of new ways to effectively notifying people of new information in an online environment.

Part 2: Service Delivery ; International audience ; In this contribution we discuss the characteristics of what we call the fourth generation of public sector service channels: social robots. Based on a review of relevant literature we discuss their characteristics and place into multi-channel models of service delivery. We argue that social robots is not one homogenous type of channels, but rather breaks down in different (sub)types of channels, each with different characteristics and possibilities to supplement and/or replace existing channels. Given the variety of channels, we foresee challenges in incorporating these new channels in multi-channel models of service delivery. This is especially relevant given the current lack of evaluations of such models, the broad range of channels available, and their different stages of deployment at governments around the world. Nevertheless, social robots offer an potentially very relevant addition to the service level landscape.

Many important forms of public participation take place in interactions between citizens. Studying these interactions is crucial for understanding e‑governance, defined as steering in the public domain. The new forms of public participations can be labeled Citizens2Citizens interactions (C2C). Citizens use the Internet to facilitate policy participation (meant to support or undermine government policies), political participation (directed at influencing political decision‑making and agenda‑setting) and social participation (to increase social capital). Attention for these forms of digital participation coincides with the rise of a new set of Web applications which are grouped under the label 'Web 2.0'. This paper is an attempt to conceptualize and categorize the wide variety of types and forms of C2C to provide a basis for a further development of this new research field. We do not claim that our exploration will lead to a final and complete description of C2C; we merely aim to present an overview of the diversity of forms of C2C initiatives that are taking place in the digital world. The argument we are putting forward is that new technologies offer new venues for participating and that these new practices will constitute both a replication of and an addition to existing offline practices of public participation. Our explorative research of C2C initiatives results in a map of political, policy and social participation. This map of C2C initiatives can provide insights in the variety of Internet practices and help subsequent researches in their selection of initiatives for in‑depth studies. Additionally, our research results in an exploration of the implications the analyzed initiatives can have for participation in the public sector.