big picture. local governments need to learn how to identify threats and opportunities for greater...

Big Picture

Local Governments need to learn how to identify threats and opportunities for greater service efficiency and

effectiveness.

• only a few new technologies will be significant City and county managers often fall into one of

two traps. implement the latest technologies--only a few of which will

actually add value. ignore technology opportunities that are truly revolutionary and

vital to the core missions of local government.

Internet has moved beyond the fad stage grassroots growth in the use of the technology

by citizens and businesses.

Reasons for Gov. Internet

• standard way of communicating

• reduces research costs and time.

• more complete access by citizens to government and by government to citizens.

• less developed local govs. can borrow/learn from the more developed

• can support more effective collaboration among and data reporting by local governments.

Potential for the Internet to affect

the economic advantages of cities vis a vis more rural communities.

access to information possible in rural areas, but in other respects cities still have advantages

with respect to content production costs, markets for new technologies, network, bandwidth, and Internet access cost, and the cost of purchasing and integrating technical skills.

The stemming of urban sprawl

Potential for the Internet to affect...

the economics and practice of telecommuting

the access to education, training, and skills development opportunities (e.g., Oxford)

the desirability of siting new industrial plants and other business facilities

sales tax revenues. Expect a decline.

Evidence is not entirely clear or convincing on big picture issues

• most conference center facilities have experienced increases, particularly in conferences dedicated to information technology issues

Internet as New Public Space

• Affected by public policy on copyright, ownership of data and domain names, legislation about telecommunications, and taxation of Internet and Internet sales.

• nature of the network and computer code -- which are strongly influenced by market forces, contracts and agreements, and practices-- rather than by law and public policy.

You Help Shape...• How one gains access, • where one can speak, • whether one can speak,• how many can be in a single chat space,• whether one's postings are filtered, • how easily one can encrypt, • how one can copy... • This architecture of the space determines the

freedom and liberty that's allowed in the space."

Activist role for government in four capacities

through hosting of a community website, through development of a government web site, through support for a community network or

FreeNet where citizens can dial up to a community bulletin board, and

through technology training for citizens.

Trends

• toward government web sites• away from FreeNets and technology training• record on free or structured discussion capabilities

is poor. British governments more likely to support this.

• Good U.S. example is PEN, the City of Santa Monica's Public Electronic Network

PEN/Santa Monica

• PEN web-based public conferences with real time posting

• City: theme-based feed-back requests; citizens asked, for example, to provide budget suggestions

• asks for a name and address and asks whether the city can publish the suggestion and use the citizen's name.

• Some screening

Other Innovations in Shaping Community Dialogue

• On-line community visioning: comments are edited to eliminate duplicate ideas or visions so as to make more readable products.

• a web application that invites citizens to try their own hand at balancing the city budget

• a time during which one can participate in an on-line chat with the Mayor.

• ModelCity Philadelphia: evaluate development ideas /locations

Shaping public webspace through the support for very high-bandwidth

access for all citizens.• the potential democratization of the broadcast

and publishing capabilities• will enable ordinary citizens to be producers

and publishers of media content, • possible for the average citizen to by-pass

the media gatekeepers who currently select what goes out to the public at large.

Laws of Internet Development

• Moore’s Law

• Metcalfe’s Law

• Coase’s Law

Moore’s Law• Computing power doubles every

18 months without a rise in price

• Law applies to network components, switches, etc.

• Smaller, cheaper, faster

• Implications: Hardware will be cheap!

Metcalfe’s Law• The value of a network increases

as the square of the number of people on the network

• The more people, the better--by far!

• Implications: Gov. may have a role in getting networks to be more universal!

Coarse’s Law• Firm/organization size is determined

by the level of market transaction cost that can be avoided by forming a firm.

• Internet may decrease transaction costs.

• Implications: More potential for outsourcing; Smaller government!

Planning Basics

Where We Are: Local governments have lagged

the staff of most local government information technology units have not developed their skills around Internet-based technologies

(mainframe computers--the bread and butter of most local governments--have not been as easy to connect to the Internet.

The explosion of the Internet job market has made it difficult for local governments to play catch-up by recruiting and/or keeping IT staff that are skilled in Internet technologies

Executive and political leadership

• Advocating and supporting the adoption of this new technology, rather than the in-house development of data processing units, that has made the difference.

• Planning can reduce the risky-ness of risk taking

Internet Planning involves

Envisioning a future and identifying what can, should, and must be handled if that future is to be a pleasant one.

Specifying how a particular mix of technology products, skills, and services will improve the government's capacity to add value to citizens' lives.

• Building in-house understanding and capacity

Because of the Internet skills gap

• it is likely that too many governments are contracting for too much with consultants and vendors

• Research suggests that outsourcing large segments of governmental IT operations will reduce the level of benefit that can be expected. – One study of GIS technology, for example, identified

the break-even point at 25% of the operation budget.

IT planners need to be aware of :

• the potential for redesigning the business processes

• the role of organizational culture, i.e., need to manage the human side of the technology

• growing expectations of citizens and in-house customers,

• the potential for partnerships and service to multiple stakeholders

Internet Basics

Internet ...a blend of tools for participation and service delivery

• library,

• a newswire,

• a telephone,

• a fax,

• a database,

• a radio open line and

• a voting booth,

Telephone vs. Internet

• On a telephone one can either talk directly to a person or can talk with the machine representative of the person (e.g., an answering machine).

• Similarly, on the Internet one can either connect directly to a person (e.g., via E-mail or chat) or can connect with the machine representative of a person (e.g., a Web server).


• Both systems use a number to identify the machine or receiver on the other end of the line--(i.e., a telephone Use an IP or Internet Protocol number).

• Telephones can either be analog or digital; The Internet is strictly digital in nature.

• Telephones are designed only to carry voiceInternet is designed to carry any type of digitally formatted data.


• Telephone system is designed to dedicate a connection from sender to receiver Internet is designed to send short bursts of information packets that can travel in any number of different paths from sender to receiver.

• Information packets have no maximum sizeIndividual information packets that tend to have a maximum size (approximately 65 kilobytes)

Internet is the combination of:

• An open communications protocol that enables all types of computers to exchange data via a common language.

• This protocol is called TCP/IP or TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and IP (Internet Protocol). TCP is a connection-oriented protocol that passes its data to IP.

• Each computer on the Internet has an IP address that allows other computers to find it.

Client Server Architecture

Applications

Key languages include:• HTML or Hyper Text Markup Language -- the basic

language in which web pages are created,• HTML (Dynamic Hyper Text Markup Language) an

extension of HTML that allows for more control of the style and movement of objects on a web page.

• Javascript, another extension of HTML that allows one to create interactive applications within a browser

• XML (Extendable Markup Language), allows one to integrate data from several sources.

• Java a full-fledged programming language

The concept of bandwidth.

• Bandwidth essentially is the amount of information that can flow to and from an Internet user during a given amount of time.

Ordinary home user with telephone dial-up access to the Internet

• transmission limits of plan ordinary telephone (POT) lines

• computer's modem speed (a modem is the communications devices on your computer that allows you to communicate over ordinary telephone lines with other computers).

• Currently, the maximum POT modem speed is 56K (or 56 kilobytes per second). (Effective speeds typically are a 10-20% less than the maximum modem speed).

Higher Speeds Access

• Dedicated digital subscriber lines denotes a system of digital phone connections that allow data to be transmitted using end-to-end digital connectivity– ISDN, which stands for Integrated Services Digital Network.– ADSL, Asynchronous Digital Subscriber lines– Cable Access– Satellite

• Limited Availability, higher costs

Higher Speeds Access

• Typically, as one moves to higher capacity lines, it makes sense to share the line. The benefit of sharing is that it becomes possible at any moment when the entire capacity of the line is not being used for the individual who needs this excess capacity to access it.

Factors Affecting Speed

• The capacity of the server one is trying to access and the number of people trying to access this server at the same time you are.

• The amount of traffic on the network that has to be traveled to in order to reach the server you are hitting.

• The degree to which the parts of the network that are 'down' force some information packets to be delayed in their arrival.

NETWORK CAPACITY .

• At the community level

• At the government level

• At the inter-governmental level

At community level

• through a local government utility using its right-of-way and existing conduit to install fiber optic cable in a community. – Tacoma, Washington, the cable is being laid all the

way to the household level, and the city is providing subsidized installation to residents so as to create a potential market for high-bandwidth content.

– Glasgow, Ky. is building on the base of the municipal electric utility to offer telecom services to the city government and its residents

Community level.. through the use of local government policy, programs, and

contracting power. • Federal telecom law requires treating all carriers the same• it is possible local governments through their leasing of right-of-

ways to require such things as:• a certain level and quality of service and• prohibitions on cherry picking of high revenue areas for

exclusive service.

• Obviously, local governments will be limited in cases where carriers see the requirements as too restrictive.

Telecommunications Act of 1996:

• Cities can manage rights of way and receive compensation for the use of these rights of way.

• Cities much be non-discriminatory and competitively neutral in their regulations of telecommunication services

• Cities can provide telecommunication services wither with other utilities or on a stand alone basis, but cannot give their own utility units preferential treatment.

Making use of contractual power

Following a competitive bid process, Minnesota has entered into a contract with a private that grants exclusive access to certain freeways for the installation of fiber-optic cables. In return, the firm will provide the state with both active fiber and a certain amount of reserved bandwidth that can be activated in the future. Because the contract requires the vendor to install fiber that is owned by third parties and to make the capacity available for lease to all interested telecom firms, the contract is likely to meet FCC guidelines.

Making use of Contractual Power

• City of Seattle RFPs for development of a "city-wide information highway" to serve internal needs and to insure services to all residents and businesses.

• The city used a number of inducements based on its own use of services, ownership of existing rights-of-way and infrastructure (utility poles, conduits, etc.), and the city cable franchise to induce the level and scope of services desired.

at the Government Level... Micro-Projects:

simply wiring or rewiring government owned facilities

Internet-ready wiring of speculation buildings that are used to attract new businesses, particularly the low-pollution, high-wage businesses that rely heavily on information technology.

at the Government Level ... Partnering Anaheim, Calif. has partnered with a private firm to

support development of high-bandwidth telecommunications services based on fiber-optic cable leased from the city.

The advantage of this approach is that the city receives the service benefit, but does not have to manage a technical business operation that has the potential for problems.

network is being built as an open system, other telecommunications carriers will be able to buy capacity to provide services such as video programming, dedicated data links, or Internet services.

at the InterGovernment Level ... Partnering• opportunities to partner with schools, hospitals, libraries, and other public

institutions that are or will be high users of network capacity.

• Pool purchasing of Internet access capacity can typically reduce the price of access by a substantial percentage.

• improved service will also typically come from sharing bandwidth. To increase satisfaction with a network, one will want to decrease the frequency at which

one reaches the bandwidth limit. Because most Internet transaction take place in a very short period of time, the potential

of finding space on the network is greater, all else being equal, when there is greater bandwidth.

as the range of users increases, variation in the usage patterns of the users increases. e.g., School-Gov. sharing, Gov. gets exclusive access after school & summer

• Example Government: Washington state created the Department of Information Services (DIS), which contracts with many carriers to provide telecommunications services to state agencies, local governments, colleges, universities, schools libraries and other public organizations. Other states have followed this lead. As a volume purchaser, DIS obtains lower prices from telecommunications carriers.

Partnership Potential in Every Community:

• E-rate subsidies for schools, libraries, and health facilities.

• local government assistance could help these organizations maximize the value of their discount.

• Careful planning and attention to E-rate restrictions, however, is needed

ACCESS

• General Access by Citizens and Community

• Access by Specific Government Employees

• Access Costs

Why Improve Access: • “significant impairment of our citizens which

will result if our constituency is kept out or left out of this revolution” Race will be international

• Equality of access or at least some level of universal access is also being touted by economists as a good thing in itself. Metcalfe’s Law!

• universal access = major drop in mailing costs

• Caveat: Benefits may go more to citizens than to Gov.

Barriers to Gov. Employee Access

• the fear that employees will simply play on the Internet– technology controls– administrative controls– built in excuses

• the concern over the cost of providing access– costs will decrease

Factors in employee access:

-The employee's use of the Internet for research and publication

-Issues of equity and the value of universal access to such things as personnel policies and procedures, electronic newsletters and memos, etc.

-The need to communicate with other departments and with citizens.

-The value of employees becoming part of a smart community.

• -The potential for reducing the long-term cost of information provision

Access Type Costs

Dedicated Lines Into aLocal Government

Network

Non-Digital, 56K DialUp Access

Size of a Dedicated Line Total Cost per Month(includes cost of lineleasing plus InternetAccess)

No. of Users With New Phone Lines& Dial-Up InternetAccess

64K ISDN $645 per month Up to 20 $1100 per month

128K ISDN $825 per month 20 -40 $2200 per month

256K ISDN $1145 per month 40-60 $3300 per month

384K ISDN $1345 per month 60-130 $5500 (100 users) permonth

T1 $1895 month 100+ $8250 (150 users) permonth

ADSL & CABLE Access

Restricted to certain areas. Don’t always serve businesses Great cost for bandwidth, but cannot typically

share bandwidth Great for high-bandwidth users

Five Cost Saving Ideas: • Buy needed bandwidth in stages, and do not

purchase more bandwidth than is needed. • Monitor usage and encouraging people to use the

net at times when more bandwidth is available.• Discourage, limit or prohibit the visiting of

'bandwidth hog' web services such as video services.

• Install a proxy server that stores frequently visited web pages for quick, internal access.

• Form partnerships

Communications Technologies

• Internet Only

• Intranet Only

• Internet and Intranet

• An Intranet is a private network that uses the same communications protocols and end-user interfaces (e.g., Internet browsers) as the Internet.

IntrAnet

• government workers can access all the features and content available on the Internet and access information and enriched multimedia content on the government's own internal network

Basic Advantage of an Internet/Intranet Strategy

• Training and ‘futzing around’ are by far the largest cost of computer ownership ‘Futzing around’ costs can be minimized by moving to a single user interface.

• Internet/Intranet strategy minimizes these costs because Internet browsers are well-designed, continually improving, and free. Metcalfe’s Law!

• Gov. can benefit from and further a piggyback effect

Logic of moving to an Internet/Intranet Strategy

• Uniform communications medium across platforms (Unix, PC, Mac).

• Connectivity to citizens and telecommuting employees.

• The potential to enrich internal and external communications with images, sound, and video and to use the same media in both the internal and external networks. Early high-bandwidth!

Other Reasons

Other Reasons

• Connectivity to important sources of data provided by other local governments, by professional associations, research universities, and the like.

• The potential to have one user workstation perform multiple functions.

• The potential for increased collaboration among persons who are located in distant settings.

• The provision of 24-hours a day, 7 days a week service.

AREA How Internet/Intranet Strategy Affects GoalAchievement

Training needs Single know user interface and PIGGYBACK EFFECT.

LAN / PersonalProductivity/Client/ServerTechnology

The Internet/Intranet strategy represents a combination of anultrawide network and a local area network (LAN).

InformationTechnologyStandards

The Internet provides some built-in standards related tocommunications protocols, but allows for greater flexibilityon the hardware side.

Data Access New Extendable Markup Language (XML) can help to pulldata from a variety of data sources into a single coherent webpage.

Business ProcessRe-Engineering

Internet/Intranet standardization makes it easier to implementa re-engineering process to the extent that it solves problemsrelated to incompatible systems.

Web Publishing Foundation

• Basic Bandwidth Considerations

• Cost and Interactive Capacity• Ownership and Operations

Web Space

• typically purchased in amounts from five megabytes on up to several gigabytes.

• five megabytes can hold hundreds of pages of text, but only a few minutes of multimedia --sound or video.

• The standard price per additional five megabytes = five dollars a month on top of a basic monthly fee

• Also, host providers will charge a small fee for hits above a certain level.

Additional services

• CGI and other scripts.

• Connections to databases

• Electronic commerce transactions.

• Usage tracking

Server-Side Bandwidth and Access Quality

• Internet bandwidth and access speed are as or more important on the publishing (or server) side of the Internet as it is on the receiving (or client or browser side) of the Internet.

• peak demand bandwidth

• other users of the server

The Key Choice: Establishing your own web server/host or Purchasing

hosting services

cost of server/network maintenance costs involved in setting up web access to

databases costs for additional like-kind applications or

services

• service interruption tolerance level

Factors favoring in-house web publishing

• the information technology unit of the government is already operating a reliable local area network

• the government plans to transform a local area network into an Intranet

• high level of in-house expertise or slack resources

• political will and executive leadership to maintain the system

Option1: Static Pages

• Purchase space on commercial Web server.• For small governments with very limited resources

and/or limited in-house expertise. • The government's Internet plan does not call for

frequent updating of information or real time E-commerce/E-government

• Adv: Low cost

• Disadv: Low functionality;– Have to continue to translate documents/data into

HTML format for Web publication.

Option2: Delayed Dynamic Pages

• involves an established Internet provider running a copy of a local government database (or a non-mission critical database)on the provider's web server.

• For Governments with low to moderate resources and/or in-house expertise whose Internet plans call for a limited number of applications that involve database access, no need for real-time access.

Option2: Delayed Dynamic Pages

• Advantages: – Access to your data is likely to be much

quicker. – You do not have to maintain a web server or

purchase a dedicated data line to your computer.

• Disadvantages: – You have to update the Internet version of your

database. – The Internet web hosting provider will charge a

fairly substantial fee

Option3: Real-time Dynamic Pages

• Purchase broadband Internet access (through a dedicated line) to one or more in-house servers/web servers. These servers access the computers running operational databases (including mainframe databases) and provide real-time or delayed database access based on local needs and security requirements.

• For Moderate to Large Governments with Substantial Resources and In-house expertise and whose Internet plans call for numerous web applications that involve database access.

Option3: Real-time Dynamic Pages

• Advantages:

– Highly flexible.

– Ability to share code from application to application.

– No need to hand translate database data into a web format before publishing--this can be programmed.

– The information you publish always is current

• Disadvantages:

• Large set-up, maintenance, and programming costs.

• Need to have in-house web experts.

• Need to have large data demand in order to benefit from the cost savings associated with economies of scale in web hosting.

A key planning consideration:

if your mid- or long-term information technology plan calls for moving to a higher level option, and

the government is dedicated to achieving goals that demand this higher service level, and

if the government has a good track record with respect to recruiting and retaining highly skilled information technology professionals

THEN

• it may be more profitable to go ahead and invest in the equipment and expertise needed to move toward this higher level

Using the Internet for Streamlining:

• Getting the right information

• to the right place

• in the right form

• more quickly or more efficiently than is currently the case

Brainstorm Session

To streamline you need to understand...

• audiences for a local government Internet • generic functions • mediums • transaction costs• departments• communication direction (citizen to Gov. /Gov.

to citizen, etc.)

Key audiences...

• citizens

• business

• visitors

• students

• staff

• persons with disabilities

Mediums...• text

• pictures

• data from databases

• sound

• video

• chat

• GIS

• Virtual reality

• Expert systems

Generic Functions...• SENSING

• WARNING

• MAINTAINING RELATIONSHIPS

• DIRECTING

• PLANNING

• SIMULATING

• TRAINING

• TESTING

Transaction Costs• Search, Travel, Wait, & Information Costs

identification a product or information need comparison of products/services, identification of appropriate customers/consumers

• Negotiation & Bargaining negotiating/bargaining with seller/provider securing agreement with trusted sellers/providers, conveying key information to the seller/provider

(e.g., application and eligibility information, credit information, purchase order information, etc.).

• Transaction Completion Costs exchanging assets (e.g., money for promised

delivering of a product) keeping and accessing records of the exchange updating other records based on the completion of

an exchange (e.g., budget accounts).

• Policing and Enforcement Costs monitoring whether the delivered product/service

met the advertised specifications, calling on enforcement agents to enforce

guarantees that might have come with the product or service.

• Decision Costs making the pricing

structure transparent, identifying the key

terms of the service agreement

choosing provider/choosing consumer

Transaction Costs• Negotiation & Bargaining

negotiating/bargaining with seller/provider

securing agreement with trusted sellers/providers,

conveying key information to the seller/provider (e.g., application and eligibility information, credit information, purchase order information, etc.).

Transaction Completion Costs exchanging assets (e.g.,

money for promised delivering of a product)

keeping and accessing records of the exchange

updating other records based on the completion of an exchange (e.g., budget accounts).

Transaction Costs

• Policing and Enforcement Costs monitoring whether the delivered product/service

met the advertised specifications, calling on enforcement agents to enforce

guarantees that might have come with the product or service.

Moving to Action• Identify a few projects that are feasible and that

will provide the greatest return on investment.• Pick projects that are able to satisfy real

needs. • Remember needs can be seen from multiple

points of view: – citizens may see a need to be able to convey

their opinions.

• Identify veto points, wait points, and hassle points--count people in line

Production Costs for...

Basic SiteFunctional• Enhanced • E-Government

Basic easiest to define and cost out. essentially a static site that is comprised

of a fairly well-defined set of essential or common web pages

• provides insight into the general nature, structure, history, etc. of the local government and the community it serves.

• contract for Web site development in range of $12,000- $40,000.

Functional multiple departmental pages and resources, resources such as on-line printable and e-mail-

able forms, some dynamic pages e.g., in Seattle, the animal

shelter web site shows animals available for adoption immediately upon change in the data

some "applications building"

• Cost depend on the depth of resources provided, level of in house expertise & experience, degree of customization

Enhanced

• provide a service or technology (e.g., streaming video, GIS-to-Web interaction, or electronic billing transactions) that is far above the current norm for local governments

• Cost can vary tremendously due to software specials (e.g., Real Networks).

New Cost Accounting Methods Needed

improving in-house efficiency does not tell a complete story.

government is not the prime or the greatest beneficiary. Most savings will go to the citizens the avoidance of: time spent waiting, traveling,

communicating, having to pay for printed documents, etc.

Government should assess the total expected benefits

Cost & Privatization: CivicNet

• Exclusive rights to the databases for the purposes of web access were leased to the CivicNet

• Service charges and lease terms are overseen by the Enhanced Access Board, a public-private partnership

• services are reported to be self-supporting. charges range from a few cents per search to five

dollars per use. records were already computerized, but local gov.

would have faced high startup cost

Questions about Privatization

goes against the spirit of the open records ideal.

• may be deeded illegal under state open records legislation.

• courts moving in this direction

E-Government Cost4 Types

• a set menu of service items with a price tag attached.

• The customer identifies the product that they desire and submit their credit card number through the secure socket layer (SSL) of the Internet .

• If this service is provided by a third party the orders are then transferred to the local government billing office which is responsible for verifying the card numbers and submitting the amount to be deducted from the card owner account to the appropriate financial institution.

• Cost: $100+ dollars per month; no transaction fees

Type 1: Secure Transmission of Credit Card Numbers Only

• At this service level, one is providing at a minimum a means for citizens and employees to be able to communicate via a secure network (e.g., using the web's SSL or a secure e-mail transmission) and to be able to authenticate their identity through use of a digital certificate.

• Cost: For secure e-mail using digital certificates and a secure e-mail software: $10+ per person per year.

Type 2: Contract/ Application Signing

• The authorization request is the encrypted electronic message that is sent from the local government's storefront through a special accounting software (e.g., CyberCash's CashRegister) to the consumer's credit card issuing financial institution for approval of the transaction.

• The capture is the action of submitting a credit card sale for financial settlement. When the government requests or initiates the capture of a transaction, the sale amount will be credited to the government's deposit account

• Cost:$300-$800 in set up fees; $30-$40 per month, plus .10-.20 per transaction

Type 3: Secure Transmission Plus Credit Card Authorization and Capture

• assumes the installation of other levels

• then takes the receipt data from a completed credit card capture or charge and uses this data to update a customer's current account record.

• The new customer account data can then be sent back to the customer via the local government's web server.

• Cost:Cost of Type 3 plus the expense of customized programming of the local government's web server/database --$5,000+

Type 4: Real Time Completion of Transaction

and Updating of Local Government Database

have the basics in place first before proceeding to the more sophisticated services and applications

electronic mail. In 1985, there were only 300,000 registered electronic mail users. In 1993 an estimated 12 million Americans regularly used electronic mail and related on-line services. Today, the number of electronic mail users is estimated to be more than 27 million."

staff are rapidly able to take advantage of all the functionality of this technology with only a very minimal amount of orientation.

Explore simpler technologies that may do the job. telephone voice mail, fax back, automated dialing, Interactive voice response systems

Caveats

What is the effect of non-accessible data becoming accessible

Some will still not be on-line. Managers may be reluctant to provide redundant or multiple methods of communication with citizens that are needed until all citizens are on-line.

electronic record storage is not a mature industry or one that has settled on permanent standards. Managers may advise caution with respect to moving toward digital government.

Address public managers' reluctance

Strategic Level : It’s about: audience community brand protection

Tactical Level: It’s about: content trust attractiveness ease of use

DESIGN

• COMMUNITY OF INTEREST

• COMMUNITY OF TRANSACTION

• COMMUNITY OF RELATIONSHIPS

• COMMUNITY OF FANTASY

Community

• COMMUNITY OF INTEREST– Citizens

– Businesses• New location• Labor or supply needs• Business types (e.g., retail, wholesale, office,

etc.)

– Visitors

Within community, organize around audiences and sub-audiences

basic and official information on the topic (community of interest),

a way for people to express their opinion in terms of an simulated transaction (e.g., willingness to pay to insure a land use

articles on how different land use policies tend to affect human relationship

links to a number of SimCity-like web sites or sites that deal with the future of the city.

Sample: new land use plan

it insures the government gets credit for its product.

it insures that the government is not blamed for the mistakes or lack of quality in the web sites

• the satisfactory experiences that citizens and other users have via the web will tend to transfer to other aspects of government and vice versa.

Brand protection works in three ways.

Failure to protect their brand name effectively is typically

due to the lack of any central coordination or planning for web services. (e.g., a web site comprised of a crude

aggregation of departmental web sites).

Key steps to address brand protection failure:

• establish a single web design authority

• establish design guidelines and/or design templates that every department must use.

• identify one or more design elements for protecting the government's brand.

The key design elements for brand protection include:

A consistent and unique color scheme A specific logo use on every page A specific background graphic used on every web

page. San Francisco uses this method effectively. A marker used to indicate that a link is taking one

outside of the official government's web site. (Seattle)

• A navigation bar every web page

Problem: Conflict between a consistent government-wide

image and departmental freedom to develop their own

web identity.

One Solution: use of a distinctive department-specific color combined

with a strong background design that is used site-wide, See San Francisco's

web site

• Content needs to follow community and audiences

• Content should grow beyond the traditional bounds in order to serve the citizen as the best employee would

Content

Up-front disclosure of all aspects of the customer relationship. For example, if the government is selling products it should reveal any extra shipping charges, taxes, or handling fees.

Comprehensive, correct, and current.

• Connected to the rest of the Web. Not being afraid to link to other sites is a sign of confidence.

Trust

Follow the same rules as with printed documentswhite space a few well placed graphics.backgrounds can distract

attention

Attractiveness

Usability studies are necessary to understand what really happens when citizens, business people, or visitors interact with your web site to perform real tasks.

Often find that people who say that they want a particular feature in a web site will often never use the feature because it is too unwieldy to use, too hard to get to, or fails to meet their underlying needs.

Usability: Market research alone is not enough. The Web is an

interactive product.

Initial gross insensitivity to usability: large images on web pages that slow access

Mid-term: glitzing up of web site with numerous small graphics, animated graphics, roll-over buttons

Journeyman: designs represent a good compromise between speed and look

Master: Truly sensitive to usability and web structure. Able to provide good access to complex material

Evolution of a Webmaster

Web Structure

• users tend to prefer a few screens with a large number of choices over a larger number of screens that present fewer, more simplified menu choices

• the threshold of frustration for computing tasks is around 10 seconds. Page should not be any larger than a total of 30K

• Web sites that are constantly being redesigned will confuse citizens. Find a good design the first time and stick with it for a while.

• include effective alternative ways for citizens to interact with the organization (e-mail, phone, fax, mail)

Usability findings

• include effective alternative ways for citizens to interact with the organization (e-mail, phone, fax, mail)

• use of keywords to identify the content on each page.

• Site search engines

• Hierarchical organization of the web site with a visual map "You are here: Main > Courts of the District > Municipal Court of Philadelphia > The Civil Division"

Usability findings

• Use of site maps

• Use of well-designed indexes – allow for linkage to informative advice on such

things as pet care, how to deal with bailiffs (or police), getting a death certificate, controlling pets, dealing with landfill gas, insulation against traffic noise, handling money and dealing with debt, getting a job, and even ear piercing

Usability findings

a domain name that is easy to remember and easy to spell

short URLs that are easy easy-to-type URLs that follow the site structure hackable URLs that make it possible for

users to move to higher levels of the information hierarchy by cutting off the end of the URL (after the forward slash)

• URLs that don't change

Usability findings: URLs

• Use the inverted pyramid style

• Important information first with links to details.

• usability studies indicate that Web users tend not to want to scroll down a page. As such, if you want people to get your ideas, you need to put them at the top with links to the background and other supporting information.

Usability findings: Webstyle

MANAGEMENT

Management of Stakeholder Relationships

• Consider establishing strategic partnerships. Public/private, intergovernmental and inter-organizational

• Obtain early buy-in by all the key stakeholders • Provide a means for early involvement

of/feedback from end-users to contribute to the designs.

Management of Staff

• Nurture pockets of energy and passion.

• Recognize the need to allocate staff time to the project

• Recognize the need to establish a culture that will accept the new technologies.

Management of Technology and Design

• Address system inter-operability issues early and carefully.

• Build-in scalability and provide for maintenance. take advantage of existing capabilities and infrastructure.

• Rely on industry standards.

• Value customer service above technical superiority.

Management of Technology and Design

• Emphasize the quality and quantity of the content over technique.

• Identify applications that are effective in other similar locations

• Use pilots, prototypes, or proof of concept demonstrations.

Management of the Larger Context

• Identify the need for new policies before introducing new technologies.

• Prepare for the extra work that success may bring.

Management of Staff

• "web master" job title– no standard job description

– task that can be performed by a single "master?"

• technical skills but also teaching, human relations, and promotional skills able to sell the in-house staff and managers on the

idea

Web Staff Tasks Producer or general manager Executive Moderator/System operators,

who moderate discussions. Merchandisers/Developers Executive Editor, --content/program

strategy Archivist Usage Analyst New Product/Service Developer

Keeping Technical Staff

• Create flexible job descriptions• Value potential and emphasize

challenges• Develop an internship program• Plan to support innovation• Make time and budget for training. • Encourage entrepreneurial

tendencies: This can involve such things as establishing

Management of Ownership

• Web design is a core competency for the network economy

• Strategic aspects of web design should be kept in-house

• special services such as usability testing, illustration, writing/copy editing, translation, development software, and web hosting can be outsourced, but not the business logic of the organization

Management of Web Traffic Placing one's web site address on every piece of

printed material, e-mail, utility bills, legal advertisements, business cards and correspondence that goes out

Using local cable and public access channels to introduce the web site and remind people of its existence and of updates.

Renting billboards to advertise the site when it is first created or significantly updated.

Link exchange Sponsoring games, lotteries, scavenger hunts,

drawings

Managing Expected Staff Use and Interactions

• should discussion forums have measurable goals,

should documents be presented with/without commentary,

should surveys have/not have automated real-time tabulation of responses,

• should there be mandated government responses to feedback forms, etc.

Managing Interactions:Synthesizing comments.

task of effectively, efficiently, fairly, and appropriately summarizing these views and integrating them into the policy development process.

Being aware of the capabilities and disabilities of intelligent agents (or computer robots) with respect to synthesizing comments.

Managing Interactions:Response Time & Frequency

pressure of modern expectations managers' expectations regarding appropriate

response times can affect and potentially undermine other Internet strategies.

having to respond to e-mail, which is easier to produce than a letter, is sometimes cited by local government staff as a barrier to getting her work done.

Managing Interactions:

Organizing Self-Help

Governments may want to nurture self-help user groups since such groups are often able to provide the kind of response time and basic help that many citizens and government employees need.

• But…there can be pitfalls in doing so.

Managing Interactions Role of Public Servants:

• Follow the traditional model of controlling information flow?

• Net activism on the part of citizens (and rogue employees) may force governments into a more activist stance.

• Public servants will need good guideline and training to navigate between the need for increased responsiveness and appropriate reserve.

Managing Interactions Accountability:

With the development of on-line policy submissions and comments, it becomes easy to store, search, and these materials.

• Result--> there policy process becomes more on-going, better documented, wider-spread, and less forgetful-- thereby raising expectations that results should also be measured and documented.

Managing Interactions: Level of Detail

With Internet publication of more detailed information about government operations, the potential for more detailed questioning from citizen groups increases.

• Detailed questions tend to require more time on the part of staff to respond.

Managing Appropriate Use

• managing Internet use issues can involve technical, policy, and administrative measures

• Policy & Admin.: policies that prohibit or limit the use of these Internet applications except for work-related purposes and provide specific management oversight procedures to monitor this

Managing Appropriate Use

• Policy & Admin.: policies that prohibit or limit the use of these Internet applications except for work-related purposes and provide specific management oversight procedures to monitor this.

• involves the periodic (or threat of) examination of web browser history logs

• Advantage: does not require a high level of technical implementation or the severe limitation on access

• Disadvantage: built in excuses

Managing Appropriate Use Technical Approaches

Filtering/blockage software. This software limits an employee's web visitation rights.

Proxy servers. Proxy servers are internal network web servers that copy frequently visited and approved web sites for employee access. By limiting visitation to the content on the proxy server, employees cannot surf the web at will.

• Push technologies.

Good Management Approach

It is inefficient to spend management resources rooting out inappropriate use of the Internet

It may be a sign of other, more serious managerial problems e.g., ill-defined job objectives or inadequate performance measures or measurement procedures.

look for other solutions first e.g., job analysis, job enrichment, performance reviews, etc.

MANAGING SECURITY

The more FUNCTIONAL the local government Inter- or Intra-net system the more security becomes an issue

There is no perfect security except for systems that are totally disconnected from the Internet.

Security options need to be tailored to the security needs of the different content and functional areas.

Security is about

• preventing access to information

• preventing the false transmission of information (e.g., communications by someone appearing to be someone else).

As such security needs to occur at different points:

At the web server During transmission At the point of

composition/transmittal (Identity Security)

Web Server Security:

Physical Physical Firewall security Password Firewall Proxy servers-Firewall security Antivirus security Monitoring security Intrusion detection security

Physical Security:

the physical separation of databases and networks. People who are not connected by a wire to the network/system will not have access.

copies of a database residing on a secure system may be made for the more public system.

Breaking physical security involves someone actually breaking into the building(s) houses the data.

Physical Security:

Physical security is technologically costless High in labor and other costs due the need for

systems personnel to hand copy the files.

• Physical security is generally only necessary in cases where a security breech could involve either irrecoverable losses of data or an unacceptable intrusion on a citizen's privacy.

Physical Firewall Security:• hardware at the point where private network

meets public network

• can physically block any request for connectivity that comes from outside the internal network, but still allow calls from within the private network to to the outside

• customized to allow for some periodic/automated replication of data

• disadvantage = no access from public to private network

Password Firewall : remote user provides signal or password

• Complexity = difficulty of unauthorized access = security.

• Must keep up with tools for artificially generating the same signal

• Stronger: Password + UserId + IP checks

• provides a much higher level of flexibility

• need back-up procedures

Web Transmission Security

• The danger of people listening in on Internet transmissions has probably been exaggerated.– Have to be within the route the data is traveling.– Have to reconstruct enough of the packets

• Encryption--the scrambling of data-- deals with the transmission security gap. Complexity of Key 40K, 128k, etc.

• Need Internet server with an encryption layer• User must have browser that can read SSL• Cost: slow data and high set-up cost

E-mail Transmission Security

• Same encryption process

• Need e-mail client that can encrypt and decrypt

• E-commerce/E-government use will tend to

demand identity security

Identity Security-Insuring you are who you say you are.

• Digital Certificates: essentially a piece of software that is assigned to you (i.e., identifies you) and that contains a personal encryption/decryption key. Digital certificates can be obtained from Certificate

Authorities usually on a yearly lease basis. cost begin at $10 per year for personal certificate, vary depending on the level of security and authentication

that is required.

• higher level certificates can include insurance against liability as well as more checking up

Certificate Authority(CA’s)

• Use public key encryption technologies

• Provide a second inner message about identity with each message sent by a certificate holder.

• With the message you get the CA’s public key to decode the CA’s inner message about the identity of the sender

Secure Message: YOU

• The Certificate Authority's public key to decode the digital certificate attached to their message, verify that it was issued by the Authority and that it belongs to them.

• As Sender: Their digital ID's public encryption key: so you can send them encrypted e-mail using their encryption key

• As Receiver: your digital ID's private decryption key: your browser can use your private decryption key to decode the mail that is sent to you encrypted with your public encryption key.

Security Consultants Both hacker tools and the security systems designed to fight computer

security breeches have improved substantially. high level of security has become more technically complex and requires

a greater diversity of knowledge Security industry makes it possible to purchase all-in-one (as well as

customized) security ‘pretty good’ solutions employ periodic security audits that test one's system The cost for security audits, test attacks, and remedies for failed systems

begin at five thousand dollars or more reduce costs without reducing security by matching solutions to problems.

• navigate between unacceptable risk of a security breech and unacceptable demands placed on the government's budget

Security Consultants

The cost for security audits, test attacks, and remedies for failed systems begin at five thousand dollars or more

reduce costs without reducing security by matching solutions to problems.

• navigate between unacceptable risk of a security breech and unacceptable demands placed on the government's budget

MANAGING COSTS

• certain communities will be much more likely to use local government Internet resources (and therefore provide a return on investment) more than others.

• develop a long-range plan that outlined a staged implementation of Internet capabilities that follows the development of Internet skills by the current school generation

MANAGING COSTS formula matching funds, federal, foundation and private sector grants, in-kind provision of services donation of facilities, re-deployed existing resources, private sector partnerships/sharing of costs revenue generation sale of data services right-of-way construction fees, private sector capital, investment in exchange for franchise rights, lease to ownership conversions, employing student interns

MANAGING COSTS Partnerships

• Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Virginia Railway Express as well as other local government agencies -- possibility of creating a single set of region-wide Internet kiosks that would host a wide variety of applications so as to spread the development and maintenance cost across numerous groups

• The Master License Service (MLS) Project, a joint project of the state of Washington and a couple of local governments. Will issue licenses of all types

LEGAL ISSUES

LEGAL ISSUES

• Copyright• Linking

The same law applies to Internet copyright issues and printed material copyright issues In publishing materials on the Internet one is neither absolved from following the principles of

respect for copyright nor is one expected to behave in a more exacting fashion. The fact that your local governments has gone about its work and developed massive amounts of

printed materials that did not involve any violation of copyright law could be reassuring. However, there are a couple of factors that should lead public managers to take a more active stance in avoiding copyright violations.

First, because web publishing is relatively easy (per the amount of material that can be published), it can often become the work of numerous people who are not particularly aware of copyright restrictions.

the ease with which it is possible to find, copy and paste both text and graphics from other web sites that one would want to use.

in the web world casual infringement of copyright is probably easier to detect than similar infringements made in the offline reproduction of copyright materials.

Copyright• same law for Internet and print Good record on print should be reassuring.

However, caution is needed because: web publishing is relatively easy ---> numerous

people who are not particularly aware of copyright restrictions doing publishing.

libertarian, wild west character of the Web could undermine the respect for copyright

graphic copying is easier in Web environment greater likelihood of getting caught

Copyright Prevention• Familiarize all potential web publishers with a basic

knowledge of copyright law. Forbid any charges of any kind for work Impossible to make fair use of a portion of a graphic.

Forbid non-original graphics. Use rules of thumb of copyright (e.g., the 250-word limit,

the less-than-one-minute of recorded sound limit. . Have the City/County attorney keep abreast of upcoming

cyberlaw issues. E.g., liability for what might be called contributing to the infringement of a copyright or knowingly "linking" to sites where there is material that is being published in violation of copyright law.

Exclusive rights & User Rights

• the right to make copies of their works,

• to create derivative works,

• to distribute the works, and

• to publicly perform or display them.

• Chief User Right: to make fair use of copyright material.

Four-prong test of fairness.

• The Purpose and Character of the Use: nonprofit use is more likely to be deemed as fair use.

• The Nature of the Copyrighted Work: (e.g., factual works with public value).

• The Amount and Substantiality of the Material Used: "heart of the book" issue

• The Effect of the Use on the Work's Market Value

Linking

• Linking is the core technology of the Internet.

• While legal forecasters do not expect that strong restrictions on linking will be forthcoming, they do point legal principles that could lead to restrictions on linking practices

Specific practices Avoid using a trademarks, logos, or

trademarked text as part of the link without the permission of the owner

Avoid "deep-links" into an outside web site that by-pass the site's intended homepage

Avoid use of frames in which one incorporates the content of another's site

Avoid the practice of "inlining" or drawing an image or content from another's web site into one's own page

POLICIES

Access Set flexible policies for access: Example

All employees access to government published materials

Internal e-mail access might be provided to all employees who need to communicate

Smaller group of employees get external or Internet e-mail rights.

more limited set get some access to Internet sites (with other sites being blocked by a filter).

smaller group yet could be provided full access very small group get to FTP, etc.

Appropriate Use Passive use: e.g., employees prohibited

from surfing web for private purposes Reactive Use: involves a user responding to

communication sent to that person in their capacity as government employee

Active use: e.g., publishing a web page on the local government's web site

Policies related to active & reactive use are the most important.

Appropriate Use

e-mail: the Achilles' heel of Internet policy mistaken belief it is private and

confidential. The law is still evolving ... but the

predominant legal position is that e-mail sent through a local government e-mail system is owned by that government and that the government has the right to audit or inspect

Governments need to warn ..

There is no expectation of personal privacy in the use of the Internet and e-mail.

That the use of e-mail or other Internet services for private use is prohibited or needs to follow certain guidelines.

Certain state laws (e.g., California Public Records Acts) may require that electronic documents be made available.

Managers are responsible for their respective employees' use of Internet services.

Eight areas of potential liability

• harassment,

• defamation,

• copyright/plagiarism,

• entering contracts,

• hacking,

• fraudulent representation,

• pornography and

• divulgence of confidential information.

Steps to address liability

• Many local governments have tended to put in place generic exhortations to only use the Internet to accomplish official city business. Others, such as the City of Los Angeles Employee Internet Usage Policy attempt to cover many of these legal areas, but still in a fairly non-detailed manner.

• Generic, catch-all policies may not be explicit enough to insure minimum liability.

Each policy should

define the area and legally prohibited behavior explain the government's own policy explain what must not be done explain what must be done (e.g., to respond to

inquiries) explain the potential legal problems provide guidance on how to avoid problems explain the violation consequences the

disciplinary procedure to be used

Polices for Increasing Reliability• making and keeping hard and electronic copies

of important e-mails sent and received.

• keeping Internet/Intranet passwords secure.

• insuring that staff check their e-mail regularly or arrange to have it checked.

• Insuring prompt reply to e-mail

• responding to request for e-mail receipts that insure that someone has opened (and probably read) the message.

Polices for Increasing Reliability• Prohibition/authorizing

impersonation/representation of another person

• Prohibiting import of non-text file and files of unknown type received as e-mail attachments.

• requiring virus checking procedures.

• Regulating levels of e-mail or Internet use so as to prevent network congestion.

• verifying the integrity of information presented on a Web site.

Netiquette Policies• always signing e-mail, including visual cues as to when one is joking, being careful about bandwith and sending to people who may not want the e-

mail,

• reading FAQ files before posting a question,

Blanket versus Flexible Policies:• blanket policies (e.g., against non-business

related e-mail) may be impractical or demoralizing

• An alternative: lay out the parameters by which non-business use of Internet services are allowed.– Example: could require who send personal e-mail

to start or sign off the e-mail with the a statement such as "This is a Personal e-mail. It is not authorized by or sent on behalf of the City of Blank. This e-mail is the personal responsibility of the sender."

Continuum of Authority/Legitimacy• Official City

• Department

• Selected Citizen comments

• In-House discussion

• Moderated citizen discussion

• Space for Nonprofits

• Limited Candidate space

• Selected advertising

• Free discussion

• Open advertising

Continuum of Control• Central Administration Review

• Decentralized Review

• Review Based on Policy & Moderator’s skill

• Policy Based Review

• Policy of Non-review

The theory that the support for multiple electronic communities will lead to a more successful web site suggests that local governments should at least consider serving a

larger part of this continuum than is typically the case…but in all cases

avoid policy vacuums

Data Ownership Policies should specify:

• How citizens and business will access government information, including under what circumstances this information can be re-sold as a commodity.

• If or when and under what circumstances government web space is to be available for commercial use or use by nonprofit organizations, e.g., for advertising, for tie-in marketing of related goods and services, etc.

• Who will be responsible for carrying out or enforcing these policies.

Fulton County's citizens cannot search the records that they were once able to due to a misunderstanding between

the county and the commercial enterprise

At a Minimum:

• decide if user fees are desirable.

• If yes, decide if the government will be the direct vendor of the data or whether it would be better to contract with a commercial firm

Surveillance Policy Issues Identifying the specific public safety

reasons that would be compelling enough Identifying the approval process needed to

acquire or implement technologies. Identifying the general public notice

requirements for acquiring technology at specific surveillance sites.

Monitoring of citizen access

• Proposed Internet policy in Minnesota states that except when clearly authorized by state statute or federal law to do so, government agencies should not monitor citizen access to and usage of public government data

• may come into conflict with traditional local government practices that have developed in circumstances where copies of public records were limited and potentially vulnerable

Profiling of citizen users

• Opportunity: to help guide that citizen more quickly and more effectively to the services or information he or she seeks

• Threat: if the government employs this information to craft responses that tap into the prejudices of citizens or to hide or disguise information that will lead a citizen to look upon the government unfavorably, democratic governance is diminish

• large gray area where there will be trade-offs

San Diego Telecommunications Policy

consider privacy rights related to: limitations on data collected, limitations on secondary uses and sales of the

data, rights of citizens to know what information had

been collected about them, how it would be used, that the data was accurate, and that there were adequate means to correct

errors.

San Diego Telecommunications Policy

assure security of data against unauthorized collection, access, use or dissemination, and

educate the citizens about the uses of this data, and their rights with respect to data about them.

Levels of E-Government

• Level 1: Providing Information that is Needed to Complete a Transaction e.g., through a web site.

• Level 2: Providing a Means of Communicating with Local Government Officials for the purposes of facilitating a transaction (e.g., through advertisement of an e-mail link, provision of printable forms on the web).


• Level 3: Authorizing and facilitating the pre-submission of an application, contract, etc. via an electronic means without validating the completion of the transaction.

• Example: authorize developers to submit a building permit application via a form that calculates fees, validate data completion, and provides expert assistance in completing the form. The application would be pre-approved, but not completed until a permit signature was received.


• Level 4: Authorizing and facilitating on-line purchasing/fee payment though the use of credit cards.

• 4a: Delayed completion of the transaction.• 4b: Real-time completion of the transaction.• Level 5: Authorizing and facilitating the use of

electronic/digital signatures to fully complete a business process that demands a valid signature (e.g., contracts, travel and fee reimbursements, license issuance, etc.

• 5a: Delayed completion of the transaction.• 5b: Real-time completion of the transaction.


• Level 5: Authorizing and facilitating the use of electronic/digital signatures to fully complete a business process that demands a valid signature (e.g., contracts, travel and fee reimbursements, license issuance, etc.

• 5a: Delayed completion of the transaction.

• 5b: Real-time completion of the transaction.

Types of E-Government Communications

• Non-repudiation

• Confidentiality

• Non-tampering

• Signed

• Witnessed

• Combination of features to achieve a High Level of security/authentication

Types of E-Government Communications

• local government managers need to undertake the analysis of Types as they consider how to implement E-government services most efficiently--It may not be necessary to implement the Combination of features/technologies to achieve one’s goals.

Statutes may (or may not):

• Set a standard for what would be reasonable care on the part of subscribers (or users of a digital signature) with respect to safeguarding their private keys which validate their identity

• Specify how the various parties (e.g., government, citizens, certificate authorities) will bear liability for losses due to negligence.

• Specify the standard of evidence in cases where a citizen or contractor challenges the presumption that a digital signature issued to them is genuine.

Browser Features

• title page• home• cache• security• forward/back• history• bookmarks• plug-ins

Tips

• Try at least twice

• check to see if page is still down-loading

• if stuck, try using the stop button, then reload

General Search Tips

• Try different search engines

• Use “” to insure that an entire phrase will be in your search results

• Use + and - to indicate a must and must not appear in the search results

• Use “AND” to insure that all the words must appear in results; Use OR to insure that only one of the words must appear

Search Tips (cont’d)

• Use “title: something” to restrict searches to what appears in the title bar

• Use more than one word

• Use very descriptive words (Camray rather than car)


• Try different search engines and use their special features– Hotbot, Altavista allows you to search by media

type; – Excite, Yahoo: allow you to get “more like this”– GoTo, Altavista: allow you to sort/search by date– Looksmart: allows you to get the 10 most visited

sites


– Lycos, Yahoo: give you a search tree– Lycos: allows you to search URLs and to set

order and ranking of importance of words in the search

– Yahoo: allows wildcard * matching– Snap: provides matching Web Sites &

Categories– Dogpile: searches using several search engines at

once

EXERCISE 1

• Use 3 different search engines to:– find information on city-county consolidation

in Georgia– find the GMA web site

EXERCISE 2

• Quickly find:– the smallest county in Georgia (land mass)– the largest county in Georgia (land mass)– a Georgia web site with a video file – --- the name of a local elected official– --How much money Roy Barnes had a week

before the primary– --infant mortality rate of Coweta County

Evaluating Web Sites

• Who provides/maintains the site – (It is clear? Is there a designated webmaster?)

• Is the site current, accurate, and useful – (Is there an indication of the last update?, Is

there unique information? Is there a reason to believe that the information is accurate by virtue of knowledge/expertise of provider? Was the site recommended by a reputable source?).


• Is there an indication of objectivity?– (e.g., a .gov=government, .edu=education

and .mil=military may indicate a degree of oversight that is not evident in .com=commercial or .org=organization sites What are the reasons for the web site being offered? Is there advertising? Of what sort? What other types of web sites are linked to? )


• Is there sufficient content? (Could you understand the workings of government? Are frequently asked questioned answered? Is there history, current events, ordinances, minutes, etc.?)

• Is the design attractive/usable for different audiences?


• Is the site technically up to standards? – (Is the load time reasonable? Are the graphics

appropriate to the content and are they below 25K? Are there annoying features such as excessive animated gifs? Is the site easy to navigate because of a table of contents or site map? Are there text only versions of a site for those who cannot view images?)


• Does the site meet legal standards? – (Does the site contain copyrighted material or

use such material via a link?)

EXERCISE 3

• Find a local government web site in Georgia:– the smallest county in Georgia (land mass)– the largest county in Georgia (land mass)– a Georgia web site with a video file

big picture. local governments need to learn how to identify threats and opportunities for greater...

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