Government Technology - September 2007 - (Page 6)

contents govtech.com september 2007 departments 10 Big Picture 26 Way Back Machine Revisiting 20 years of Government Technology magazine. j 46 Site Seeing news e-government Four states and Google make sure search engines can find government data. 14 GT Spectrum 16 Profile Reports from the IT horizon. 50 Quarter Miles King County, Wash., wants to reward drivers for driving less. state local federal Seeing G overnment Web sites offer vast stores of public information, but many such sites remain effectively invisible to popular search engines. As of 2006, 98 percent of state and federal Web sites provided access to publications, and 82 percent allowed public use of government databases, according to a report on state and federal e-government published by Brown University’s Taubman Center for Public Policy. Many local governments have followed suit, providing crime statistics, property tax listings, code enforcement data and a great deal more. But how many citizens find their way to this wealth of government content? Not enough, say Google officials. And for a search engine provider, that’s bad news. “When users search on Google for information related to health, employment, education — the topic areas that are critical for well-being — if they don’t find what they’re looking for, and quite often that information would best come from government, they are disappointed with Google, not with their government,” said J.L. Needham, manager of public sector content partnerships for the Mountain View, Calif.-based search-engine provider. For Google, solving that problem means boosting user happiness, which makes good business sense, Needham said. Google helped four states — Arizona, California, Utah and Virginia — roll out SiteMap, a protocol designed to make government content more visible on Google and other popular search engine sites. Though some have voiced consumer privacy concerns because government records may contain personal or confidential information, California CIO Clark Kelso directed all agencies to redact Social Security numbers and other sensitive information from online documents, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Visit any government Web site, and you can use a menu system, a search box or a database lookup tool to find information of interest. For example, the Virginia Department Site CIO in the Show Four states and G sure search engi government data 54 Two Cents The Acer Ferrari 5000 laptop turns some heads and turns up the heat. SEPT_07 of Health Professions offers a database of physicians. Visitors use it to research doctors’ credentials, find out if complaints have been filed against them and learn about malpractice claims they’ve paid. That’s fine if you’re aware that the state database exists. But until recently, if you didn’t and used Google to research a doctor in that database, you wouldn’t have found the information, said Aneesh Chopra, Virginia’s secretary of technology. “That database is not crawlable by [Google’s] crawler.” This is a problem because most people use Google and other search engines to seek the sort of information governments provide, according to market research firms that track user behavior on the Web. MERRILL DOUGLAS | CONTRIBUTING WRITER “O 70 [p on t throu Se that’s (URL brow lar, o Lea Se Goog SiteM and o make 56 Products ViewSonic, Axis Communications, Panasonic and Microtek. columns 46 8 Point of View Mooching Off the Middle Class 58 signal:noise Back to School (Again) 12 The Last Mile The Net Generation month: Inspector Gadget From flashlights that emit pepper spray to video-equipped “spy balls” designed for tossing through windows, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is a gateway for all sorts of experimental police gadgetry. In October, we present a glimpse into the future of crimefighting tools. next SEPT_07 10 50 6 http://www.govtech.com http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - September 2007

Contents Point of View Big Picture ESRI Insert The Last Mile GT Spectrum Profile Nuclear Revival Way Back Machine Intel Insert Tale of TIERS Joining Forces Saving Seniors Site Seeing Quarter Miles Two Cents Products Signal: Noise Digital Communities Contents Our Road Ahead Course of Action Shared Interests Special Report: Foundation for the Future Using Wireless to Save Lives Smart Grids for Energy Conservation Community Governing and Wizards

Government Technology - September 2007

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