Government Technology - December 2007 - (Page 29)

merely having a Web site was largely passé for state and local government. The next big thing was Web sites that advanced a concept some called “smart government.” At its core, smart government was the creation of state and local Web portals — online access points where citizens could begin to truly interact with the public sector. One of the first states to use the portal concept was Virginia, with many others right behind it. The Web portal movement really opened the public to the e-government concept in the fashion many early visionaries had imagined. Licensing, registration, renewals — it would be like having your own personal assistant to help you navigate a multitude of government agencies. Web portals also started forcing agencies to take a second look at why they operated using siloed systems and programs. The possibilities of e-government added a renewed sense of urgency in terms BY 2001 , of achieving interoperability. But no good deed goes unpunished, and Web portals were no exception. As e-government grew, so did the need for people to input private data and submit it online. As such, privacy and data security became even more volatile concerns than they had been in the past. Web portals, smart government, knowledge management — these things were all beginning to serve well the public that accessed them. But therein lay a problem. As government began to reach out digitally to the populace, the so-called digital divide became ever more apparent. An array of attempts to bridge the divide were — and continue to be — considered. Municipal Wi-Fi has long been the leading strategy to increase accessibility. But jumping ahead a bit to present times, the muni Wi-Fi movement seems to be very much off track, and the digital divide has yet to be crossed. THE ATTACKS ON THE WORLD TRADE CENTER AND THE PENTAGON brought to bear a number of issues most Americans hadn’t thought much about. The deranged and dangerous nature of Islamic extremists was, of course, the concept all Americans became immediately familiar with that day. But for those who responded to 9/11, another reality demanded a second look — the inability of emergency personnel to communicate with each other. In a strange twist of fate, our October cover story, written several months prior to 9/11, took an in-depth look at this exact issue. The era of the global threat of terrorism was, regrettably, upon us. One of many truths that emerged is that for the foreseeable future, state and local government would need to take a far more proactive role in their own security. Technology could either help or hinder this war on terror. And all officials, including CIOs, had yet another critical issue to contend with. Massachusetts directs state agencies to consider open source options in IT procurement 2004 Computer viruses, including Sasser and MyDoom, strike with regularity Mass market VoIP services become available Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity reach the Red Planet Blizzard Entertainment releases World of Warcraft multiplayer online roleplaying game Government agencies begin investigating VoIP Researchers complete Human Genome Project Google Earth is launched Symantec merges with Veritas Facebook debuts Oracle strikes $10.3 billion deal to buy PeopleSoft, ending an 18-month hostile takeover battle Second Life, which began in 2003, has struggled to define what it’s meant to do. Most activities in Second Life revolve around fetishes of some kind, often sexual. The world is so large most places are usually empty. And its game engine software is sorely out of date. Still, Second Life has been a media darling because it represents the extraordinary potential of virtual worlds. j Lenovo acquires IBM PC division 29 02-04 http://www.govtech.com

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

Government Technology - December 2007 Contents Point of View Big Picture Profile The Last Mile GT Spectrum Well...How Did We Get Here? Dark Spaces A Paler Shade of Green? Decertification Dilemma Game On Two Cents Products Signal:Noise

Government Technology - December 2007

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