Government Technology - December 2007 - (Page 31)

AS WE NEAR THE END OF OUR LOOK BACK, it seems the more things change the more they stay the same. Hurricane Katrina again highlighted the desperate need for widespread interoperability in public safety. The growth of Wi-Fi and the coming age of WiMAX hold a lot of promise, yet connectivity issues and the digital divide still exist. Many high-profile muni Wi-Fi projects recently have come under fire for poor service, and some have fallen apart altogether. Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth are transforming GIS into a more palatable and user-friendly technology, just as the Web changed the Internet from obscure academic network to an integral part of our lives. Social networking and virtual worlds are establishing the Web as the foundation for the next generation of community. Hot-button issues like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, network neutrality, electronic health records, global warming, green technology and intelligent transportation present government with more challenges and opportunities. ‘WE’RE GLAD TO SEE YOU’ Missouri’s search for IT workers moves beyond real life. With more than half of his staff reaching retirement age within 10 years, Missouri CIO Dan Ross is trying a series of new methods for attracting and retaining qualified workers — including one that’s literally out of this world. In what may be a first for state government, Missouri established a recruiting outpost in Second Life, a bizarre online universe inhabited by the computergenerated avatars of more than 7 million real people. The online multiplayer environment is a popular destination for young IT professionals, with its own news media, a functioning economy and at least one government embassy. Launched with little fanfare a few months ago, Missouri’s Second Life recruiting kiosk offers information on state government IT jobs and already has generated employment inquiries, said Ross. “You can maneuver in Second Life up to our message board and receive static information, or you can touch a kiosk that we created there, and that will pop up static information,” he said. “We’ve had half a dozen contacts from people saying, ‘Tell me more about IT jobs in Missouri’ or ‘We’re glad to see you there.’” Encouraged by those results, Missouri intended to expand its “in-world” presence by the end of the year. “Our plan within the next 30 days is to host a virtual job fair,” said Ross, “and in an interactive fashion whoever would come to that, we will communicate to them using a keyboard or possibly through the microphone attached to the PC.” STEVE TOWNS, EDITOR New tech gadgets continue their evolution, becoming ever smaller, faster, more powerful and — in many cases — more affordable. If the past 20 years are any indication, CIOs 20 years from now will grapple with technology and policy issues that seem both inconceivable and eerily similar to those of today. These two decades have been challenging and rewarding, and have borne witness to a radically altered technology landscape. And through it all, government has done its best to keep pace. Evaluating how well it’s done in that effort, even the harshest critic would have to agree that government hasn’t done bad. Not bad at all. Microsoft releases Windows Vista 2007 The Texas Health and Human Services Commission pulls the plug on a $500 million outsourcing project with Accenture Illinois becomes the first state to issue 100,000 digital certificates Apple releases the iPhone E-passport testing begins Net neutrality pits content providers against ISPs Carnegie Mellon University wins the DARPA Grand Challenge — Urban Challenge Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard is released j 31 05-07 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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