DGOnline Newsletter

Volume 24: March 2009

Welcome to dgOnline, the electronic newsletter of the Digital Government Society of North America. dgOnline is a monthly summary of news and events of interest to the DG community.  To submit material for inclusion in future issues, please send email to Meelis Kitsing at newsletter@dgsociety.org .

In this Issue:

• DGSNA attends meeting in Washington organized by the Obama Transition Team for Technology, Innovation and Government Reform

DGSNA attends meeting in Washington organized by the Obama Transition Team for Technology, Innovation and Government Reform

On Thursday March 12, Dr. Beth Noveck and others on the Obama Administration’s Transition Team for Technology, Innovation and Government Reform (TIGR) held a 'Listening Session' in Washington DC. The purpose was to collect suggestions from around the country for new and improved government services.  The TIGR team emphasizes especially transparency, openness and citizen participation. 

About 15 organizations were invited, including government groups, citizen representation groups, and professional societies.  DGSNA was privileged in having not one but two representatives (Andrea Kavanaugh, Virginia Tech and DGSNA Secretary and John Bertot, University of Maryland and DGSNA Board Member) as well as a third representative (Theresa Pardo, who (also, and officially) represented Center for Technology in Government at the University at Albany, and who is also a DGSNA Board Member). 

John provided background and context of DGSNA and gave an overview of the breadth and depth of the expertise encompassed by the Society.  Andrea spoke primarily to the TIGR goal of citizen participation as a natural follow-on to the successful mobilization of participation by the Obama election campaign, and how expertise in DGSNA can contribute specifically to understanding this phenomenon and achieving this broad goal.  Theresa highlighted the work of CTG and gave some specific examples where their work at the state level is directly relevant to many federal level challenges and interests in IT.

Beth said she expected all the organizations in the room would be able to find resonance with and build upon the work of TIGR, and that they might use our activities, as appropriate, to do so.  She talked about having pilot projects, proof of concept projects, and work with agencies around the initiatives of TIGR. Beth also asked everyone to spread the word on tracking the stimulus spending, particularly at the state and local levels (http://www.recovery.gov/).

The TIGR team aims by May 21 to complete a draft of recommendations to the Obama administration.  But they are continuing to request information and suggestions, and hence are setting up a website to which we will post our information, together with recommendations, etc. 

Other organizations at the Listening Session included: Internet Archive, American Institute of Architects, Business Software Alliance, Privacy Forum, Center for Democracy and Technology, American Council of Technology, Tech America, Professional Services Council, National Association of State CIOs, Software Industries Association, Computer and Communication Industry, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).  Government representatives attended from OSTP, GSA, the White House office of New Media.

Contact Meelis Kitsing at newsletter@dgsociety.org for questions or to submit material for future newsletters.

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