About
Committees
Membership
Transitions in Governance 2008 Discussions
Annual Society Conferences
-Past Conferences
Sponsors
Newsletter
Library and Archives
Privacy Statement
Home
dgOnline Newsletter
Volume 6: May 2007
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 contact Denise Dreany
In this issue:
-- dg.o 2007 Conference Highlights
-- First Working Group in International Digital Government
-- Books and Articles of Interest
-- Conferences and Calls for Papers
dg.o 2007 Conference Highlights
Researchers, scholars, governments officials and scientists representing 24 countries around the world convened in Philadelphia from May 20-23 at dg.o 2007, the 8th Annual International Digital Government Research Conference, to exchange ideas, evolve practices and work together towards creating a vibrant and meaningful international digital government community.
E-government’s diverse mixture of information and social sciences research and their application in government was reflected in the attendees and the structure of the conference itself. This rich combination lead to three days of intriguing
panels, lively discussions and recognition of common interests and shared values.
Attendees came to the conference with a shared focus on e-government. Dr. Jyoti Choudrie of the University of Hertfordshire, UK attended the session on Diffusion and Usage. "My area of research is government web sites and I am interested in seeing how various governments do things differently, and what can be considered best practice for government web site construction from a variety of sources.”
Doug Robinson, executive Director of the National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO) relies on academic research to support government in terms of information 
dissemination and management. During the conference he shared his assessment of the needs and concerns of government involving security, consolidation, cross-boundary collaboration, disaster recovery and health information sharing.
"dg.o 2007 is my second digital government conference," says Jeongsoo Kim, a Ph.D. student at University of Southern California. "I have come back because of the unique opportunity this conference gives students to participate, to be heard, as well as the chance to meet with renowned researchers in the field."
Keynote Address
William F. Pelgrin, Director of the New York State Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Coordination and the Founder and Chair of the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center gave the keynote address.
His talk focused on the importance of both leadership and personal responsibility in evolving a more responsive and open government. Pelgrin's passion for his topic and commitment to exemplifying his beliefs came through with wit and clarity.
"After the experience of 9/11, it became imperative that the walls of silence be broken," he said. "You can't mandate openness. You have to model openness. My policy is I will share everything with you, and when you feel comfortable then you can share with me. Trust is critical. How do you build trust? You have to establish relationships. It is personal and social, and you have to transition it over time to the position, where it can become institutionalized."
Pelgrin's leadership role led him to reach out beyond New York state boundaries to establish the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center involving information and security officers from all 50 states plus Washington, DC. Together they meet monthly to share information on security threats, best practices and resources.
Conference Panels
The keynote plenary panel on Global Climate Change approached this critical topic from a variety of perspectives, including government, business, and non-profit organizations and from both national and an international viewpoints. Panelists included Dominique Bachelet, Director of The Nature Conservancy; Barbara Eckman, IBM Green Project; Richard P. Hooper, Executive Director, CUAHSI; Peter van Puijenbroek, Senior Scientist, MNP, the Netherlands ; and Robert Worrest, Chief Scientist, CIESIN, Washington D.C.
Seven other panels throughout the conference brought together experts with unique perspectives to engage in discussions covering such topics as:
- Benchmarking and Measuring Digital Government
- Law and Governance and Virtual Worlds
- Information Integration and Dissemination for Disaster Management
- Bridging Research and Practice
- International Developments in Digital Government: Research & Government Perspectives
- Building a Sustainable International Digital Government Research Community
Best Of Awards
Out of one hundred and six high-quality research papers submitted to the conference, twenty-five were selected for presentation, including three authored solely by students. Forty-two research posters and system demonstrations gave researchers an audience for their work and a chance for participants to interact with each other, ask questions and exchange ideas.
Best paper honors were awarded to Jose Luis Ambite and Dipsy Kapoor from the University of Southern California for Automatic Generation of Data Processing Workflows for Transportation Modeling and to Rajiv Shah and Jay Kesan from the University of Illinois for Governing with Information Technologies. Jose Luis Ambite is pictured above with Alan Borning, Program Co-Chair and Jay Kesan is pictured at right accepting his award from Larry Brandt of The National Science Foundation.
Best poster was awarded to Anthony Cresswell, G. Brian Burke, Theresa Pardo and Lucy Dadayan for Advancing Return on Investment Analysis for Government Information Technology.
Seema Degwekar, Jeff DePree, Stanley Y.W. Su and Howard Beck won the best system demonstration award for A Distributed Event-Triggered Knowledge Sharing System.
Working Groups on International Digital Government
The first international working group to officially meet under the umbrella of the Center for Technology in Government's international digital government initiative is the working group on Online Consultation and Public Policy Making. Supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, this group of researchers is one of four to receive funding to advance digital government (DG) research on issues that cross national boundaries. Read more.
Books and Articles of Interest
Knowledge Transfer for eGovernment: Seeking Better eGovernment Solutions.
A new collective volume of knowledge transfer, edited by Roland Traunmuller, published by Trauner Verlag. Fifteen academics and professionals from public and private organizations have contributed case studies, country reports, challenges, deliberating strategies and analyses on framing conditions and policies, and model projects for fostering knowledge transfer and spurring organizational learning processes.
Digital Government: E-Government Research, Case Studies, and Implementation.
A new book that presents a current and comprehensive review of recent IT research of particular importance to digital government, explorations of current and future policy implications, and case studies of successful applications in a variety of government settings.
HHS Joins International Partners to Promote Health Records Standards.
The use of a standard terminology will enable the use of health information across borders, facilitate public health surveillance and support evidence-based research.
The white paper reviews contemporary ideas surrounding the subject of organizational transformation, presents a state perspective on the issue and provides the state CIO with relevant recommendations and calls to action.
Interview with "Wikinomics" author Don Tapscott.
"Wikinomics: How Mass Communication Changes Everything" author Don Tapscott talks about the implications of "wikinomics" for government and democracy.
Conferences and Calls for Papers
Calls for Papers
U.S. Federal Government E-Gov Newsletter
Short e-democracy articles
Editor: Steven Clift
Deadline: June 1, 2007
Contact: Lisa Nelson
International Conference on Information Society
(i-Society 2007)
Merrillville, Indiana, October 7-11, 2007
Deadline: June 15, 2007
E-Government Track
41st Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 41)
Big Island, Hawaii, January 6-10, 2008
Deadline: June 15, 2007
Workshop on Design & Evaluation of E-Government Applications and Services (DEGAS '2007)
Held in conjunction with IFIP TC 13 Conference INTERACT '2007
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 10-14, 2007
Deadline: June 15, 2007
Call for Volume Chapters and Reviewers
Advances in Management Information Systems (AMIS)
Volume on Electronic Government: Information, Technology and Transformation
Dr. Hans J. Scholl, AMIS EG Volume Editor
Deadline: September 30, 2007
Contact Dr. Hans J. Scholl
International Journal of Electronic Democracy Special Issues – Call for Papers:
Democratic Internet - Foundations, Ideas, Approaches, and New Perspectives http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=641
Deadline: October 15, 2007
Free/Libre and Open Source Software as a Foundation for E-Democracy
http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=642
Participation in Democracy for All - the Society of Active Citizens, an E-Democracy Primer
http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=643
Conferences
5th International Conference on Politics and Information Systems, Technologies and Applications (PISTA 2007)
Orlando, Florida, July 12-15, 2007
6th International EGOV Conference 2007
Regensburg, Germany, September 3-7, 2007
European Group for Public Administration Conference
Madrid, Spain, September 19-22, 2007
1st International Conference on Methodologies, Technologies and Tools Enabling E-Government (MeTTeGo7)
Camerino, Italy, September 27-28, 2007
www.conferences.cs.unicam.it/metteg07/
3rd International Conference on E-Government (ICEG) 2007
University of Quebec at Montreal
Montreal, Canada, September 27-28, 2007
www.academic-conferences.org/iceg/iceg2007/iceg2007
NASCIO Annual Conference
Tucson, Arizona, September 30-October 3, 2007
9th Public Management Research Association (PMRC) Conference
University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, October 25-27, 2007
http://www.pmranet.org/conferences/ProConf.html
eChallenges e-2007 Conference & Exhibition
The Hague, The Netherlands, October 24-26, 2007
www.echallenges.org/e2007/default.asp?page=c4p
Grant Opportunities
NSF: Cyber Trust (CT) 06-500
Full Proposal: November 14, 2007
www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_list.jsp?org=CISE
NSF: Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) 07-548
Full Proposal: June 4, 2007
www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_list.jsp?org=CISE
NSF: Industry/University cooperative Research Centers Program (I/UCRC) 07-537
Letter of Intent: June 29, 2007
Full Proposal: September 28, 2007
www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_list.jsp?org=CISE
NSF: International Research and Education: Planning Visits and Workshops 04-035
Full Proposal, September 20, 2007
www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_list.jsp?org=CISE
NSF: Integrative Graduate education and Research Traineeship Program (IGRT) 07-540
Full Proposal: October 2, 2007
www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_list.jsp?org=CISE
Job Opportunities
Post-Doc Position, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX
Applicant should have GIS and/or simulation modeling skills, and excellent communication abilities. Several projects are available in the areas of disaster management and environmental impact assessment. The period of support is flexible and can be from 3 months starting this summer to 2 years. Contact: Dr. Laura J. Steinberg
Contact Denise Dreany for questions or to submit material for future newsletters.
Subscribe to our mailing list to receive future issues of dgOnline.