Best of the Web Wrapup

On Friday, I met with other states, counties, and cities that received Best of the Web awards. Seattle was represented by a large contingency, having received first place in the City portal category. They do an excellent job at providing online services and innovation to a city and citizenry that is focused on high tech. We also spent some time with the egov group from Maine. They have also done an excellent job moving things forward in that State, creating a portal that is user-centric, visually appealing, easily navigable, and service oriented. Harry Sutton, a former State of Utah manager, was there to receive the 4th place award for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Harry is doing well with the Social Services department.

Part of the afternoon session was spent on a discussion of new technologies and what government should expect in the future. Nothing earth-shattering was mentioned in the session - more webservices, more mobility, location based / GIS service more integrated with everything else, etc. were the things most commonly proposed.

eGovernment Course Online through the UdeG

The University of Guadalajara (Mexico), which I attended in 1988, is offering a new online course in eGovernment. This is part of the Public Administration program, which is the program I was involved with while I was there. The announcement comes through President Vicente Fox and his website on Innovation and Quality Government. Another interesting piece of news on the site discusses a Mexican company that is contracted with the US government (Defense Intelligence Agency) to support the use of AJAX in the delivery of online services.

Hot Fishing Spots in Utah

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has added a great new feature to their website. Fishing Hotspots shows you on a Google map the hottest fishing holes in the state. You can also search for fishing spots based on fish species or the type of area. Looks like a great new service for the serious as well as the recreational angler.

Best of the Web 2006

The Center for Digital Government announced their Best of the Web and Digital Government award winners today. Congratulations to Michigan who will be awarded first place in the overall state category. Michigan has done an excellent job in improving the way they do IT over the past five years, including their portal. Their site appears professional and easy to navigate with a lot of information and services accessible through the portal.

The top five states for 2006 are:

1. Michigan
2. Maine
3. Utah
4. Virginia
5. Arkansas

Unlike some other awards, there are no real surprises here. I would have expected all of these states to be in the top 10 if not in the top 5.

Utah also received a Government-to-Citizen award for its "On-the-Spot" vehicle registration service.

dotgovBUZZ

I haven't had time to look at these kinds of things lately. Firstgov now publishes something called "dotgovBUZZ" for those who are interested in e-government. Actually, it has been the development of sites like this, as well as [many] other things that have contributed to the content decline in my blog. The amount of information on egov, just as about everything else has increased incrementally over the last few years and made so much of what is done into a regurgitation of something else. The Transitions section has the latest on movement among government IT professionals around the country.

Of interest in last month's issue of dotgovBUZZ is reference to the Federal Transition Framework, a "single source" of information on cross agency IT initiatives announced on July 6th.

It's time to get informed again about the status of the Federal eAuthentication initiative.

Congress continues to pressure the Bush administration for documentation showing how their egov initiatives are saving money. While I strongly believe that many well-executed egov initiatives can and should save money for the government in the short term, there are many other benefits and reasons for continuing to push the egov agenda. We are really only 10-12 years (less in many cases) into the egov era and it has changed government in MANY areas, both making it more efficient, but also more responsive and accessible to citizens.

Wanderings

The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) has a growing library of documents online related to budgeting technology.

I've noticed that many of the egovernment blogs from previous years slowed at about the same time I did (just over a year ago). At the same time, many new resources are available that weren't around at that time. I'll begin again to identify them as I attempt to push Utah's egovernment initiatives forward. I'll start by mentioning ZDNet's government news service. Another source from the UK is PublicTechnology.net.

Wired points out problems with E-Passport proposals.

The 2006 Horizon Report identifies emerging technologies with potential for higher education.

Check out some of the visual learning projects supported by Pachyderm 2.0.

The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies presents some very interesting dialogue.

2006 Brown Report on eGovernment in the States

Brown University's study of egovernment in the states came out this week. Congratulations to Texas who was rated first this year. Utah was ranked fifth and was the only state in the top five to be there for the last 3 years. I think Brown likes to recognize different people and has adjusted the criteria from year to year.

• Press Release
• Complete Study

Utah has a new service online today. Golfers can reserve tee times at golf courses located at state parks, all online.

Several new cases of West Nile virus were reported in the state. In addition to all the information available on West Nile locally, you can also report dead birds online. CDC's site gives you a good overview of WNV across the nation. We will get WNV reporting integrated into the alerts portal soon.

The northwest Arkansas Daily Post reports that only five states, Arkansas, Mississippi, Wyoming, West Virginia and Utah have a grocery tax. Arkansas wants to get rid of theirs.

Plenty of people have ideas on how to spend the newly reported $350 million surplus for the State of Utah.

eGov Update

With our big update to Utah.gov, I spent some time reviewing the sites of other states as well as our own site and how much new stuff there is over the past year. As I update the list of online applications and services, I am actually surprise at the number of new services which bring the total # to at least several hundred which I am trying to more carefully document. Many agencies have really added value to their websites. Utah.gov now features an Ajax driven search index and a Spanish language site in addition to a variety of other new things.

The Utah Department of Health is a primary participant in the Real-time Outbreak and Disease Surveillance System with the University of Pittsburgh. The software is being shared as open-source through Sourceforge.

We are rolling out a new online Safety Inspection system this week that will replace the older Delphi system and make it easier for inspection stations to complete their business with the state.

Statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov has some great presentation tools for presenting cancer data at the state level in graphical formats. It is part of Cancer Control Planet, a more comprehensive resource provided by the U.S. government.

Sustainable States

A recent post in the Public CIO blog asks the question, "Can IT keep government sustainable?"

The answer is not simple and is problematic as long as many in government continue to look at IT primarily as a cost center as is typical in government organizations, particularly those which are appropriated. I have many examples where IT has produced millions of dollars of savings to the business operation and yet IT costs continue to be scrutinized in many cases well beyond other types of costs. Perhaps that is because there are too many examples of IT projects gone awry. You hear of the $54 million DMV project that is scrapped, influence peddling by CIOs, and other stories that make it difficult for IT to deliver on its promise. We also often fail to identify the benifits that derive from IT initiatives in a way that is quantifiable. IT must get beyond these pitfalls if it is to provide an answer to this question of sustainability.

In a companion article, the author points out some examples such as a system in Idaho to track No Child Left Behind that had cost estimates swell from $21 million to $180 million (that's hard to believe for any system in Idaho). The original article in the New York Times mentioned that Utah has one of the most advanced student tracking systems in the country.

New Utah-based technologies

The tech sector in Utah continues to grow.

I've always been interested in these micro air vehicles.

Utah Innovation awards were presented last week. Renasis, a local company with interesting wireless technology, was one of the winners.

Governor Huntsman has issued the agenda for the special session this week which will include a visit from Mexico President Vicente Fox.

TekVet is an interesting Utah company that offers technology combining smart sensors and RF to provide data concerning livestock health wirelessly. May hold some promise for the national animal tracking initiatives.

Congratulations to Dr. Dinesh Patel for winning the 2006 Pathfinder Award.

New prosthetic arm developed in Utah.

Cyberstates 2006 ranks the states in a variety of high-tech areas. Looks like an interesting report, but the bulk of the information is available only to those who pay the $190 fee.

Eric Schmidt, Bill Gates, and John Chambers were on this panel discussion earlier this year sponsored by the World Economic Forum. I missed it then. Click on the video link to watch the discussion.

Business Continuity and Wireless in Public Safety

We have been doing a lot of work with the Utah Department of Public Safety to ensure continuity of service for their critical systems during an emergency. This article in the Deseret News discusses some of those efforts as well as the wireless initiatives that we have been working on together.

Political Blogs

Each year, the number of political and government blogs grows at a rate faster than the previous.

I will be attending the Utah County convention on April 29th. It is an off-year as far as elections go, but a surprising number of same-party candidates are lining up against the incumbents.

Here's one. Mike Ridgeway has always agitated for stricter election rules. He now has his own blog and is running for Senate against Orrin Hatch.

Pete Ashdown, who is also running against Hatch, has created a political wiki with entries for campaign policy and strategy issues.

The Utah Politics OPML list continues to grow.

U-Japan

eGov and iGov are familiar concepts to many of us. Now Japan has rolled out its U-Japan initiative. The concept is to make information and communication available to everyone everywhere. It is about ubiquitous networks. Japan's strategy was to be the world's most advanced ICT nation by 2005. After that time, Japan would have to compete with no one, since it would be the world leader. The initiative states that ICT is "the magic bullet" to solve many societal problems, including environment, health care, public safety, etc., particularly for a Japanese nation that is faced with a declining birthrate and an aging society.

In the six months since I have been on a reduced blogging regimen, much has happened and there are many new egov blogs. Zeid Nasser of Jordan points out how ICT Minister, Omar Al Kurdi, admits to failures in Jordan's 6-year eGov initiative. Al Kurdi points to resistance in the bureaucracy and poor infrastructure as problems contributing to the failure. My Arabic is very poor so I can't assess the ministry very well. Interesting to note that Queen Rania of Jordan had a previous career in technology. Here are some comments she made in a recent speech on education, "The same hi-tech that has enabled business to reach beyond geographic boundaries has also created rich opportunities to expand educational boundaries – by using computers to link young people to a universe of knowledge. And at the same time, there are new incentives for public-private collaboration – because improving education is a smart investment for corporations that need skilled workers and prosperous consumers if they are to thrive. Jordan, led by His Majesty King Abdullah, has embraced these opportunities. Education, innovation and information technology are the watchwords of our reforms. We may be a small country, but we have big ideas – and big ambitions for our young population. That is why, in 2003, we proposed a bold educational experiment to the WEF – combining public sector commitment with private sector creativity… and using new technology to inspire new ways of teaching."

RSS Feeds for Economic Development

Chinese sites always seem to be very content rich. Check this site and you'll see what I mean.

Increasingly companies (and even government) are outsourcing pieces of their IT, particularly call centers to India. India.gov.in provides a useful map resource which includes demographic and sectoral maps using a simple-to-use interface. They also support a growing National Spatial Database.

I am also now working to support the IT needs of the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED). There are some very interesting activities underway. In the process, I am using del.icio.us to catalogue some of what I am learning which are relevant to the assignment. Here is a feed on Utah Economic Development.

Utah Department of Technology Services

On Wednesday, the Utah Department of Technology Services added 900 or so new employees in a major step towards total consolidation of IT services in the executive branch. The consolidation encompasses 23 agencies which will now all receive IT support from the new department. Governor Jon Huntsman Jr., CIO Stephen Fletcher, former Senator and astronaut Jake Garn, radio host Tom Barberi, and venture capitalist Dinesh Patel all spoke at the event which presented a vision for a new culture for IT in state government.

Channel 7 in Denver reports that "Life Elevated" will be the slogan for a new Utah tourism campaign.


Governor Jon Huntsman signs HB49.