E-Government Resources Expand

Online services may next go portable and personal.

Elsa Wenzel, Medill News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Millions of Americans turn to the Web to file taxes, apply for student loans, and find social service benefits. The next likely step for e-government: truly ubiquitous resources, ranging from local to federal information and services, that are portable, available on wireless devices, and perhaps even personalized.

The true potential of portable e-government is still in the making, say business and government experts.

Progress and Plans

"In five years we'll live in a world in which sensors will be tagging and tracking" transactions, from paying taxes to delivering precise prescriptions to the elderly, says Steve Rohleder, group chief executive at Accenture's government operating group. The consulting company, formerly associated with Arthur Andersen, is among the private-industry entities assisting the government with deployment of its technology initiatives.

Accenture helped develop the online filing systems for the Internal Revenue Service and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The company recently surveyed global e-government initiatives and rated U.S. programs the second most efficient behind those of Canada, largely because of that country's work on a standard network backbone with hefty cybersecurity.

"E-government is not a static program that can be put in place and left alone," Rohleder says. For example, he'd like to see "one-stop shopping" that bundles city, state, local, and federal services, and makes them available to a variety of devices. The U.S. focus on Internet services lacks programs for wireless development, an area in which Canada, Finland, and Singapore are making fast progress.

The U.S. National Guard is investigating ways to use electronic services to mobilize soldiers faster, pay employees instantly, and arrange medical logistics.

"We're obviously not looking at profit," says Maureen Lischke, chief information officer of the National Guard, on the difference between governmental programs and private industry. Rather, the government is aiming to use online systems to improve and save lives.

Good Response

The E-Government Act of 2002 created and funded a federal department to expand Web-based public services.

The Office of Electronic Government and Technology concentrates on creating and improving the kinds of Web portals that have enabled people to communicate with law enforcement and legislators for several years.

Into the FirstGov portal, launched in 2000, the federal government assembled nearly 30 million Web pages.

Once people adopt interactive technology, they find coping without it difficult, says Kim Satterthwaite, an Internet architect who designs programs to serve citizens in Fairfax County, Virginia. The Internet made people quickly forget the government phone hot lines and mall kiosks that preceded it, she says.

For example, an FBI Web site launched in 2001 invites reports of suspicious behavior. An FBI spokesperson says--contrary to fears that bogus reports of dogs barking would flood the system--the site has generated hundreds of leads in the fight against terrorism.

Web sites and e-mail addresses are as common as phone numbers, Satterthwaite says. "If you don't have a URL, where are you?" she asks rhetorically. She expects people will soon adopt the same attitude about access to public services on handheld devices.

Satterthwaite is developing a portable device-enabled directory of Fairfax County government services. In the future, people will swiftly check off chores on their to-do lists and manage tasks such as extending a library book due date through the distributed government services available on wireless PDAs, she says.

However, designers face a challenge to create software that works on many different appliances, Satterthwaite says. "We don't want to... create something for wireless if it can't go on the Web," she says.

Getting Personal

As government resources become more widely available in electronic form, they may also become more specific.

Accenture's Rohleder says e-government services should consider how to personalize their information. Like online shopping sites, government Web portals should tailor their content to each user, he says.

Rohleder also foresees government using marketing techniques such as direct mail and cash prizes to lure citizens into using electronic services.

Still, administrations at local and national levels are trying to keep up with the advances made during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, Satterthwaite says. They must determine how to present online information in a user-friendly way, she says. For example, how can a city's Web site help residents easily find what they nickname the "pooper-scooper" law?

And with greater concerns about security, the government has a mission to provide information and access while also protecting citizens.

Department of Homeland Security officials have pointed out the need to balance the release of possibly sensitive information with the free-for-all nature of the Internet. Meeting the challenge is vital during heightened terrorist alerts, they note.