BRING ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION TO THE PUBLIC
Imagine this: A publicly owned tract of land in a Midwestern community has become a trash-filled eyesore. A team of local citizens wants to restore the area to a native prairie, similar to how it was 150 years ago. By using a computer with access to the Internet, the team is able to quickly find the information it needs. Some of this information comes from a natural history museum in New York, some comes from a university in California, and some comes from the Department of Agriculture in Washington. In a short time, the team is able to retrieve and combine this information to learn what plants and animals lived on the site in the past. They can begin to plan how they could restore much of the original habitat and return the site to its former state as a healthy natural ecosystem. The restored prairie becomes a source of community pride and also helps to raise property values of nearby homes.
Chapter A04, Access America, Reengineering Through Information Technology