Disclaimer:
Commercial online publications are writing about our expanding digital government. Access America E-Gov E-Zine links to stories that fit our theme as a service to our customers. The stories are for information only and do not imply endorsement of products and services.

Hart-Teeter Poll: Americans Support E-Gov
Americans feel that e-government will not only change the way they relate to government as customers of government services, but also as citizens of a democracy.

Spies Like Us
Want the same global information that spies all over the world use? Chosen this month by Yahoo! Internet Life as a Top 50 Incredibly Useful Site, this CIA web resource offers the best in public intelligence. From national commerce to international controversy, and from Afghanistan through Zimbabwe, the Central Intelligence Agency has it all at your fingertips.

Managing Your Health Online
"Know the source of the information," warns Jay Siwek in his "One Last Piece of Advice" column in the Health section of The Washington Post on April 25. He includes six government sites you can trust when it comes to your health.

Defense Streamlines Procurement with Its Emall
The Defense Logistics Agency is rooting for its Emall to streamline buying and save the taxpayer big bucks. Washington Post staff writer Sarah Schafer tells the story of government procurement via the Internet.

Supplemental Information about Dietary Supplements
Information about vitamin and mineral supplements is everywhere, but is it accurate? Writer Sally Squire answers the question in The Washington Post's Health Section. Here are her recommendations for helpful dot.gov sites.

Business Research? Don't Forget "Dot-gov"
Writing for PC Computing magazine, a freelance writer provides an impressive array of free websites to help small businesses answer some of their most challenging research questions. Many sites in the list are commercial, but some industrial - strength federal sites made the cut.

Safe Online Shopping
Working from a "war room," Consumer Product Safety Commission investigators surf commercial sites and news groups to find recalled, illegal, and potentially dangerous products that are being sold on the Internet, reports The Washington Post's Consummate Consumer Don Oldenburg.
Federal Outdoor Sites Featured in The Washington Post
Three federal websites that appeal to outdoor enthusiasts were featured in a special report to The Washington Post Weekend.

McDonald's Trayliners Promote Government Services
Patrons who decide to eat in instead of getting their meals "to go" at McDonald's may also notice something new -- trayliners that list critical telephone numbers and websites for easy access to basic government services.

NIH's Center for Information
Technology's Website Gets Award
Last year, this National Institutes of Health website won a CIO Web Business 50/50 Award as one of the top 50 Internet or 50 intranet/extranet business sites. The site packs a lot of punch to help NIH researchers and administrators manage grants and conduct NIH business.

AOL's Government Guide Top Picks
AOL's new GovernmentGuide site features Access America Online Magazine as a "top pick." Site visitors have also given 5-star ratings to Access America for Students, the General Service Administration's Consumer Information Center, and the Social Security Administration's Top 10 Services.

Immigration and
Naturalization Service Online
Access Internet Magazine recently awarded the Immigration and Naturalization Service website four stars -- its top rating. This new, improved website is a critical part of the agency's efforts to put the "S" of service back into INS.

Electronic Commerce
Vice President Gore's vision for Access America is using the Internet to provide government services electronically to anyone who wants them, anywhere. Government Computer News assembles a montage of stories and sidebars to illustrate what federal agencies are doing to make government e-commerce a reality.

VA Will Extend Its Benefits Reach Via a VPN
The Veterans Benefits Administration is testing a virtual private network (VPN) as a way to set up a worldwide network of remote sites to provide veterans with benefits information, according to Government Computer News.

CIO Report: Government Must Work to Attract IT Workers
Federal Computer Week reviews the CIO Council's recommendations on what the federal government must do to attract and keep information technology workers.

Access America Online Magazine Gets a Thumbs Up
Federal Computer Week says that Access America Online Magazine presents appealing, real-life case studies on how federal agencies are using information technology to help deliver services to the public

Kids Next Door
"We'll put together, visually delightful- the kids pages are a buried treasure," says Joanne M. Riley, Educational Technology Services Consultant in Needham, Massachusetts. TeacherNet selected "Kids Next Door" as a site of the week honoree in early 1999. TeacherNet is an online network sponsored by Highlights for Children, Inc.

Lawyers Like This Site Best
The Government Printing Office's website, GPO Access, was chosen "Best Overall Government" by Lawyersonline.com, according to the April 1999 issue of "Chicago Lawyer." Lawyers also selected GPO Access as "Best of the Web" in the "Legal Research, Laws" category.

USIA Website Wins Praise as Business Site
The Dow Jones Business Directory cites the US Information Agency's domestic homepage for its exceptional value to readers, especially business professionals.

NEW YORK TIMES:
Citizens' Electronic Inquiries
Get Governments' Attention
"Goodbye, phone-menu torment. Adios, disembodied operators taking calls in the order received. A revolution in customer service is emerging on the government pages of the Web," reports Rita Beamish in the New York Times.

Gore's Virtual Government Unveiled
Morley Winograd, the Vice President's senior policy advisor, gave a preview of government 21st century style. He said the primary goal of the National Partnership for Reinventing Government is to reinvent government. "The word 'reinventing' is designed to show that we want to change the culture and the process of the organizations in our government -- and to do so through the use of information technology."

The Web Helps EPA Clean Up Piles of Data
PC Week Online, March 15, 1999--What comes out of the tap when you turn on the faucet for a cold glass of water? The Environmental Protection Agency's Envirofacts warehouse can tell you that and a lot more: By plugging in a ZIP code at the EPA's site, you can get information not only on drinking water, but also on Superfund sites, air pollution, toxic releases, hazardous waste and water discharge permits. EPA has the number three spot on PC Week Online's top 100 Websites in Government and Education.

PC WEEK ONLINE Picks 100 Innovators in Government and Education
March 15, 1999--This week's installment of PC Week's year-long Fast-Track project shows that public college and university systems, state governments, and, yes, even federal agencies are beginning to shed their IT-laggard image and to successfully use emerging technologies in creative ways to fundamentally change how they deliver information and services to taxpayers, employees and students. Ten federal agency sites are on the list.

Four Government Websites Recognized by CIO Web Business
Congratulations to the Tennessee Valley Authority's National Recreation Area, the state of Florida's Government Services Direct, and the cities of Colorado Springs and Indianapolis.

CIO WebBusiness 50/50 Winners for 1999
Five government agencies are among the CIO WebBusiness 50/50 winners for 1999. Congratulations to the Air Force Research Laboratory, Florida Department of Management Services, Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, National Institutes of Health's Center for Information Technology, and the Nebraska Dept. of Economic Development.

Making a Federal Case of IT
Being a federal Chief Information Officer is something of a high-wire act, says CIO Online. But these CIOs are relishing the challenge of balancing Y2K, data and network security, IT capital planning, e-commerce, outsourcing, and infrastructure and architecture planning.

Four Federal Organizations
Made 1999 Yahoo! Internet Life
List of 50 Most Incredibly Useful Sites
Yahoo! Internet Life's annual roundup of the Web's most useful addresses includes sites from the Naval Observatory, Centers for Disease Control, and United States Postal Service, plus the one-stop site with statistics from 70 agencies. FedStats is maintained by the Federal Interagency Council on Statistical Policy.

U.S. State Department Has Best Travel Advisory
In its June 1999 issue, Yahoo! Internet Life named the State Department's Travel Warnings and Consular Information a Gold Star Site. "Nothing ruins a vacation like ending up in a Turkish prison or coming home with a touch of malaria," Yahoo! reports. "Knowing what travel restrictions may apply where you're headed, along with basic medical and crime information, can help keep your trip hassle-free."

Dodge Disasters with FEMA
Natural disasters can strike anywhere, but few people are ever prepared for them, says the Incredibly Useful Sites picker in the May 1999 issue of Yahoo Internet Life. "Consult the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Library, and you won't be caught off guard. Its Preparedness and Training section features articles on readying yourself for (and surviving) earthquakes, mud slides, hurricanes, fires, and even nuclear-power-plant catastrophes."

Six Federal Sites Made Yahoo Internet Life's "Best of the Best Sites 98"
Kudos to the six federal websites that made the list of 98 "Best of the Best" in 1998 in the January 1999 issue of Yahoo Internet Life.

Best Guide to Starting Your Own Business--
Small Business Administration Site has a "start-up kit with a walk through of each step on the road to running your own business."

Best Government Information Site--
FedWorld "A terrific link between the average citizen and that monolith known as the U.S. government."

Another Best Government Information Site--
Thomas "Best place to go to find out the status of pending bills, read the Congressional Record, learn how laws are made..."

Best Disease-Information Site--
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Will tell you the facts "straight, with the statistics and scientific data to back it up."

Best Tax Site--
The Digital Daily "Best place to find and download even the most elusive of the hundreds of forms, booklets, instructions, and work sheets that the IRS generates."

Best Astronomy Site--
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). "Shuttle briefings, astronautical news, and pages upon pages of planetary images from space are all delivered directly to the Earth-bound fans of the space program."

AskERIC to Get Educational Resources
Educator Christopher Hopey, a guest reviewer in Yahoo Magazine (Dec. 1998), gave a 4-star review (THE BEST) to AskERIC, a component of the Educational Resources Information Center. ERIC is a federally-funded national education-related information system that includes 16 subject-oriented clearinghouses. Teachers, counselors, and parents can find lesson plans, articles, book lists and almost any resources they want on AskERIC. If they can't, they can ask Eric by e-mail and get an answer in two business days. Hopey also gave four stars to the Department of Education's website. "Not only does the site have almost every government policy document related to education," Hopey said, "it also has useful information on Direct Loans, a database of free governmental education-based materials, and an online publication series for parents..."

Weather Service Debuts
New Forecasting System
GovExec.com reports on a new Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS). It collects information from weather data sources, analyzes the data, and then zaps it to work stations, where weather forecasters prepare weather outlooks for transmission. It's the beginning of a "no surprise" weather service.

The Wonder Years
Now, federal Web sites have entered their cyber-adolescence, says govexec.com. Federal webmasters are losing their braces and redesigning their Internet faces. They are learning that what's on the outside isn't as important as what's on the inside--solid information for citizens in search of quick answers.

govexec.com Picks Best Feds on the Web
Staff at govexec.com searched the web in 1998 to glean a listing of 15 federal sites they thought "went above and beyond the typical home page." We think they're wonderful, too. These aren't just pretty webfaces. Many sites really do something to serve customers.

The Feds and the Net
Net Guru Esther Dyson shared her thoughts on the government's role in the ever-expanding world of the Net.

GovExec Reports:
Navy, GSA Push Smart Card Technology
The General Services Administration and Navy want federal workers to have smart cards, "computers that fit in your pocket." For more information on smart cards, visit GSA's smart card website.

Federal Computer Week Says:

Visiting Naval Observatory Page Is Time Well Spent
"To synchronize your watch to 'official' U.S. time, visit the home page of the Time Service Department at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., said Federal Computer Week's Bob Brewin. "The utilitarian home page offers the current time, but click through to the pages within, and you will enter a World Wide Web site that delights with facts about the inexorable ticking of the clocks that too often rule people's lives."

Using Technology to Reinvent for Results
As director of the National Partnership for Reinventing Government, Morley Winograd serves as custodian of the Vice President's vision to empower citizens through technology. Winograd said Access America, which is a core NPR plan to deploy commonly requested services online through kiosks and similar systems, is the best example in the program of putting technology into service for the public interest.

 

TAXi Delivers Teen-Friendly Tax Info
Dude, IRS has come up with one cool site for teens. It's sure to be a hit with parents and teachers, too. Among many topics, teens with jobs will learn how to file their taxes electronically. Way to go, IRS. We like your new emphasis on service and taxpayer assistance. After all, service is almost your middle name.

Science@NASA Wins at 1999 Webby Awards
The International Academy of the Digital Arts and Sciences announced that web readers had awarded the 1999 Webby Awards People's Voice Award for "Best Science Site" to Science@NASA.