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.
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.
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
"Well 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:
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.
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