Information Technology Research, Innovation, and E-Government (2002) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix B: July 2001 Letter Report to the National Science Foundation
Appendix B: July 2001 Letter Report to the National Science Foundation
Pages 125-137
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From page 125... ...
Program Manager, Digital Government Program Directorate for Computer & Information Science and Engineering National Science Foundation 4201 Wilson Boulevard Arlington, Virginia 22230 Dear Dr. Brandt: To obtain input that could help inform planning for future e-government innovation programs, you requested on June 16, 2001, that the Committee on Computing and Communications Research to Enable Better Use of Information Technology in Government provide an interim assessment of the potential role of computer science research in these efforts.
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From page 126... ...
4. Challenging computer scientists to address real-world problems in the government sphere can stimulate interactions benefiting researchers, who need access to computer and information artifacts and realistic contexts, and government agencies, which gain expertise and insights that can inform and improve their IT acquisition and management and research results that can be applied in government and elsewhere.
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From page 127... ...
These Web sites provide users with access to information and services organized by broad topic and user constituency rather than by specific government departments or agencies, and often are task-oriented.4 Computer-based tax-filing and inquiry-response services provided by multiple agencies are other publicly visible illustrations of positive changes in the way government does its business. Also apparent in news accounts from across the countryare difficulties experienced by government agencies seeking new capabilities.5 3A 1996 report based on a series of CSTB projects examining needs at the Internal Revenue Service suggested similar goals, stating that "based on its work of the past 5 years, the committee strongly believes that the modernization of the IRS, including both business reengineering and advanced automation, is extremely important.
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From page 128... ...
WHILE GOVERNMENT CAN IN MANY CASES BUILD ON TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED FOR THE COMMERCIAL SECTOR, TARGETED COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCH IS NEEDED WHERE GOVERNMENT LEADS DEMAND OR HAS SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS. Although it can generally build on the technologies and services emerging in the commercial e-business marketplace, government leads demand in some areas.
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From page 129... ...
Conventional business practice incorporates risk management, in which the costs of implementing security measures are balanced against the consequences of not having them a calculation that certain levels of exposure can be tolerated for certain applications. Government agencies, however, are expected to adhere to a higher standard no improper disclosure of personal information contained in statistical data, tax filings, social security records, and the like even though government is also charged with releasing certain kinds of information, which may be derived from sensitive personal or corporate information that it collects, and making it uniformly available to all.
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From page 130... ...
Also to be considered are information-sharing barriers established legislatively to protect citizen privacy. IT capabilities such as trusted lightweight intermediaries that aggregate for the customer while dispatching components of the aggregate query or transaction to the various government entities involved in responding can help provide a usable interface to citizens despite the array of overlapping, partly interconnected agencies found in government.
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From page 131... ...
Crisis management encompasses crisis response the actions taken immediately in the wake of a disaster as well as consequence management, which encompasses the longer-term activities associated with addressing disasters past, present, and future, including planning, preparedness, mitigation, and recovery efforts. Computer science research can address the critical need for timely, authoritative, and relevant information in crisis response and management efforts.
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From page 132... ...
The federal statistical agencies are characterized not only by their mission of collecting statistical information but also by their independence and their commitment to a set of principles and practices aimed at ensuring the quality and credibility of the statistical information they provide.l4 The tasks of protecting confidentiality and ensuring trustworthiness become more complex when information based on individual records is made public and information records are linked across multiple statistical data sets. Linking, or the use of information integration technologies, enables answering complex aggregate queries, a capability that can be important to domains ranging from crisis response to epidemiology.
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From page 133... ...
The federal government faces substantially similar challenges in the task of archiving government records, an effort led by the National Archives and Records Administration, which has itself turned to a computer science research team for help in planning for its long-term digital archiving and preservation needs.l6 These and other governmental bodies play a key role in preserving national history and heritage, and computer science research can help with such aspects as the development of suitable systems architectures, automatic indexing, and retrieval of information in multiple media. That opportunity is reinforced by the multiagency support for the Digital Libraries program coordinated by NSF.
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From page 134... ...
Ideas were often transferred to the commercial sector through employment or entrepreneurship. The history of federally funded IT research shows that problems motivated by government needs, such as networking and parallel processing, when suitably framed in a carefully designed research program, proved to have wide commercial application (as evidenced by the Internet, distributed transaction processing, and data mining)
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From page 135... ...
CHALLENGING COMPUTER SCIENTISTS TO ADDRESS REAL-WORLD PROBLEMS IN THE GOVERNMENT SPHERE CAN STIMULATE INTERACTIONS BENEFITING RESEARCHERS, WHO NEED ACCESS TO COMPUTER AND INFORMATION ARTIFACTS AND REALISTIC CONTEXTS, AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, WHICH GAIN EXPERTISE AND INSIGHTS THAT CAN INFORM AND IMPROVE THEIR IT ACQUISITION AND MANAGEMENT AND RESEARCH RESULTS THAT CAN BE APPLIED IN GOVERNMENT AND ELSEWHERE. Working on government IT problems offers researchers a number of potential benefits, an important one being access to the artifacts computer systems, software, and data sets that are needed in experimental computer science research.20 For example, addressing the challenges of large-scale systems can be facilitated by studying real examples of such systems found in government,21 and research depending on large, diverse information data sets can tap the wealth of public information resources generated or held by government agencies.
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From page 136... ...
Such problems, addressed in typical systems integration projects in which the problems and risks are better understood and managed, differ critically from broader, deeper challenges that can be addressed most effectively through collaboration with computer science researchers. Needs of an unprecedented character are most effectively addressed through programs that are carefully managed to engage computer science researchers in advancing the state of the art and participating in the development of solutions that are both realistic and appropriately aggressive with respect to the likely trajectory of emerging technologies.
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From page 137... ...
Sincerely, William L Scherlis, Chair Committee on Computing and Communications Research to Enable Better Use of Information Technology in Government 137
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