Internet offers power to the people

Information technology is changing the way local governments are delivering services to the citizens of Alexandria, Va. The city, a community of 116,000 residents, is in many respects the prototype of an emerging information-age city.

Alexandria is exploiting the information superhighway by tapping into the Internet to access technology with the potential to change the way local governments interact with their citizens — technology that will make government more efficient, more relevant and more responsive.

Naturally, control over the use of this technology will ultimately reside with the consumers/users.

In Alexandria, the initial step to accessing the Internet was establishing policy guidelines. In October 1994, the city council established a 15-member ad hoc task force charged with exploring the needs of the community as they related to information that could be supplied by current and future technologies.

First, the committee recommended that the city adopt an internal policy establishing a single point of contact to ensure prompt routing of electronic mail addressed to the city and the officials.

The next step was to establish a presence on the Internet in the form of a World Wide Web server that could provide home page services, file transfer services and connect to other Internet computers around the country.

The task force calculated that $25,000 would fund the city’s share of various pilot projects that would facilitate Internet connections by businesses in the city.

For national exposure, the city joined CapAccess, the Washington, D.C., area’s text-based free net. Shortly afterward, the agendas of the city council, the planning commission, the board of zoning appeals and the city’s annual report were placed on the CapAccess electronic bulletin board.

CapAccess users and guests now can send e-mail to city officials and officers through the establishment of an electronic e-mail address: [email protected]

Next, Alexandria created a home page on the World Wide Web, allowing for easy graphics loading, as well as click-on buttons that allow the user to gain quick entry to topic areas of interest. The home page–http://ci.alexandria.va.us — is designed to let the user in and out of the system quickly.

Finally, an information infrastructure, including a fiber-optic cable network is critical for future economic development. Jurisdictions that have invested in an in, formation infrastructure and have developed flexible policies to guide their operations will be ahead of the game.

Alexandria’s experience indicates that local governments should exploit every opportunity to enhance their local information systems.

However, they should clearly define the limits of their own liability. For instance, home pages should display disclaimers notifying users that the local government bears no responsibility for contents posted by non-governmental agencies.

Local governments interested in developing a World Wide Web page and presence on the Internet can benefit from several recommendations, including:

* open a home page on the World Wide Web with a policy commitment from the governing body, since maintaining it requires a commitment of funding and staffing from the city;

* offer e-mail as a means for residents to communicate with local officials; and

* understand that the Internet will for, ever change the way local governments interact with citizens.

The Internet has the ability to give government back to the people by removing the layers of bureaucracy between them and the information they need. The effects on local governments will be profound.