Each panel member talked about he need for enlarging the flow of information, but also for the need to better manage that flow. Hardy made a distinction between information and communication. He said many local health agencies only limited resources with perhaps e-mail and few other technical capabilities. Yet, for effective disaster response, hotline operators need current, complete, and accurate information, with the ability to separate out the valuable knowledge from the noise.
Achieving these goals however, will take more than technology, but rather the intelligent application of technology. OMB’s Mark Forman discussed the need to create communities of practice, by empowering employees to act on their ideas. He noted that many of the e-government initiatives came out of ideas from mid-level professionals and was “astounded” by the energy of public employees at all levels working on e-government.
Links:
The Council for Excellence in Government: http://www.excelgov.org/
Office of Management and Budget e-government page: http://egov.gov/task/
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials: http://www.astho.org/
U.S. Department of Transportation: http://www.dot.gov/
U.S. Department of State: http://www.state.gov/
Federal Bureau of Investigation: http://www.fbi.gov/
Mitretek Systems: http://www.mitretek.org/
