Internet based digital government model development

Abstract

The present trend in information technology (IT) is to access and process information online and minimize paper and other routine transactions. This is particularly true for electronic commerce, distance learning and education, teleconferencing etc. However, the biggest users of paper and other conventional transactions are governments at all levels. There is a tremendous amount of information flow among different branches of the government at the Federal, State, County, City and at other local levels (USA). There has been a Federal directive in the past few years to get the government transactions online in a reliable and secure fashion. There is a substantial amount of information needed for public access with out any security problems. Recent advances in the World Wide Web and emerging Internet 2 connectivity have virtually changed the way the public can deal with information from commercial, educational and government circles. At Florida International University, a Web based public information network model as a part of the digital government activity is being developed and implemented. The model consists of a dynamically configured server with government affiliated information such as crime, educational and hospital statistics for public access. Also, methodologies are being formulated to incorporate data driven security schemes for private access. Practical case studies have been implemented whereby citizens from one part of the country can get public information access from a far remote location in another location. The authors present digital government oriented public network architecture with state of the art hardware and software modules and discuss applications.