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	Information and Communication Technologies for Sustainable Development: Defining A Global Research Agenda 2005 > Download PDF Rahul Tongia Carnegie Mellon University
Recent global conferences and meetings have brought into focus the unacceptable disparities that exist among nations in human development and economic growth. The poor and undernourished outnumber the health and wealthy by billions. The member states of the United Nations have adopted the Millennium Declaration that embodies quantitative goals in many areas of human development, thus providing a roadmap for sustainable development. Information and Communications Technology (ICT), by its performance and potential, offers numerous options to help realize the Millennium development Goals. Two workshops organized by Carnegie Mellon University, one in Washington, DC and the other in Bangalore, India, discussed the challenges to development and identified opportunities that ICT provides. The workshops also discussed the technical innovations that are to be realized and the policy options that must be initiated to transform ICT into a veritable tool for sustainable development.

	Eco-Informatics for Decision Makers: Advancing a Research Agenda December 2004 > Download PDF Report co-authors: Judith Cushing, Tyrone Wilson, Alan Borning, Lois Delcambre, Anne Fiala, Mike Frame, János Fülöp, Kevin Gergely, Carol Hert, Eduard Hovy, Julia Jones, Eric Landis, David Maier, David Roth, Charles Schweik, and Steve Young The Evergreen State College Organizing Committee Frank Biasi Larry Brandt Judith Cushing Mike Frame Valerie Gregg Eric Landis John Schnase William Sonntag Sylvia Spengler Christina Vojta Tyrone Wilson
Eco-informatics (sometimes referred to as ecosystem informatics) is the management and analysis of ecological information and the facilitation of large-scale ecological research through the application of computer technology. 2 In June 2000, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)-National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) held the first workshop on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Informatics (BDEI). At this workshop, scientists and natural resource managers examined the prospects for advancing computer science and information technology by focusing on the needs of the biodiversity and ecosystem domain, detailing issues raised earlier in the 1998 President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) report, “Teaming with Life: Investing in Science to Understand and Use America’s Living Capital.” The tools needed to solve ecological problems and other environmental challenges are currently being researched and developed under the rubric of eco-informatics.

	Information, Technology, and Coordination: Lessons from the World Trade Center Response June 2004 > Download PDF Report co-authors: Sharon S. Dawes Thomas Birkland Giri Kumar Tayi Carrie A. Schneider Center for Technology in Government University at Albany, SUNY
Research into what organizations did in the midst of the World Trade Center crises and response provides valuable lessons for improving crisis response and emergency management and planning. Equally important, the lessons reveal that interdependencies of human, organizational, and technological resources may benefit overall government operations in normal times.

	E-Rulemaking: Information Technology and Regulatory Policy New Directions in Digital Government Research 2004 > Download PDF Cary Coglianese Regulatory Policy Program Center for Business and Government John F. Kennedy School of Government Harvard University
To maximize e-rulemaking’s potential over the long term, the Regulatory Policy Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government convened two research workshops—one in Washington, DC, and the other at Harvard University—to develop a research agenda on the technological and institutional aspects of e-rulemaking. These workshops, sponsored by the National Science Foundation’s Digital Government Research Program, brought together leading academic experts from computer sciences, law, and public management, along with key public officials involved in managing federal regulation. This report summarizes the workshop discussions and outlines an agenda for future research on e-rulemaking.

	It’s About Time - Research Challenges In Digital Archiving And Long-Term Preservation August 2003 > Download PDF Margaret Hedstrom University of Michigan Organizing Committee Margaret Hedstrom, Chair and Principal Investigator, University of Michigan Sharon Dawes, Center for Technology in Government, University at Albany, State University of New York Carl Fleischhauer, Library of Congress James Gray , Microsoft Research Clifford Lyncg, Coalition for Networked Information Victor McCrary, National Institute of Standards and Technology Reagan Moore, San Diego Supercomputer Center Kenneth Thibodeau, National Archives and Records Administration Donald Waters, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
One of the marvels of the information technology revolution is the continuous improvement in computer memory and storage performance and their simultaneous drop in cost. Thanks to what has been called“silicon scaling”the processing power of a 1980s vintage mainframe computer now fits on miniscule silicon chips that can be embedded in any number of capture devices from complex remote sensors to consumer digital cameras. Digital storage devices and media have benefi tted from similar performance improvements and cost declines. Large organizations routinely add terabytes of storage capacity, and more and more individuals can afford laptop and desktop computers with tens of gigabytes of storage. One might suspect that archiving and preserving digital information would become easier and cheaper as a consequence of these improvements. But from a long-term preservation perspective, there is a dark side to the rapid growth in digital information. The technologies, strategies, methodologies, and resources needed to manage digital information for the long term have not kept pace with innovations in the creation and capture of digital information.

	Cyberinfrastucture Research for Homeland Security February 2003 > Download PDF Ramesh Rao UCSD - California Institute for Information Technology and Telecommunications
The role that emerging distributed cyberinfrastructure might play in homeland security was explored in a workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) and the University of California, San Diego, Jacobs School of Engineering hosted a group of 60 computer scientists, engineers, social scientists, and members of the emergency response communities February 25-27, 2003, in La Jolla, CA, to discuss the future applications of cyberinfrastructure to homeland security and the most productive research and development environments in which to cultivate that potential.

	Information, Institutions and Governance: Advancing a Basic Social Science Research Program for Digital Government January 2003 > Download PDF Jane E. Fountain The National Center for Digital Government John F. Kennedy School of Government Harvard University Organizing Committee Jane E. Fountain, Harvard University, Chair Eugene Bardach, University of California, Berkeley Paul DiMaggio, Princeton University Stephen Goldsmith, Harvard University Eduard Hovy, University of Southern California Steven Kelman, Harvard University John Leslie King, University of Michigan
To provide guidance and discussion meant to support the development of the Digital Government Program to include research in the social and applied social sciences, more than 30 experts gathered at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge from May 30 to June 1, 2002 for a national workshop to aid in the development of a broadly-based, multidisciplinary social science research agenda for digital government. In spite of significant innovations in information and communication technologies, digital government remains at an early stage of implementation. Moreover, the implications of IT for the future of government are as yet dimly perceived notwithstanding a stream of speculation and informed commentary on the future of democracy and governance.

	Information Technology Research, Innovation, and E-Government December 2002 > National Academy Press, Washington D.C. William Scherlis Carnegie Mellon University Organizing Committee William Scherlis, Carnegie Mellon University, Chair W. Bruce Croft, University Of Massachusetts At Amherst David Dewitt, University Of Wisconsin At Madison Susan Dumais, Microsoft Research William Eddy, Carnegie Mellon University Eve Gruntfest, University Of Colorado At Colorado Springs David Kehrlein, Governor's Office Of Emergency Services, State Of California Sallie Keller-Mcnulty, Los Alamos National Laboratory Michael R. Nelson, Ibm Corporation Clifford Neuman, Information Sciences Institute, University Of Southern California
In response to a request from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for advice on planning for e-government innovation programs, the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) convened the Committee on Computing and Communications Research to Enable Better Use of Information Technology in Government. The committee was charged with examining how information technology (IT) research can improve existing government services, operations, and interactions with citizens--as well as create new ones. The first phase of the committee's study featured workshops examining two illustrative application areas--crisis management and federal statistics--and concluded with the publication of two summary reports in 1999 and 2000.1 The second phase of the project synthesized the results of the two workshops, information gleaned from other published work on IT research and e-government, and material obtained in the course of two data-gathering meetings and supplemental individual interviews. Preliminary results of the second phase were described in a letter report to the National Science Foundation in 2001 (see Appendix B). In this "Summary and Recommendations" chapter, the committee presents the final results of its study and offers recommendations intended to foster increased and more effective collaboration between IT researchers and government agencies. Chapters 1 through 4 provide supporting discussion and analysis.

	Responding to the Unexpected September 2002 > Download PDF Report co-authors: Yigal Arens and Paul Rosenbloom Information Sciences Institute University of Southern California Organizing Committee Mel Ciment, Consultant Phil Cohen, OHSU Sharon Dawes, CTG Albany-SUNY Genevieve Giuliano, USC Eduard Hovy, USC/ISI Roger Hurwitz, MIT Marija Ilic, MIT Ramesh Jain, PRAJA, Inc. Randy Katz, UCB Richard Larson, MIT Arthur Lerner-Lam, Columbia Univ. Clifford Neuman, USC/ISI William L. Scherlis, CMU Milind Tambe, USC Rae Zimmerman, NYU
With NSF support, USC/ISI convened a workshop that focused on new developments in information technology (IT), engineering, and social science. These research developments make possible the dynamic construction of highly effective virtual organizations that can respond at the instant of disaster. The workshop brought a small group of leading researchers from across relevant academic disciplines together with representatives of agencies and organizations that are intimately involved in crisis response, including veterans of the 9/11 effort. The goals of the workshop were to begin understanding and developing the new technical, social and policy requirements for responding to unexpected events, and to do so in a manner that will transform our society into a one that is more resilient and secure.

	Finding Our Future: A Research Agenda for the Research Enterprise July 2002 > Download PDF Report co-authors: Theresa A. Pardo Sharon S. Dawes Anthony M. Cresswell Fiona Thompson Giri Jumar Tayi Center for Technology in Government University at Albany, SUNY
For more than 50 years, the U.S. government has supported and encouraged scientific discovery through grants to researchers in laboratories and educational institutions around the nation. From its modest beginning in the late 1940s, the publicly supported research enterprise has grown, matured, and evolved into a $112-billion endeavor involving thousands of organizations and investigators representing every scientific discipline and field of knowledge. The research enterprise is not only large, complex, and important in its own right, it is also embedded in a political, economic, and social environment that exerts strong influences on research topics and priorities, methods and principles, and opportunities for involvement. This report discusses these challenges, offers a vision of the ideal research enterprise, and lays out a supporting research and action agenda to help achieve it.

	Digital Government Civic Scenario Workshop Identity in Digital Government - Research Report April 2002 > Download PDF L. Jean Camp The Kennedy School of Government Harvard University
In order for government to fulfill its critical functions, it must be able to authenticate its citizens’ claims about their own identities and characteristics. As digital government becomes a reality, the need for reliable digital identifiers becomes increasingly urgent. At the same time, digital government identifiers create unique threats to privacy as current practices of using personal information break down. The wide availability of information through electronic networks has the potential to erode privacy at an unprecedented rate, as well as making authentication based on personal “secret but shared” information increasingly untenable. The Digital Government Civic Scenario Workshop convened to address the wide range of issues surrounding digital identity, and to plot a course to better understand the concept of digital identity through further research.

	Report of the National Workshop on Internet Voting: Issues and Research Agenda March 2001 > Download PDF C.D. Mote, Jr. Internet Policy Institute University of Maryland Executive Committee C.D. Mote, Jr., University of Maryland (Chairman) Erich Bloch, Washington Advisory Group Lorrie Faith Cranor, AT&T Research Labs Jane Fountain, Harvard University Paul Herrnson, University of Maryland David Jefferson, Compaq Systems Research Center Thomas Mann, The Brookings Institution Raymond Miller, University of Maryland Adam C. Powell, III, The Freedom Forum Frederic Solop, Northern Arizona University
Elections are one of the most critical functions of democracy. Not only do they provide for the orderly transfer of power, but they also cement citizens’ trust and confidence in government when they operate as expected. Although election systems are normally the province of election officials, the events that transpired in Florida during the 2000 presidential election focused national attention on how elections are administered. The subject of voting systems has taken center stage, and is under intense scrutiny by policymakers, interest groups, and the American people in general. Over the last year, there has been strong interest in voting over the Internet as a way to make voting more convenient and, it is hoped, to increase participation in elections. Internet voting is seen as a logical extension of Internet applications in commerce and government. In the wake of the 2000 election, Internet systems are among those being considered to replace older, less reliable systems. Election systems, however, must meet standards with regard to security, secrecy, equity, and many other criteria, making Internet voting much more challenging than most electronic commerce or electronic government applications.

	Research Directions In Biodiversity And Ecosystem Informatics June 2000 > Download PDF Report co-authors: Dave Maier Eric Landis Judy Cushing Anne Frondorf Avi Silberschatz Mike Frame John L. Schnase The Evergreen State University
In June 2000, a group of computer scientists, biologists, and natural resource managers met to examine the prospects for advancing computer science and information technology (CS/IT) research by focusing on the complex and often unique challenges found in the biodiversity and ecosystem domain. We refer to this emerging, interdisciplinary field of study as Biodiversity and Ecosystem Informatics (BDEI). This report synthesizes the discussions and recommendations made at the workshop. It itemizes current BDEI challenges, lays out a national BDEI research agenda, and recommends actions to be taken within the national research agenda. It also proposes specific mechanisms to communicate and implement those actions. The following points summarize the conclusions of this forum: The CS/IT research community plays a foundational role in creating the technological infrastructure from which advances in the environmental sciences evolve The next-generation CS/IT applications required by our expanding need to understand complex, ecosystem-scale processes will require solutions to significant, ground-breaking CS/IT research problems; Important new research opportunities for the CS/IT community are provided by the urgency, complexity, scale, and uniqueness of the data, processes, and problems presented by work in the biodiversity and ecosystem domain; and There is an increased need for governmental and industrial support of basic CS/IT research in order to respond to these challenges. Both the national CS/IT and environmental research agendas would derive significant, synergistic benefit from such investment.

	Information Technology Research for Federal Statistics 2000 > National Academy Press, Washington D.C. William Scherlis Carnegie Mellon University Organizing Committee William Scherlis, Carnegie Mellon University, Chair W. Bruce Croft, University Of Massachusetts At Amherst David Dewitt, University Of Wisconsin At Madison Susan Dumais, Microsoft Research William Eddy, Carnegie Mellon University Eve Gruntfest, University Of Colorado At Colorado Springs David Kehrlein, Governor's Office Of Emergency Services, State Of California Sallie Keller-Mcnulty, Los Alamos National Laboratory Michael R. Nelson, Ibm Corporation Clifford Neuman, Information Sciences Institute, University Of Southern California
As part of its new Digital Government program, the National Science Foundation (NSF) requested that the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) undertake an in-depth study of how information technology research and development could more effectively support advances in the use of information technology (IT) in government. CSTB's Committee on Computing and Communications Research to Enable Better Use of Information Technology in Government was established to organize two specific application-area workshops and conduct a broader study, drawing in part on those workshops, of how IT research can enable improved and new government services, operations, and interactions with citizens. The committee was asked to identify ways to foster interaction among computing and communications researchers, federal managers, and professionals in specific domains that could lead to collaborative research efforts. By establishing research links between these communities and creating collaborative mechanisms aimed at meeting relevant requirements, NSF hopes to stimulate thinking in the computing and communications research community and throughout government about possibilities for advances in technology that will support a variety of digital initiatives by the government.

	Information Technology Research for Crisis Management 1999 > National Academy Press, Washington D.C. William Scherlis Carnegie Mellon University Organizing Committee William Scherlis, Carnegie Mellon University, Chair W. Bruce Croft, University Of Massachusetts At Amherst David Dewitt, University Of Wisconsin At Madison Susan Dumais, Microsoft Research William Eddy, Carnegie Mellon University Eve Gruntfest, University Of Colorado At Colorado Springs David Kehrlein, Governor's Office Of Emergency Services, State Of California Sallie Keller-Mcnulty, Los Alamos National Laboratory Michael R. Nelson, Ibm Corporation Clifford Neuman, Information Sciences Institute, University Of Southern California
The committee was asked to identify ways to foster interaction among computing and communications researchers, federal managers, and professionals in specific domains that can lead to collaborative research efforts. By establishing research links between these communities and creating testbeds aimed at meeting relevant requirements, NSF hopes to stimulate thinking in the computing and communications research community and throughout government about possibilities for advances in technology that will support a variety of digital government initiatives. The first phase of the project focused on two illustrative application areas that are inherently governmental in nature--crisis management and federal statistics. The study committee convened two workshops to bring together stakeholders from the individual domains with researchers in computing and communications systems. The workshops were designed to facilitate interaction between the communities of stakeholders, provide specific feedback to mission agencies and NSF, and identify good examples of information technology research challenges that would also apply throughout the government. The first of these workshops, "Research in Information Technology to Support Crisis Management," was held on December 1-2, 1998, in Washington, D.C., and is summarized in this volume. A second workshop, "Information Technology Research for Federal Statistics," was held February 9-10, 1999. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), one of the participating agencies in a federal interagency applications team addressing crisis management,1 was a co-sponsor of the study's workshop on crisis management.

	Some Assembly Required: Building a Digital Government for the 21st Century Report of a Multidisciplinary Workshop March 1999 > Download PDF Report co-authors: Sharon S. Dawes Peter A. Bloniarz Kristine L. Kelly Center for Technology in Government University at Albany, SUNY Patricia D. Fletcher University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Government remains essential in the Information Age society. Although there is debate over structure and operation, government’s objectives are indisputable: maintaining collective security, administering justice, providing the institutional infrastructure of the economy, ensuring that vital social capital is enhanced through improvements in health and education and through strong families and communities. In its role as a service provider, government needs to be fully capable of delivering high quality, effective, affordable services. However, in cases where government itself is not the best delivery vehicle, it must engage or allow others in the voluntary and profit-making sectors to carry out this role. Information technology, already an essential part of government operations, will continue to be vitally important to administration, decision making, and direct service delivery. It will also be critical in the evolving relationships between government and other kinds of organizations, and between government and citizens.

	Toward Improved Geographic Information Services within a Digital Government Report of the NSF Digital Government Initiative Geographic Information Systems Workshop June 1999 > Download PDF Report co-authors: Louis Hecht Open GIS Consortium, Inc. Barbara Kucera National Computational Science Alliance University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Organizing Committee Greg Buehler, Open GIS Consortium, Inc. Max Egenhofer, University of Maine Kenn Gardels, University of California–Berkeley Mike Goodchild, National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, University of California-Santa Barbara Emil Horvath, U.S. Department of Agriculture Doug Johnston University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Cliff Kottman Open GIS Consortium, Inc. David Mark SUNY–Buffalo John Moeller Federal Geographic Data Committee Richard Muntz University of California–Los Angeles Hanan Samet University of Maryland
The worlds of computer and information sciences, statistics, geography, ecology, and cognitive science all converge in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to provide glimpses into the world we live in. The ultimate application of any particular GIS view of the world can be as diverse as building a dam, planning a city, combating terrorism, or charting the destruction of a rain forest. While specific applications of GIS are diverse, the essential need is to share data across sources. In effect, any data from any source could be required for any GIS application regardless of whether the analysis is sponsored by government agency or private interest. To address the need for cooperation across government, academia, and industry as well as among research disciplines, an invitational workshop was held to begin defining a research agenda for geographic information systems and technologies. This workshop was held in response to the Digital Government Initiative (DGI) of the Federal Information Services and Applications Council.

	Towards the Digital Government of the 21st Century May 1997 > Download PDF Report co-authors: Herbert Schorr (Chair), Executive Director USC - Information Sciences Institute Salvatore J. Stolfo (Co-chair) Professor Department of Computer Science Columbia University Organizing Committee Herbert Schorr (Chair), Executive Director USC - Information Sciences Institute Salvatore J. Stolfo (Co-chair) Professor, Department of Computer Science Columbia University Alan Blatecky, Vice President, MCNC John Cavallini, Director, Technology and Planning, Dyncorp Eliot Christian, Chief, Data and Information Management Staff, US Geological Survey Colin Crook, Senior Technology Officer, Citibank, N.A. Patricia Edfors, Champion for Security of the Government Information Technology Services Board, Department of the Treasury Dr. Edward A. Fox Professor of Computer Science and Associate Director for Research of Computing Center Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Joseph Hardin Associate Director Software Development Group National Center for Supercomputing Applications University of Illinois Thomas A. Kalil Senior Director to The National Economic Council for Science & Technology Executive Office of the President Constance McLindon Director of Systems Deployment Corporation for National Research Initiatives Robert C. Musser Project Director Private Sector Council Daniel Schutzer Vice President Citicorp Technology Office Stephen L. Squires Special Assistant for Information Technology Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
A partnership between Government agencies and the information technologies research community has succeeded in the past for the benefit of the Nation. The most notable example is the emergence of the Internet as the basis for broad scientific, cultural, civic, and commercial discourse, evolving from what was originally a Government-supported networking research project. The collaborative development of a new applied research domain is critical to help meet the Nation's growing information service demands. Applied research that considers real world operating constraints can provide valuable new problems and insights for the academic research domain, leading to new demonstrable and deployable systems. This applied research domain is a National Challenge to provide a transition strategy for migrating Federal Information Services from legacy systems, through the interoperable systems of the Internet, and toward more advanced integrated global systems. A unique opportunity exists for a new paradigm for interaction between Government and citizen; an opportunity to invent the Digital Government for the citizens of the 21st century.

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