Pricing government information

The vast improvements in information technology over the past 20 years have greatly increased the social and economic value of government information. This increase in economic value, combined with changes in the formats in which government information is stored and the costs associated with supporting dissemination systems, has contributed to a great deal of controversy over how government information should be disseminated and priced. This article provides a discussion of several important economic concepts. It describes pricing rules and algorithms used by federal agencies and private vendors of government information, as well as a discussion of the consequences of and rationales for existing pricing policies.     

Computerized and networked government information

The previous column in this series focused on electronic dissemination from international intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) that are part of the United Nations system. This column will continue that international focus and examine electronic information dissemination from a number of other worldwide organizations. A future column will cover IGOs with regional mandates.     

Computerized and networked government information

This column examines several systems that provide access to U.S. federal or state bills via the Internet. These include the Government Printing Office's GPO ACCESS, the Library of Congress' THOMAS, the House of Representatives gopher system, and the California State Senate's World Wide Web server.     

Computerized and networked government information

This column will focus on recent developments at the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Of course, the major issue on the Bureau's plate at the moment is Census 2000. However, there are other developments of interest to the government information community, including new information management systems and services.     

Electronic government: information management capacity,organizational capabilities,and the sourcing mix

The information systems-related sourcing literature currently emphasizes a portfolio approach combining homegrown, hybrid, and outsourced (contracted) systems. This study found similar approaches in the sourcing for electronic government (e-Government, e-Gov). E-Gov-related sourcing mixes potentially create high switching costs and path dependency. They may also severely impact governments' information management capacity and organizational capabilities. Further, e-Government leads to business process change, all of which necessitates an increased understanding of e-Gov-related sourcing and its integration with traditional public management information systems (PMIS). In the absence of an e-Gov-specific sourcing theory, this study explores current sourcing practices and uncovers overlaps in sourcing concepts and also significant differences between private and public sourcing practices. E-Gov sourcing portfolios were found not systematically managed potentially compromising the public information management capacity. To help public managers design and manage e-Gov sourcing mixes, the article proposes framework for e-Government sourcing for further testing.     

Benchmarking open government: An open data perspective

This paper presents a benchmark proposal for the Open Government and its application from the open data perspective using data available on the U.S. government's open data portal (data.gov). The benchmark is developed over the adopted Open Government conceptual model, which describes Open Government through data openness, transparency, participation and collaboration. Resulting in two measures, that is, one known as the e-government openness index (eGovOI) and the other Maturity, the benchmark indicates the progress of government over time, the efficiency of recognizing and implementing new concepts and the willingness of the government to recognize and embrace innovative ideas.     

NTIS: Potential roles and government information policy frameworks

Despite major technological and document capture advances in the 1990s, the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) became a privatization target again in 1995 as part of Republican efforts to dismantle its parent agency, the Department of Commerce. After examining NTIS's current operational status and its user profile, this article explores six future role options for the agency. Finally, NTIS's “fit” with four competing information policy models is examined. NTIS has become an innovative, entrepreneurial agency with the potential to assume an expanded role in government and scientific/technical information dissemination, but it is still politically and financially vulnerable in the current Washington climate.     

The federal government and information technology standards: Building the national information infrastructure

For many years, standards have been important considerations in the Federal government's policies for the use of information technology. The Computer Systems Laboratory (CSL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology develops and issues technical standards that are used by the Federal government in its information technology systems. The new Federal initiative for the National Information Infrastructure (NII) and the National Performance Review (NPR) make information technology an agent for change and emphasize standards as a means for achieving connectivity of computer and telecommunications technologies and for easy access to information. The Federal government will be challenged to address the technical, organizational, and policy issues that affect the development of the standards needed for future information systems.     

政府信息资源组织问题研究文献综述

文章从大量的政府信息资源管理和电子政府的文章中整理出关于政府信息资源组织的相关内容,加以一定的分析和总结。