Crossing the threshold: Practical foundations for government services on the World Wide Web

Government leaders at every level are calling for bold, imaginative use of the World Wide Web (Web) to help achieve the goal of a National Information Infrastructure (NII). The Web promises service quality, efficiency, and convenience, but it also presents significant implementation challenges to public agencies. During 1996, the Internet Testbeds conducted at the New York State Center for Technology in Government explored the potential and the practical problems of creating Web-based government services. The Internet Services Testbed explored the organizational resources, processes, policies, and technologies that agencies need in order to develop and deliver specific information-based public services over the Web. The Internet Technologies Testbed examined the technical feasibility of using the Web as a universal platform for the delivery of services to citizens. The two testbeds identified five threshold factors that shape a government agency's ability to initiate Web-based services: The agency's own technical infrastructure, user capabilities, the management of information content, realistic cost estimates, and recognition and management of security risks. The public nature of most government Web sites gives these considerations special characteristics that set them apart from similar concerns in the private sector.