Survey shows bias for e-government
A recent study shows that Americans favor e-government, saying it would improve citizen participation, while making government more accountable. The Hart-Teeter study, E-Government: The Next American Revolution, released by the nonpartisan Council for Excellence in Government, includes surveys of 150 government officials, 155 business and nonprofit leaders, and 1,003 members of the general public. All three surveys, the nonprofit council says, revealed overwhelming support for online government.
Thirty-six percent of respondents say being online will make government more accountable, 23 percent say it will give the public greater access to information, 21 percent say it will cut costs and streamline processes, and 13 percent say it will result in more convenient government services.
Despite support for e-government in general, survey respondents baulked at using the Internet to vote. Overall, 59 percent of those surveyed are opposed to voting over the Internet. The public’s major concern about e-government is security.
To view the surveys, visit: http://www.excelgov.org/egovpoll/index.htm.

Meanwhile, put your ideas about e-government to work
The Imagine e-Government Awards, sponsored by the Council for Excellence in Government, will recognize individuals who propose creative new ways for government to use information technology to serve and connect with the public.
The Council for Excellence in Government will award prizes to two individuals — one high school student and one adult — who propose a novel use of technology to transform and improve the practices of government.
In the spring of 2001, awards will be given to the adult and the high school student (grades 9 through 12) whose ideas best demonstrate public value, originality, and feasiblity. Finalists in each of the two categories will be invited to present their proposals in Washington, D.C. to a panel of distinguished judges from the technology, government and education communities. The adult and high school student winners will receive $50,000 and $5,000, respectively, and the help of the Council for Excellence in Government as they strive to see their proposals implemented.
For complete details, go to: http://www.excelgov.org/cgi-bin/egovaward/index.asp

If you can understand this, then this is for you.
Hint: It’s about geo-spatial data.
The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) has published the Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS), Part 7: Computer-Aided Design and Drafting (CADD) Profile, FGDC-STD-002.7-2000. The SDTS CADD Profile supports exchange of geospatial data contained within CADD systems with other geo-processing systems. This profile allows the representation of two- and three-dimensional geographic vector data from CADD packages to be transferred via the SDTS standard. The SDTS CADD Profille contains specifications for an SDTS profile for use with vector-based geographic data as represented in CADD software.
This profile facilitates the translation of this data between CADD packages without loss of data, and supports the translation of this data between CADD and mainstream GIS packages. For more information about the Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS), Part 7: Computer-Aided Design and Drafting (CADD) Profile, FGDC-STD-002.7-2000, please visit the Web site: http://www.fgdc.gov/standards/status/sub3_2.html, where you may download PDF and Microsoft Word versions of the document.

(If you have an item for Web Watch, please e-mail to Bev Schlotterbeck at bschlott@naco.org. Web Watch was compiled by Beverly Schlotterbeck, County News editor.)