FINAL REPORT
OF THE MAYOR'S TASK FORCE
ON TECHNOLOGY IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE MAYOR'S TASK FORCE
ON TECHNOLOGY IMPLEMENTATION
August 1999
Office of the Mayor
City of San Antonio
P.O. Box 839966
San Antonio, Texas 78283-3966
(210) 207-7060
City of San Antonio
P.O. Box 839966
San Antonio, Texas 78283-3966
(210) 207-7060
MAYOR'S TASK FORCE ON
TECHNOLOGY IMPLEMENTATION
TECHNOLOGY IMPLEMENTATION
Dr. Thomas F. Brereton, Chair
Consultant in Planning and Public Affairs
Consultant in Planning and Public Affairs
Tim Bannwolf
City Councilman, City of San Antonio |
Elizabeth Mesenbring
Women in Communications Multimedia Consultant |
Jim Brandes
Deputy Director Alamo Area Council of Governments |
Chris Montgomery
Blue Knight Internet Solutions |
Mike Coleman
Southwestern Bell Telephone Company |
Richard Murphy
Southwest Research Institute |
Dr. Gerry Dizinno
Assistant to the President for Planning and Institutional Research St. Mary's University |
Chris Powers
Director of Data Resources San Antonio Water System |
Bill Gonzalez
Owner Web-Hed Technologies |
Dr. Ann Elizabeth Robinson
International Business Development Consultant; Visiting Assistant Professor, International Business, University of the Incarnate Word |
Dudley Hays
Owner You Are Here Company |
John Szurek
Information Ways and Means, Inc. |
Rev. Ann Helmke
Animating Director peaceCenter, San Antonio |
Charles Vaughn
Senior Vice President for Telecommunications KLRN-TV |
Susan Ives
Internet Evangelist |
Stan Waghalter
Neighborhood Activist |
Roselyn Marcus
Attorney |
Terry Weakly
Chief Operating Officer nuMedia Group, Inc. |
Pleas McNeel
President, South Central Texas Chapter, The Internet Society (SalsaNet) |
David Zolzer
Director, Economic Commerce Program Our Lady of the Lake University |
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The task force gratefully acknowledges the contributions of a number of
people who - although they were not "members" of the task force, or were forced
to withdraw from full participation in our work before its conclusion - nevertheless
contributed their insights and support to our effort at various stages. These include:
|
Tom Baggs
Director of Operations Center for Distance Learning and Telehealth UT Health Science Center, San Antonio |
Dee McGee
President Maximum Management Resources, Inc. |
Mary Ellen Burns
United Way of San Antonio |
Ian Murdock
Director, New Media San Antonio Express-News |
Gary Chapman
Director, 21st Century Project The University of Texas at Austin |
Steven F. Nail
Senior Systems Engineering Consultant Southwestern Bell Telephone Company |
Brian Erickson
Manager, Great Northwest Community Improvement Association |
Brad Parrott
Executive Director, External Affairs Southwestern Bell Telephone Company |
Paul Fayfich
President P.R. Fayfich & Associates, Inc. |
Jonathan Schmidt
Chief Technical Officer I.C.E.D. Division, Bat Networks |
Chuck Frawley
Senior Vice President of Sales and Operations Manager FIData, Inc. |
Juan Sepulveda
Executive Director The Common Enterprise/San Antonio |
Barbara Hendricks
Women In Communications |
Roger Topping
Chief Engineer KVDA-TV 60 |
Cy Hutchinson
Manager of Information and Communication Services City Public Service |
Don White
Matchframe Productions |
Phil Jackson
Network Communications Consultant FIBRCOM |
Susan Yerkes
Columnist, San Antonio Express-News |
Rosemary Killen
Southwest Research Institute |
We also acknowledge the contributions of the following city staff, who
gave generously of their time and effort, on top of all of their regular responsibilities:
Tony Bosmans
Director, Community Relations Department |
Emil Moncivais
Director, Planning Department |
Nancy Dean
Information Services Department |
Bill Wood
Assistant City Attorney |
June Garcia
Director, San Antonio Public Library |
Craig Zapatos
Central Library Administrator San Antonio Public Library |
Gary J. Moeller
Director, Information Services Department |
Finally, we owe a special debt of gratitude to the volunteers of SalsaNet
- and particularly to Susan Ives and Bill Gonzalez - who provided invaluable technical
support in setting up and maintaining our task force listserv, web site, and public
discussion board.
CONTENTS
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Mayor's Task Force on Technology Implementation was one of two task
forces commissioned by Mayor Howard Peak in the summer of 1997 to move San Antonio toward
the reality of a technologically "smart city." This task force was given a three
part mandate:
To recommend strategies to improve both the efficiency and the effectiveness of City services by using new and emerging technologies to decentralize services and transactions.To recommend strategies to fully exploit the potential of the Internet as a means to inform citizens better, to involve citizens in their local government, and to market San Antonio in economic development.To explore related issues and make recommendations as the task force finds appropriate. Specifically included in this was to make recommendations on the City 's organizational structure and budget priorities to maximize the benefits of new technologies, both to the city government and to the city as a community.
At the same time, the "twin" to this task force, known as
SATNET, was given a mandate to develop a plan for the physical infrastructure of a
metropolitan telecommunications network, and to develop network linkages among the City
and the school districts, universities, hospitals, libraries and research institutions in
the San Antonio area. The two task forces had overlapping membership, and both were given
generous volunteer support by SalsaNet (http://www.salsa.net),
including maintenance of a web page for their joint use (http://www.salsa.net/metronet) and a public
discussion board.
The Technology Implementation Task Force divided itself into three
subcommittees which approximately paralleled the major elements of its mandate: Services
and Transactions, Citizen Information and Involvement, and Marketing and Economic
Development. Each subcommittee began by studying the programs that have been implemented
in other cities that are recognized as models in the creative and effective uses of new
technologies in its subject area, and assessing San Antonio against that background. Their
interim reports at that stage provided the foundation for the recommendations contained in
this Final Report. The task force as a whole also submitted a report of Interim Budget
Recommendations in June 1998. All of these previous reports were published on the task
force's web site.
This report contains edited and updated versions of two of the three
subcommittee interim reports and the recommendations of the task force as a whole. (The
Marketing and Economic Development Subcommittee did not complete a written report in time
for inclusion in this document. However, its recommendations were considered by the
task force as a whole in formulating the overall group's recommendations.) For
brevity, we emphasize our findings about San Antonio and the background for our
recommendations, rather than our assessment of other cities. The recommendations section
includes updated budget/organizational recommendations as well as the task force 's
recommendations for the "Next Steps" which San Antonio should take in order to
become a Smart City in the 21st century.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
From our research, two general observations can be made regarding the use
of technology to provide decentralized services to citizens:
At this stage, governmental instrumentalities are currently using
technology mostly to provide information to the citizens of their jurisdiction. The actual
provision of services or the ability to engage in transactions with governmental
instrumentalities is still limited.
Governmental instrumentalities are currently using kiosk systems as their
main source of technology in decentralizing the provision of services and transactions.
SERVICES AND TRANSACTIONS IN OTHER PLACES
The subcommittee did an extensive search of the web pages maintained by
other local and state governments, and by selected cities in other countries which have
been identified as leaders in the field. Inevitably, this research has a very short
half-life of currency and accuracy, and it would be tedious to detail all of the features
we found at each site. Therefore this section merely summarizes some highlights and
provides links to the web sites where more specific information can be found.
The States Inventory Project (http://www.states.org)
helps states develop their advanced telecommunications infrastructure by providing a
single clearinghouse for tracking state National Information Infrastructure (NII)
activities. The States Inventory Project has created an on-line, interactive resource
where contributors can post state NII related information. There is a section on this web
site called On-Line Delivery of Services, which is broken down into the following
subcategories:
telemedicine,
telejustice,
libraries,
kiosks,
benefits distribution,
emergency services, and
other services (environmental permits, traffic tickets).
Each subcategory lists various projects being developed, tested or used in
the states. Many states are using video-conferencing to bring people together to share
ideas and information. This is especially prevalent in the telemedicine area.
Videoconferencing is also being used in the telejustice arena to allow for hearings
without the time and expense of everyone traveling to the same location.
Iowa Access (http://www.state.ia.us/government/iitt/iowaccess/index.htm)
is an intergovernmental effort that encompasses 14 technology projects, a Steering
Committee and a Citizen Council. Some of the projects include obtaining, on-line, business
licenses and environmental permits.
The state of Washington delivers information via kiosks and will be
expanding the kiosks to allow for payment. In 1999, the state received
three top awards for outstanding technology innovations that improve
government services. (http://www.wa.gov/dis/).
Massachusetts provides a large number of application forms on-line which
citizens can download and use . It also allows on-line transactions
dealing with the renewal of drivers and automobile licenses
(http://www.magnet.state.ma.us/rmv/index.htm).
The City of Santa Monica has an advanced Public Electronic Network (http://pen.ci.santa-monica.ca.us). In addition
to providing a large amount of information, it allows the following services to be
transacted on-line:
Business License Tax Renewal,
Board, Commission, Committee and Citizen Task Force Application,
Consumer Complaint,
Job Interest Card,
Graffiti Removal Request,
Library Card Registration,
Petty Theft Report,
Recreation Class Signup,
Street Maintenance Job Request,
Report on Traffic Conditions,
Volunteer Registration,
AIDS/Sexual Orientation Discrimination Complaint,
General City Complaint,
Bus Itinerary Request, and
Airport Noise Complaint.
The Minnesota Internet Center (http://www.internetcenter.state.mn.us)
assists Minnesota communities in realizing the community development potential of
information and telecommunications technologies. It provides links to other sites
including Minnesota localities regarding their technology projects.
The Davis Community Network (http://www.dcn.davis.ca.us/dcn/projects)
provides a list and description of technology projects. However, most
the projects listed deal more with information than with the actual
provision of services.
"abagOnline" (http://www.abag.org/home.html), by the Association of Bay
Area Governments in the San Francisco Bay Area, is perhaps the best
regional guide to local government services in a large metropolitan
region. It provides a wide variety of information about the region, and
ABAG also hosts websites for a number of its local governments.
In other countries, one of the most advanced cities in the use of
technology for service delivery is Brisbane, Australia. That city has created a corporate
subsidiary, Brisbane City Enterprises, to sell a menu of the city's technology and
management services to other governments. For example, its "intelligent transport
system" tracks buses with electronic sensors in the pavement, compares that
information with the schedule, opens up green lights ahead to speed any that are delayed,
and even flashes projected arrival times to waiting passengers. It also offers a system of
mobile laptops and hand-held computers to report, track and coordinate work orders for
city departments, and a digital mapping system which is easily accessed by citizens and
businesses.
In addition to governmental and public sites, a number of software
developers are active in developing particular applications of technology in local
government services. For example, several competitors have developed systems to allow for
obtaining construction permits on-line. A Permit Automation Conference was scheduled for
1998 in Reno, Nevada, hosted by one of these permit software companies (http://www.permitsnet.com).
STATUS OF SAN ANTONIO
Any research on the provision of decentralized services should begin with
what is currently being provided by the City of San Antonio itself.
Via the "Community Link" kiosk system currently in place, the
following services and transactions can be performed:
Pay traffic citations, parking citations, and various other misdemeanor citations
Purchase garage sale permits
Make reservations for park sites
Order and pay for a copy of immunization records.
When the task force began its study, it was also possible to look up and
pay the City's property tax on any parcel inside the city limits through a kiosk
transaction. However, an unfortunate minor side effect of the recent consolidation of city
and county property tax collection is that this service is no longer available.
In the future, citizens will also be able to make and file city
complaints.
The kiosks also provide access to the City's home page on the web. Through
this, citizens can obtain a wealth of information about the city government and city
services, and in some cases they can initiate requests for service. These services include
public works and code compliance. Potential bidders on City contracts can also print out
an application to be put on the City bid list, but this application must be returned by
mail.
At this point, San Antonio's kiosk network is about as advanced as any we
have found in this kind of application. It encompasses a reasonable range of service
transactions which are of genuine value to the average citizen in everyday life. The
access to the City's web page appears to be a distinct "plus," compared to other
kiosk systems. However, the range of service transactions which could be made
accessible through the kiosks still substantially exceeds the City's resources for
application development, and priorities for further development of the system are
undefined. Thus, the system will become progressively less and less impressive compared to
similar technology used in other places, unless the City continues to invest additional
resources in additional applications.
In addition, the focus of this system on citizen-oriented services - and
its trumpeting as the "flagship" of City technology initiatives - have perhaps
diverted attention from another equally important dimension of technology in services and
transactions. The blunt fact is, San Antonio has done little worth mentioning in applying
new technology to facilitate any kind of business transaction with the city
government - everything from bidding on City contracts to applying for a building permit
or a zoning variance. These applications are more suited to the environment of the
Internet and the city's web page than they are to a kiosk system, and they are likely to
involve major "re-engineering " of city administrative processes. In addition,
they often face obstacles such as obsolete legal requirements (e.g., involving signatures
and professional seals) which the City cannot overcome without support from the state. In
this respect, the City merely reflects the common situation of other places, which have
done much better in providing information than they have in actually delivering services.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
Many cities (as well as states and other local governments) provide
extensive information to their citizens and others through pages on the worldwide web. The
scope of the information they offer ranges from relatively static and pedestrian
information of general public interest (e.g., bus schedules and library hours) through
informative materials for more specialized and attentive audiences, which require regular
and timely updating (e.g., City Council minutes and commission agendas). Codes and various
regulations are often available for browsing and downloading. Commonly, forms are provided
for at least a few, relatively simple requests for service (e.g., pothole repairs or
missing street signs), and email links direct information requests and other inquiries to
the proper office for a response. Sometimes a city's web page contains extensive links to
related agencies, but typically this is a minor aspect of the site compared to information
about the services of the individual jurisdiction itself. Smaller cities also often make
available general background information about the community - demographics, local
attractions and civic events, etc. Generally, local government web sites are fairly simple
but attractive in their design, and easy to navigate.
Compared to such relatively passive provision of information, few cities
provide very much in the way of actual access to records and services (e.g., to place a
"hold" on a library book in circulation, as opposed to merely viewing a map of
branch locations and information about their hours and programs.) One of the best that we
have found in this respect is the site maintained by the City of Indianapolis/Marion
County, Indiana (www.IndyGov.org), which won a 1997
Global Information Infrastructure award in the government category for its strength in
this dimension.
STATUS OF SAN ANTONIO
Compared to other large cities, San Antonio's web site (http://www.ci.sat.tx.us) is relatively extensive in
sheer size, with a separate page for almost every department, in addition to a few general
pages (including a useful directory of services and a "what's new" page). These
pages provide basic information about the activities and organization of the city
government, descriptive information about city services, and some ability to contact
particular offices (telephone numbers and some email links). This information is generally
helpful and descriptive enough to assist most citizens in getting basic descriptions of
city functions and services.
Other observers have rated San Antonio relatively favorably regarding
electronic access, use and services. For example, a 1998 evaluation by Yahoo of
"America's 100 Most Wired Cities" ranked San Antonio 27th, with this ranking
based partly on "bonus points" awarded for electronic access to the city
government.
Beneath this broad surface, however, San Antonio's use of
telecommunications technology for information and access has some major deficiencies.
In the view of this task force, perhaps the city's greatest shortcoming is
the sheer unevenness of its web pages. Until now, the city's policy has been to have each
department develop its own web page independently of every other department. The majority
of these (if not all of them) have been developed by outside consultants - also working
independently of each other. The Information Services Department maintains the city's
overall opening page, and the Public Information Office maintains a "what's new"
page, but neither office exercises any real management oversight of the city's web site as
a whole. Maintenance of departmental web pages, once created, has typically been added
onto the existing, unrelated responsibilities of whatever staff member once happened to
show some individual interest in the issue (or, perhaps, the one who was unluckiest on
some particular day).
The results of this policy might have been predictable. On the positive
side, some departments (e.g., the Library and the Police Department) have developed web
pages which are extensive, informative, useful, well designed, and very creatively
implemented. In their individual functional areas, these are fully equal to the best we
have found anywhere among other cities' web pages.
On the negative side, some departments seem to have difficulty conceiving
of much information that would be useful on a web page, or they simply lack either the
will or the resources (or both) to develop a truly useful page. And it is clear that many
departments are quite unable to keep updated the materials they have once started to post
to their pages. (We believe it would be unfair to cite specific examples while leaving out
so many others. However, we also believe it would be better if these departments had never
made the promises they cannot fulfill.)
Beyond this unevenness from one department to another, an additional
unfortunate consequence is that the city's overall web presence could fairly
be called a shambles. Every department's page is completely different in its conception
from every other. With no commonality of format or navigational structure, the total
package is user-unfriendly in the extreme. A user must learn how to navigate each
department's page from scratch, as if each one were a totally different web site belonging
to a totally separate government. Even potentially useful links (e.g., from Neighborhood
Planning to the Police Department's neighborhood crime data, or from Economic Development
to current bid procurements by the Purchasing and General Services Department) are
problematic in this environment. They bounce a web browser from one department's page to
another without warning, and with no idea where he or she has landed in relation to where
they started, or how to navigate effectively between the two departments. Thus the real
value of the whole effort falls far short of its true potential, and far short in
comparison with the resources already invested in it.
A related deficiency, in our task force view, is the way the city has
neglected to use the Internet to provide access to services, in addition to descriptive
information. While the Community Link kiosks (discussed in the section above, on Services
and Transactions) at least temporarily approximate the state of the art, they appear to be
treated as a substitute for the power of the Internet rather than as a supplement to that
power. While the kiosks give access to city's entire web site, the web site does not
support the same transactions as the kiosks. Many of even the simplest of transactions
(e.g., purchasing a publication from the City Clerk's office) are not available through a
web browser. One major limitation which prevents many transactions from being implemented
is the city's lack of a secure server to support credit card purchases. Again, this
"underdevelopment" of the city's web site appears to be due to the simple lack
of will and/or resources to develop the site effectively.
A third deficiency is in the way the city uses email for communication
between citizens and the city government. At present, individual departments provide email
links to their staff through their web pages in a pattern which can only be called
haphazard. As with the issues of web page design, formatting and navigation, the result
from a citizen's perspective is a study in frustration. This greatly reduces the
usefulness of this communications medium, instead of capitalizing on its real potential.
One aspect of this issue may be the way the City budgets for email to/from
the outside world, through a modest monthly charge-back to the department by ISD.
Arguably, this presents each department Director with the choice of funding one more email
account vs. filling a few more potholes, buying a few more library books,
publishing one more program information pamphlet, etc. More fundamentally, however, this
issue involves the other resources associated with this form of communication: the
allocation of adequate staff time to handle the potential volume of e-communications, and
the development and administration of appropriate protocols to log messages, route them to
an appropriate respondent, and track and record responses. This is all a burden which is
easier to avoid than to confront, in a context of scarce resources.
The task force believes that the present administrative arrangements and
bureaucratic incentives systematically deter city departments from making the most
effective use of email for communication with citizens. We believe the solution to this
problem must involve a conscious commitment as a city government - not as a collection of
unrelated city departments - to use this communications technology to the best advantage
of everyone.
Finally, we return to the issue of the content of the city departments'
web pages. We have not attempted a detailed inventory of what San Antonio offers in
comparison with other cities, because this could be extremely cumbersome and it would not
serve a useful purpose at this stage. We believe it is sufficient to note that the
historic policy of "Let 100 Flowers Bloom" has produced enormous variation from
one department to another in the breadth, depth and quality of information available.
The variety of useful information we have found on other cities' web pages
is mind boggling. Obviously, the wealth of material which could be made available
in electronic form far exceeds any city's resources available for doing so.
Therefore priorities must be set, and limited resources allocated accordingly.
In San Antonio's case, it appears that departments' web page offerings
depend - more than anything else - on such unknowable vagaries as what information just
happens to be available already in some other form, the personal interests of a staff
member with a part-time assignment to maintain the department's page, etc., rather than on
any rational or conscious plan at all. It appears that the city has never deliberately
considered how making available additional materials in the City Clerk's office (for
example) stacks up against additional materials from the Planning Department, the
Metropolitan Health District or the Economic Development Department (to continue with a
series of random examples), as a real priority to the city as a whole.
Therefore we conclude this section with one general and overarching
observation. It is that the existing "laissez faire" management policy which has
governed the city's use of telecommunications technology up to now is no longer adequate
or appropriate. It may have served a useful purpose in the past, in encouraging individual
departments to explore new possibilities and to demonstrate their potentials. However, as
both technology and users' expectations have matured, the time for this approach has
clearly passed. San Antonio desperately needs some central management of its web page
presence, and a conscious commitment to develop the potential of the Internet for citizen
information, access to services, and involvement in local government.
(1) The City should begin now to develop a "next generation" of
the Community Link Action Plan.
This planning effort should be based on research including a citizen survey to determine (1) what additional services citizens want to access and what additional transactions they want to conduct through kiosks and the Internet, and (2) their preferred delivery system and location.The planning effort should also study City service points and identify how the citizen/user process can be improved or made more efficient, especially electronically - so citizens/users can avoid having to be there physically, or to wait in line.It should also include a resource survey to determine what is available and in use now, and where city offices with networked computers are located now.Based on this research, new initiatives should be implemented first on a pilot basis to prove concepts, software and administrative support before being expanded citywide.
The original Community Link Action Plan was based on extensive citizen
research and detailed analysis of city service delivery. It has guided the City in
developing its networks of kiosks at major malls and shopping centers and the Community
Link Service Centers. These initiatives have placed San Antonio - for the time being - in
the front rank of cities using technology in this fashion to deliver citizen services.
However, that plan is now three years old and its implementation is
essentially complete. There are no defined priorities for additional services to be
implemented through the kiosks in FY 1999-2000. Meanwhile the Internet has experienced its
most explosive growth, and a larger and larger proportion of citizens have become
comfortable conducting various transactions through this medium.
(2) The City should undertake more extensive marketing efforts to
communicate the availability of services through the kiosks and the Internet, and more
extensive programs to educate citizens about their use.
The "Showcases of City Services" at malls and other locations
have been well received, but they require elaborate mobilization and they are only a small
part of the effort that is needed. Likewise, the Library's efforts to expand computer
literacy and access - although well conceived and creatively executed for a public
library system - are inadequate to the task, if that is all the City does. It needs to
become a major priority to the city government as a whole to help make people more aware
of these services, and more comfortable in using them.
(3) The City should present the same "face" to the world through
its web site as it does through the kiosks. Citizens/users should be able to transact at
least as much business with the City through a web browser as they can conduct at a kiosk.
Today, the Community Link kiosks provide access to the entire city web
site, but the web site itself does not allow citizens to conduct as many
transactions with the City as they can through the kiosks. The principal limitation is on
transactions which require a payment for services through a credit card.
This asymmetry violates any principle that the City should make itself as
accessible as possible electronically. City information and services should be equally
available to citizens using computer terminals in libraries, community centers, schools,
their own offices and bedrooms, as they are special kiosks in shopping malls. In the long
run, the kiosks should be a supplement to the City's accessible presence on the web,
rather than the other way around.
(4) The City should begin to develop a "data warehouse" of city
government-related information, as a foundation stone for developing San Antonio into a
smart community.
The Community Information System initiative and an emerging coalition of
GIS users are already beginning initial steps toward this. The ultimate aim should be to
make every kind of digital information (within legal limitations) available through the
Internet to every citizen and business in San Antonio. If San Antonio as an urban
community is truly to become a "smart city," its city government should play a
leader's role rather than a follower's role in this effort.
(5) The City should develop alliances with other governments in the region
to provide access to services jointly, at one-stop locations.
Bexar County and the state of Texas should be major partners in this
effort, but other regional special district governments should also be involved. The Alamo
Area Council of Governments could play an important role in facilitating such alliances on
a metropolitan basis.
Scattered courtesy links from one agency's web site to another are not
sufficient to accomplish this objective. As the local leader in using kiosks for service
delivery, the City should explore the potential for expanding the scope of services
accessible through the kiosks to include overlying governments through intergovernmental
contracts.
(1) The City should make a strong, conscious and deliberate commitment to
the following principles for making City information and services available
electronically:
As much public information as possible should be accessible digitally over the Internet, except as prohibited by law.Information should be provided electronically with attention to cross-platform and backward compatibility.Access to city information and electronic services should be geographically accessible within a half-hour walk to everyone in the City.Information and services provided electronically should be free or affordable.Information and electronic services should be fully accessible to those with disabilities.Access to electronic information must be anonymous, to protect individual privacy.The availability of electronic information and services must be reinforced by effective marketing and communication.Access to electronic information and services must be supported by effective training, citizen education and support.Basic information about the city and city services should be available bilingually.
(2) The City should develop a broad range initiative on technological
literacy, to ensure that the community does not become split into information
"haves" and "have-nots." This initiative should include alliances for
implementation with the school systems and the Alamo Community College District.
This is the most important social issue presented by the explosion of
information technology. As the dominant general-purpose local government, the City must
face the issue squarely and comprehensively.
Some illustrations of possible elements of this initiative might include:
Equipping City literacy centers with web access and hands-on classes for computer literacy, web page development, etc.Developing a coordinated effort to recycle older computers and modems for those without funds to purchase new equipment.
Establishing summer workshops at city recreation centers for students to create their own web pages and maintain their own email accounts.Instituting means for access by those without home computers, in all parts of the city and at all hours.Developing mechanisms to spread Web TV, to enable people to get on the web and communicate by email.Developing special initiatives for the elderly - those least likely to have been exposed to computers, and most likely to suffer for it. Equip senior citizen centers with modems, email and web access.
Alliances with other agencies should emphasize providing citizen education
and access, especially in parts of the city with low rates of home PC ownership.
(3) The City urgently needs to begin to manage its overall presence
on the web by developing and applying common standards to the design and implementation of
its departmental web pages.
This management should focus on general standards for departmental web
pages, and on ensuring a common look-and-feel for these pages as parts of a single unified
web site. It should not constrain the responsible departments in determining the
kinds of information which citizens may find useful, or their priorities in developing new
materials and applications for their pages.
These standards should address issues such as:
Functionality on multiple platforms and with backwards compatibility.Format and layout - particularly the design of navigation links, both within departmental pages and between departments. Users should not have to constantly relearn a unique and different format for every department.Minimum content requirements and format standards for common generic types of materials (e.g., the agendas of boards and advisory committees supported by various departments, or calendars of programs and events sponsored by a department).Requirements for the periodic updating of information which changes regularly, and standards for periodic review and updating of information which changes only occasionally.
Implementation of this recommendation will probably require an
interdepartmental staff effort to develop the required standards in the form of some kind
of "style manual." It will also require a training program for every
department's designated webmaster to educate them in the standards, and monitoring and
technical assistance to individual departments.
The task force believes that the essential perspective which should govern
this management is that of the Community Relations Department. Therefore we recommend that
the primary responsibility for this management function should be assigned to that
department. Additional resources may also be necessary for a complementary role of
technical support by the Information Services Department.
(4) The City should maintain at least one general e-mail address for
citizen information, inquiries, and requests for service in every City department. The
availability of this service should be advertised on each department's web page and
through other community education programs.
Implementation of this recommendation will require the development and
administration of appropriate protocols to log messages, route them to an appropriate
respondent, and track and record responses. Most important, it will require adequate
resources (personnel and training) for every department to meet this commitment to a
consistent standard of response quality.
(5) The City should develop a coherent policy to prioritize the resources
for making additional documents, directories, schedules and other basic materials
available through departments' web pages.
Clearly, the volume of material which could be made available in
electronic form far exceeds the City's available resources to do so. Therefore this effort
should be informed by a deliberate program of research and dialogue with citizens and
other organizations in the community. This should be conducted as part of the planning
recommended in #1 above, under Services and Transactions.
(1) The City should use its general purpose web site deliberately to
project the image of a technologically advanced community.
This means that the City should commit the resources to develop and
maintain its web site as a premier, state-of-the-art example of the use of the Internet by
a municipal government. "State of the art" includes the clarity and ease of
navigation and the aesthetics of page layout, as well as the substantive content of the
site. It also means using "bells and whistles" - e.g., sound and animation - to
enhance the site appropriately, while maintaining the requirements of cross-platform
operability and backward compatibility. Having a city government that is seen to be
at the state of this art - in the range of services and transactions that are supported
electronically, and in the scope and quality of the information available to citizens - is
a subtle but important support to all of the City's other economic development efforts.
(2) The City should periodically convene ad hoc working groups to develop
information technology initiatives to support particular target industries. These should
focus on defining the City's most effective role in using IT to advance the local
industry, and on developing an appropriate division of labor between the City, private
sector interests and other agencies that may be involved.
For example, in the tourism industry... The City should not duplicate or attempt to compete with the private sector in marketing their attractions through its web site or the Convention and Visitors Bureau's specialized web site. But the City must be proactive in making the best information available about facilities that are owned and operated by the City and events that are sponsored by the City - both in its own efforts and for use by others. The City should also consider how information under its control - e.g., about upcoming conventions and events - can best be made available for use by others in the industry.For example, in the development of an Inland Port... The City should consider how its effort to develop telecommunications infrastructure (as recommended by the SATNET task force) can best support the development of a "virtual port" in cooperation with the Free Trade Alliance, the Greater Kelly Development Corporation, and GKDC's tenants at the redeveloped Kelly AFB. It should also consider how electronic links between the city government and other trade-related agencies, institutions and businesses can best be orchestrated to facilitate this effort.
For example, in the roll out of digital broadcasting... The City should consider: how it can use interactive television to extend interactive services beyond the reach of computer networks; how it can use it for City staff training, employee orientation and continuing professional development (using broadcast to deliver curriculum content and text/form return from computers as the response and evaluation mechanism); how it can support live "field trips" in which students can ask questions and access data to enhance their observations and test their conclusions; and how interactive access can be used to enhance marketing efforts in tourism, as a medical destination, and in general economic development. We believe that San Antonio has a "window of opportunity" to develop new market niches by pioneering the application of digital broadcasting to improve traditional fields.
This task force was not charged to develop specific budget recommendations
in the form required by the City's regular budget process. However, we believe the
following observations and recommendations are in order, as the logical extension of our
recommendations above.
(1) The City needs to budget additional funds to manage the City's
overall presence on the web. The Community Relations Department is the most logical
department to undertake this role, with appropriate support from the Information Services
Department.
This includes the "next generation" planning, to follow-up from
the Community Link Action Plan, and the development and administration of web page
standards as discussed above. While some additional "hard core" General Fund
budget appropriation is necessary for these purposes, some part of the cost of this
management might also be recovered through overhead charges to departments funded by
special revenue and enterprise funds.
(2) The City needs to commit the resources to adequately support e-mail
communication between citizens and the city government. This includes adequate trained
personnel to properly serve at least one general e-mail address in each department for
information, complaints and service requests. It also includes the development and
administration of appropriate protocols to log messages, route them to an appropriate
respondent, track and record responses and outcomes.
Once again, we believe the essential perspective which should govern the
implementation of this recommendation is that of the Community Relations Department, with
training and technical support by ISD.
(3) The City needs to commit the resources to maintain a state of the art
presence on the web, and to use information technology in partnership with other agencies
to foster the city's economic development.
This includes a regular budget commitment for enhancement of the City's
overall web site and for the development of additional materials to be made available
through departments' web pages. It also includes support for the kinds of initiatives
discussed above, involving collaboration between the City and other public and private
sector entities.
(4) The City should fund a systematic "grantsmanship" effort to
pursue available grant funds for information technology. This effort should emphasize
partnerships and networking between the city government and other community agencies.
The volume and the variety of potential grant funds in this area has grown
almost as explosively as the Internet itself. Potential sources range from the National
Information Infrastructure programs and retention grants from the Department of Education
(for programs of computer accessibility and training) to the state's Telecommunications
Infrastructure Fund and the Texas Water Development Board (for mapping related to natural
resources), to various private foundations. While some individual departments (notably the
Library) have been aggressive in pursuing such opportunities, the City as a whole simply
does not "have its act together" in this respect.
To be successful in this competitive grant environment, a premium must be
placed on proposals which will benefit the San Antonio community in a wider sense, rather
than just the municipal government as an institutional entity. Partnerships and networking
are the order of the day among potential funding agencies. Therefore proposals which
involve cooperation with school districts, colleges and universities, health care agencies
and other entities targeted by the federal and state governments should be emphasized.
Special attention should also be paid to addressing the issues of the
"democratization of information," and preventing a possible split in the
community between information "haves" and "have-nots."
(5) The City should substantially increase the resources devoted to staff
training in support of information technology efforts.
The shortage of trained staff in functional line departments is perhaps
the most fundamental obstacle to the City's making full use of the technology which is
available now. While ISD has impressive facilities and offers a good range of training
programs, more resources need to be allocated to free-up the time of targeted staff to
take advantage of the training which is available to them.
This task force was charged to make recommendations on how the city
government should use information technology in services and transactions with citizens,
in delivering information and involving citizens in local government, and in marketing the
city to support its economic development. Our recommendations above address all of these
issues. However, the task force also believes that the following recommendations are
appropriate, to outline some "next steps," or the tasks that remain ahead of us.
(1) Beyond a project internal to the city government, a deliberate and
collaborative community-wide effort is needed to transform San Antonio as a community
into a truly "Smart City." This must involve the business community, educational
systems and nonprofit sectors, alongside the City and other local governments.
The city government has an essential role to play in this effort, by using
information technology to the best possible advantage in its own service delivery and
interactions with citizens. A "smart city" has a smart city government - and one
that is seen to be that by the rest of the world. It also has the infrastructure to
support telecommunications and networking between and among the city government and the
community's schools, universities, hospitals, research institutions and libraries. But,
most importantly, a truly Smart City uses these tools to develop new opportunities
and to form new collaborations which benefit the entire community.
(2) The Mayor and City Council need to become strong and consistent
advocates of this cause.
No one else is in a position of leadership to marshal the entire community
in what must become a community-wide effort. Beyond their essential support for
recommendations involving the city government (e.g., budget priorities for personnel and
training), they must take the lead in marketing and recruiting to broaden this effort into
a community-wide undertaking.
(3) The City Council should appoint a "next generation" task
force as an official city body charged to follow-up from both this effort and the SATNET
task force, and to make San Antonio into a Smart City within five years.
This task force should develop a "Technology Implementation
Roadmap," encompassing such initiatives as the Community Information System and the
emerging GIS users' consortium, as well as the City's own "next generation"
Community Link Action Plan. It should also develop funding strategies and pilot projects
to demonstrate implementation.
To be successful, this task force must be both broad-based and high level.
It must include decision makers from the private sector, nonprofit institutions and other
public sector agencies, as well as leaders from local "user communities." It
also must be supported by adequate resources, contributed by both the public and private
sectors.
Fredrick Howard
