[egov] Launching of eGOV subcommittee on Services

["Lewis, Diane" <Diane.Lewis@usdoj.gov>]

I am Diane Lewis and i work for the U.S. Department of Justice.  I recently volunteered to chair the OASIS eGov subcommittee on Services.  Since the meeting i have received lots of suggestions and guidance from the eGov TC membership.  All is appreciated and will be incorporated into subcommittee activities.

This message hopefully launches a meaningful and productive discussion thread that will
ultimately result in a statement of work/charter for the eGov Service subcommittee.
I am excited about the possibilities of an international collaboration focused on the
concept of electronic government or as the latest issue of ACM Commmunications magazine
 labels it "digital government".  So far i have a count of maybe 6 individuals who have volunteered to work with me.

Professors Sharon Dawes and Lise Prefontaine (2003) published an article this month in ACM Communications
titled "understanding new models of collaboration for delivering government service" in which
they define emerging themes such as collaborative relationships are evolving and dynamic and 
data-intensive collaborations face issues of data ownership.  There is no doubt in my mind that
overtime the the same themes will apply to the eGov Service Sub-Committee activities and 
discussions.  

In May of last year a Government Computer News reporter began his article about government
students who started a class project to find the best definition of electronic government with
the question "Ask 10 people "What is e-government?" and you're likely to get 10 different answers."
The students settled on two definitions: one came from a corporation the other from a 
U.S. state government description of e-government.  A quote from one of the students launches
our efforts:   "The definitions are not the Holy Grail, but at least we're beginning to 
wrestle with the construct."

Let the international e-Gov collaboration begin...

1. The chair needs Administrative resources/guidance, please.  Who among the members wishes 
to be our sub-committee editor?   I will work closely with the volunteer... to use 
the XML templates discussed at the kick-off TC meeting in December.  Just need guidance
 from Karl or John. thanks.

2. Till an editor is identified and guidance is given to me... i am going to suggest the
following outline to start the discussion..  the outline is actually statement of work
template in use by the Legal XML Court Filing TC (thanks Roger).

3. Short draft text for each statement of work section follows. 
 If you are a member of the eGov Services 
Subcommittee please provide me with an alternative statement of work draft text and/or 
identify issue(s) to be addressed by the group. This exercise will give me a specific 
understanding of the different perspectives on what this subcommittee's focus should be 
over a defined period of time. 
From the collection of message threads i will draft a proposed charter and first statement 
of work for sub-committee membership review/comment.  

As cited in the TC Dec meeting minutes:  by Feb 28th we need the sub committee charter complete.
keep deliverables simple as to show incremental progress in a short time.... 

<Preface> This statement of work provides information the eGov technical committee 
will use to decide whether resources should be applied to the work product(s) proposed.

<TITLE> e-Government Mappings to Services, Functions, Data and Technical Standards

<DESCRIPTION> The objective of the eGov Services subcommittee is to identify and map 
existing government services, functions and data with technical standards from 
an integrated service delivery perspective.  The resulting mappings will show the 
information or services integrated according to function or topic rather than separated
according to boundaries of agency jurisdiction.  The categories of "government" data
identified will be categorized according to citizen government expectations.  The citizen's
government experience will produce the core set of e-government data classes. 

The work of the subcommittee will be conducted through a series of conference calls, via 
e-mail on the listserve, and during face-to-face meetings in conjunction with ,
face to face meetings of the Technical Committee.

<NON-TECHNICAL Description>  see description above which is none technical.

<Relationship to Other eGov TC Activities and Deliverables>

The identification and mapping of existing government services, functions, and data
with technical standards will provide a broadview of the eGov landscape both nationally
and internationally.  Establishing an agreed upon mapping of eGov services, functions
 and data will provide other TC subcommittees with a frame for detailed discussions.
Sub-committee analysis of the mappings will result in identification of specific
tasks to facilitate or initiate e-government pilot projects.  <These pilot projects
would demonstrate use of common e-goverment services built using XML technologies.
Individual statements citing the scope of each pilot would be written up./>

<Proposed Author(s) of the Work> (names and relevant qualifications of the proposed
authors and the roles they would play)

None identified

<Authors identified and needed> ( list of individuals committed to the task)

<Needed expertise/Resources>

Government and Technical expertise is needed.

<Proposed TimeLine>
Target completion date is March 31, 2003.  To meet the target completion date a minimum
of 

<Proposed Review and Comment Period>
1 week review period is suggested.  All comments, questions and suggestions should be
made on the Services sub-committee listserve during the comment period.

<Document History Version> (optional)

thanks for participating in this effort...  diane