UpDate - Vol. 14, No. 30, Page 7
May 4, 1995
Clinton Administration to hold electronic meeting

     The Clinton Administration is sponsoring a national electronic
"open meeting" May 1-14, to hear from Americans about the types of
electronic services and benefits they are interested in receiving
electronically from government.
     The electronic meeting, entitled "People and Their Governments in
the Information Age," is sponsored by the Administration's Information
Infrastructure Task Force, the Office of Management and Budget, the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the
National Technical Information Service's FedWorld and the National
Performance Review.
     The U.S. Government Printing Office is assisting by providing
telephone registration for public access sites and pre-conference
information.
     In recognition of the growing importance of information
technology as a means for communication and participation in
democratic government, the national open meeting is part of an ongoing
effort to broaden public participation in creating an electronic
government-one that works better and costs less by improving
information dissemination.
     Additionally, the open meeting serves as an opportunity for the
public to respond to the Office of Management and Budget's notice of
inquiry, which solicits public opinion on the use of information
technology to disseminate government information.
     The meeting will seek to encourage public discussion about the
respective roles of federal, state, tribal and local governments;
industry; the public interest and library communities; academia; and
the general citizenry in creating an electronic government.
     The meeting includes five discussion groups, each of which is
hosted by one or more experts and is devoted to a specific topic
relating to "People and their Governments in the Information Age."
     The topics include:
        * services-from emergency help to health care to business
          licenses;
        * benefits-from Social Security and food stamps to small
          business grants;
        * information-from declassified secrets and economic
          statistics to satellite maps;
        * participatory democracy- ensuring everyone's chance to be
          heard in a democracy; and
        * technology-how the technical portion of electronic
          government will work.


How to participate from the campus:
  World Wide Web
     Point your WWW browser (Netscape, Mosaic, etc.) to
          http://meeting.fedworld.gov

  E-mail
     Send a blank e-mail message to:
          info@meeting.fedworld.gov

  Modem
     Dial toll-free (800)779-3272, using a computer with a modem.