Class 5 - Public Safety and Technology

A bit tardy on the blog posting, sorry about that. Now to the summary of our Class 5 - Public Safety and Technology. The Chapter 5 from our Digital Government textbook looked specifically at the case of online tax filing. Just about the most paper and people intensive activity one can find in government, it would appear that having citizens file taxes online would we readily accepted. The chapter detailed how it was cheaper to process taxes online on a per page basis for the government. However, while technology is pervasive, it may not be wide spread enough technologically (e.g. does everyone have a computer in their home to file taxes easily?) or socially (e.g. is every taxpayer comfortable enough and trust the safety and security of the network enough to file taxes online?). These were some barriers to online taxes completely replacing paper tax filing. This may not be the first time that the benefits of technology have been overpromised but underdelivered. There was once a very large buzzword movement towards the "paperless office" in the late 1980s. As we sit here in the early 21st century, paper cans still be found in ample quantities in many offices. And as a type of technology, paper is cheap, easy to use, requires little training, and never crashes.

Our guest speakers for the class were from the growing City of Ontario. We were joined by Dale Wishner and Jimmy Chang from the City of Ontario Information Technology department. Dale and Jimmy shared their experiences and opinions on "municipal wi-fit" or citywide wireless. As much as it is touted, wireless is not secure or as fast as a wired connection. Wireless connections on the edge of the network eventually must connect to a wired network. This "backhaul" or connection of the wireless to the wired network is where the most concerns are in terms of network speed. AVL or automated vehicle location was a method of using wireless for real time reporting of the locations of city resources such as garbage trucks, fire and police vehicles, etc. A city technology department can also provide a competitive advantage for cities; cities with good technology infrastructure can attract businesses. One concern is the provision of high speed network access in older underserved parts of the city. The Georgraphic Information System (GIS) is a map that uses a database of information to manage information resources. For example, a GIS system with a database of the addresses of all the fire hydrants in the city can be useful to help firemen put out fires. For public safety, a police officer can check out if an address has any people with wants or warrants at that address. For our aspiring city managers, the areas of cost to pay attention to in technology deployments are: 1) initial capital investment, 2) recurring annual costs (e.g staff to support the system, training, support contracts), and 3) maintenance (e.g. repairs, replacement of equipment). Will wireless one day be an expected utility for cities, like water and electrical? Food for thought as we do long range planning for the future....

City website resources that Dale and Jimmy shared included:
http://www.misac.org
http://www.muniwireless.org
http://www.disasterportal.org/ontario

Notable quotables from Dale and Jimmy:
"Is it good for the citizens?"
"Will it serve the citizens?"

Thomas