Special Briefing Friday April 28 for Members of the Media on National Electronic Open Meeting, "People and Their Governments in the Information Age"
Members of the media are invited to attend a special briefing on Friday, April 28, 1995 from 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. (EST) in room 1412 of the Department of Commerce, 14th and Constitution Avenues, Washington, DC (use main entrance on 14th Street). Reporters outside of the DC area can participate via conference call but must rsvp with your telephone number by Thursday, April 27 at 4:30 p.m. EST. There is a limited number of lines the conference call can accommodate, so reservations will be on a first come, first served basis.
At the briefing, Administration officials will demonstrate how the electronic meeting will work and discuss the behind-the- scenes technological effort. Larry Irving, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will conduct the briefing. In addition, experts from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the National Technical Information Service's (NTIS) FedWorld, the National Performance Review (NPR), and the Government Printing Office (GPO) will be available to answer technical questions.
To register to attend the briefing, please call Tia Hastie, of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) Office of Public Affairs, at 202-482-1551 or send e-mail to pdarden@ntia.doc.gov.
The National Electronic Open Meeting is the third public discussion held on electronic networks that the Clinton Administration has held. The others were held by the NTIA and NPR respectively. Organizers, which include both of the sponsors of the previous open meetings, believe that this open meeting will have far greater participation. The meeting's purpose is to give Americans an opportunity to discuss and debate how government can improve delivery of services and benefits, availability of information, and increase citizen participation in our democratic process using information technologies. Comments from the open meeting will be used by OMB, in addition to written responses to its Notice of Inquiry (NOI) on these issues.
The meeting, which will be run entirely on electronic networks, requires use of a computer with a modem or access to the Internet to participate. Government and non-government organizations across the United States have agreed to make their computing facilities available to the public to encourage greater participation. For a list of these Sites, call 1-800-881-6842. In addition, 1-800 lines have been established to allow toll-free participation for persons with modems.
During the meeting, five discussion groups will run simultaneously on topics related to "People and Their Governments in the Information Age." These discussion groups will be hosted by experts on the respective topics, including: Services--from delivery of emergency help and health care to issuing business licenses; Benefits--from delivery of Social Security and food stamps to processing small business grants; Information--from declassifying secrets to making Census data more easily available; Participatory Democracy--from making access to government easier to ensuring everyone's opportunity to participate in government regulatory and policy-making; and Technology--from ensuring compatible electronic systems at the various government levels to ensuring system security and reliability.
The meeting is being sponsored by several federal agencies, including OMB, NTIA, NTIS's FedWorld, and NPR, with the US Government Printing Office assisting the meeting. The sponsoring agencies are participants in the Information Infrastructure Task Force (IITF), an interagency group formed to articulate and implement the Clinton Administration's vision for the National Information Infrastructure. Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown chairs the IITF.
###