NSF researchers present digital solutions to government challenges

The National Conference on Digital Government Research, being held May 19-21 in Boston this year, brings together more than 200 academic and government participants and features digital government research partnerships between the nation's top computer, information, social, organizational and political scientists, and federal, state and local government program managers from the United States and abroad.

With nearly 100 papers, panels, case studies and live demonstrations, this year's conference is the largest to date. Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder of the MIT Media Laboratory, sets the tone for dg.o2003 with a keynote presentation Monday at 8 a.m.

NSF's Digital Government program targets advances in government-citizen interaction, improves government agency applications, conducts related information technology research and examines the impact of information technology on democratic processes. The following Digital Government projects are among the many to be demonstrated at dg.o2003:

UrbanSim: How does a city grow? Full-sized city simulations developed by University of Washington researchers are helping policymakers in Seattle, Salt Lake City and Honolulu see into the future:
http://www.diggov.org/news/stories/2003/0103/0103_urbansim_reed.jsp

Project Battuta: X marks what spot? Wearable database-navigation uplinks built by researchers at Iowa State University and the University of California, Santa Barbara, are helping census takers, environmental scientists and other field data collectors build useful, more intricate databases live on the spot:
http://www.diggov.org/news/stories/2002/0702/0702_battuta_reed.jsp

Mapping the Maze: Why be frustrated? Virginia Tech and Purdue University researchers have developed a single user interface that marries incompatible social-service computer systems is streamlining the frustrating gantlet that many clients must run:
http://www.diggov.org/news/stories/2002/1002/1002_databases_loy.jsp

REGNET: What is accessible? Stanford University researchers are using artificial intelligence technology to craft a legal guidance engine that helps people navigate the thicket of government laws and regulations:
http://www.diggov.org/news/stories/2002/0802/0802_regnet_holland.jsp

Quality Graphics Project: Where do trends overlap? New technology from Pennsylvania State University can map previously invisible patterns in American data--charting the nation's health, habits, living conditions and family life:
http://www.diggov.org/news/stories/2002/0702/0702_mapping_reed.jsp

COPLINK: Who's a likely suspect? A law-enforcement data-mining engine developed by University of Arizona researchers melds artificial intelligence with detective smarts to turn random clues into hard arrests: http://www.diggov.org/news/stories/2002/1201superdetective.jsp

Later in the week, dg.o2003 attendees can also visit the MIT Media Laboratory, the National Center for Digital Government at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, or the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, MA.

Video-friendly system demonstrations are scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday and 4 p.m. Tuesday. Interviews with key players can be arranged ahead of time. See the complete schedule at http://www.dgrc.org/dgo2003/program/.

The dg.o2003 conference is hosted by the NSF-supported Digital Government Research Center (DGRC), a joint activity of the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California and Columbia University's Department of Computer Science.

NSF Program Officer: Valerie Gregg, 703-292-8980, [email protected]
Larry Brandt, 703-292-8980, [email protected]
DGRC Communications Manager: Mack Reed, 301-448-8494, [email protected]

NSF Digital Government Program: http://www.digitalgovernment.org/ dg.o2003 Conference: http://www.dgrc.org/dgo2003/