****Begin File******************Begin File*******************Begin File**** *************************************************************************** ISSN 1069-7799 ALAWON ALA Washington Office Newsline An electronic publication of the American Library Association Washington Office Volume 2, Number 38 September 16, 1993 In this issue: (233 lines) ADMINISTRATION ISSUES AGENDA FOR INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE (PART 1 OF 2, CONTINUED IN ALAWON VOL. 2, NO. 39) *************************************************************************** ADMINISTRATION ISSUES AGENDA FOR INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE STRENGTHS OF THE PROPOSAL On September 15, the Clinton Administration issued its agenda for action for the national information infrastructure. Major strengths in the proposal include: * Recognition of the potential: "Development of the NII can help unleash an information revolution that will change forever the way people live, work, and interact with each other." * Extension of universal service: "Because information means empowerment--and employment--the government has a duty to ensure that all American have access to the resources and job creation potential of the Information Age." * Enhanced access to government information: "The Administration will seek to ensure that Federal agencies, in concert with state and local governments, use the NII to expand the information available to the public, ensuring that the immense reservoir of government information is available to the public easily and equitably." * Library and school use of NII: Application areas and pilot projects the Administration supports include government stimulus for connectivity and applications in health care, education, libraries, and provision of government information. * Process: An Advisory Council on the National Information Infrastructure will include representatives of industry, labor, academia, public interest groups, and state and local governments. "The Administration will make a special effort to hear from public interest groups" in its efforts to develop a new concept of universal service. QUESTIONS RAISED The Administration deserves credit for its attention to a crucial policy area, and for a solid recognition, if not a fully balanced understanding, of what's at stake. However, many questions cannot yet be answered. Will there be teeth in the provisions highlighted above? While admitting that the federal government has a key leadership role to play in NII development, the Administration assumes that "the private sector will build and run virtually all of the National Information Infrastructure." Yet this is the emerging infrastructure for communications--the activity that makes us human. The stakes for a democratic society are high, and market forces alone will not ensure that societal goals are met. Will the Administration's agenda ensure that universal service means true interactive communications capability--not just the ability to change the channel selector or push the "yes," "no," or "buy" buttons, but to send a meaningful message to an elected official, to obtain information about a child's homework assignments, or to tap into the library to retrieve needed information? Will effective use of the NII depend on economic status or information-seeking skills? Is there a commitment to the publicly- supported library function of providing public access for all to a variety of information sources and viewpoints? Will passage of communications reform legislation, as called for, serve only to promote private sector infrastructure investment, or also to promote social goals? Will groups asking such questions be fully welcome in the planning process and at the highest levels of consultation? PROMISE OF THE NII "The National Information Infrastructure: Agenda for Action" is a multi- part document. The executive summary indicates that "All Americans have a stake in the construction of an advanced National Information Infrastructure (NII), a seamless web of communications networks, computers, databases, and consumer electronics that will put vast amounts of information at users' fingertips." The largest section of the document is the agenda itself, which begins with the promise of the NII: Imagine you had a device that combined a telephone, a TV, a camcorder, and a personal computer. No matter where you went or what time it was, your child could see you and talk to you, you could watch a replay of your team's last game, you could browse the latest additions to the library, or you could find the best prices in town on groceries, furniture, clothes -- whatever you needed. Other scenarios imagined include: * The best schools, teachers, and courses were available to all students, without regard to geography, distance, resources, or disability; * The vast resources of art, literature, and science were available everywhere, not just in large institutions or big-city libraries and museums; * You could obtain government information directly or through local organizations like libraries, apply for and receive government benefits electronically, and get in touch with government officials easily. Information, according to the document, is one of the nation's most critical economic resources; "That is why the Administration has launched the National Information Infrastructure initiative." WHAT IS THE NII? The agenda document provides an expansive definition of the NII, which includes the physical facilities used to transmit, store, process, and display voice, data, and images, plus a wide range of physical components to be interconnected. "Most importantly, the NII requires building foundations for living in the Information Age and for making these technological advances useful to the public, business, libraries, and other nongovernmental entities." The nonphysical components of the NII include the information itself, applications and software, network standards and transmission codes, and people. NII INITIATIVE GOALS The private sector will lead the deployment of the NII, but "carefully crafted government action can complement and enhance the benefits of these private sector initiatives." The Administration says its NII initiative will be guided by nine principles and goals, and lists intended actions for each: 1) Promote private sector investment, through appropriate tax and regulatory policies. ACTION: Passage of communications reform legislation. ACTION: Revision of tax policies. 2) Extend the "universal service" concept to ensure that information resources are available to all at affordable prices. ACTION: Develop a new concept of universal service. A series of public hearings will begin by December 1993, with a special effort to hear from public interest groups. 3) Act as a catalyst to promote technological innovation and new applications. ACTION: Continue the High-Performance Computing and Communications Program, including the new component--Information Infrastructure Technologies and Applications--for which legislation is pending to apply these technologies in health care, education, libraries, and provision of government information. ACTION: Implement the NII Pilot Projects Program, the NTIA grants for schools, libraries, and others. Legislation is pending. ACTION: Inventory NII applications projects. 4) Promote seamless, interactive, user-driven operation. ACTION: Review and clarify the standards process to speed NII applications. ACTION: Review and reform government regulations that impede development of interactive services and applications. 5) Ensure information security and network reliability. ACTION: Review privacy concerns of the NII. ACTION: Review of encryption technology. ACTION: Work with industry to increase network reliability. 6) Improve management of the radio frequency spectrum. ACTION: Streamline allocation and use of spectrum. ACTION: Promote market principles in spectrum distribution. 7) Protect intellectual property rights. ACTION: Examine the adequacy of copyright laws. ACTION: Explore ways to identify and reimburse copyright owners. 8) Coordinate with other levels of government and with other nations. ACTION: Seek ways to improve coordination with state and local officials. ACTION: Open up overseas markets. ACTION: Eliminate barriers caused by incompatible standards. ACTION: Examine international and U.S. trade regulations. 9) Provide access to government information and improve government procurement. ACTION: Improve the accessibility of government information. Working groups "will carefully consider the problems associated with making government information broadly accessible to the public electronically." A virtual card catalogue finding tool will be developed. ACTION: Upgrade the infrastructure for the delivery of government information. Steps already taken include legislation enacted to improve electronic dissemination of government documents by GPO, and agency use of Internet dissemination. The NTIS FedWorld will be improved, and a "conference will be held in the Fall of 1993 to begin teaching Federal employees how they can use these distribution mechanisms." ACTION: Enhance citizen access to government information. The document refers to new policies of OMB Circular A-130 which mandates information distribution to the public at dissemination costs only. An inter-agency effort underway would "turn thousands of local and field offices of various Federal agencies into Interactive Citizen Participation Centers, at which citizens can communicate with the public affairs departments of all Federal agencies." ACTION: Strengthen inter-agency coordination through the use of electronic mail. ACTION: Reform the Federal procurement process to make government a leading-edge technology adopter. THIS ARTICLE IS CONTINUED IN ALAWON VOL. 2, NO. 39 *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is an irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office, 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20002-5675. 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