EIGHT QUESTIONS ABOUT NYS STATE AND THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION
NYS Assembly Hearing on State Government and the Information Revolution
November 18, 2011
New York City.  Assembly Hearing Room 250 Broadway

 1. How are New York State agencies, other states, and municipalities currently using information technology to make government more transparent and accountable to the public? Is it working? Does it save tax dollars? What difficulties and barriers have such adaptations encountered?

 2. Does New York have a plan, such as an "open data" plan, to make government data more readily available?

 3. What steps can New York State take to become a national leader in using information technology to promote transparent and accountable government?

 4. Are there simple and affordable data standards or practices that New York should adopt?

5. What basic package of feedback and outreach tools do you think New York State needs to be considered a leader? What would the cost be to acquire such tools?

6. What are New York State agencies, other states, and municipalities doing to stay abreast of the rapid changes in information technology? Are there barriers or difficulties unique to governmental bodies that affect their ability to adopt new technology to governmental purposes?

7. Is there an optimum point in the development and refinement of new technologies at which it is both efficient and practical for government to adopt such technologies? To what extent is it valuable for the private sector to experiment with a technology before a governmental entity invests in it?

8. How should government introduce new technologies to ensure that all its residents across the entire spectrums of age, income, education, and technological sophistication and in rural, urban, and suburban communities are well served?