DG Community Begins Exploring Establishment of a Digital Government Society
Organization could step in as NSF continues funding grants, but slowly withdraws support for the dg.o conferences and community-building efforts
By Mack Reed
DGRC Communications Manager

dg.o2005
	The 6th National Conference on Digital Government Research convened May 15-18 in Atlanta, GA. Program: dg.o2005 Shows Evidence of Growing Breadth Overview: Stronger Roots, Broader Application Keynote: Neil Eisner on Challenges of e-Rulemaking DG Society Forming to Help Community Face Uncertain Future Home page Program at a glance Complete program Press release

The National Conference on Digital Government Research marks its sixth year facing an uncertain future - but not a bleak one.

While the National Science Foundation is slowly withdrawing its sponsorship - 2006 will be the last year the conference and community outreach efforts have direct NSF support - grant funding will continue and Digital Government researchers and practitioners have begun considering whether and how to continue supporting the community they have all helped build.

A business meeting on the second night of the dg.o2005 technical program attracted nearly 60 PIs and interested people, many of whom engaged in a vigorous debate over how to continue supporting the network of DG researchers that now reaches across the U.S. and overseas.

Before long, however, the discussion steered towards the possible development of a Digital Government society, which would serve the general goals of keeping the community together and on track for continuing to study and expand topics, technology and best practices in the field of Digital Government research.

These people have volunteered to explore the various aspects of establishing such a society and continuing the outreach and community-building efforts currently being conducted by the Digital Government Research Center with the sponsorship of the NSF:

• Mission statement and name:
  • Sharon S. Dawes, Center for Technology in Government, SUNY University at Albany
  • Enrico Nardelli, NESTOR, Università di Roma "Tor Vergata"
  • Jochen Scholl, University of Washington
• Constitution
  • Eduard Hovy, Digital Government Research Center, University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute
  • Stuart Shulman, University of Pittsburgh
• Conference co-chairs
  • José A.B. Fortes, University of Florida
  • Ann Macintosh, Napier University, Scotland, UK
• Conference program co-chairs
  • Judith B. Cushing, the Evergreen State University
  • Theresa Pardo, Center for Technology in Government, SUNY University at Albany
• Journal
  • Alan F. Karr, National Institute of Statistical Sciences
• Elections
  • L. Jean Camp, Indiana University

An online forum has been set up to gather comments on formation of the society at this address: http://faculty.washington.edu/jscholl/mission_welcome.html.

Members of the community and others who may be interested in its future will be invited by email lists such as dgOnline to join the comment and review process. Comments will be collected for about six weeks. An ad-hoc committee will review them and work to synthesize several alternative mission statements within four weeks, and two weeks later, the alternatives will be put to a vote as a way of guiding the ad hoc committee's work.