Regards, Norm Jacknis
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Councilman Andrew S. Eristoff (Republican-Manhattan) heads the Council's
Task Force on Technology in Government. @NY's Tom Watson sat down with the
city legislature's electronic guru to discuss public policy and the future
of the Net. You can reach him at eristoff@council.nyc.gov.
TW -- What is New York City doing to improve access to information online
for its citizens?
ASE -- First, a number of City entities have sponsored World Wide Web home
pages. The Giuliani Administration has just unveiled an official City WWW
page at http:\\www.ci.nyc.ny.us. The City's home page will include general
information on almost every City agency, as well as information specific to
tourists and contractors. The Public Advocate has both a WWW page and a
gopher service; the Council will introduce its WWW page within the next
several months. Second, the New York Public Library's new Library of
Science, Technology and Business, located in Murray Hill, will include
dozens of terminals with free access to the Internet. Third, in a pilot
program, the City will soon place approximately 40 information kiosks
throughout the City.
TW -- Do you think public access is the kind of issue that can attract
bi-partisan support?
ASE -- Yes. However, I suspect that when it comes to the question of access
to information, many of my colleagues -- especially those representing
impoverished communities -- are much more concerned with maintaining
old-fashioned access to public libraries's book collections than to
committing new resources to online access per se. That's why I think it
makes sense to focus our efforts on providing public access through local
libraries.
TW -- I notice you do quite of bit of corresponding via e-mail. Does it
bring you closer to your constituents? Does it give people better access to
government?
ASE -- Though the volume is relatively small -- about three messages per day
-- e-mail capability is a wonderful convenience for both me and my
constituents. I expect that the volume will increase over time as more and
more people gain access. In my experience, e-mail's relative immediacy and
informality gives it a slightly more personalized impact than regular
constituent mail -- an interesting, and unanticipated, aspect of the technology.
TW -- If you could have your own way, what would electronic access to city
government be like in five years or so?
ASE -- In five years, I would hope that every public library branch would
provide free public access to the Internet. Also, I would hope that our
public schools will provide access in support of educational programs.