PUBLIC-ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT ELECTRONIC INFORMATION

When interest in public access to government information in electronic form was heating up, Congress responded with moves toward legislation directing agencies to make specific electronic information products available to the general public. In response, a number of government agencies banded together to develop a government-wide approach to the provision of government information that would meet long-term requirements. These agencies wanted to avoid the necessity for addressing each product individually, rather than as part of an overall program of information dissemination. Beginning in May 1991, a series of Interagency Workshops was held. The first was sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency; the second by the Department of Agriculture. A third workshop was scheduled for September. The objective of the first and second workshops was the development of broad policy guidance on public access that would be useful to all federal agencies in defining their specific policies and procedures. The first workshop concentrated on the sharing of agencies' experiences with various methods of public dissemination and discussion of differences among them based on type of data, demand for the data and the type of end users of the data. The second workshop focused specifically on the question of whether the public should have direct access to federal computers. As a result of the second workshop, a framework policy was developed and circulated as a part of the report from that meeting. Public input to the framework was then received at a special meeting sponsored by the Bauman Foundation and chaired by Timothy Sprehe. Additional input is now sought from ASIS and its members. ASIS members are encouraged to submit their comments on the following framework to Dick Hill, ASIS Executive Director, at ASIS headquarters.