Wednesday, February 09, 2005

A Frenzy of Political Blogging We recently completed the remodel of the combined research room for State History and Archives at the Rio Grande building. Now they are offering a combined website at historyresearch.utah.gov. A variety of services and information are available on the site. Representative Steve Urquhart's foray into blogging is building. House Majority Leader, Jeff Alexander, has his own blog now, and the Salt Lake Tribune reports that House Republicans are planning to deploy a group blog at http://www.utahhousemajority.com.  I'm excited about this as a major e-democracy initiative. It looks like Rep. Urquhart is getting a lot of feedback from everyday citizens and that can only be healthy for government. Traditionally, lobbyists from major interest groups dominate access to legislators. This provides a much better venue for the public at large. Ethan Millard has also started a blog with his own perspectives on Utah politics. Charlie Foster points out yet another very interesting site which was initiated yesterday called The Daily Debate which provides interesting point/counterpoint perspectives on current issues. Added to some of the excellent sites which already exist such as utahpolitics.org and utahpolicy.com, things can only get more interesting. Last Friday, the UWIN Governance Board voted to support several new initiatives in 2005: Create a Utah Wireless Users Development Forum. The forum will focus on the development of applications for the wireless user (PDAs and laptops) Recommend the creation of a Utah Grid Group (UGG) to the CIO Develop a list of ten (10) prioritized, high impact, location-based services by March '05 with timelines and strategies for completion Sponsor a wireless application development contest at Utah colleges and universities Test mesh modem cards Develop a plan for expansion of the fiber network If we can accomplish these things, it will add to the value of statewide wireless services; 802.11, 700 MHz mobile data, as well as privately supported services in use by governmental agencies. 8:04:53 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2005 David Fletcher.