Appendix C - "Working" The Internet

The World Wide Web is not just a tool for distributing documents. Many businesses conduct commerce on the Web, and there are hundreds of ways to use the Internet as a powerful communication tool.

On-line Transactions

Many of the government Web sites surveyed during the research for this report conduct business on line. Property tax payments, parking violations, license tab renewals and other fees can be collected from an on-line site by credit card. In addition to the transactions, many of the sites distributed permits via their Web site.

The popularity of on-line transactions is growing steadily. While on-line transactions may not be a part of every Web site at this point, serious consideration and attention must be given to future projects that will employ transactions.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Many Geographic Information Systems can be extended to publish information online, with a specialized Web server. ESRI’s Internet Map Server (IMS) is an example.[1] GIS solutions for an Internet site complex, and can be expensive to implement. However, the results are often dramatic and might be worth the investment.

Gathering Information On line

Information is the heart of the Internet. The World Wide Web gives users access to billions of pages of information with the click of a mouse button. Keeping track of all of the information would seem to be a hopeless task, but this is not the case. There are software companies whose sole purpose is to index, catalog and categorize information on the World Wide Web. Google.com, Yahoo.com and AltaVista.com are some examples of free indexing sites (search engines). The search engines can make research tasks and gathering information easier. Care must be exercised, however, as the Internet has no policies for verifying the source of information, and many so-called “information” sites have hidden agendas.

When published correctly, a Web site can be the best and most current source information about a given topic. But all too quickly, information can become out of date. There is a tendency to leave information on a Web site long after it is useful. Many popular information retrieval sites do not prioritize the results of a search by date. Caution, it is very easy to retrieve out-of-date information from a search without realizing it.

On-line Collaboration

The Internet is a powerful communication medium, and there are numerous ways to use this technology to connect groups of people. The Web can be used to extend a local network from one agency to several by forming an “extranet” (see Extranet). Extranets can provide fast access to data files that need to be shared between users. Extranets are a popular information-sharing tool because they represent the lowest common denominator – a networking protocol (TC/IP and its sub-protocols) that is an international standard.

Other forms of collaboration are possible as well. Chat programs that run in a Web browser can connect people over great distances without incurring substantial additional costs. Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) allow users to post and share information in an organized manner. Publishing information on a Web site for peers to proofread is a fast, efficient method of collaboration.