PANEL ON FEDERAL GII ACTIVITIES

Chaired by:Peter Young

Exective Director
U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science

Washington, D.C. 20005, USA
py_nclis@inet.ed.gov

INTRODUCTION

One person that Ching-chih did not introduce is herself. It is appropriate that we should start this session by thanking Ching-chih for her leadership and by giving her a round of applause. She is the central factor for a lot of us working on these issues. She is really at the center of this Roundtable, and it is only fitting that we honor her for this continuing event. Since the time is very tight, and since I am the timekeeper of this session, I shall take about 2 minutes to say a few words about the National Commission's international activities, and specifically in supporting Ching-chih's NIT, [I love these three-letter abbreviation] conferences. We are here at NIT, talking about Global Information Infrastructure (GII), and all are wondering about the National Information Infrastructure (NII). These abbre-viations seem to predominate Washington these days. Hopefully by Sunday, at the end of this meeting, we will come up with something about GII so that it will enlighten NIT for the future and the NII.

The National Commission's involvement in international activities related to information technology has a 25-year consistent and concentrated history. As Ching-chih pointed out, these NIT conferences have been held with minimal financing or financial support. The Commission's report for 1994 is available for all participants to pick up at this meeting. The Commission's 1970s statute essen-tially identifies primary responsibilities for this group of 15 individuals appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. NCLIS recommends overall plans and advises the appropriate governments of national, state, and local levels on policies related to libraries and information services," adequate to meet the infor-mation needs of the people of the United States." In 1987, the Commission parti-cipated in the adoption of the Glenerin Declaration, a trilateral statement on the role of information in the economy. Woody Horton picked up the effort in 1992, and a document has been made available on the importance of information in a global-emerging economy. The Commission's law was changed in 1991 by some technical amendments that essentially changed some wording so that the Com-mission promotes "research and development, activities which extend and im-prove the nation's library and information handling capabilities in national and international communications and cooperative networks." This very important change allows the Commission to focus on information technology as well as library and information services on international front. And, as Ching-chih has indicated, for 6 years now, the Commission has administered part of the Interna-tional Contribution for Scientific, Educational and Cultural Activities (ICSECA) from the U.S. Department of State. These general comments provide a context for the National Commission's present focus on international issues.

By way of general observations, however, I would point out in generic terms that there seems to be a close connection or relationship between technology (networking), the information economy, and global market development. This conference addresses all those themes and issues wonderfully well -- the politi-cal, the economic, the technological issues, and the GII. Our session begins this morning by discussing the federal opportunities. Steve will start first with Steve's talk, followed up by Chris' case study example of using information technology for government information and accessed by citizens. This conference presents tremendous opportunities for collectively addressing the world's challenges by the application of the newly emerged information infrastructure. Librarianship, as Ching-chih knows very well, faces an international future.

It is my pleasure to introduce Steve Goldstein from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). In his work at NSF for the last five years, Steve has been involved increasingly in global Internet activities. He introduced himself to me a minute ago as a physicist and biologist but also as a person with an engineering degree. This is a fascinating background for public policy work. Prior to NSF, Steve was with Mitre Corporation for 10 years. Without further introduction, I will turn the program over to Steve Goldstein.

[Steve Goldstein]

Thank you. I am delighted to be here with all of you today. First of all, it is a great honor. I met Ching-chih through networking actually. Pam Andre invited me to LITA to speak in New Orleans last year, and Ching-chih and I were on the same panel. So, I must have done something right that day. I am also delighted to be with you today, because yesterday I thought that I came down with a bad flu and probably would have to stay in bed today.

I would like to give a very quick overview on what Internet does and can do. About three weeks ago, I read an article about Internet. The writer started by saying that if you have not heard about Internet, you must have been stuck in an elevator between floors for the last two years. I also know that a lot of people say that "it is OK, but what does it do?" This is why I want to cover some of these in the following talk.