Current URL: http://www.publicus.net/articles/transnational.html
 

By Steven L. Clift
 

Global Survival and Sustainable Infrastructure
Graduate Course

Institute for Future Studies, Stockholm, Sweden
Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs,
University of Minnesota

Fall 1993
 

Note: It is now almost 1996. I currently coordinate the North Star
Government Online project for the State of Minnesota and now find
myself involved in projects that are addressing a number of the
questions that I had raised back in 1993. With the development of
the GOVNEWS initiative (http://ftp.sterling.com/govnews/) I
thought now might ba a good time to make this paper available
online again. - Steven Clift: http://freenet.msp.mn.us/people/clift

Note 2:  It is now 2002. All of my current articles are available at:
http://www.publicus.net   When it comes to inter-governmental
communication online, it is amazing how far we have come and
how far we have yet to go.
 
 

Introduction

It could be said that for the governments of the
world to prepare now for the effects of the current
information and communications revolution, would have
been like the government preparing a program to deal
with airport noise problems before the jet engine was
built. With the development of each new technology and
applications to use those technologies the way our
societies operate and allocate resources shift. The
changes that occur often have positive and negative
results. The opinion someone has about those changes
may also vary from person to person. Also, the infusion
of new technologies and their effects is not static and
the development of different technologies or adaptations
by others in society often alter the original results.

The survival or strength of an institution depends
on its ability to read and understand how the changing
world around them might affect their work and purpose in
society. Government organizations from national
legislatures to local social service agencies operate in
a complex and increasingly globalized economic and
political system and are not immune from these shifts,
especially as they relate to the use of information
technologies in their work.

This paper will examine the development of
intergovernmental and transnational data networks and
explore the potential policy implications and challenges
government institutions may face as a result. It will
summarize some of the technological aspects of inter-
networking, present examples of current application and
efforts by governments, and explore some of the
potential policy implications. It will conclude with
proposals on how government can capture the positive
benefits of electronic communication, and prepare itself
to deal with the policy issues and potential downfalls
as they emerge.

This paper centers on those countries that have
developed more sophisticated information infrastructures
and does not address these issues from the perspective
of a developing nation.(1)
 

Information Technology and Networking

Over the last few decades governments around the
world have invested billions of dollars into the
research and development of new technology including
high performance computing, communication devices, and
data transmission networks. Examples include the High-
Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) and
National Research and Education Network (NREN) in the
United States, the European Strategic Programme for
Research and Development in Information Technologies
(ESPRIT), the European Nervous System (components of
which address transnational electronic communication and
will be presented later) and Japan's New Information
Processing Technology project of the Ministry of
International Trade & Industry (MITI).

The following statement from the paper "Information
Networks and New Technologies: Opportunities and Policy
Implications for 1990's" from the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) sums up the
general public purpose developed for most of these
initiatives:

Information technology (IT) developments,
originally driven by defence and space needs, are
increasingly geared to meet commercial and
industrial demand. It is now recognized as
indispensable to many economic activities, and
industry experts consider broader IT production and
use as a basis for further economic and social
development.... IT has become a strategic tool in
the contemporary economic and political
environment, as well as for the opening up of new
markets and patterns of demand.(2)

Except for the mentioning the use IT as a strategic
political tool, most government support of research and
development in this sector has been geared toward
building a competitive national industry, improving the
collaboration of scientists and researchers, and in
higher education. The benefits of IT have been
conceptualized by these various projects in functionary
terms or by sectors of the economy. The development of
technological capacity is not generally presented as a
means to improve processes. However, the creation of
basic and more advanced applications helps explain how
IT is becoming a tool that changes the way organizations
work and communicate.

The OECD report is one of the few reports that
presents the public sector as one of the beneficiaries
of its own investment in IT research and development.
It was not until the late summer of 1993, with the
release of the Clinton Administration's National
Performance Review, that the notion of IT causing
changes in the way government delivers services and
makes decisions received high profile attention. It was
estimated that Federal government investment in and the
use of IT could save billions dollars over a number of
years. How this will change the way government
functions will be important to watch. Most of the
literature on the effects of information technology and
systems on organizations examine businesses and not
government. While general observations can be drawn
from that literature (group work across geographical
distances, flattening of hierarchies, etc.) the public
nature of government work and general lack of a firms
profit motive and sale of products provides for enough
of a difference to demand more study of IT impacts on
public sector processes. This paper should bring out a
number of those areas requiring research.
 

Networking

The current use of IT applications and the
development of networking standards over the last decade
has brought us to a point where local area computer
networks can be linked to other computer networks via
routers and high speed data backbone network
connections. The "Open Systems" standards (OSI), the
Government Open Systems Interconnet Profile (GOSIP), and
TCP/IP Internet protocols are all contributing to a
general government acceptance of the concept that
government agencies need to move from proprietary
computer systems to systems that can be networked and
communicate with other systems based on a general set of
operating standards. This is occurring, however slowly,
at all levels of government in most countries that have
highly developed information infrastructures. Countries
that do not have developed infrastructures will likely
use these protocols as they develop based on normal
distribution patterns of technologies to the developing
world.

Within the United States four or five states are
considered leaders in the promotion of Open Systems for
use by state government. The draft National Association
of State Information Resource Executives (NASIRE)
titled, "Serving the Citizenry through Opening the
Enterprise," it states that "the fact that standards
are agreed upon by national or international
organizations has little to do with adoption and use by
an enterprise or a community of enterprises." While
many information resource offices have been policy
advocates of Open Systems the actual movement in State
agencies has been slow. The report argues:

If, instead of setting our goal to achieve Open
Systems, we sought to open the enterprise and
interconnect it to the world, we would have defined
a practical goal. Also, as we look at "states" or
"governments" as an enterprise, we are challenged
to rethink "the organization" within which
interconnectivity is required.(3)

This statement is a sign that government entities are,
from their experience, moving toward Open Systems
without integrating it into the work of their public
mission or business plan.

A November 1993 report by Anderson Consulting
titled, "Open Systems in Minnesota State Government: A
Readiness Assessment" summarizes this State's readiness
for Open Systems:

¥ Minnesota is in the very early stages of
readiness for open systems.

¥ Understanding and commitment to open systems have
not significantly penetrated the State's technology
community. Most activity has been at the policy
level. Policy progress has yet to be translated
into concrete actions to move away from proprietary
information technology toward open systems
environments.

¥ Key enablers driving the State toward open
systems are the needs to: 1)share data across the
enterprise, 2) cut costs, 3) cooperate for service
delivery, and 4) respond to market forces and
federal mandates.

¥ The barriers to implementing open system
environments in Minnesota state government are
formidable, but not insurmountable. Those barriers
are: Lack of knowledge, training and skill base,
Perceived lack of industrial strength products in
the marketplace, Lack of open systems champion, and
Large installed base of proprietary legacy systems,
Government fragmentation and fiefdoms, and
Conversion cost.(4)

While Open Systems goes beyond the TCP/IP Internet
connections, the State of Minnesota will have invested
$25 million dollars in a state-wide high speed data
network by late next year that will among other things
provide for extensive Internet access, the next
challenge is to migrate the hundreds of government
systems to that network. We are already seeing
government use of electronic mail over the Internet and
a few State agencies and the State Legislature have put
menu driven information on the Internet through an
application called "Gopher." This information is
available to anyone in the world who is interested in
looking at it.

Given the time it will take for most governments in
different countries and levels within those countries to
be inter-networked, this paper will begin exploring the
possible interactions of governments based on current
examples and efforts at a smaller scale. How will the
various government institutions shape this environment
for their benefit? What will the characteristics of
this networked world be? What types of applications
will they develop for it in the carrying out of their
missions?
 

Applications

While more advanced applications and tools are
being developed for the Internet on a regular basis the
most commonly mentioned uses for these networks include
electronic mail, file transfer, electronic data
interchange (EDI), and remote access to databases and
information. Once an organization adopts a basic level
of connectivity it is unlikely that they will retreat
from that. It could be compared with throwing away your
fax machine because the process for sending a fax
confused you at first. It is also predicted in the
future that this will be the platform for the
development of a digital information infrastructure that
will include voice, video, and high speed transfer of
extermely large quantities of data.

One of the most important communication tools used
on electronic information networks are those that allow
collaboration or automated communication among groups of
people. There are thousands of electronic mail forums
or lists that allow an individual to "broadcast" a
message to those subscribed to that list. The
parameters and openness of these forums vary. Some may
involve only ten individuals on a private list or
thousands on a public list. Some lists are moderated,
some allow anyone to post, some only deliver an
information service from the list owner. This allows
for the creation of "affinity networks." The OECD
report describes the characteristics of these networks:

Such "affinity" networks may result in national and
international networks. In principle, it would
then be possible to receive and exchange
information presented in whatever form in real
time, from a large number of intelligent stations
(human and PC and/or intelligent work stations), on
whatever subject, worldwide, coupled with feedback
at the local or global level. Such networks could
be used to sense or act on all types of parameters
(economic, social, environmental, etc.) when
designing, producing and marketing goods and
services or any other activity or process.(5)
 

Current Efforts, Examples and Analysis

The European Community

One of the most advanced policy documents on
transnational data exchange between governments comes
from the European Community. It is titled "Proposal for
a Council Decision on a series of guidelines for trans-
European data communications networks between
administrations." What stands out about the creation of
an IDA programme (interchange of data between
administrations) in European Community is the existence
of an articulated purpose. Greater data sharing and
communication will "enable national administrations and
the Community institutions and bodies to meet their new
responsibilities" and contribute to the "effective
management of the Community area without frontiers."(6)
This situation includes a supranational organization in
the inter-networking among nation states which has
special characteristics not present elsewhere.

This case illustrates how supranational
institutions like those in the European Community view
the potential usefulness of moving toward open and
integrated information systems. It could also be viewed
as a way for the EC institutions to strategically place
themselves in the middle of information flows between
the member states and assist them in the management of
"common agricultural, environment, education, and health
policies."

The EC is also a central organizing point that will
invest resources in building applications to manage and
add value to the electronic communication that occurs
between governments. In the United States there is a
need for more intergovernmental coordination, but the
incentives for Federal agencies to create communication
systems that may lead to a decentralization of their
decision-making process and that may require them to
share power with those included in their information
flows make it less likely that Federal agencies will
take the lead without management acceptence or political
leadership. A new report released in December 1993 by
the voluntary inter-agency Working Group on Government-
wide Electronic Mail, titled "A Unified Federal
Government Electronic Mail Users' Support Environment"
represents a movement by primarily government
information technologists to move move forward. The
report states, "Regardless of the approach chosen
[specific IT applications and services], the Federal
Government needs to see that our American society is
plunging headlong into the world of electronic
information flows, and that an insular, each-agency-for-
itself approach will be detrimental to the Nation."(7)

The EC contributions in this area, including
efforts to create tools for language translation, will
likely enhance their power and ability to manage the
affairs of an integrated market. The use of Open System
protocols by the EC also means that transborder data
flows will not only expand from the EC at some point to
the other nations of Europe as the report mentions, but
to the entire world. It should be pointed out that Open
Systems does not mean unrestricted access or non-secure
communication. The tools and forums that the EC creates
to improve communication between governments at all
levels within the EC may result in the flow of
information and ideas to governmental agencies in other
countries dealing with similar issues.
 

Local Government

In the United States the National League of Cities,
the National Association of Counties, and the
International City/County Management Association among
others, have created a service called Local Exchange.
While it is not accessible through the Internet,
subscribers from local governments all across the United
States dial in with their computer and modem to share
information on topics of interest to local governments.
Their services include the creation of computer
conferences geared to exchange information on specific
issues, electronic mail, a database called "Local
Government Solutions" that contains "one-page
description of thousands of recent, successfully
implemented problem-solving city and county programs,
complete with names and numbers for follow-up
information," and abstracts of articles from more than
400 local government publications.(8)

With a fee based service like this, one of the
incentives for people to participate relates directly
back to the work they are doing with their local
government. When they are able to improve their work,
they will be more likely to exchange information that is
useful to others in the service. This service also
posts "Federal legislative alerts" which illustrates how
governments may use the medium to organize themselves
politically along lines of common interest.

As local governments begin gaining Internet
connectivity these types of exchanges will occur more
frequently between local governments in different
countries. Will this allow new or innovative ideas to
spread to various localities in a fraction of the time
that it occurred in past? For example had local
governments been inter-networked when the idea for the
new German packaging laws emerged, where the
manufacturer is essentially responsible for the
packaging after the consumption of the product, would
there have been local governments in the United States
that would have adopted that policy early instead of
waiting to determine the success of the German
initiative. What implications does this have for
industries that try and prevent regulatory ideas in one
part of the world from gaining credibility in parts of
the world? And moving beyond the use of this medium by
local government staff, will local elected officials use
it on a regular basis to communicate with each other and
with their constituents? Will the range of interest
groups from the local to international level use this
medium to organize local political activity or attempt
to set the local public agendas?

Legislatures and Parliaments

The United States Congress will complete a fiber
optic network for the Capitol Hill complex within the
next year that will allow for high speed data
transmission and complete Internet connectivity. A
report by the Congressional Research Service titled,
"Congressional Reorganization: Options for Change,"
states that the full impact of using advanced
information technologies will not be known until they
are used as universally as word processing is today."
Within this very political environment "developing such
an advanced infrastructure will require a degree of
cooperation and collaboration between congressional
offices that is, so far, unprecedented."(9)

Both the U.S. House of Representative and U.S.
Senate have moved forward in the last few years with the
research and database tools available electronically and
a large portion of staff can now send and receive
electronic mail to and from the Internet. The
infrastructure envisioned by Stephen Gould of the CRS
includes moving most of the printed information used by
Congressional offices to electronic format, including
bills, committee reports, etc., use of "groupware"
software to "streamline congressional work processes,"
and the use of video conferencing. It could be argued
to explicitly plan for a system such as this, and deal
explicitly with the political ramifications would be
extremely difficult. It seems more likely that
technology will advance within the walls of Congress and
they will structurally respond to technology and not use
IT as a tool to force reform.

In terms of more basic inter-networking the House
Representatives launched a project to test electronic
mail from constituents in about 6 member offices.
Legislative institutions and staff are already
overloaded with information and they operate to manage
and control the information flow and do not desire to
increase it. The pilot project requires that the people
who want to send electronic mail must write to the
Members office first and register in their system to
verify that they live in the district. Unlike the White
House which accepts electronic mail messages from
anywhere and has a relatively high volume, this project
has not generated high volumes of correspondence. In
fact, many have been disappointed by the low volume of
traffic. (This should change over the years as more of
the public begins to use electronic mail services.) It
could be argued that the qualities of electronic
correspondence do not lend itself to the generation of
high volumes of mail from one individual to a single
office and the lack of residency in district may make
the ease at which an incoming message can be deleted
enough of a deterrence to prevent abuse of such a
system. (The White House has set up a system that auto-
responds to message to verify receipt and it is printed
out and responded through normal postal channels.)

As Congressional staff have more experience and
training on the Internet they will see it more as a
staff resource tool. This is beginning to happen. The
use of electronic mail forums will allow them to link
into the currently established research networks that
are involved with the issues they are assigned to. When
they have a need to find information quickly and the
databases provided to them do not return useful
information, many will find posting a basic question to
scores of experts in that field through one electronic
mail address an attractive option. This same idea can
be applied to legislatures and parliaments at both
national and regional levels in all countries. Over
time active staff on these networks will become aware of
each other and new lists and forums will be created to
suit their needs and perhaps create international
networks of legislative staff.

The questions that can be raised in this are are
many. How will this affect how the public agenda is set
in a legislative body? Will increased communication
result in a coalescing of political forces with similar
ideologies or agendas across nations? And will this
lead to the conceptual globalization of public problems
and proposed solutions?
 

Policy Implications and Analysis

The paper will now examine a few overarching policy
implications and factors that are important in the
context of electronic communication and inter-
networking.

Human Networks

With all the discussion of computers, data
networks, and databases it is easy to lose sight of the
fact that these networks are based on the interaction of
people. The application of more advanced information
technology allows the individual to expand their
presence into other social, political, and economic
circles that was not possible before at such a
relatively low cost. Within an individuals
organizational context the information and knowledge
that a person has to contribute is most often
transferred through human interaction.(10) So the
electronic networks that a person is tied to are a
foundation and information and input source and become
represented by the actions and policy positions of an
individual in their organization. The existence of a
database may assist in making specific information
available when needed, but time for the person to
analyze and convert the information into applicable
knowledge is important.

The various "affinity networks" can also be viewed
in social terms. Like various groups in any society,
there are norms, values, and rules that people operate
by. It is often the case that people new to the medium
of electronic communication conceptualize the receiver
of their communication as a machine and not a person.
With experience and an understanding that longer-term
relationships with people are being built, a person will
get the sense that this is a human network. And while
people will be less likely evaluated on their physical
characteristics or age, they will be scrutinized on
their use of language and writing style, their ability
to construct rational arguments or questions,
personality quirks, or lack of substance that can be
perceived easily in many situations.
 

Hierarchies

One of the commonly stated effects of electronic
communication and its ability to break through other
communication and bureaucratic barriers , is that it
flattens hierarchies that can lead to a decentralization
of power. This has been most observed as IT has spread
through corporations:

By its very nature, electronic mail blasts aside
typical corporate hierarchies because the messages
are undifferentiated - there is no fancy
letterhead.... [it] "has produced a new social
fabric for the R&D community that cuts across
corporations and the hierarchy of organizations
that creates a new kind of accessibility. It is
easier to send e-mail to very important people,
people whom you would never consider calling or
writing."(11)11

These lessons apply to interaction within a
government agency and beyond. Not only will people
within an organization gain new ways to access
information that used to flow from the top of the
organization, they will also be able to compare their
own status and work effort to others they have built
connections with in other government organizations.
Information control is one of the prime sources of power
a bureaucratic agency has. If the organization cannot
maintain control over their information, their
relationships with other government agencies will likely
shift. These shifts are considered by many to be
positive and it is argued by many that it will lead to a
more efficient public sector.
 

Policy Development

As described earlier, information networks will
change the way policy is developed. There are
advantages to having the world at your finger tips, but
that does not necessarily mean you will utilize those
networks. For organizations and people to capture the
potential in this area they need to rethink and plan for
how they will use this resource and integrate it into
their work. The problems of information overload,
sifting through useless information, and the need for
training will all need to be dealt with. Also, as we
have observed with the prevalence of the fax machine,
rapid communication does not necessarily bring about
better policy. It may actually reduce the time people
have to digest information and to create workable
knowledge for use in determining policy directions. As
the public sector has more experience with this type of
communication we will have a better sense of how to
address these issues or at least gain a better sense of
our limits.

The use of electronic communication is often a good
channel through which to better define the issues, but
it does not necessarily bring you toward a solution.
Over time weaker arguments (or granted, those with
fewer in-house research resources) may become apparent.
However, the relatively low cost of basic electronic
mail may actually allow smaller voices to be heard.
This may lead to the raising of more policy questions
and require more work to be done to bring a policy issue
to a point where policy makers at a certain site feel
comfortable making a decision. One addendum to the
inclusion of smaller voices is that strong economic and
political interests will adapt to this technology as
well and attempt to use it to their benefit.
 
 

The Media and Political Importance

The role of the media is very important in public
policy. The use of IT has also revolutionized the way
news flows around the globe. What will happen when more
and more governments go straight to the people with
their press releases in an attempt to inform the public
or to influence public opinion? The Clinton
Administration releases speeches and important documents
electronically and NATO has a press release service on
the Internet as well. The fact that the leader of the
United States puts releases out for public consumption
may spur more national governments and opposition
parties to do the same.

Over the last year the number of articles in the
popular press on the Internet, the National Information
Infrastructure, etc. has numbered over a thousand. The
year before it was about fifty. What happens when the
Internet moves from being covered as a thing, to a
respectable gauge from which of public feeling or
interest can be determined? When will fifty people
protest an issue electronically to a government entity
become equated with fifty or say ten people physically
picketing a government office? How will policy makers
and government staff approach the Internet if it becomes
a source for story ideas about what government is doing,
not just related to technology? How will they react
when they are quoted in their local paper from a message
they posted to a public electronic mail list? And how
will the media react when the public and government
officials send their comments and opinions about stories
directly to the reporters electronically?
 

Role of Government

The role of government in the economy and society
is geared toward the promotion of economic growth
through the market system and addressing issues related
to social and educational development. The general
trend in market countries is to move from more coercive
regulation toward more non-coercive education of the
consumer that will spur industrial and social changes
driven by consumer demand. The predominant role for
many government organizations is to compile and produce
information for others to make decisions from. The
expense involved with publishing and broadcasting often
limits the amount of awareness a government organization
can build from released information.

For example, a government might collect data on
when an industrial plant has violated pollution
standards. Through the use of IT, information may be
readily available to the public and retransmitted by
concerned local citizens to environmental groups across
the country and used to put pressure on other offices in
the corporation. This might influence the company to
deal more seriously with their pollution problems or
risk consumer backlash. Another example might be an
international government organization that deals with
human rights. They might not have the power to place
sanctions on a country for human rights abuse, but they
would be able to inform the humans rights and trade
offices of the member countries on a regular basis and
spur a coordinated response. This also raises the
possibility that governments and citizens of different
countries might become more deeply involved in
monitoring and reacting to the domestic activities
within other countries in areas beyond the normal pervue
of foreign policy.
 

Conclusion

The overview of the policy implications and current
efforts in the use of information technology networks
sought to bring out some of the issues government will
need to deal with. While improving the governments use
of information technology and promoting increased inter-
networking is important, the essential ingredient is the
creation of a purpose for improved communication.
Government organizations need to prepare for increased
communications and where appropriate restructure their
organizations and information flows to take advantage of
the benefits of inter-networking.

To help this process along a few suggestions
include:

¥ Collecting evidence and anecdotal stories about how
the government has been made more efficient,
effective, or that services provided to the public
improved because of ideas imported from elsewhere.

¥ Setting up a few pilot initiatives that use current
technologies to link government workers based on common
interests between nations.

¥ The redirection of some of the public resources
geared toward the R&D in technology toward the
development and testing of applications in government.

¥ Create incentives for government workers to scan the
global information networks for ideas on how to improve
their work and their agency's delivery of services and
incentives for employees to share information and
knowledge electronically.

¥ And create a role for the United Nations, UNESCO,
the International Telecommunications Union, the OECD,
and other international organizations to assist in the
creation of government "affinity" groups based on
potential areas of collaboration and to work to build
the value of these forums for the participants through
electronic group facilitation.

With projects like these and the ability of people
and the ability of institutions interested in these
issues to communicate through the established
internetworking, it will be possible to capture the
lessons for the public sector. In the near future
perhaps we will see the creation on an international
"affinity" group of people, advocates within the public
sector, who are interested in developing initiatives to
ensure that government moves forward in the application
of electronic communication to improve its work.

Footnotes
=========

1 A good source of information on the issues facing the
developing world see Global Communication and
International Relations (1993), written by Howard
Fredrick.

2 OECD "Information Networks and New Technologies:
Opportunites and Policy Implications for the 1990s,"
Information Computer Communications Policy #30. (1992)
p. 23
Note: I sent a general research request to a number of
people on the Internet and asked if anyone had the e-
mail address for Dieter Kimbel who wrote most of this
article. After being referred to someone at the
International Telecommunications Union who used to work
at the OECD, I was given Dieter Kimbels e-mail address
and have had correspondence in reference to my original
research request.

3 NASIRE Report, "Serving the Citizenry through Opening
the Enterprise." Draft, August 1993. p. 1-4
This draft report was developed by the Open Systems
Subcommittee of the Information Policy Committee of the
NASIRE.

4 Anderson Consulting, "Open Systems in Minnesota State
Government: A Readiness Assessment" (November 1993) p. 3

5 OECD "Information Networks and New Technologies:
Opportunites and Policy Implications for the 1990s,"
Information Computer Communications Policy #30. (1992)
p. 33

6 European Commission, "Proposal for a Counncil Decision
on aseries of guidelines for trans-European data
communications networks between administration." (March
1993) p. 8
Note: After I electronically released a draft of this
paper on the Internet, I received a few comments back
that were more skeptical of the European Communities
actual implementation in this area. The general
consensus was that it will take some time before the
various government bureaucracies start major electronic
communication among member states.

7 Working Group on Government-wide Electronic Mail,
Integrated Services Panel. "Final Report: A Unified
Federal Government Electronic Mail Users' Support
Environment." Part I, near end. (December 1993)

8 Public Technology Inc. "Local Exchange." - flyer and
information packet

9 Gould, Stephen. "Employing Information Technology to
Facilitate the Conduct of Congressional Business."
Chapter 9 from Congressional Reorganizations: Options
for Change. (Sept. 1992) p. 62

10 Grosser, Kerry. "Human Networks in Organizational
Information Processing." Annual Review of Information
Science and Technology p. 349-50

11 Tekla, Perry and John Adam. "E-mail pervasive and
persuasive." IEEE Spectrum. (October 1992) p. 28 . The
subquote is attributed to Lucky at AT&T Bell
Laboratories.
 
 

Bibliography
============

Anderson Consulting, "Open Systems in Minnesota State
Government: A Readiness Assessment" (November 1993) p. 3

European Commission, "Proposal for a Counncil Decision
on aseries of guidelines for trans-European data
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