Editorial Pointers

We enter the new year exploring the burgeoning partnership of computer information science and government information service. This once-improbable pairing of researchers and civil servants is now a worldwide phenomenon, as IT continues to infiltrate all levels of government activity, affecting practically every aspect of the way government does business, particularly interacting with and disseminating information to its citizenry.

This month’s special section covers the latest projects and experiences under the NSF’s Digital Government Program. Guest editors Gary Marchionini, Hanan Samet, and Larry Brandt called on almost 50 leading researchers from NSF-funded digital government projects to produce this lively mix of technical stories that examine how IT is changing the full range of government services. Our great appreciation to all who contributed these insightful stories of technology transfer.

Also in this issue, Diomidis Spinellis studies the typical life span of a URL to determine how quickly some archival information and the associated links become outdated. Mario Cannataro and Domenico Talia introduce a software architecture called Knowledge Grid for parallel and distributed knowledge discovery, and David Avison and Guy Fitzgerald discuss of risks of returning to more informal methodologies for system development.

In addition, Ken Peffers and Charles Gengler explore how CIOs can use knowledge about strategic and nonstrategic systems while focusing on ideas likely to enhance their organizations’ goals and overall performance. And in the this-is-not-science-fiction department, Pak Chung Wong et al. examine the process of storing and retrieving information as artificial DNA strands for very long-term storage in living hosts.

In "Security Watch," Rebecca Mercuri focuses on the questionable and weak security of audit trail systems in light of the recent headlines on corporate malfeasance and fictitious profit reporting. And Meg McGinity, a pioneer telecom reporter, talks candidly in "Staying Connected" about an industry that hyped itself up, sold out, and is now quietly trying to restore a semblance of business and financial order.

Diane Crawford, Editor