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Marquette, MI - 10 March 2004
Charles Kaylor, Principal of the Public Sphere Information Group, addressed a series of workshops for municipal officials held across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The events, "Connecting Citizens to Online Local Government," were sponsored by the Upper Great Lakes Educational Technology, Inc. (UGLETI) in cooperation with cyber-state.org, a member of the Altarum family. Kaylor discussed the progress of Michigan cities in comparison with those across the nation, presenting some of the latest data from the Municipality eGovernment Assessment Project (MeGAP).
Kaylor reported exciting new data from over 500 cities and towns that currently constitute the Wave III MeGAP analysis. The presentation provides a snapshot of current egovernment "best practices" among leading edge innovators. The hallmark of the report is the preview of data for the largest cities in the U.S. (The entire third wave of the MeGAP will be complete in the Spring '04)
The events were held at several locations across the UP in a barnstorming tour aimed at encouraging local governments to get online and spur further development of broadband initiatives across the state. A range of speakers addressed the different gatherings, focusing on success stories from the UP. Featured were examples of community organizations banding together to get their local governments online. Also presented were examples of local efforts at providing the communities in the UP high speed internet access.
The events were the brainchild of the non-profit group UGLETI. The purpose of UGLETI is to champion information technology, promote telecommunications initiatives, and gain buying by banding organizations together for purchases of high-tech equipment. Today, UGLETI includes 19 partner organizations, including eight school districts, six colleges and universities, libraries, and health care organizations. UGLETI's most notable accomplishment to date is the development of six fiber-based interactive video distance-learning systems in six separate geographic areas across the UP.
Cyber-state.org, a member of the Altarum family, emerged out of the Michigan Information Technology Commission's 1998 recommendation to establish a central organization that would drive the state's IT advancements. The non-partisan organization advocates for IT to benefit everyone in Michigan. Cyber-state.org has several projects that contribute to its overall goal of "breaking down the barriers that contribute to the information gap." Currently, there are plans for more similar workshops for municipal officials in 2003.
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