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Sault Ste. Marie, MI (June 27, 2003)
Charles Kaylor, founder and Director of the Public Sphere Information Group, addressed a gathering of municipal officials from across the state of Michigan. The event, "Connecting Citizens to Local Government: Capitalizing on Michigan's Web Presence," was 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 II 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 from Summer 2003 on the largest cities in the U.S.
For over a decade, a non-profit group called UGLETI, Upper Great Lakes Educational Technologies, Inc., has worked to build an advanced communications network throughout the Upper Peninsula. 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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