Technology awareness activities help to identify what technologies make sense to use given a specific problem. These activities are used to educate people about the capabilities of the technology, so they can begin to think creatively about transforming the way the agency operates. Becoming aware of the capabilities of specific technologies helps to inform analyses of alternative solutions and helps narrow investment choices to those that will work best for your organization.

Educational activities focused on technology. These activities include reviewing the relevant literature in both trade and technical journals, visiting trade shows, hearing presentations by organizations with exemplary systems, visiting organizations that have installed similar systems, arranging vendor demonstrations, or developing and demonstrating one or more prototype versions of a proposed system.

Conversations about technology options. Technology awareness sessions presented by experts or experienced users help you find out about different classes of technology, and then more specifically, about certain products within classes of technology.

Learning about new classes of technology. In order to use a technology effectively it is necessary to understand thoroughly the capabilities and limitations of that technology. Technology awareness activities are designed to accomplish that purpose. The amount or kind of educational activities that are needed in a project depends on the size of the gap between the staff's current knowledge and optimal familiarity with the proposed technology.

This is only an introduction. Understanding and adapting to a new technology is often a slow and difficult process for a number of reasons -- reengineering processes commonly requires cultural, organizational, and interorganizational changes on the part of an organization. In addition, there is a difference between "knowing about" something and actually experiencing it. Some of the benefits and limitations of a technology can only be appreciated after years of experience by an organization.

Keeping up is a challenge. Technology changes constantly making it difficult to stay ahead of the curve. Try to meet this continuous learning challenge by regularly reviewing publications or attending conferences. Your entire organization benefits if someone stays abreast of new developments and emerging tools.

DB2 magazine http://www.db2mag.com

Federal Computer Week's Technology Reviews www.fcw.com/techtest.asp.

Government Computer News' Product pages www.gcn.com/prodcentral.

Government Technology. Solutions for state and local government in the information age. Includes case studies, best practices, and a government technology library. www.govtech.net.

Association for Computing Machines. info.acm.org.

Comprehensive information on technology news, technology reviews and case studies. www.zdnet.com.